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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27390247">I'm Nobody</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/FreeManWriter/pseuds/FreeManWriter'>FreeManWriter</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Kingdom Hearts (Video Games), Mass Effect - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Other Relationships to Be Added - Freeform</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-05-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 00:21:14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>529,231</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27390247</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/FreeManWriter/pseuds/FreeManWriter</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>He didn't have anything when he was born. just a name and number. But overtime, what he had grew. He, with his friends began to understand that there was more to their existence then just their name and number. They will prove that they were meant to be real. To exist. To become something more than just a Nobody. Co-written and created with Jebest4781. Fem Shepard.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Axel/FemShepard, Roxas/Tali'Zorah, Roxas/Xion, Roxas/Xion/Tali'Zorah</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>38</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>24</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. The First Thirty Days</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hey everybody what a surprise seeing all of you here.</p><p>Yes, a brand new crossover and another of the more radical ideas I've had stewing inside my mind for quite some time now.</p><p>Jebest4781 as per usual is one of my main partners going into this crossover, one the two of us have extensively traded ideas on.</p><p>It was funny how J brought this back up in regards to an old teaser I did in one of my older stories of the possibility of doing this crossover. It's one that's been on my mind for a while now and something I've been wanting to write about for ages.</p><p>It's different, experimental and I think there's probably only one other KH/ME crossover in total on the website. So, maybe this will be the one to open the floodgates for even more wilder and unusual crossovers.</p><p>But I do believe that I need to get this off my chest.</p><p>This is a personal, deep seated philosophy of mine when it comes to crossovers and it's in regards to bringing the two universes together, in particular the characters. I firmly believe that when you are making crossovers, both sides need to be respected and represented properly.</p><p>When one side is stronger than the other, I feel there needs to be a proper reasoning as to why one is so dominant over the others. Not because you're biased to it.</p><p>I'm not condemning Crossover writers who do that, that's not what I'm saying.</p><p>You are free to write whatever it is you wish on this site cause this place allows for such freedoms.</p><p>This is a personal code of mine that I stay true to the characters and the universes of which they come from. Certain universes give more leeway to play around with certain aspects of the universe and characters that inhabit it and it should be used to their fullest capacity.</p><p>Anyway, now that I'm done with my generic rambling introductory to a new crossover let's get started on a brand new adventure.</p><p>Rate Read and Review and As Always Have Nice Day.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p></p><div class="xcontrast">
  <p></p>
  <div>
    <p>I'm Nobody Chapter 1: The First Thirty Days.</p>
    <p>Within a plain white room was a lone bed. Nothing else was really present as the space was spartan in design. Only having the necessities required for its present occupant.</p>
    <p>Upon the bed lay a young teenage boy with sandy blond hair garbed in clothing that was all black.</p>
    <p>Black gloves, black boots, black pants and a long black coat that reached his ankles.</p>
    <p>The boy lay motionless upon the bed though if one looked closely enough, one could see the eyes moving about underneath his eyelids.</p>
    <p>Within the dreams of the boy, he awoke on the ground, standing up from the grass.</p>
    <p>He wore a different set of clothes entirely, blue eyes blank as he stood before a large set of gates before an old and run down mansion.</p>
    <p>Less than a few seconds later did a black ovular portal appear before the boy and out walked a tall man in a black coat.</p>
    <p>This… was Xemnas.</p>
    <p>The man who found him after he came into being.</p>
    <p>He, who would personally induct him into what he had joined.</p>
    <p>Organization XIII.</p>
    <p>The tall man stood before the blank faced boy.</p>
    <p>"<em>You seek answers."</em> Xemnas, the leader of Organization XIII said to him on their first confrontation.</p>
    <p>He only nodded absentmindedly.</p>
    <p>"<em>You feel nothing. Nothing is real. I can give you purpose."</em></p>
    <p>Before him, a name appeared.</p>
    <p>
      <em>Sora.</em>
    </p>
    <p>It was at that time did he have nothing at all. He knew nothing.</p>
    <p>The four letters before him began to spin about, rapidly until Xemnas thrusted his hand out and a large X appeared in between the letters.</p>
    <p>"<em>Roxas."</em></p>
    <p>"<em>That is right- the new </em>you…<em> Roxas..."</em></p>
    <p>Not even a name, until Xemnas gave him one.</p>
    <p>That was all he had. Both the name Roxas and No. XIII.</p>
    <p>All that he was given in his extremely short few minutes of existence.</p>
    <p>All that he was able to latch on to.</p>
    <p>It was shortly after his confrontation with his new leader did he interact with another member of the Organization.</p>
    <p>A tall, slightly older individual who went by No. VIII, the Flurry of Dancing Flames.</p>
    <p>Or as he called himself, Axel.</p>
    <p>It was a courtesy, having the newest member interact with one of the older members in order to get the ball rolling. And the first thing Axel did once introductions were out of the way was heading towards the Clocktower of Twilight Town, sitting at its highest ledge and eating Sea-Salt ice cream while watching the sunset.</p>
    <p>Said ice cream had an <em>interesting</em> taste. Then again, it was the first thing he ever ate in his present memory. Something that was oddly sweet <em>and</em> salty at the same time.</p>
    <p>Now the sunset on the other hand…</p>
    <p>That was breathtaking.</p>
    <p>He sat there, with Axel eating ice-cream without saying much or responding to much. All he could was just sit there and eat, not knowing anything other than his name, Axel, the Organization and Sea-salt Ice Cream.</p>
    <p>What Roxas didn't know at the time, the destiny he had wouldn't unfold until the seventh day of his time being in the Organization… when he first met <em>her</em>.</p>
    <p>Xion.</p>
    <p>She was shortly inducted into the Organization just a week after he had joined.</p>
    <p>It was strange.</p>
    <p>They didn't say anything to one another but…</p>
    <p>The minute they locked eyes in that meeting room, despite her wearing a hood that obscured most of her face, there was something that Roxas… <em>felt.</em></p>
    <p>He <em>felt</em> something.</p>
    <p>Though he was unsure as to what that was exactly.</p>
    <p>He was a Nobody.</p>
    <p>A being born from the shell of a heart that fell to darkness.</p>
    <p>They did not feel anything.</p>
    <p>They had no hearts. None at all.</p>
    <p>Just empty shells where the previous owners' wills were strong enough to allow them existence even after they had lost their hearts. Only knowing how things "feel" due to lingering memories of said shells.</p>
    <p>In the seven days that Roxas had been in existence, he had gotten to know some of the other members to a degree.</p>
    <p>Who these people around him were, what they wanted, or what they were trying to do… He had no idea...</p>
    <p>Each one of them were strange, unique and distinctly different from one another.</p>
    <p>And yet…</p>
    <p>They all wore the black coat that he did.</p>
    <p>All had a number and a title to go along with them.</p>
    <p>And each one of them possessed an X in their names just like him.</p>
    <p>In the time he had gotten to know them, they had often been sent out on missions.</p>
    <p>Missions that apparently Roxas would undertake eventually and daily once it happens.</p>
    <p>Before Roxas could go on any real missions, he needed to be trained. And in that time, he had to be overseen by nearly all of the members in order for him to effectively get things done right.</p>
    <p>They had all their own unique means of training him, be it in a subtle manner such as individuals like Numbers 4, 5, 6 and 10. Vexen, Lexaeus, Zexion and Luxord, respectively.</p>
    <p>Or in a more blatant and straightforward manner like Axel or Numbers 3, 11 and 12. Xaldin, Marluxia and Larxene.</p>
    <p>Then there were the others like Numbers 2, 7 and 9. Xigbar, Saix and Demyx.</p>
    <p>They were… unusual in a manner of speaking on how they trained him.</p>
    <p>It was a mixture of both direct and indirect.</p>
    <p>The only one who didn't train him at all was their leader, No. I Xemnas, as he had other matters to attend to.</p>
    <p>Upon his eight day with the Organization, No. XIII began his official training missions with the other members.</p>
    <p>Roxas had to learn how to fight, in both physical and magical means.</p>
    <p>He had to learn how to investigate and track down his targeted objective(s) for the reconnaissance side of things.</p>
    <p>To be discrete and thorough and not leave any stone unturned.</p>
    <p>Aware of his surroundings and always mindful of his duty.</p>
    <p>And there was the fact that each Organization member had their own unique weapon and affinity outside of the basic darkness and nothingness which made a Nobody… a Nobody.</p>
    <p>For Roxas, he wielded something called a Keyblade and his affinity was Light.</p>
    <p>Due to him having the Keyblade, the other members of the Organization often spoke of his importance being paramount to them.</p>
    <p>He had the most important job out of them all: to collect Hearts.</p>
    <p>Now how was he to do this?</p>
    <p>It was simple as it was presented to him.</p>
    <p>His job was to go about and slay the beings born from the Darkness in other individuals' hearts and with his Keyblade, that was possible.</p>
    <p>The other members of the Organization were more than capable of defeating the Heartless on their own. But when they destroyed them, the hearts would simply go on to reform into another Heartless.</p>
    <p>It was why Roxas was so important.</p>
    <p>He was the only one who could defeat the Heartless and with his Keyblade, release and "capture" the Hearts so to speak.</p>
    <p>The Hearts would then be "collected" and "gathered" into one place.</p>
    <p>
      <em>Kingdom Hearts.</em>
    </p>
    <p>At first, he didn't know what it <em>was </em>nor what it <em>does</em>. All he knows is that he is tasked in "completing" it.</p>
    <p>He didn't even know what a Heart is supposed to be.</p>
    <p>Eventually, Roxas learned that Kingdom Hearts is made of the very thing they -the Organization- lacked, a multitude of Hearts. It held the power to complete them all.</p>
    <p>It made No. XIII realize how important he was to the rest of them.</p>
    <p>...His first few days on the job were straight to the point.</p>
    <p>Each member within the Organization was assigned to him, teaching and instructing him further as he went along with his duties after his training missions were completed.</p>
    <p>He didn't really know any better.</p>
    <p>This was all he knew and he couldn't really deny that the Organization gave him purpose.</p>
    <p>And fighting the Heartless… was unusually natural to him.</p>
    <p>It was like a muscle memory.</p>
    <p>Every swing, every strike, every bashing and every spell cast came like breathing to him.</p>
    <p>The Heartless fell quickly and rapidly before him.</p>
    <p>He's learning all these things, but there's so much more that he didn't get.</p>
    <p>By the fourteenth day, Roxas had lost track of how many Heartless he had slain.</p>
    <p>During that time, he had been instructed on how to summon the Corridor of Darkness that would take him back to the Organizations castle and perform a last ditch maneuver known as a Limit Break.</p>
    <p>On the fifteenth day, he had experienced another life altering moment.</p>
    <p>Though he didn't think much about it for the most part.</p>
    <p>For his fifteenth day in the Organization, he was assigned to work with No. XIV for the first time.</p>
    <p>Xion.</p>
    <p>It was a strange experience for the most part.</p>
    <p>She really didn't say anything other than one thing.</p>
    <p>His name.</p>
    <p>Her voice was… quiet and shy.</p>
    <p>She didn't have a weapon which was bizarre.</p>
    <p>From how Xemnas introduced her, Xion apparently was supposed to be able to use the Keyblade, same as him.</p>
    <p>Yet, she only used magic.</p>
    <p>Still, she and him got their missions done. That was all that mattered.</p>
    <p>Perhaps she was a late bloomer, as Axel had once said. Her Keyblade might not be manifesting right away and will take time for it to happen.</p>
    <p>Axel was the only one he had really spent any time with outside missions from the Organization so he would have to take the fiery red-heads word for it.</p>
    <p>And that was another thing that had become a constant in Roxas short existence.</p>
    <p>Axel.</p>
    <p>On his eighth day, after his first mission, Axel took him back to have Ice Cream again on the clocktower of the world he was found in.</p>
    <p>Twilight Town.</p>
    <p>All of his training had taken place there, nowhere else. He had wondered why that World of all places instead of back at the World that Never Was.</p>
    <p>Not that he was really complaining. The sun was never present there as there was only an ever present darkness looming over the world. But in Twilight Town, there was one to help illuminate the land in a perpetual sunset.</p>
    <p>On the 21st day…</p>
    <p>Xion met Axel.</p>
    <p>Their interaction went about the same way that it had gone when Roxas had first met her and apparently how he had met Axel.</p>
    <p>Minimal words exchanged other than names.</p>
    <p>Axel seemingly took it in stride, acting in his usual self though getting peeved on occasion whenever Xion had asked him to repeat something she didn't quite understand.</p>
    <p>Apparently No. VIII's pet peeve was having to repeat something he feels should be memorized.</p>
    <p>He said that often when in regard to what appeared to be important matters.</p>
    <p>"<em>Got it memorized?"</em></p>
    <p>He said that both as a question and a statement.</p>
    <p>…</p>
    <p>…</p>
    <p>…</p>
    <p>He had learned the early stages of… friendship.</p>
    <p>It came from out of nowhere after seeing some of the inhabitants of Twilight Town interacting with each other on his fourteenth day in the Organization.</p>
    <p>Roxas didn't get it at first, but as the days went on, he was slowly getting it as Axel was considered his friend.</p>
    <p>On the 21st day, he once again found himself sitting at the clock tower with Axel.</p>
    <p>This had become something of a ritual to them both after their first couple of missions together.</p>
    <p>At the end of every mission, every day, the two would go to the Clock Tower in Twilight Town and have sea-salt ice-cream together.</p>
    <p>Only this time, they weren't alone.</p>
    <p>This time, Axel had gotten Xion to join them.</p>
    <p>"<em>The icing on the cake."</em></p>
    <p>The same words Axel used to justify their second time watching the sunset on the clock tower after Roxas's first official mission.</p>
    <p>And now, Xion had joined them.</p>
    <p>And on that day, they both saw her face for the first time.</p>
    <p>Short black hair with crystal blue eyes.</p>
    <p>Similar to Roxas' if only a shade lighter.</p>
    <p>And her face…</p>
    <p>Roxas swore that there was something about her that was strikingly familiar to him.</p>
    <p>He knows that face. There was a… <em>feeling </em>inside him.</p>
    <p>A feeling of longing and recognition.</p>
    <p>Whatever it was, Xion had become their friend that day.</p>
    <p>And from that day onward, the three of them had Ice-cream on the clock tower every single day.</p>
    <p>That was until the 29th day…</p>
    <p>Once again, the trio of Organization members sat upon the edge of the clock tower, ice-creams in hand.</p>
    <p>The sunset was beautiful as always and there was a calm and pleasant air between them.</p>
    <p>"I'm gonna miss this ice-cream thing we do." Axel abruptly spoke up.</p>
    <p>"Huh?" Both Roxas and Xion looked at their friend in confusion.</p>
    <p>"Gonna be away for a while… starting tomorrow." Axel revealed, casually twirling his ice-cream stick in his hand.</p>
    <p>"Really…" Roxas said in a low voice.</p>
    <p>"I can fill you in since we're friends." Axel kept gazing at the perpetual sunset before them. "I'm gonna be at Castle Oblivion."</p>
    <p>"Castle Oblivion?" Xion repeated.</p>
    <p>"The Organization's got a second castle in the world between worlds. It's called Castle Oblivion. Got it memorized?" Axel said, grinning while placing his index finger on his temple.</p>
    <p>"I wish somebody told me these things." Roxas said in a dejected manner.</p>
    <p>"Well I gotta head back and get ready. Nothing but fun fun fun…" Axel drawled, patting them both on the shoulder as he departed.</p>
    <p>Roxas and Xion looked at one another sullenly, returning to their small snacks a moment later.</p>
    <p>After eating that Sea-Salt ice cream, Roxas saw the popsicle stick had the words "winner" engraved in the wood.</p>
    <p>"What's this about?" Roxas asked, holding it over to Xion for her to read herself.</p>
    <p>"I have no clue." Xion said, gazing upon the word curiously. "Maybe… ask Axel tomorrow."</p>
    <p>Unfortunately for them, Axel already departed to Castle Oblivion with five other members: Vexen, Lexaeus, Zexion, Marluxia and Larxene.</p>
    <p>Though that would be a slightly distant memory after today.</p>
    <p>On the thirtieth day, everything changed for Roxas.</p>
    <p>He was back in Twilight Town.</p>
    <p>His job was simple.</p>
    <p>Find the large Heartless in this world and eliminate it.</p>
    <p>As he entered the lounge area where missions were given out, he saw Demyx sitting on one of the couches with his large Sitar in hand.</p>
    <p>"This place is so much nicer without the loudmouths." Demyx said from his seat, strumming his weapon/instrument.</p>
    <p>"Loudmouths?" Roxas asked in confusion.</p>
    <p>"Those bossy coworkers sent to Castle Oblivion." Demyx clarified.</p>
    <p>There was a small chuckle from the man sitting across from Demyx.</p>
    <p>"Well, I suppose it's too bad you and Poppet didn't get to spend a little more quality time with them." Said Xigbar as he was sitting on the sofa.</p>
    <p>"Poppet?"</p>
    <p>"I'm talking about Xion, kiddo."</p>
    <p>"Kiddo?"</p>
    <p>"Roxas."</p>
    <p>The Keybearer turned to see Xion approaching him.</p>
    <p>"Did you see Axel?" She asked straight away.</p>
    <p>He shook his head. "Sorry Xion. I think we just missed him."</p>
    <p>Her expression dropped at the thought of missing Axel.</p>
    <p>"Roxas, Xion."</p>
    <p>A sharp voice made them look to the entrance of the lounge, seeing Saix walking in.</p>
    <p>"Get to work, both of you." He ordered. "Standing around here won't make Axel come back."</p>
    <p>The newest members couldn't really think of a proper response.</p>
    <p>So they opted to do as they were told and head off to Twilight Town for their mission.</p>
    <p>This time, it was to be a bit of a challenge.</p>
    <p>They were tasked in finding and defeating a large Heartless known as a Darkside, a very powerful Pureblood.</p>
    <p>It took them a while, finding it surprisingly difficult in locating the large Heartless.</p>
    <p>The last place they looked was to be the area where they would find the Heartless.</p>
    <p>They soon fought against the Darkside in front of the clocktower.</p>
    <p>It was massive, as the reports had told them but they fought on despite its size.</p>
    <p>They fought valiantly against the giant Heartless when it swung a powerful backhand, catching No. XIII off guard.</p>
    <p>"Roxas!" Xion called out in concern, running to him with her hand outstretched.</p>
    <p>Next to Roxas was his Keyblade that he had lost in his grip. Just as he was about to reach out to it, it suddenly manifested in Xion's hand.</p>
    <p>In a moment of stunned silence, Xion grasped her newfound weapon and attacked the Heartless.</p>
    <p>In the end, she was able to vanquish the Darkside.</p>
    <p>There was a lapse of ambient silence that permeated the air as Roxas and Xion gazed at the Keyblade in her hands.</p>
    <p>"It finally happened." Xion whispered in disbelief.</p>
    <p>"You can use the Keyblade." Roxas said aloud with a growing smile which Xion returned a moment later.</p>
    <p>"I can." She said with an excited look.</p>
    <p>Roxas was now beaming. "I think you earned the icing on the cake."</p>
    <p>Xion blinked for a moment before the two shared a laugh together.</p>
    <p>"Let's get some Ice Cream." Roxas said, turning to go to the usual shop they get their ice cream from.</p>
    <p>Yet he doesn't get far when a large plume of darkness appears beneath him.</p>
    <p>"Whoa!" Roxas stumbled in the sudden pool of Darkness, his feet sinking in.</p>
    <p>Around him, Shadows and Neo-Shadows morphed out from the pool and began grabbing onto Roxas, attempting to drag him down into the Darkness.</p>
    <p>"Roxas!" Xion cried out, running for him with her new Keyblade instinctively being called forth to her hand.</p>
    <p>She began swinging through the Heartless, taking them out left and right yet they just kept coming.</p>
    <p>"Xion!" He called out to her, trying to call for his Keyblade only for the Shadows and Neoshadows to grab onto his arm and wrist to pull him down further into the Darkness.</p>
    <p>"What's happening?!" Xion was now frantically fighting against the Heartless but they just kept on being replaced by more Heartless.</p>
    <p>"I don't kn-URK!"</p>
    <p>One of the Neoshadows manifested from behind him and wrapped its arm around Roxas neck, tugging him down into the Darkness.</p>
    <p>The last thing Roxas saw before he was dragged down was the terrified face of Xion.</p>
    <p>Multiple questions ran through Roxas's mind as his vision was engulfed by Darkness.</p>
    <p>Why was this happening to him?</p>
    <p>What were the Heartless after?</p>
    <p>And above all else was <em><strong>why</strong></em>? Why did Xion look so scared?</p>
    <p>So… emotional?</p>
    <p>Are they not Nobodies? Are they not meant to feel anything?</p>
    <p>These questions however were brief and fleeting.</p>
    <p>All he could think of now was trying to get himself freed from the grasp of the Heartless who had yet to let him go.</p>
    <p>He was struggling, trying his damndest to get himself free to no avail for the most part.</p>
    <p>These heartless were clawing at him, making sure that their grasp upon him was damn near unbreakable.</p>
    <p>Roxas felt like… he was sinking…</p>
    <p>Further and further…</p>
    <p>Into Darkness.</p>
    <p>This sensation…</p>
    <p>It felt eerily familiar to him.</p>
    <p>Why?</p>
    <p>Where has he experienced this before?</p>
    <p>He then thought of Axel and Xion.</p>
    <p>They were supposed to have Ice Cream together again after the former would return from his mission from Castle Oblivion.</p>
    <p>Though it has only been a month, Axel and Xion have become… his friends. They were his friends.</p>
    <p>He didn't have much nor understand much to begin with. But he understood the growing sense of anticipation he had to go to the clock tower after every mission. The subconscious, growing need to be there at the end of every day.</p>
    <p>Roxas may have been given purpose by the Organization… but…</p>
    <p>With Xion and Axel…</p>
    <p>Within the eternal void of Darkness, Roxas' eyes snapped open as he began struggling with a renewed vigor.</p>
    <p>He thrashed against that which held him in place, his form beginning to glow with an ethereal light.</p>
    <p>Clenching his teeth, Roxas called upon his strength, his power over light and in one controlled burst, unleashed the light around him and promptly fell through a makeshift corridor.</p>
    <p>Once again, he felt as though he was falling.</p>
    <p>Only this time…</p>
    <p>He lost consciousness.</p>
    <p>The only thing Roxas could was free fall into the endless void which seemed to last forever.</p>
    <p>…</p>
    <p>…</p>
    <p>…</p>
    <p>"Urgh."</p>
    <p>Slowly, a pair of blue eyes opened, blinking away the black splotches in his vision.</p>
    <p>Reaching a hand up to his head, Roxas rubbed his temple as the pounding in his head began to subside as he got his bearings.</p>
    <p>He was on the ground in a sitting position with his back against a wall.</p>
    <p>Another familiar feeling.</p>
    <p>Grunting, Roxas propped elbow against his knee and forcefully raised himself to stand, placing a hand on the nearby wall to keep himself steady.</p>
    <p>There was a slight ringing in his ear as his vision was now cleared up. This allowed him to get a sense of his surroundings.</p>
    <p>It was partially dark, due to the lighting not being relatively bright. In fact, the white or yellow lighting was replaced with a dark red.</p>
    <p>Where was he?</p>
    <p>For the briefest of moments, Roxas thought he was somewhere in the World that Never Was, due to the floor and wall textures being metallic in color and feel. Though the designs seemed to be different.</p>
    <p>One way to find out if that were the case.</p>
    <p>Getting himself up, he made his way out of the alley. Hopefully, he can see something familiar in order to find his way back.</p>
    <p>…..</p>
    <p>…..</p>
    <p>…..</p>
    <p>…..</p>
    <p>That didn't seem to be the case as he saw something… <em>alien</em> once passing through the doorway which parted all on its own.</p>
    <p>Upon reaching the differing light, Roxas found himself in a place unlike anything he had ever seen in his brief month long existence.</p>
    <p>He saw a large amount of people walking about with some here and there conversing with one another.</p>
    <p>There were some that he recognized as human.</p>
    <p>But everyone else?</p>
    <p>There were humanoid women who were blue or purple skinned with odd tentacles curved back on their heads. An assortment of people with bone-like plating's on their heads with mandibles for mouths. A grouping who looked reminiscent to salamanders or frogs in nature.</p>
    <p>There were other… <em>species</em>(?) in whatever place he ended up at, but the three aforementioned ones were the more prominent outside of the humans.</p>
    <p>Aside from them, there were a number of vehicles flying through the air.</p>
    <p>The only vehicles Roxas ever saw before were some gliders back at Organization HQ and the tram-cars back at Twilight Town. So whatever was flying above him was relatively new.</p>
    <p>Looking further up, he saw something odd in the sky. Like a large city above him that was far stretched out.</p>
    <p>Was that normal? Doesn't seem to be from what he's seen so far.</p>
    <p>Could he be on another World?</p>
    <p>Could be...</p>
    <p>"Don't stand there like an idiot, kid." A gruff voice rumbled from behind.</p>
    <p>Roxas blinked when he heard someone addressing him. Turning to the source, the Nobody saw someone towering over him.</p>
    <p>He was reptilian in nature with a large hump on his back. He wore a prominent red armor which matched the bony crest on his head. His face was riddled with scars with a pair of red eyes boring down on him in a bored, yet annoyed fashion.</p>
    <p>"Er… sorry." Roxas said in a soft voice, gazing up at the reptilian biped with clear interest.</p>
    <p>Another new type of alien or inhabitant of this world.</p>
    <p>The large reptile man merely gave the young kid another glance.</p>
    <p>The young squirt looked rather out of place. And not in the simplest of manners.</p>
    <p>For one, he could tell the kid seemed rather lost as he noticed his gaze was all over the place in odd wonderment. Another would be the style of clothing he currently wore. It was not like anything anyone else was wearing these days but bore something similar to what humans wore some centuries ago.</p>
    <p>And the way he looked at <em>him </em>specifically was an additional point of oddness.</p>
    <p>For one thing, he had absolutely no fear or trepidation upon seeing him for the first time. He just looked at him with open interest. Like aside from everything else the human was looking at, he was the most fascinating thing on the kids mind.</p>
    <p>Kid won't fit in here for long; in his point of view, mind you.</p>
    <p>And then there was his <em>smell</em>. The kid smelled… odd.</p>
    <p>Not wanting to give himself a headache, he walked off in order to get onto his own business.</p>
    <p>"Whatever." Was all the reptile man said before Roxas saw him disappear in the crowd.</p>
    <p>Seeing the large being walked off, Roxas honestly didn't know what to do.</p>
    <p>What should he do?</p>
    <p>Naturally, he should find his way back to the World that Never Was. That's what was drilled into his head when he first joined the Organization.</p>
    <p>But…</p>
    <p>A part of him, strangely enough, wanted him to explore. To see what this place was like.</p>
    <p>Just from one look at the place by itself was enough to instill in Roxas a burning curiosity to see whatever it was this place had to offer.</p>
    <p>He briefly thought it was just his lessons talking to him, urging him to focus back on his training and explore his current environment. Practicing his reconnaissance skills and refining them, much more now with this new World(?) he was in.</p>
    <p>Moving along, he kept seeing people passing by and minding their own business. For some instance, Roxas wanted to speak up and ask some questions.</p>
    <p>This entire place was just too much of an overload of senses to him.</p>
    <p>When he thought about it, where could he even begin?</p>
    <p>He kept walking, looking in every direction that he could until he saw something… <em>startling</em>.</p>
    <p>There was someone, a woman -given by her figure- in an odd glass domed helmet underneath a hood… who appeared to be hurt.</p>
    <p>Curiously, No. XIII came up to her and saw her using one of her hands to prompt herself up against the wall while the other was used to hold her side.</p>
    <p>"Excuse me." Roxas said softly.</p>
    <p>The helmeted woman turned to him, and even if he couldn't see her face, he could see the bright eyes behind the purple-tinted glass. And her eyes seemed to hold something akin to utter worriment.</p>
    <p>"Are… you alright?"</p>
    <p>The woman grunted, holding her side with her voice sounding strained and scared.</p>
    <p>"Pl-Please… help me."</p>
    <p>Roxas briefly pierced down and saw something drip from her hand holding her side.</p>
    <p>It didn't take long for him to realize that she was hurt, badly even.</p>
    <p>She almost fell down, causing him to quickly catch her.</p>
    <p>The boy was stronger than he appeared, easily keeping her on her feet despite her being slightly taller than him.</p>
    <p>She glanced down at the human with an appreciative look in her eyes before shakily raising her bloodied hand and pointing it towards a random direction.</p>
    <p>"Take me to… medical…"</p>
    <p>Roxas complied on the request, helping her along as she directed him towards a medical station.</p>
    <p>After climbing up a flight of stairs, they turned down another area before coming towards their destination. When the door automatically parted ways, Roxas saw a short red haired woman conversing with a dwarf-sized being in an odd body suit.</p>
    <p>The red-haired woman turned to see them walk-in with her gaping in surprise.</p>
    <p>"Oh my.</p>
    <p>"Hey," he spoke towards her, "she needs help."</p>
    <p>Blinking in a slightly stunned manner, she quickly nodded and gestured for the boy to place the woman onto a nearby empty bed.</p>
    <p>Once laying her down, the red-haired woman quickly began checking the helmeted girl over.</p>
    <p>"Do you know what happened?" She asked.</p>
    <p>Roxas shook his head 'no'. "I just found her like this."</p>
    <p>"Right." She said before lifting up her arm and something brightly orange-yellow appeared encircling part of the limb. "If you'll excuse me, I need to operate on her immediately."</p>
    <p>Roxas stood there, staring at the red-haired human.</p>
    <p>She was looking at him expectantly, until she saw he wasn't moving.</p>
    <p>"Which means I need you to step away and wait outside until I am done."</p>
    <p>The Nobody blinked at the statement.</p>
    <p>"Oh, right. Sorry."</p>
    <p>She gave him a slightly good natured smile. "If you're worried about her, you can sit over there and wait for things to be done."</p>
    <p>Roxas nodded before moving along and sitting on a chair by the adjacent wall.</p>
    <p>He wasn't alone for long as the short stubby bipedal alien came up to him with a waddle.</p>
    <p>It wore an all-encompassing suit that covered his body from head to toe, its breathing being nasally and raspy.</p>
    <p>"It's interesting… to see someone wanting to help… a Quarian out these days." He spoke while in between odd breath segments. Each one wheezed as if he had a short lung capacity.</p>
    <p>"What?"</p>
    <p>"Why is it… that you… a human… would assist a Quarian… vagrant like her?" The stubby alien pointed back to the now identified species.</p>
    <p>He looked towards the Quarian that was currently undergoing medical treatment from the red-haired human.</p>
    <p>Roxas had helped her without really thinking about it.</p>
    <p>She just needed help.</p>
    <p>And from the look of things around him at the time, it didn't look like anyone else was going to help her.</p>
    <p>Why did he help her?</p>
    <p>When he saw how she was in need, his body just moved on its own. He didn't even think about it, he just did it.</p>
    <p>"I just… had to help her." Roxas whispered, feeling the words just come out naturally.</p>
    <p>The strange, stubby alien only rasped out a breath. "Hmm… Not many people… do so… these days… sadly."</p>
    <p>Roxas gazed at the shorter alien who wobbled towards the human to assist her in the surgery since she had called for his assistance.</p>
    <p>No. XIII only leaned back and observed the surgery in complete silence.</p>
    <p>He didn't move or say anything.</p>
    <p>Just watched as the Quarian woman who he had assisted got medical treatment for the large gash on her side.</p>
    <p>Roxas didn't know how much time had passed by.</p>
    <p>Only that he sat there within this medical ward, watching and waiting for the Quarian to awaken after having surgery done to her.</p>
    <p>A small rasp of breathing interrupted his thought process, making him look down at the stubby alien.</p>
    <p>"What… is your name…?"</p>
    <p>"R-Roxas."</p>
    <p>"Roxas? I had not… heard of such… a human name before." He rasped out. "Balon Von… is the name."</p>
    <p>Roxas only nodded, looking up as the red-haired woman approached him.</p>
    <p>"I'm Dr. Chloe Michel and I run this clinic." She introduced herself. "You said your name was Roxas, correct?"</p>
    <p>The young teen nodded.</p>
    <p>"If you don't mind me asking, how did you come across this Quarian?" She asked, gesturing to the resting helmeted alien.</p>
    <p>Roxas gazed at the unconscious Quarian.</p>
    <p>"She was hurt." He said plainly, making Chloe tilt her head.</p>
    <p>"And…?"</p>
    <p>"She needed help."</p>
    <p>There was a bemused expression on her face, a small smirk forming on her face as she saw the boy's honesty in that statement.</p>
    <p>From the way he said that last comment, he helped simply because he was able to and maybe even wanted to.</p>
    <p>A rather noble gesture to do.</p>
    <p>"How old are you, young man?" the Doctor asked politely, making Roxas pause.</p>
    <p>How was he supposed to answer that one?</p>
    <p>He was only a month old in terms of existence but if he remembered correctly, Axel mentioned something about his age in terms of his physical body.</p>
    <p>"...15."</p>
    <p>Chloe's brows furrowed together. "Only fifteen? Where are your parents?"</p>
    <p>"Parents?" Roxas said in complete confusion.</p>
    <p>Both Balon and Chloe exchanged looks with each other, both conveying complete and utter bewilderment.</p>
    <p>What kind of a response was that?</p>
    <p>Before they had a chance to ask further questions, a groan was heard from the Quarian, signaling that she was waking up.</p>
    <p>Chloe Michel was instantly by her side, helping her sit up on the bed properly.</p>
    <p>"Easy there." Chloe urged. "Try not to move too much. You're still recovering."</p>
    <p>"What happened?" The Quarian asked in a low voice.</p>
    <p>"You were gravely injured." Chloe said. "However, thanks to young Roxas here, we were able to treat your injury in time before it got any worse."</p>
    <p>"Roxas?" The Quarian repeated.</p>
    <p>"The human… who brought you here…" Balon answered.</p>
    <p>The Quarian looked over to Roxas who had yet to get up from his seat.</p>
    <p>"You helped me?" Quarian asked, her mind slightly hazy from earlier today.</p>
    <p>Wordlessly, Roxas only nodded in confirmation.</p>
    <p>Though her face was obscured, her eyes were all that Roxas needed to see in the complete and sincere gratitude she held towards him.</p>
    <p>"Thank you." She said in the kindest voice he had ever heard.</p>
    <p>No. XIII felt an odd swell within his chest upon hearing her thanks, making him look at her with a wide-eyed expression.</p>
    <p>A moment later, the sides of his lips twitched upwards and a small smile found its way onto his face.</p>
    <p>That was all the Quarian needed to see as the boy having helped save her life was more than enough of a response.</p>
    <p>"It's strange to see a Quarian outside of the Flotilla these days." Chloe suddenly spoke up, snapping the helmeted alien back to her current situation.</p>
    <p>"I'm currently on my pilgrimage." she answered.</p>
    <p>"Ah, that… explains it." Balon Von said simply.</p>
    <p>"Pilgrimage?" Roxas asked.</p>
    <p>"I believe you can ask her 'twenty questions' later, Roxas." Dr. Michel said to the Nobody before looking at the Quarian.</p>
    <p>"I'm sorry, but I never got your name." Chloe politely said. "And mind telling us what happened?"</p>
    <p>Sitting upright on the medical table, the Quarian spoke of her tale.</p>
    <p>She was Tali'Zorah Nar Rayya, or Tali for short. Like she said before, she was currently on her pilgrimage and she was with a few friends of hers from the Flotilla, the Migrant Fleet of her people.</p>
    <p>Everything was going fine, at first, seeking passage to Ilium as that was where Tali sought to begin her pilgrimage. That was until they came across something unusual on an ice planet in the Crescent Nebula. And for some reason, the Geth were present.</p>
    <p>At the mention of the Geth, both Balon Von and Dr. Michel briefly spoke of wondering why the Geth were beyond the Perseus Veil after three hundred years. And while Roxas wanted to ask on such things, he followed their example and kept questions down to a minimum and let Tali continue her tale.</p>
    <p>Resuming, both Tali and her friends investigated the odd occurrence. They wanted to know exactly that of why they were there of all places. If the Geth moved beyond the Perseus Veil and spread to other worlds, her people will be blamed even further than what they presently have.</p>
    <p>More and more questions formed in Roxas' head at this. Practically everything she said only made him want to ask what it was that she was talking about. Judging from her tone and demeanor, these past few days were harrowing and dangerous considering how she wound up here.</p>
    <p>Anyways, Tali was able to separate one of the Geth from the rest and accessed it's memory core before it self-purged in order to find out the reason for their presence.</p>
    <p>And what she found was startling from an audio recording she pulled.</p>
    <p>"<em>Eden Prime was a major victor. The Beacon has brought us one step closer to finding the Conduit."</em> Spoke a man's voice.</p>
    <p>"<em>And one step closer to the return of the Reapers…"</em> Spoke a woman's voice.</p>
    <p>When she wanted to try to pull out more data from the Geth, she was being shot at by mercenaries, causing her and her friends to flee.</p>
    <p>On their way to Ilium, Tali investigated further into the encoded Geth data. While jumbled and messy, due to the rush job, she did find out that there was indeed an attack on Eden Prime with a Spectre agent of all people ordering the attack.</p>
    <p>As her friends urged her to return to the Flotilla, she argued that wouldn't be the best idea. The Geth are working with someone. <em><strong>For</strong></em> someone else. They didn't know who they were, but one thing was for sure that if they went immediately back to the Flotilla, then their people would be in danger.</p>
    <p>Hence they had to go to the Citadel and report on this. They had to try, even with what garbled mess the Quarian found.</p>
    <p>As a child, Tali dreamed of her pilgrimage to see life outside of the Flotilla. She fantasized about beautiful cities. Encountering new races, exchanging ideas, sharing cultures. Perhaps even having an interesting adventure if she were lucky.</p>
    <p>Reality often loves to rip a new one on the naive, doesn't it.</p>
    <p>It was along the way to the Citadel that things went downhill. They couldn't get a proper landing area for their ship, the Honorata, causing them to land in a shady area on Illium in order to restock on supplies. After all, city control kept them in orbit for over half a day, going in circles and things beforehand made them desperate to change things.</p>
    <p>It was long enough for whoever was chasing us to land first and track us down when we least suspected it.</p>
    <p>One of her friends died when they tried getting back to the Honorata. And they were cut off from reaching their ship, leaving them with the only option of stowing away on the first Turian freighter they could sneak aboard.</p>
    <p>On that long cold, terrible journey, they were left alone with their own thoughts. Knowing they were past the point of their own lives ever going back to what they were before.</p>
    <p>Neither knew where they were going. They just hoped it would be somewhere safe and far away from whatever it was they were running from.</p>
    <p>Of course, luck seemed to be on their side as the freighter went straight to the Citadel. And that was when their luck ended when they were caught and were brought to C-Sec, or Citadel Security for short.</p>
    <p>While no charges were pressed, thankfully, Tali and her only friend left with her -Kennah- was forced to try and speak with the Citadel Council, the leaders of this galactic civilization. Of course, more problems came their way as they couldn't see them right away, due to <em>appointments</em> and <em>harassments</em>.</p>
    <p>When they least suspected it, Tali and Kennah were attacked, forcing them to flee once more.</p>
    <p>While Tali merely got a wound on her side, Kennah wasn't so lucky. The wounds he got damaged his lungs… and he wasn't going to make it much longer.</p>
    <p>Due to circumstances, Tali was forced to leave Kennah in an incinerator room; especially when he passed away shortly after.</p>
    <p>Her pilgrimage was meant to bring her closer to her people. Closer to <em>home</em>. Instead, she started losing everything. Endangering everything she cared about. But she can't let that all be in vain. Not after remembering what her father told her through a number of messages.</p>
    <p>Tali was able to entrap her attacker in the incinerator room and activated it, cremating both him and Kennah in the process. After that, she did her best to find a medical station to help mend her wounds.</p>
    <p>"...And that's when you found me, Roxas." Said Tali, ending her tale of her journey so far.</p>
    <p>Roxas was silent, merely nodding to the Quarian as he was processing everything spoken from her.</p>
    <p>"One thing is for sure, Miss Zorah, no one can get to you here; you're safe." Said Dr. Michel in a reassuring manner.</p>
    <p>"Yes. For now." Rasped the Volos. "But that recording you're carrying… if a Spectre <em>is</em> trying to have you <em>assassinated…</em> it must be very serious… very <em>dangerous</em> information."</p>
    <p>'Assassin.' the word repeated in Roxas's mind. 'That was what Marluxia was called.'</p>
    <p>"Not to mention very… <em>valuable</em>. There are people… who'd pay a lot for… what you've got there… either to use it… or to <em>destroy</em> it." Balon spoke up.</p>
    <p>"What…" Roxas spoke up, making everyone look to the Nobody. "What's gonna happen to her?"</p>
    <p>Tali perked up at the concerned look Roxas showed with Chloe crossing her arms.</p>
    <p>"Whatever it is that she has put a target on her back, unfortunately." Michel admitted with a grim tone. "She would be in great danger as soon as she were to leave this clinic."</p>
    <p>The idea of having someone he had just helped be put in danger made Roxas clench his fists tightly.</p>
    <p>"Then… what should we do?"</p>
    <p>Balon coughed aloud, getting everyone's attention.</p>
    <p>"If I could guarantee your safety… would you trust me to trade… this information for you?"</p>
    <p>Tali vigorously shook her head. "I don't want anyone else to die for it."</p>
    <p>"That's not what he's saying." Dr. Michel stated. "We can get that recording into the hands of someone who'll know what to do."</p>
    <p>"There's a bar downstairs… Chora's Den. The man who runs it… can protect you… while I contact an information trader… called the Shadow Broker. But only if… you trust us."</p>
    <p>Tali was silent for some moments, processing all of this. She was about to refute but felt Roxas placing a hand on her shoulder. He had apparently gotten up out of his seat without anyone realizing and walked straight over to her.</p>
    <p>She turned and saw the reassuring look on his face.</p>
    <p>"You don't have to go on this alone, Tali. I can stay with you and help if you want."</p>
    <p>Roxas wasn't sure why he was doing this. This was… completely out of left field for him.</p>
    <p>Nothing at all with what the Organization had taught him. Something about not meddling.</p>
    <p>Yet, he couldn't help but say this. It was a gut feeling. That's all he was going on.</p>
    <p>He wanted to help her and was going to.</p>
    <p>Even if he can't see her face all that well, Roxas seemed to read the way her eyes went that made him think she was smiling, even just a little.</p>
    <p>"...Alright. Just tell me where to go, Balon."</p>
    <p>"It will… take some time… to get a representative of… the Shadow Broker… down there." Balon rasped out. "Perhaps… one or… two days."</p>
    <p>"Which is enough time for your injuries to heal over properly." Chloe stated.</p>
    <p>"I… thank you." Tali said with a bow of her head. "I owe you all so much right now."</p>
    <p>"You should make sure to thank Roxas here." Michel said with a nod of her head in his direction. "It was he that brought you here."</p>
    <p>Once more, she looked to the Greater Nobody with a grateful look.</p>
    <p>"For now, I suggest you rest up Miss Zorah. You're still fresh off from your surgery and need more time to recover."</p>
    <p>"Yes, you're right." Tali nodded, laying down upon her bed. She gazed up at Roxas who stared down at her.</p>
    <p>She couldn't help but squirm slightly at the humans slightly intense gaze.</p>
    <p>"Um… Roxas?" she asked tentatively.</p>
    <p>"Hmmm?"</p>
    <p>"Wha-what are <em>you </em>gonna do now?"</p>
    <p>He blinked. "I said I was gonna help you."</p>
    <p>"And I appreciate that." Tali said. "I really do. But what are you gonna do <em>now?"</em></p>
    <p>Seeing what she really meant, Roxas took a moment to look around the area before spotting what he hoped to find.</p>
    <p>Walking over, he grabbed a small chair and placed it beside Tali's bed and sat down.</p>
    <p>"I guess… keep you company." Roxas said.</p>
    <p>"You don't have to."</p>
    <p>"I know, but… I <em>feel</em> I should."</p>
    <p>Tali stared at the young blond human.</p>
    <p>In all her life, she never would have expected her pilgrimage to lead her to someone like this human. He was strange, that was for sure.</p>
    <p>But… his eyes.</p>
    <p>They were unlike anything she had ever seen.</p>
    <p>So true, so straightforward, so… blank.</p>
    <p>A blank pair of eyes that holds no judgement, no discrimination or negative feelings towards her. But there was also no joy, no humor, no anything.</p>
    <p>Just a blank canvas that looked upon everything as if it were the most fascinating thing in the entire galaxy.</p>
    <p>It was… strange and rather alien.</p>
    <p>All the Quarian could do was nod in acceptance and lied back, hoping she could rest easily, to some degree, from her ordeal up till now.</p>
    <p>"Tali."</p>
    <p>"Yes?"</p>
    <p>"Where are we?"</p>
    <p>"...the Citadel."</p>
    <p>"Oh… right."</p>
    <p>"..."</p>
    <p>"..."</p>
    <p>"Tali?"</p>
    <p>"Hmmm?"</p>
    <p>"What's the Citadel?"</p>
    <p>Tali could only blink in bewilderment upon what just came out of his mouth.</p>
  </div>
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  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>AN</p><p>So glad you could join us everybody, welcome to one of the more crazier ideas as I had said earlier.</p><p>This was a project long in development that Jebest4781 and I had been planning and after many months, and several long sessions of discussion we finally got it off the ground!</p><p>Jebest4781: Boy this is gonna be an interesting story to work on and a rare one at that. Sure seen my fair share of Mass Effect stories with fantasy elements brought in here and there, but nothing to what's about to happen.</p><p>FMW: Yeah, we're going all in on fantasy, sci-fi and  sooo  much more. There's gonna be some awesome scenes, awesome events, awesome storylines cause J and I really wanna give you guys something special. Just like on Jebests profile with our Kingdom Hearts and GOT crossover, we wanna give a unique reading experience here. And I mean it like I said before, aside from one another crossover, this is gonna be officially the second ever Kingdom Hearts and Mass Effect Crossover. So we're gonna come out swinging.</p><p>Other than that, with the crossover universe we are dealing with, go on my profile to find a poll at the top. Have fun with that.</p><p>Rate Read and Review and as Always Have Nice Day.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. The Citadel</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>Rate Read and Review and As Always Have Nice Day.</strong>
</p><p></p><div class="xcontrast">
  <p>I'm Nobody Chapter 2: The Citadel</p>
  <p>When Tali'Zorah Nar Rayya first set out on her Pilgrimage, there were many fantasies and dreams that she had wanted to experience.</p>
  <p>A call to adventure, being swept up in daring and heroic missions that would one day benefit her people.</p>
  <p>To meet with new people and perhaps even become friends with them.</p>
  <p>But Tali, like <em>many </em>other individuals, quickly learned that the Universe rarely ever plays favorites.</p>
  <p>If at all, especially towards her people by the general populous.</p>
  <p>From practically the very beginning, she had been dealing with nothing but one ordeal after another.</p>
  <p>In a matter of days, she had lost the friends that had come with her on her pilgrimage.</p>
  <p>Her initial goal, starting in Illium, drastically diverted upon investing Geth that had appeared outside the Perseus Veil, which soon turned into a mad dash to stay alive.</p>
  <p>To stay one step ahead of whoever it was that wanted her dead.</p>
  <p>It was maddening really.</p>
  <p>Suffering so much loss in such a small amount of time really showed her how naive she really was when starting her Pilgrimage.</p>
  <p>It was a miracle that she had gotten to the Citadel with Kennah alive at all.</p>
  <p>But Kennah didn't last that long either.</p>
  <p>In a matter of an hour or so as soon as they had gotten on to the Citadel they had tried and failed at getting into contact with the Citadel Council with them having information that was paramount.</p>
  <p>Shortly after that doomed attempt, they were both shot at by an assassin that was sent by a Spectre to kill them.</p>
  <p>She was grazed by one of the shots but her friend Kennah was mortally wounded.</p>
  <p>They were running out of time and running out of options.</p>
  <p>Kennah… he didn't last long with how frantic they were and how badly they needed to get away from their pursuer.</p>
  <p>Tali was losing… <em>everything.</em></p>
  <p>She was barely holding on by this point.</p>
  <p>And yet…</p>
  <p>Someone had come to her aid in her time of need.</p>
  <p>Out of nowhere, a human teen who couldn't have been that much younger than her, came up to her and helped her get to safety.</p>
  <p>He had her arm around his shoulders as he barely even struggled in getting her to a medical clinic where she could get treatment to her injury.</p>
  <p>The human wore an exceptionally strange set of clothing from what Tali has seen.</p>
  <p>Calling the clothing to be black would be a simple and easy term to use. That's all it was really.</p>
  <p>Black coat with shirt, pants, shoes, gloves and a hoodie. There were some silver chains hanging off the collar but other than that, nothing that distinguished from the clothing.</p>
  <p>But his name on the other hand was certainly one she had never heard before.</p>
  <p>Roxas.</p>
  <p>He said he was around fifteen, so she really was only older than him by a few years.</p>
  <p>His gravity defying hair was spiked with a sandy-blond color.</p>
  <p>His eyes on the other hand…</p>
  <p>Crystal Blue.</p>
  <p>And as blank as they come.</p>
  <p>As a Quarian, she was taught at a very young age on being able to perceive emotion and expression by studying one's movements be they subtle or direct.</p>
  <p>Or their facial expressions and eyes.</p>
  <p>A human term that made it on to the Flotilla was an apt one that many and all could use.</p>
  <p>The eyes are the gateway to the soul.</p>
  <p>And Roxas' soul was devoid of just about everything.</p>
  <p>When she had gotten a good look at the human who had saved her life, never in Tali's life would she ever have thought that she would meet someone with as emotionless of an expression as Roxas had on him.</p>
  <p>Remember when Tali believed herself to be naive?</p>
  <p>That's what she had believed up to this point after everything that she had endured.</p>
  <p>That was until she met Roxas.</p>
  <p>To call him naive would be a bit of an understatement.</p>
  <p>The human was… well, she couldn't say that he wasn't intelligent. He was curious, that was for sure.</p>
  <p>But he was also absolutely clueless.</p>
  <p>Now, that may come across as rude but that was the only way that Tali could describe Roxas' state of mind right now.</p>
  <p>He asked <em>so many</em> questions that should have been common knowledge.</p>
  <p>It was as if he was born yesterday!</p>
  <p>There was practically nothing that Tali was able to think of thus far that Roxas hadn't asked her about.</p>
  <p>From asking about the Citadel itself, to the multiple alien species that inhabit the galaxy, most topics were not off the table.</p>
  <p>A few options came to mind on what she concluded towards Roxas.</p>
  <p>One, he could've been extremely sheltered until as of late, making him only have a limited amount of knowledge of the galaxy at large. This might be a bit unlikely as most people in such categories don't ever leave their comfy residences unless necessary.</p>
  <p>Two, he might be an amnesiac, not remembering everything he was taught due to an accident or something traumatic of some sort; resulting with various parts of his memory blocked off. This could be the case as she heard of this in passing when preparing to leave the Flotilla for the first time. Albeit it's rare with some individuals using it as an excuse to get away with certain issues with the genuine ones being dismissed in some capacity.</p>
  <p>This option might not be the entire case with her crystal blue-eyed blonde companion.</p>
  <p>It wasn't that he forgot anything.</p>
  <p>From the way he is, it's like he genuinely knows <em>nothing. </em>Thus him asking her every single question and absorbing the answers like a sponge truly throws Tali for a loop as to just what to label the boy as.</p>
  <p>'Perhaps I should just drop him off at one of the VI stations and let him speak his questions.' She briefly thought. 'Let it be more useful than it was towards me.'</p>
  <p>But she had quickly discarded such a notion. Say what you will, but Roxas <em>saved her life.</em> A human who knew absolutely nothing about her, on what was obviously his first time here on the Citadel, helped her without a second thought.</p>
  <p>She couldn't do that to him. Not after he promised to help her out with her situation.</p>
  <p>Presently, both she and Roxas were making their way to Chora's Den in order to get in contact with Fist. After informing him of Balon Von sending them his way and setting up the request for them to stay there for the time being until meeting with the Shadow Broker representative, there wasn't anything else to do but wait.</p>
  <p>That was until Roxas brought up the idea of exploring everything the Citadel had to offer them.</p>
  <p>Tali thought it wasn't much of a good idea with her being out in the open. She didn't know whoever was pursuing her was still hunting her. All the Quarian wanted to do was keep her head down and hide until further notice.</p>
  <p>Yet Roxas convinced her otherwise. Stating that he would keep an eye out for her and do his best in protecting her.</p>
  <p>She didn't mind the gesture all that much but saw a problem with it. The Quarian has not seen a weapon on his person at all. And she highly doubts there's one hidden in that black coat of his.</p>
  <p>It's not like he can pull a weapon out from thin air, right?</p>
  <p>Regardless, right now, she was walking around the Citadel openly with Roxas by her side.</p>
  <p>She was nervous no doubt but Roxas was completely oblivious to her state of mind right now, with his eyes darting about in every conceivable direction. It appeared that he was determined to absorb everything the Citadel had to offer.</p>
  <p>More so with them walking through the Presidium at this very moment.</p>
  <p>"This place looks really interesting." Roxas muttered, gazing up at the large building.</p>
  <p>"It does, doesn't it." She said in momentary passing before gazing upon the lake nearby with a number of statues in and around it. "They built a lake, of all things, on this station. Makes me wonder what resources are used to maintain it."</p>
  <p>He looked at her then back at the building.</p>
  <p>This place was visually appealing so to speak.</p>
  <p>But…</p>
  <p>When you see a castle floating in the air with multiple towers and moving parts, this kinda seems a bit underwhelming.</p>
  <p>As they passed by, Roxas took note of a statue that looked kinda like that big red armored alien that he had encountered earlier.</p>
  <p>"The Krogan rebelled against the Council, yet they have a statue on the Citadel. And the Quarians still live out as outcasts." Tali commented with a bitter tone. "Give it another two hundred years and it might be a means of showing the Krogan even existed."</p>
  <p>Soon enough, the pair came across a statue of what appeared to be an interestingly designed tuning fork with a gyroscope placed in its center.</p>
  <p>"The Protheans obviously understood the aesthetics of the Mass Relays, something us Quarians appreciated in our wanderings."</p>
  <p>'So that's what a Mass Relay looks like.' Thought No. XIII, remembering a bit of detail as a means of fast travel between different star systems.</p>
  <p>It momentarily reminded him of the Corridors of Darkness, quickly taking him from one place to another -over vast distances- in an instant. Perhaps the same concept was used but worked out differently.</p>
  <p>As they continued to wander around the Citadel, Tali couldn't help but make one offhand comment every now and then when passing by particular areas.</p>
  <p>"A thousand Quarians could move here and walk around this very spot with room to spare."</p>
  <p>"I can probably imagine so." Roxas responded back. "I mean, look at this place. It's huge."</p>
  <p>They then passed by a building that appeared to be undergoing renovations.</p>
  <p>"My people used to have an embassy here, but after the Geth, we were no longer welcome here."</p>
  <p>'The Geth again.' Roxas thought to himself. 'What are they?'</p>
  <p>He'd have to ask her at a later time.</p>
  <p>Tali then sighed aloud, looking around their surrounding area both warily and longingly.</p>
  <p>"There's so much I want to do." She said. "So much I want to see. I thought my Pilgrimage wouldn't be so… arduous so quickly."</p>
  <p>Roxas gazed upon her with a conflicted face.</p>
  <p>He heard the change in her tone and it wasn't the usual upbeat, chipper or informative manner that she had usually spoken. This one was more downtrodden if that's a word he could use to describe it.</p>
  <p>"So what is this Pilgrimage then?" Roxas asked. "You mentioned it at the clinic."</p>
  <p>"Oh right, you probably don't know much about my people."</p>
  <p>That was one way of looking at it. "You can say that."</p>
  <p>Tali nodded before answering his request. "My Pilgrimage is my rite of passage into adulthood. It's a tradition among my people. When we reach maturity, we leave the ships of our parents and our people behind. Often alone, we search the stars, only returning to the Flotilla once we have discovered something of value. In this way, we prove ourselves worthy of adulthood."</p>
  <p>"You look for stuff?" Roxas tilted his head. "What kinds of things do you look for?"</p>
  <p>"It could be resources like food or fuel. Or some type of useful technology. Or even knowledge that will make life easier on the Flotilla. Through our Pilgrimage, we prove that we will contribute to the community, rather than being a burden on our limited resources."</p>
  <p>"What do you mean by that?"</p>
  <p>"The ships for the Migrant Fleet are constantly being repaired, modified and refitted in order to make ourselves as independent as possible in our living conditions. Growing our own food, mine and processing our own fuel. But some things we just can't make on our own. A patch to maintain the hull integrity requires raw materials we just don't have, which is often hard to procure."</p>
  <p>"So…" Roxas frowned, thinking really hard on what she was talking about. The way she described it was one that left more questions than answers as he was being honest with himself, he barely knew what she was talking about.</p>
  <p>"These Pilgrimages are really important, huh?"</p>
  <p>"It's one of the most sacred and important ways of life for a Quarian, Roxas. Our lives aren't easy. Resources are scarce and we are constantly on the move. Everything we do in some way contributes to the continuation of the Migrant Fleet. In total, there are seventeen million Quarians in the Flotilla, and each of us relies on the others for survival."</p>
  <p>Roxas was rather surprised upon hearing that. "That's quite the amount to work with."</p>
  <p>Tali shrugged. "The bonds we share amongst my people are strong. Unfortunately, we have had to surrender many of the freedoms and civil liberties other species take for granted."</p>
  <p>"Like what?"</p>
  <p>"Well, it's illegal for parents to have more than one child." This earned a bewildered look from him, causing her to explain the reason. "If our population grows too much, it would strain our resources to their breaking point. Of course the rule against single births is temporarily repealed when our population is in decline. Though, in extreme cases of population decline, incentives are even offered to encourage multiple births."</p>
  <p>"That… must've been something." Roxas said, thinking on population growth.</p>
  <p>He was born out of nothing. He just came into existence.</p>
  <p>So how were they born?</p>
  <p>And again, what were parents supposed to be?</p>
  <p>"It was, but such measures haven't happened in nearly a century."</p>
  <p>Roxas nodded and digested the info before rounding back to an earlier topic. "And what did you have in mind when you started your Pilgrimage?"</p>
  <p>"I honestly didn't know. It's never really definite at first as things change over time. But for me, I wanted to start off on Illium and see where things take me."</p>
  <p>"And why there of all places?" He asked, remembering that place from Tali's series of circumstances.</p>
  <p>"Heard the stories that Illium was rather beautiful with the skylines. Of course I couldn't really enjoy the views with what happened." Roxas gave her a sympathized look as she continued. "But when I heard of the Geth beyond the Perseus Veil, I thought that maybe obtaining fresh Geth data would prove beneficial towards my people. A means of possibly starting to retake our home planet after so many years."</p>
  <p>"How so?"</p>
  <p>"...You really don't know much, do you Roxas?" Tali asked with a sympathetic tone.</p>
  <p>"Sorry, Tali, just… new to a whole lot of things."</p>
  <p>Tali was silent for a few moments before getting into things. "I don't know the full story, only the origins. Centuries ago, my people created the Geth, a synthetic race designed as soldiers and laborers. The perfect automated workforce. We networked their <em>virtual</em> intelligence, expecting it to increase their efficiency on the more varied and complex tasks. Instead it made them <em>self-aware</em> when they began getting closer and closer to true <em>artificial</em> intelligence."</p>
  <p>Roxas was silent, slowly processing these bits of new information. Though he was confused on a number of details with these techno-jargons. Those were more up towards Vexens and Zexion's territory.</p>
  <p>"The changes were so insignificant, so gradual, that we were able to control them. Or so we thought." She said, unaware of his present thoughts. "But one thing we underestimate was when we built more and more Geth, their effective intelligence became more <em>sophisticated</em>, more <em>abstract</em>."</p>
  <p>They were descending a flight of stairs as they saw some signs pointing them towards their intended destination. It was getting darker as they kept moving along with red light briefly overshadowing them.</p>
  <p>"One day, a Geth began to ask it's Quarian overseer questions about the nature of its existence. 'Am I alive? Why am I here? What is my purpose?' As you can imagine, this caused a near panic among my people."</p>
  <p>A mass panic.</p>
  <p>Because it asked questions of their own existence?</p>
  <p>That… was something that hit rather close to home for Roxas.</p>
  <p>Actually, it hit him dead on to the… well, he doesn't have a heart.</p>
  <p>But if he had one…</p>
  <p>"Why?" Roxas suddenly asked.</p>
  <p>Tali glanced at him. "Why what?"</p>
  <p>"Why did they panic because of those questions?"</p>
  <p>The Quarian gazed at the teen who was looking up at her, expression inquisitive and contemplative. She was unsure of just how to explain the problem that her people had faced because Roxas, she had learned in the very short amount of time she had gotten to know him, was one who looked at practically <em>everything</em> with an open minded lens.</p>
  <p>"The Geth were created to engage in mundane, repetitive or dangerous manual labor. It's fine for a machine, but it won't satisfy a sentient being for long." Tali quickly explained. "They were developing self-awareness, Roxas, independent thoughts even. If they were intelligent, then we would be essentially using them as slaves; being no better than the Batarians."</p>
  <p>Roxas frowned, thinking about what she was saying.</p>
  <p>This whole Geth situation kinda reminded him of Organization XIII and the lesser Nobodies under their control.</p>
  <p>The Nobody's that fell under them held sentience of their own to a limited degree and were less instinctual then the Heartless. Most of them had vague recollections of their previous lives with the stronger ones having a better grasp of who or what they once were.</p>
  <p>But it didn't matter.</p>
  <p>All of them were subservient to the fourteen Nobody's that made up the Organization.</p>
  <p>This was a rather… conflicting thought process that quite frankly, Roxas was humble enough to admit that he wasn't really ready to tackle such a serious matter.</p>
  <p>For instance, shortly into his training, he was introduced to a number of Nobody types: the Dusks, Creepers and Samurai. While the first two were shared amongst all of the Organization members, the last one was exclusive to him.</p>
  <p>Roxas wondered why that was so, but he was told that each member had access to a unique brand of Nobody that none of the others could probably control. Except for Lord Xemnas, of course.</p>
  <p>The only time he used the lesser Nobodies assigned to him was for training purposes, nothing more.</p>
  <p>He'd rather deal with this topic when he understands things more.</p>
  <p>Maybe after another month of existence. Or three… maybe four just to be sure.</p>
  <p>"What'd the Geth do?" Roxas asked.</p>
  <p>Tali rubbed one of her wrists nervously.</p>
  <p>"It was inevitable the newly-sentient Geth would rebel against their situation. We knew they would rise up against us. So… we acted first."</p>
  <p>"By doing what?"</p>
  <p>"A general order went out across all Quarian-controlled systems to permanently deactivate all Geth. The Geth responded to this order violently."</p>
  <p>There was something that lit within the Nobody. He didn't know or not if it was a conscious thing to say, but it came out nonetheless.</p>
  <p>"Why wouldn't they fight back?" Roxas asked rhetorically. "Your race was going to destroy them."</p>
  <p>"We had no other choice!" Tali exclaimed heatedly. "The Geth were already on the verge of revolution. By acting quickly, we had a chance to end it before it began. We hoped they would still be little more than machines, incapable of organized resistance. But they had progressed much further than <em>anyone</em> anticipated."</p>
  <p>The forlorn tone and defeated air Tali had around her was palpable.</p>
  <p>"The war was long and bloody. Millions upon millions of my people died at their hands as we were forced to flee from our own homeworld." She said mournfully. "We feared they would pursue us, yet they never came beyond the Veil. Now we drift through space, exiles searching for a way to reclaim what was once ours as we fight to survive every day."</p>
  <p>After some moments, Roxas could tell the Quarian was a little uncomfortable.</p>
  <p>Hesitantly, Roxas reached up and placed a hand on her arm with her flinching slightly at the gesture. "Tali… I'm sorry for bringing that up. I didn't mean..."</p>
  <p>Her bright eyes were wide underneath her helmet. She reached up with her other hand and patted his, giving him a thankful nod.</p>
  <p>"No, it's alright, Roxas. I can't blame you for asking. It's a topic some of us often forget is rather sensitive to discuss thoroughly."</p>
  <p>There were times where she herself wondered what could have been.</p>
  <p>If her ancestors never acted in what they did, the Geth would've wiped them out. They were synthetic life forms, sentient ones at that. They have no use for organics. None at all.</p>
  <p>But at the same time…</p>
  <p>What if they hadn't?</p>
  <p>What if there was a chance that peace could be achieved?</p>
  <p>Honestly, she'd rather not dwell on such a heavy topic right now. She wasn't really prepared for such a thing.</p>
  <p>Eventually, the red light gave way to a white light when entering a metallic cavern. On the other side, they saw a neon sign of an Asari figure lying down in a provocative pose. And right next to it bore a highlighted display with "Chora's Den" written on it.</p>
  <p>Seems they finally arrived.</p>
  <p>Through a few bits of walkways, the pair eventually passed through an automatic doorway. The moment they stepped through, their ears were overwhelmingly assaulted by the sound of music with the primary light color present was blue with some splashes of red and white along several stalls in the back.</p>
  <p>In the center of the establishment was a large bar with several workers serving out drinks. And over by a number of booths were some patrons viewing some of the Asari workers, dancing within a small space as they wore nearly skin-tight clothing.</p>
  <p>The Quarian instantly noticed the humans face scrunch up upon entry to the establishment.</p>
  <p>Roxas didn't seem to like this place. He seemed a bit more used to the more peaceful settings. Too much was going on in here to get a good handle on his bearings. And it didn't take much guesswork for him to know Tali had similar thoughts, if not by much.</p>
  <p>"Are you alright Roxas?" Tali asked.</p>
  <p>The boy had the same face he had since stepping inside the Den. "I… don't know if we should have taken that request with that fist guy."</p>
  <p>"You and me both, Roxas." She said. "Sooner we talk to him, the sooner we can head off elsewhere until tonight."</p>
  <p>Heading towards the back of the establishment, they came across one of the Turian guards stationed there.</p>
  <p>"Can I help you?"</p>
  <p>"Yes, we would like to talk to Fist, please."</p>
  <p>The security guard looked at both the young "human" and Quarian. "Any reason why?"</p>
  <p>"We were told to come here by Balon Von himself."</p>
  <p>The Turian nodded before pointing to one of the booths. "Alright, you two head over there and I'll come fetch you when my boss is available. He'll see if the guy who sent ya checks out or not."</p>
  <p>"If not?"</p>
  <p>"Then you two better get outta here and not come back."</p>
  <p>Tali only nodded, not at all perturbed by the rather distasteful look the Turian shot her as he went back to doing whatever it is he does.</p>
  <p>That was something that Roxas had begun to pick up on as the day went on.</p>
  <p>These looks that other civilians within the Citadel gave towards Tali.</p>
  <p>One of mistrust, distaste, aggravation and wishing for her to be gone.</p>
  <p>What was that about?</p>
  <p>"Come on Roxas." Tali said, tugging his sleeve over to a nearby empty seat.</p>
  <p>About to sit down in the booth and wait, they heard a Turian on the next one over moaning. It wasn't all that annoying for Tali, as the man was no doubt a depressed drunk.</p>
  <p>She was about to mind her own business until Roxas came up to him. Tali realized what he was about to do and was about to move to intercept him when…</p>
  <p>"Hey, you alright?"</p>
  <p>It was too late.</p>
  <p>The Turian snapped his attention towards the blue-eyed blonde as he gave him a critical look.</p>
  <p>"What's it to ya, human?" The Turian said snippily. "Can't you see I'm not in the mood to talk to anyone?"</p>
  <p>Roxas was put off by this rather rude answer but then again… Larxene was a case unto herself.</p>
  <p>"I'm just wondering what's going on." Roxas said after a moment. "You sound… depressed."</p>
  <p>That was probably the right word to use, right?</p>
  <p>It appeared to be so as the Turian slumped back in his seat with a defeated expression.</p>
  <p>"Am I really that obvious?"</p>
  <p>"Probably. I'm still learning of noticing things."</p>
  <p>That… was a strange answer, to be sure.</p>
  <p>The Turian huffed a little. "Well you're right, I suppose." He then took a swig of his drink before staring down into its liquid contents. "I've seen a lot of horrible things in my days and there's only one woman in this damn galaxy that helps me forget it."</p>
  <p>"A woman helps you forget?" Roxas tilted his head. "Forget what?"</p>
  <p>"Everything." The Turian said aloud emphatically. "Everything I've seen, all the bullshit I've had to deal with and do… She made all that stress go away."</p>
  <p>The Turian then growled in frustration.</p>
  <p>"And yet… she rejected me. ME! Septimus Oraka, general of the Turian fleet!"</p>
  <p>This Oraka guy was definitely depressed. That was for sure.</p>
  <p>And all over some woman.</p>
  <p>Roxas saw that it was bothering him with how he had conveyed himself towards him so he wanted to get this question right.</p>
  <p>"Is this woman… really worth it?" Roxas asked tentatively.</p>
  <p>"She's not just any woman, kid. She's… special. She never made me feel that way before." The Turian General said in an over dramatic tone.</p>
  <p>She made him feel special?</p>
  <p>Why? What was it that she did to make him… <em>feel </em>like that?</p>
  <p>He had to know more.</p>
  <p>"What happened between you two?" Roxas asked.</p>
  <p>Septimus gave the greater Nobody a brief look before scoffing dismissively. "Look… I appreciate what you're trying to do, but don't waste your time."</p>
  <p>Roxas however wasn't going to be perturbed. He wanted, no, needed to understand why this Turian was acting the way he was.</p>
  <p>"Have you considered… talking to her about how you feel." Said the Nobody, <em>feeling</em> rather odd saying such a thing.</p>
  <p>"Pardon?"</p>
  <p>"You… didn't leave each other on the best of terms." Roxas surmised.</p>
  <p>Oraka huffed with his arms now crossed. "You got that right. But what's your point?"</p>
  <p>Roxas thought the question over for a moment. "Maybe you could do something simple like… going out for ice-cream with her and talk things out."</p>
  <p>To say that Oraka was floored by such a suggestion would be an understatement. Who just goes and suggests something like that to a general?</p>
  <p>And for that matter, just who was this kid?</p>
  <p>"I mean, it wouldn't hurt to try." the teen added after a moment of silence.</p>
  <p>"...Who even are you kid?"</p>
  <p>"Roxas." The blue-eyed teen replied. "Just a Nobody."</p>
  <p>The Turian stared at the boy. That's… one way of introducing oneself.</p>
  <p>"Well Roxas, allow me to educate you briefly on my life. I spent all my life acting like a general and what did it get me?" Oraka leaned back in his seat and stared at the boy in front of him. "No, those days are over. I'll just be what I am: a tired, lonely, worn-out soldier."</p>
  <p>The depressed tone came back in full force.</p>
  <p>"That… doesn't sound like a great life." Roxas remarked. "Don't you want your existence to be remembered.</p>
  <p>Alright, even the kids wording was weird. "No, I'd rather not be remembered at all. But I see your point."</p>
  <p>Oraka sighed, leaning onto the table.</p>
  <p>"So you think it's that easy? Just straighten up and act like a general?"</p>
  <p>"I think you should try." Roxas said more confidently now. "If she means that much to you… you shouldn't give up on her."</p>
  <p>The Turian general hummed and thought for a few moments. "Huh… Maybe you're right, kid. Sha'ira's worth the effort… even if she won't have me back."</p>
  <p>"Was there something that caused you to get into this mess?"</p>
  <p>The Turian gave a brief nod. "I… said some things to her and she said things back in equal measure. Before long, I spread some unsavory, untruthful things about her that probably made her hate me more."</p>
  <p>Septimus then scrunched his face up thinking on the humans' own question.</p>
  <p>"Actually, why'd you even come up to me?" Oraka asked. "The hell even compelled you to come up to me?"</p>
  <p>"You seemed like someone that needed help." Roxas answered without batting an eye.</p>
  <p>"..."</p>
  <p>"..."</p>
  <p>"...You're a strange kid, you know that right?"</p>
  <p>Roxas merely shrugged.</p>
  <p>In some way, he honestly didn't know why he came to the general in the first place. When he thought about it, he <em>felt</em> there was something urging him to confront him.</p>
  <p>Why was that?</p>
  <p>Oraka shook his head.</p>
  <p>"Well, I'm not sure how to really confront her after all this." The General admitted. "Not after last time."</p>
  <p>"But… don't you care for her?"</p>
  <p>"Spirits kid, course I do." Septimus declared unabashedly. "She's the only one I want in this entire galaxy."</p>
  <p>"Then what are you waiting for?" Roxas urged the man before him.</p>
  <p>Oraka didn't answer right away, being silent for a few more moments. "Alright, I'll go to her and take her out for… ice-cream was it?" Roxas nodded in confirmation. "Right, I'll do that… after I take a shower or two." Just before the general left, he asked the Nobody one last thing. "Say, you're a pretty bright kid. Would you be interested in helping me out on something?"</p>
  <p>"What do you have in mind?"</p>
  <p>"There's this Elcor diplomat out in the Presidium who believes Sha'ira gave up some of his personal secrets."</p>
  <p>"Elcor…" Roxas repeated. What were those again? Maybe Tali knows. "And what makes you think this Elcor believes… Sha'ira… was it?... Who gave these secrets up?"</p>
  <p>"Because I told him." Confessed the general.</p>
  <p>"That seems rude." Roxas bluntly said, making the Turian grunt in aggravation at his own actions.</p>
  <p>"It pretty much was. Look, I just need you to convince him of the truth."</p>
  <p>"And how can I do that?"</p>
  <p>Oraka pulled out what Roxas realized was a datapad. "This has the proof you need, Roxas. It shows where I got my info. It will exonerate Sha'ira and convince Xeltan, the Elcor diplomat of the truth."</p>
  <p>Once being handed off the datapad, Roxas pocketed it into his Organization coat as the general left the stall.</p>
  <p>The Turian General all the while finished his drink before rising up out of his seat and stood in front of the shorter human with an appreciative look in his eyes.</p>
  <p>"You're a good kid, Roxas. Hope there can be more people out there like you." Oraka said as he exited out of Chora's Den.</p>
  <p>Roxas watched him as he exited when he felt a hand on his shoulder turn him to face his Quarian companion that had been observing in the background for the entire interaction.</p>
  <p>"Keelah Roxas, why would you go and do that?" Tali asked exasperatedly.</p>
  <p>"He needed help." Roxas said plainly.</p>
  <p>Tali froze comically at the answer, not expecting him to be so forthco… no, wait, that's just how he behaves all the time.</p>
  <p>Honestly, there's not much he appears to hide.</p>
  <p>But seriously, why did he have to go and do that? Did he not have any tact?</p>
  <p>The same Turian security guard they met earlier soon came back. "Good to see you two still here. Some people chicken out and leave if they were lying."</p>
  <p>"Can't imagine why." Tali muttered out as the pair were escorted through the back.</p>
  <p>Going through a small hallway, there was a storage area on their right and what appeared to be a small warehouse further back. Soon enough, they came across an office where the Turian knocked on the door.</p>
  <p>"Fist, it's me. Got the two with me."</p>
  <p>In an instant, the door opened up. The security guard ushered the two to enter the office where they saw a human sitting behind a desk.</p>
  <p>"Hello." Roxas greeted the man. "Are you Fist?"</p>
  <p>"So you're the two Balon Von sent my way, huh?" He said, not really taking his eyes off his datapad.</p>
  <p>"Yeah." Roxas nodded.</p>
  <p>Fist looked up from the datapad, taking note of the boy and his companion.</p>
  <p>"A kid and a Quarian? Huh, so my boy wasn't jokin' on that." Fist said with a snort.</p>
  <p>"Why would he?" Roxas asked innocently.</p>
  <p>The human gazed at the Nobody for a few moments, unsure of what to make of the question. Was he being serious or sarcastic? Cause it looked as though it was more on the former. He shook his head, deciding to drop the topic.</p>
  <p>"Alright, so my boy told me you two wanted to talk to me on somethin'. Well what is it?"</p>
  <p>Tali was the one to answer. "We need somewhere to stay and lay low."</p>
  <p>For a brief moment, Tali thought of only saying "I" instead of "we". But Roxas was already with her so far, so she felt that she should include him in this.</p>
  <p>"For how long and what for?"</p>
  <p>"Just a day or two." Roxas said to him.</p>
  <p>"That seems relatively short." Fist noted. "And still, what for?"</p>
  <p>"We need to talk to a representative of the Shadow Broker as I have vital information he might be interested in."</p>
  <p>Fist blinked upon hearing what came out of Tali's mouth.</p>
  <p>"The Shadow Broker?" Fist snorted. "That's some serious shit right there." Thinking for a few moments, the man nodded. "Alright then, you got me."</p>
  <p>"So you'll help us?" Roxas asked.</p>
  <p>"Just come back here later today as I'll set somethin' up for you two lovebirds."</p>
  <p>In an instant, Tali stuttered. "We're not-"</p>
  <p>"Now you two get on outta here."</p>
  <p>The door behind them opened up, causing the Turian security guard to escort the pair out of his office and out of the establishment.</p>
  <p>When the door closed back up, Fist decided to make a call. After a few moments, someone answered.</p>
  <p>"<em>Yes, Fist, what is it?"</em> Spoke a man in a gravelly voice.</p>
  <p>"Hey, Saren, you told me to look out for a Quarian girl, right?"</p>
  <p>"<em>Yes, what of it?"</em></p>
  <p>"I think I just found her."</p>
  <p>Stepping out of Chora's Den, the two felt a little bit accomplished when getting that part of their task completed.</p>
  <p>When they were about to begin their travel back towards the Presidium, Roxas remembered something.</p>
  <p>"Hey Tali?"</p>
  <p>"Yes?"</p>
  <p>"What are lovebirds?"</p>
  <p>Rather than getting a straight answer, the Quarian began stammering and stuttering rapidly with her suit becoming incredibly hot in a matter of seconds.</p>
  <p>Her companion could only blink as he could swear that he saw steam coming out from her hood with her walk becoming clumsy for a few seconds until she straightened out her posture entirely and walked at a much faster pace.</p>
  <p>
    <em>-Scene Cut-</em>
  </p>
  <p>"So this is the place, huh?"</p>
  <p>"We are seeing the Elcor diplomat, Tali."</p>
  <p>"It is strange that this office also reads Volos as well."</p>
  <p>"Maybe we can figure out the reason why." Roxas pressed the button on the side, setting out a sound briefly heard on the other side.</p>
  <p>"<em>Inquiry: Yes, what is it?" </em>Spoke a being over an intercom, sounding rather monotonous and emotionless.</p>
  <p>"We're here to see an Elcor named Xeltan." Roxas answered.</p>
  <p>In an instant, the door automatically parted ways, prompting Tali and Roxas to walk right in. Going up a flight of stairs on the right, the two entered a room where a Volus stood on the left in front of a counter and two gargantuan quadrupedal aliens stood with one on the right and the other behind a desk.</p>
  <p>Are these Elcors?</p>
  <p>They were massive.</p>
  <p>Roxas vaguely recalls seeing maybe one or two but right now, that wasn't on his mind.</p>
  <p>The two walked up to the desk with the Elcor on the right moving his massive frame to face them.</p>
  <p>"Hello there, human… Quarian. Sincere apology, but I am here on business and cannot be distracted. Please tell me what you need so I may return to my duties."</p>
  <p>…</p>
  <p>Wow, and he thought he sounded like a zombie when he first started out in the Organization.</p>
  <p>This one certainly took the cake in that regard.</p>
  <p>Roxas coughed into his hand, getting the Elcor to look at him. "I've come to talk to you about a problem you're experiencing with Sha'ira."</p>
  <p>Xeltan merely blinked. "Curious, what do you know about the Consort and her relationship to me?"</p>
  <p>"Not much." Roxas admitted. "A Turian named General Septimus supposedly found out your secret… whatever it was." He pulled out a datapad from his coat and presented it to the large being. "This here holds the truth."</p>
  <p>"Unbelieving, I know this Septimus and he could not learn my secrets. The only way he could learn them is from the Asari consort."</p>
  <p>"That doesn't seem to be the case, Xeltan." Tali said to the diplomat. "Just take a look on the datapad, please."</p>
  <p>'He has an X in his name too.' The stray thought went through Roxas's mind.</p>
  <p>Could it be something significant?</p>
  <p>Maybe, who knows.</p>
  <p>After looking through the contents of the datapad, Xeltan spoke. "Confused, this is difficult to fathom. If the Turian could learn this on his own… dismayed, anyone can discover my secret. Confused anguish, why would Septimus do such a thing?"</p>
  <p>"A broken heart, most likely." Tali remarked with her arms crossed.</p>
  <p>"He wanted to make things right." Roxas said.</p>
  <p>"Gratitude relief, I owe you a great debt, human, Quarian." Xeltan said. "Startled realization, I must speak with the consort. She will be most displeased with my actions. Anxious request, please human, Quarian, if you'll excuse me, I must go now."</p>
  <p>"Bye." Roxas said politely, watching as the large alien trudged off.</p>
  <p>The other Elcor in the room spoke up. "Thankful, that was a great thing you did, human. Approving, you see Din, not all humans are as you say."</p>
  <p>The Volus, who seemed to be Din, spoke next in a raspy tone. "I'm sure the Earth-clan stands to profit from this in some way."</p>
  <p>"Not really." Roxas admitted. "Just doing something that's right."</p>
  <p>"Apologetic, do not listen to my Volus compatriot. It was a good thing you did, regardless of your intentions. Approval, there needs to be more individuals like yourself out there." the Elcor stated. "Have a nice day."</p>
  <p>Roxas simply waved goodbye as he and Tali departed from the building.</p>
  <p>They stepped out and were momentarily unsure of what to do now.</p>
  <p>"Well that was rather quick." Roxas said aloud.</p>
  <p>"Right?"</p>
  <p>"So where do you want to go now?"</p>
  <p>Tali hummed. "I'm not really sure. What of you?"</p>
  <p>Roxas placed a hand up to his chin in thought. "Well, we did <em>something</em> I wanted to do. Perhaps we can do something you want to do next."</p>
  <p>The Quarian smiled under her purple-tinted glass helmet.</p>
  <p>"We do have plenty of time till we need to get back to Chora's Den." He reminded her, making her smile a bit more.</p>
  <p>"I probably have something in mind." Said the Quarian. "But first, I wanna head back to Dr. Michel and tell her the good news."</p>
  <p>Roxas nodded, thinking it would be good to inform the clinic doctor on what's going on now.</p>
  <p>It took some bit of time getting back to Chloe's clinic with how crowded their pathway was.</p>
  <p>"I need those supplies for my clinic. I can't!" Chloe said in duress.</p>
  <p>"You can and you will. Or your story won't stay secret for long." Spoke a man though the other end of a call. "Don't disappoint me, Doctor."</p>
  <p>When the call ended, the clinic doctor ran a hand through her hair before trying to calm herself down. As she tried doing so, she heard someone walking up to her. Turning towards them, she saw two familiar faces.</p>
  <p>"Oh, Roxas, Tali, what a surprise." She said pleasantly. "What are you two doing here?"</p>
  <p>"We wanted to stop by but…" Tali shifted about uncomfortably. "Is something wrong? Who was that?"</p>
  <p>"Just someone from my past who has come back to bother me." Michel said dismissively yet Tali saw through her tone.</p>
  <p>"Is someone threatening you?" Tali asked, making Chloe seize up in apprehension.</p>
  <p>Seeing this, Roxas immediately stepped in. "We can help you, Doctor. Please, it's the least we can do for what you did for Tali."</p>
  <p>Chloe didn't know what to do, but after several moments she gave in. "I was fired by my previous employer for giving out free medical supplies to clinics like this."</p>
  <p>This confused the Nobody. "What's so bad about that? Isn't that supposed to be a good thing?"</p>
  <p>Michel couldn't help but smile at the boy's attitude. "If only…"</p>
  <p>"It is, to some, Roxas. But in all honesty it's illegal without proper approval." Tali said to her companion.</p>
  <p>Chloe nodded in confirmation before continuing. "They never filed any charges. They just wanted me to leave without any fuss. But somebody must have found out. Now they're blackmailing me. I have to give them what they want."</p>
  <p>"What happens if you don't?"</p>
  <p>"The board will find out of my past and I could lose my license. They'll shut my clinic down."</p>
  <p>"We won't let that happen." Tali declared emphatically. She was not about to see the woman who helped save her life just lose her clinic.</p>
  <p>Roxas nodded before addressing something crossing his mind. "We'll help you through this, Doctor. Just tell us what they want."</p>
  <p>"I have to give some of my medical supplies to a merchant in the markets down below. They expect delivery today."</p>
  <p>"Just tell us who this person is and we'll do our best in taking care of him."</p>
  <p>"Deal with him? But won't they expose my past?"</p>
  <p>"We'll be careful in not making that happen." Tali assured.</p>
  <p>"I was told to speak with a Salarian merchant named Morlan down in the markets. I really appreciate this, you two. Thank you."</p>
  <p>"No problem."</p>
  <p>Leaving the clinic once hearing Dr. Michel wishing them luck, they made their way towards their new destination.</p>
  <p>"Was actually wanting to check out the markets."</p>
  <p>"Really? What for?"</p>
  <p>"Just window shopping, as what you humans say it."</p>
  <p>Well, he doesn't say anything.</p>
  <p>He's not even fully human for that matter.</p>
  <p>Just a Nobody…</p>
  <p>The duo made their way down to the markets with Tali using the data she had gotten from Chloe to track down this Morlan that she spoke of.</p>
  <p>"Hello there. Welcome to Morlan's famous shop." Said the Salarian in a cheerful tone. "You want many good supplies, yes?"</p>
  <p>Tali leaned on the counter. "We were told you were expecting a shipment of medical supplies."</p>
  <p>"But I was told the Doctor would be bringing them." Morlan said in confusion.</p>
  <p>"Sorry, but she can't." Tali said.</p>
  <p>"A change? But… the doctor… I don't… This is not right, Quarian."</p>
  <p>"Shut up, Morlan."</p>
  <p>Both Roxas and Tali peered over and saw a Krogan approaching them. If they were right, his voice was the one talking to Dr. Michel over the one call earlier.</p>
  <p>"I told Barnes you'd screw this up!" Growled the Krogan before taking notice of the Nobody and Quarian. "What the hell's going on here? Who are you two, Pyjaks?"</p>
  <p>"We're… friends of Doctor Michel." Roxas said.</p>
  <p>"We don't want any trouble." Tali said. "Just leave the doctor alone, that's all we're asking."</p>
  <p>"We can end this if you just bring me those supplies." The plated alien said threateningly. "Otherwise, I'll start telling people about the Doctor's secret."</p>
  <p>Tali however stepped forward. "But you're trying to shut down a medical clinic. What if someone winds up needing it?</p>
  <p>"What if you need it?" Roxas asked a second later, making the Krogan flinch.</p>
  <p>"Hey, hold on! I'm just the middleman here." Spoke the blackmailer. "This is way more than I bargained for. I'm out."</p>
  <p>With that said, he made his way out of the marketplace, hopefully to never be seen again by the two companions.</p>
  <p>Roxas gazed at the retreating form of the Krogan.</p>
  <p>'Huh.' Roxas internally mused. 'That was easier than I thought.'</p>
  <p>From behind the counter, the Salarian Morlan rose up with a relieved look.</p>
  <p>"Thank you human, Quarian. It's good to see him humbled so." he said earnestly.</p>
  <p>"So… what was that all about?" Roxas inquired. "Who's this Banes guy?"</p>
  <p>Morlan shrugged. "Never met him. I only worked with the one who spoke with the doctor."</p>
  <p>"That Krogan?" Tali asked with Morlan nodding.</p>
  <p>"Brute isn't he? But it appears that you proved that not to be the case." The Salarian said smugly. "But, the two of you have done me a great service. This entire area. I was fearing there'd be conflict yet the two of you averted disaster. Please, whatever it is you want, you can have it on a discount. On me."</p>
  <p>"You sure?" Tali asked tentatively.</p>
  <p>"Positive."</p>
  <p>Roxas didn't know what to do on this but seeing Tali like this made him comply.</p>
  <p>She did say she wanted to check out the markets. Might as well humor her.</p>
  <p>Gazing upon what Morlan had to offer, Tali practically gasped aloud. "How the hell did you get these?"</p>
  <p>"Tali, what's wrong?" Roxas asked, startled by his companions' sudden actions.</p>
  <p>Coming up to what was on display, Roxas saw an assortment of weapons. They were rather slender and slick in an indigo metallic color.</p>
  <p>"How do you have Geth weapons?" Inquired the Quarian.</p>
  <p>"By sheer dumb luck, if I'm honest." Morlan admitted with a small grin. "The circumstances in which I got these weapons would be a long story."</p>
  <p>As much as Tali wanted to demand knowing the information, she could probably tell it would be too long to hear about. So she relented and let the matter drop.</p>
  <p>For now, she was going to use this lucky opportunity and get some good equipment.</p>
  <p>"And you good sir, do you want anything?"</p>
  <p>"I… don't know."</p>
  <p>Morlan gazed at the Nobody, checking his arm for a moment and voiced an inquiry. "Perhaps you'd like an Omni-tool?"</p>
  <p>"An Omni-Tool?" Roxas murmured, brows furrowed.</p>
  <p>"Er… yes, an Omni-Tool." Morlan said more slowly this time. "You do know what an Omni-tool is, right?"</p>
  <p>"I…"</p>
  <p>"Yes please." Tali cut him off, placing down some credit chits.</p>
  <p>"Say no more." Morlan ducked down for a moment before coming back up with a small metallic tablet that held a number of Omni-tools.</p>
  <p>Gazing upon them, they appeared to be wristbands of sorts in a variety of styles and colors.</p>
  <p>"Choose anyone you like." Morlan said.</p>
  <p>Roxas gazed upon the Omni-Tools with an intrigued expression. Weren't they that holographic thingy that Tali uses on her arm… as a matter of fact, he saw a lot of people have these Omni-Tools.</p>
  <p>These all looked… the same.</p>
  <p>"I recommend this one, Roxas." Tali pointed at the wristband, second to the right.</p>
  <p>"Ah~ good choice. A really good model. Great reviews for that one."</p>
  <p>Taking their word for it, Roxas took the one Omni-tool and slipped it through his hand before tightening it around his wrist to keep it in place.</p>
  <p>The orange holographic displays appeared with multiple settings that Roxas couldn't even begin to understand.</p>
  <p>Seeing the teens confused state, Tali giggled, reaching out to gently set the arm down.</p>
  <p>"We can set things up on that later, Roxas." Tali said to him. "I'll even tell you everything you need to know on it as well."</p>
  <p>Roxas gave her a small smile. "Thanks."</p>
  <p>Tali found herself momentarily pausing as she locked eyes with the boy she had only known for a day by this point, clearing her throat in an awkward manner a moment later.</p>
  <p>When they left, Tali was practically skipping. Strapped to her lower back was a Geth Pulse Shotgun and along the length of her back was a Geth Pulse Rifle. And Morlan said both were the top of the line with what upgrades he put on them.</p>
  <p>Roxas had his new Omni-tool and… nothing else really, much to the Quarian's confusion.</p>
  <p>He could've gotten himself some weapons. They were practically for free and no one would've argued. Yet Roxas declined.</p>
  <p>Why?</p>
  <p>Even though he was a teenager, having a weapon was commonplace, horrible as that sounds, makes it seem like the Galaxy was a dangerous place.</p>
  <p>…Which it was at the end of the day.</p>
  <p>Quite frankly, Tali would rather not push her luck by this point.</p>
  <p>She had escaped death's door a day ago and was now spending time with the human who had done so who was quickly becoming one of her favorite people in the galaxy.</p>
  <p>Right now though, Doctor Chloe Michel is probably waiting for them both.</p>
  <p>They returned to her clinic quickly with the doctor seeing them upon entry.</p>
  <p>"How did things go?" she asked nervously.</p>
  <p>"You won't be having any further problems." Tali assured her happily.</p>
  <p>"Really?" She let out a breath she had been holding. Michel placed a hand over her chest. "That's a great relief. You two, I can't thank you enough."</p>
  <p>"It's no problem, doctor."</p>
  <p>"I can't pay you for your help, but I can give you a discount on any supplies you purchase here from here on out. I'll even give you some for free for this time only."</p>
  <p>"You don't have to." Tali said with a bashful tone.</p>
  <p>"But I insist."</p>
  <p>Well… she insisted.</p>
  <p>Both Roxas and Tali were soon given some prototype devices that are supposed to help monitor and regulate their vitals and systems. And with them came with a couple of Medi-gels.</p>
  <p>He asked about them earlier, learning they helped heal someone from certain degrees of injuries.</p>
  <p>That kinda reminded him of Potions.</p>
  <p>And… strange.</p>
  <p>There's a spell that suddenly came to Roxas's mind. One he had not learned of during his month-long time with the Organization.</p>
  <p>What were they called again?</p>
  <p>'<em>Cure, Cura, Curaga.'</em></p>
  <p>How did he know that?</p>
  <p>He knew the usual spells like Fire, Blizzard, Thunder and such but… he never recalled the Organization bringing up something like that.</p>
  <p>Returning his attention back to the discussion on hand, he heard Tali bring up something that was related to what transpired down in the market.</p>
  <p>"The blackmailer, he said he worked for a man named Banes. Does that mean something to you?" Tali asked the doctor.</p>
  <p>"Banes? I wonder if he meant Armistan Banes?" Michel said with a thoughtful look. "We worked together a long time ago."</p>
  <p>"What can you tell us about him?" Tali asked.</p>
  <p>"Last I heard, the Alliance Military was contracting him for some research in the Traverse." She said to them. "I wish I could tell you more…"</p>
  <p>Tali held her hand up placatingly. "It's fine, doctor. I thought you should at least know who was doing this to you."</p>
  <p>"I appreciate it." Michel said gratefully.</p>
  <p>"Oh yeah, we meant to tell you things over at Chora's Den worked out well." Tali said in a chipper manner.</p>
  <p>"Really? That's good."</p>
  <p>"We'll just have to stay over there tonight and wait things out, I suppose." Roxas said.</p>
  <p>"Of course." Chloe said to them. "Well, I wish you both luck."</p>
  <p>"Thank you."</p>
  <p>Heading out of the clinic once more, the pair didn't know what else to do once again.</p>
  <p>But soon enough, a small sound was heard.</p>
  <p>*Growl*</p>
  <p>Where did that come from?</p>
  <p>Tali abruptly began giggling aloud.</p>
  <p>"When was the last time you ate?"</p>
  <p>"...Two days ago."</p>
  <p>That threw her for a loop. "Really?"</p>
  <p>Roxas thought about it for a moment.</p>
  <p>"Yeah, it's been two days."</p>
  <p>Well… that was incredibly nonchalant.</p>
  <p>Clearing her throat, Tali brought up her Omni-tool and found what she was looking for.</p>
  <p>"I think I might know a place. But we'll need to check it out."</p>
  <p>Heading towards the parked sky car nearby, Tali paid the fee and entered the coordinates in where they needed to go.</p>
  <p>
    <em>-Scene Cut-</em>
  </p>
  <p>The pair was walking through the 26th level of a building in the Zakara Ward's Mid-Ward district. There was a whole assortment of things occurring around them that kept catching Roxas' gaze.</p>
  <p>They had come here looking for a place to eat since Tali's stomach had rumbled by this point.</p>
  <p>"What is this place you're taking me?"</p>
  <p>"It's something I heard from a couple of Quarians back on the Flotilla. A place called Stand."</p>
  <p>"...Stand?"</p>
  <p>"Yes, Stand."</p>
  <p>"...Who names a place 'Stand'?"</p>
  <p>"Hey, don't look at me, I wasn't the one naming it as such."</p>
  <p>He only shrugged a moment later in compliance. After all he didn't even get to name himself.</p>
  <p>"And what is this place called 'Stand'?"</p>
  <p>"A ramen shop."</p>
  <p>"Ramen?" Roxas frowned in thought. He recalled seeing something like that one time in Twilight Town in passing. "Like… noodles?"</p>
  <p>Tali was really beginning to believe that something happened to Roxas to question just about everything.</p>
  <p>At least he knew what this was.</p>
  <p>"The chefs there make ramen for all species. It's supposed to be a place where I can actually eat solid food instead of having my normal dextro-amino nutrient pastes. Something that won't give me digestive problems."</p>
  <p>Roxas didn't know what dextro-amino is, but he wasn't going to say anything.</p>
  <p>Tali guided him towards their destination before she abruptly halted in front of another restaurant.</p>
  <p>Bewildered by her sudden stop, Roxas saw she was gazing intently at the establishment before her.</p>
  <p>He looked up for a moment to see just what it was about this place that caught her attention.</p>
  <p>'Ryuusei's Sushi Bar.' he internally read, looking back at Tali who appeared to be determined now.</p>
  <p>"Someday." She said to herself. "Someday."</p>
  <p>The Nobody was certainly confused but also intrigued by this declaration to herself. What was it that she hoped for someday?</p>
  <p>Did it have to do with this restaurant?</p>
  <p>Tali turned to Roxas, jolting as she realized he was standing there waiting patiently for her.</p>
  <p>"Oops." She said sheepishly. "Sorry Roxas. Come on. The Stand isn't far from here."</p>
  <p>Resuming their walk, eventually they arrived at the small open seating restaurant called Stand.</p>
  <p>"Sumimasen." Said the chef, greeting the two new arrivals. "What will you be having?"</p>
  <p>Tali excitedly looked down the menu, pointing to a specific dish with Roxas simply gazing at his own menu with a blank face.</p>
  <p>"Um…"</p>
  <p>"First time?" The Chef asked kindly with Roxas nodding. "Then leave it to me."</p>
  <p>He immediately got to work, showing a brilliant display of his skills as he effortlessly made and cooked the Ramen before their eyes.</p>
  <p>In a matter of minutes, two bowls were presented before them and two pairs of chopsticks.</p>
  <p>"Enjoy." The Chef said graciously, moving on to another pair of customers that had just seated themselves.</p>
  <p>Roxas gazed down at his bowl in front of him, looking to Tali who was rubbing her hands excitedly.</p>
  <p>She broke apart her chopsticks when Roxas realized something.</p>
  <p>He had never seen her take her helmet off.</p>
  <p>"Tali…"</p>
  <p>"Yes?"</p>
  <p>"...How are you going to eat with…"</p>
  <p>Tali saw him gesture the glass covering of her helmet.</p>
  <p>"Ah, right, that…" She murmured before pulling out a metal object from… somewhere.</p>
  <p>"I've got my induction port to help me eat."</p>
  <p>"...I think that's a straw."</p>
  <p>"It's an induction port."</p>
  <p>"No, I most certainly know that's a straw."</p>
  <p>"Roxas…"</p>
  <p>"Hmmm?"</p>
  <p>"Just eat your ramen."</p>
  <p>"... alright." Roxas was about to dig in yet a little voice in the back of his head egged him on, one last time. "Straw."</p>
  <p>Tali's head snapped in his direction with a mock look in her eyes of seething rage as Roxas began to eat his ramen with an innocent expression.</p>
  <p>Her false rage didn't last long with her laughing a moment later with Roxas having a small laugh of his own though it went away in an instant.</p>
  <p>With Tali beginning to have her own bowl, she missed the troubled face that Roxas gave off after he had laughed.</p>
  <p>'What was that just now?' Roxas internally asked himself. 'I… I know I <em>felt</em> something.'</p>
  <p>He was a Nobody.</p>
  <p>He wasn't supposed to experience emotion.</p>
  <p>…</p>
  <p>But that was undoubtedly what just happened to him.</p>
  <p>What in the world… or Citadel, was going on?</p>
  <p>"Oh~ Fellow hood wearers."</p>
  <p>Both Tali and Roxas looked to their right to see two other humans seated beside them, wearing skintight black and grey suits with hoods that obscured the upper portions of their faces.</p>
  <p>They were kinda like the Organization hoods. Except their faces were still visible for the most part. Whereas the man only had some facial hair, the woman had a strip of purple lipstick running down the middle of her bottom lip.</p>
  <p>"Don't mind us." Said the man beside the woman.</p>
  <p>"Just a couple of ramen lovers such as yourselves." the hooded woman said cheerfully.</p>
  <p>The newly arrived hooded pair gave their requested order, causing the one chef to quickly get to work.</p>
  <p>"So~" The Woman looked to them both with a mischievous look. "First time on the Citadel?"</p>
  <p>Roxas gazed at her before nodding.</p>
  <p>"Yeah."</p>
  <p>Tali merely nodded as she slurped more of her noodles through her stra- *cough* induction port.</p>
  <p>"How are you liking it?" the man asked.</p>
  <p>"It's… crowded." Roxas answered.</p>
  <p>The hooded woman giggled. "Yes it most certainly is."</p>
  <p>A moment later, their bowls were served with the two new arrivals digging in immediately.</p>
  <p>"Mmm… so~ good. Almost as good as my grandmother's."</p>
  <p>"Didn't you say you wanted to steal her recipe, Kasumi?"</p>
  <p>"I did, didn't I, Keiji."</p>
  <p>As they continued to eat, Roxas observed them all the while.</p>
  <p>They were certainly expressive and emotive, that was for sure.</p>
  <p>Tali was somewhat shy though she spoke confidently on matters she was certain or confident in or when dealing with people that she liked.</p>
  <p>These two on the other hand appeared to openly display their emotions.</p>
  <p>…He was… envious.</p>
  <p>The woman named Kasumi appeared to have noticed him staring out of the corner of her eye.</p>
  <p>"May I help you?" She asked politely, a small grin in place.</p>
  <p>He only gazed at her with clear interest, looking up to the man named Keiji who was gazing back at him whilst inhaling his own bowl.</p>
  <p>He then wordlessly returned to his meal, with the two hooded individuals sharing a look.</p>
  <p>They only shrugged and resumed eating.</p>
  <p>Almost done with his meal, Roxas spoke towards his Quarian companion. "Since you paid for the… skycar, I can pay for our meal, Tali."</p>
  <p>Tali stopped eating and addressed the blonde teen beside her. "You don't have to."</p>
  <p>"I insist."</p>
  <p>Pulling out his Munny Wallet, Roxas withdrew what appeared to be some metallic chits.</p>
  <p>From what he was told, the Munny Wallet can convert every and all currency to whatever World he was presently in. And whatever he deposits inside reverts back into the normal Munny he was used to seeing while having an infinite amount of space.</p>
  <p>Axel once said that it was like carrying a portable bank with him at all times.</p>
  <p>He can acquire more Munny through defeating Heartless as they seem to leave behind it among other things, such as Potions and Ethers.</p>
  <p>Roxas didn't really question the details on how that worked. Just something the way it is.</p>
  <p>He should probably ask the next time he's back at the World that Never Was.</p>
  <p>"I believe this might be enough."</p>
  <p>Once retrieving the chits, the chef deposited them into a machine and saw the reading from them. "Ah, yes, and then some. I can serve you and your friend another serving with what you've given me."</p>
  <p><em>Feeling</em> like he was still hungry, Roxas complied. "Alright, sounds good."</p>
  <p>"Oh, that's a unique looking pouch you got there."</p>
  <p>Roxas looked over to Kasumi who was leaning over to gaze at his munny pouch.</p>
  <p>"Uh… yeah." he said absentmindedly.</p>
  <p>"Where'd you get it?"</p>
  <p>"From a Moogle." Roxas answered.</p>
  <p>"..."</p>
  <p>"..."</p>
  <p>"...From a what?"</p>
  <p>Oh, it seemed that Moogles were not common here.</p>
  <p>"A Moogle." Roxas said as if it were obvious. "They help with items and such. I got this from them to hold Munny."</p>
  <p>"Munny?" Kasumi repeated.</p>
  <p>"The fuck's a Moogle?" Keiji muttered in bewilderment.</p>
  <p>"Yeah." Roxas said, pocketing his pouch with the two once again sharing a look with them both trying to figure out as to what the boy was talking about.</p>
  <p>Both hooded individuals once more glanced at one another and had a silent discussion between one another.</p>
  <p>Even Tali stopped eating as she looked at Roxas with utter curiosity.</p>
  <p>The feeling was soon shoved aside when another bowl of ramen was placed in front of the Quarian, making her smile in glee on the additional part to her meal.</p>
  <p>The four were silent as they continued their respective meals. After some time, Kasumi and Keiji paid for their ramen and gave their thanks to the chef before departing.</p>
  <p>"So~ they were interesting."</p>
  <p>"Indeed they were, Keiji." Kasumi remarked.</p>
  <p>"What do you make of the boy?"</p>
  <p>"Well, having a Quarian as a companion is certainly fascinating. But that pouch of his…"</p>
  <p>"..."</p>
  <p>"..."</p>
  <p>"Kasumi, was there supposed to be something in your hand?"</p>
  <p>"Wha-?" Kasumi gazed at her empty hand. "WHAT?!"</p>
  <p>She was sure she had pilfered that interesting wallet of his. But where'd it go?!</p>
  <p>She wildly looked around her while patting herself down. What in Sam hell? Where was the pouch? She knows she nicked it off the teen, slightly guilty as she felt.</p>
  <p>Kasumi was about to head back and come up with an excuse of misplacing "something". But Keiji stopped her.</p>
  <p>"We need to get going."</p>
  <p>"But-"</p>
  <p>"Now. We have a job to do and we're on a timetable."</p>
  <p>Kasumi merely pouted in a way like someone kicked her puppy.</p>
  <p>Back with Tali and Roxas, the two finished their second bowls with Roxas paying the meal in full being none the wiser to the hooded thief's plight as he casually placed his Munny pouch back into his pocket.</p>
  <p>"Thank you for the meal, Roxas." She said, patting her stomach. "I needed that."</p>
  <p>"No, thank you for introducing me to this place." Roxas stated.</p>
  <p>The Quarian merely giggled as they kept walking through the Zakara Ward and explored what it had to offer them.</p>
  <p>This place was truly fascinating beyond comparison.</p>
  <p>He never would have thought that in his short existence, he would wind up in a place like this one.</p>
  <p>"Anywhere else you have in mind you want to hit next before heading back to Chora's Den?"</p>
  <p>It was at this point that something caught Roxas' eye.</p>
  <p>He thought it was nothing, but he saw something a bit… familiar.</p>
  <p>"They… have <em>that</em> here?"</p>
  <p>"Roxas?"</p>
  <p>She was surprised by the Nobody running forward at full speed towards a booth.</p>
  <p>An Ice-cream booth.</p>
  <p>Being run by a man who wore as much black as Roxas did.</p>
  <p>"Hey there kid, what can I get for ya?" The man said in a rather eccentric manner.</p>
  <p>"You have Sea-Salt Ice-cream."</p>
  <p>It wasn't a question, but more of a statement. It was more clear when the Nobody gazed at the little sign showing the familiar flavor he ate for a month now.</p>
  <p>"Oh?" The man leaned forward on his booth. "I take it you're a fan of it."</p>
  <p>Roxas only wordlessly nodded.</p>
  <p>"Well, you're in luck then." The man opened up his freezer and pulled out a stick.</p>
  <p>Reaching into his pocket, Roxas pulled out a stick that said "winner" imprinted on it.</p>
  <p>"Oh-ho!" The Ice-cream man said cheerfully. "Would you look at that? We have a 'winner' here."</p>
  <p>"What does this get me?" Roxas asked.</p>
  <p>"Well kiddo, for that, you get a free ice cream."</p>
  <p>"I'll take the free one," Roxas gazed back at Tali, who was looking on in curiosity. "And one for… my friend here."</p>
  <p>"Ah~ one for the pretty lady, huh? Good choice, my friend."</p>
  <p>Tali visibly moved about in a flustered manner.</p>
  <p>"Here kid, take the second one on the house."</p>
  <p>"Huh?" Roxas stopped himself from reaching to grab the second ice-cream stick. "Why?'</p>
  <p>"For being my very first customer to have Sea-Salt Ice-Cream." The Eccentric man said with an over the top thumbs up.</p>
  <p>Instead of a simple popsicle for Tali, the vendor gave her a cup of the soft serve so it can be easier for her to consume.</p>
  <p>"For your Induction Port." He said knowingly. "Don't worry about Dextro, one flavor for all."</p>
  <p>"I… thank you."</p>
  <p>When Tali was about to start digging in, Roxas grasped her hand.</p>
  <p>"Roxas?"</p>
  <p>"Not here."</p>
  <p>"Huh?"</p>
  <p>Before she knew it, she was being dragged along by her… friend.</p>
  <p>"I saw a place where we can eat this place best."</p>
  <p>"What?"</p>
  <p>"You'll see."</p>
  <p>It took a little bit of time for them to reach whatever Roxas had in mind. But through a quick elevator ride, they got to their destination.</p>
  <p>Atop a tall building within the Citadel, Roxas had guided Tali to the edge before promptly seating himself.</p>
  <p>"Uh Roxas…" Tali was nervous. "Why'd you bring me up here?"</p>
  <p>"Look." Roxas pointed out before him.</p>
  <p>Looking forward, Tali momentarily froze on the spot, gazing out at the sight before her.</p>
  <p>It was the Citadel but… not in any way she had ever seen it.</p>
  <p>Or had seen it for that matter.</p>
  <p>She had only been here for a short while, not having much time at all to enjoy herself or relax overall for the majority of her stay here.</p>
  <p>But…</p>
  <p>She was certain that nobody on the Citadel had ever had a view like the one Roxas had brought her too.</p>
  <p>Tali saw how comfortably Roxas had seated himself on the edge of the roof. He certainly seemed undisturbed by the height in which he was sitting at.</p>
  <p>Cautiously, Tali sat down herself beside him and felt her heart rate drop momentarily at her feet dangling so high above in the air.</p>
  <p>Looking beside her, she saw Roxas begin eating his ice-cream with a unique calmness. He smiled, but only so much.</p>
  <p>Rather carefully so she won't fall off on accident, she pulled out her induction port and inserted it into her soft served treat.</p>
  <p>The moment the concoction entered her mouth, she pried the induction port away from the treat.</p>
  <p>"It's salty!" She then moved her tongue a little as she tasted something else. "Huh… It's sweet. How?"</p>
  <p>Roxas shrugged. "It's the flavor, Tali."</p>
  <p>She blinked at his response, looking down at her ice-cream before resuming to eat her small snack.</p>
  <p>For Tali, this day was certainly one she would not be forgetting any time soon.</p>
  <p>Though her Pilgrimage had started out harshly and dangerously, by some miracle, she had met a human who assisted and saved her life. From there… well, there's really no other way to call him anything other than her friend.</p>
  <p>For Roxas on the other hand, he immediately thought of Axel and Xion.</p>
  <p>He should be doing this with him.</p>
  <p>The Greater Nobody figured that he could return to them in an instant. He already missed them.</p>
  <p>But…</p>
  <p>Being here…</p>
  <p>He was exposed to <em>so much.</em> So many new and extraordinary things that he could never even think of seeing if he stayed with the Organization.</p>
  <p>He knew that eventually he would have to return. Roxas had to.</p>
  <p>However…</p>
  <p>Maybe staying here a bit longer would be good for him.</p>
  <p>After all, aside from interacting with Axel and Xion, he knew that there was something about this place that made him <em>feel </em>something.</p>
  <p>And it started with the new alien friend seated beside him.</p>
  <p>The two sat in silence as they enjoyed the view before them as they kept eating their ice-cream. It was a rather pleasant experience for them to have with how their day turned out.</p>
  <p>They hoped things would be much better with what's to come.</p>
  <p>…..</p>
  <p>…..</p>
  <p>…..</p>
  <p>…..</p>
  <p>…..</p>
  <p>From the sidelines, the eccentric ice-cream vendor smirked as he gazed at the Nobody and the Quarian.</p>
  <p>"Enjoy things while you can, you two." He said to himself as he quickly packed up his equipment. "You'll be needing it with what's to come."</p>
  <p>With the last stored away, he closed up his booth before walking into a nearby alleyway. Not long after, a Corridor of Darkness appeared and consumed the vendor's form. Once disbursing, there was no further evidence of his presence here.</p>
</div>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Well, thanks again for all those reviews and I think this is one of those FIERY moments of a writer's high.</p><p>Less than an entire day to get this one out. Really proud of that.</p><p>Jebest4781: Indeed and it was relatively easy, to some degree. We went through a few Citadel side quests to help build things up for Roxas and build a bit of a relationship with Tali before the Normandy arrives.</p><p>FMW: Yes, when things are planned out, when both of us just know what we're gonna do the chapter basically writes itself. Lots of fun, fun, stuff coming next chapter. I can't even contain my excitement.</p><p>Don't forget folks, got a poll up on my profile so please go check it out.</p><p>Gonna have that one up for a while cause I know it'll probably take some time to get the votes up and all.</p><p>Rate Read and Review and as Always Have Nice Day.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. A New Goal</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I think it's easy to say that Jebest and I are on a bit of a roll with this one. This is a crossover the two of us have really wanted to do but I know it's also one of the crazier and far out ideas that not many people would consider giving a try.</p><p> </p><p>But dammit, when I said that I want to try out new and very out there crossovers, I meant it.</p><p>This is something I know overtime will become special and one of a kind.</p><p>Considering this is the  only  one of its kind aside from one other crossover.</p><p>J and I wanna set the standard for this one.</p><p>He has A Song Of Fire Ice and Hearts on his profile and I have this story in mine. Both are different from most other KH crossovers as well as ME and GoT.</p><p>And since there's not really a standard, we get to set it for ourselves.</p><p>We hope that you all enjoy this wild ride we have planned out for you guys.</p><p>Also, in the poll that I have set up, one of the choices is for those that vote to leave their three choices in terms of pairings for Roxas. So please leave your reviews and who'd you like to see with him.</p><p>Giving it a lot of time so there will be many votes to come in. I think… like ten chapters should do it.</p><p>Then I'll have another poll after that one, once done.</p><p>Other than that, let's get to it.</p><p>Rate Read and Review and as Always Have Nice Day.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p></p><div class="xcontrast">
  <p>I'm Nobody Chapter 3: A New Goal.</p>
  <p>Commander Jane Shepard of the Systems Alliance was rightfully tired.</p>
  <p>She had just come from Eden Prime from what could be called a harrowing experience to put lightly.</p>
  <p>From dead colonists to losing both a Spectre and a crewmate in one day while getting hit with the mother of all headaches in regard to visions.</p>
  <p>Jane really wanted to take a nap right about now. One that wasn't induced forcefully.</p>
  <p>But she knew now wouldn't be the time for that unfortunately.</p>
  <p>Right now, she needed to get to the Citadel and fast.</p>
  <p>There was a lot that needed to be discussed with what had transpired on Eden Prime to the Citadel Council.</p>
  <p>She was walking through the Normandy, walking right up to the cockpit.</p>
  <p>"Good timing, Commander. I was just about to bring us to the Citadel." Said Jeff "Joker" Morreau, the pilot of the SSV Normandy SR-1. "See that taxpayer money at work."</p>
  <p>Once going through the Mass Relay, the transition from darkness to light was done rather quickly and it showed once coming across the Citadel, the capital space station of Citadel Space.</p>
  <p>Drawing near the station, Sergeant Ashley Williams and Shepard herself rushed the cockpit viewport in order to catch a glimpse of it in all in its magnificence. Lieutenant Kaiden Alenko, meanwhile, calmly looked on as he didn't want to invade the personal space of the two women.</p>
  <p>Each of them, respectively, had their own forms of stunned awes when seeing the Citadel for the first time. And who wouldn't? It was massive!</p>
  <p>After basking in the awe of said station, one could comment it looked more like a metallic starfish with each pointed end being more rectangular in shape. And in the center of it all was a circular, hollow ring connecting each of the station's arms. But when moving past the bright sun behind the Citadel, you could see a faint line moving upwards with something sticking out. If you were knowledgeable on the Citadel Station, that thing would be the Citadel Tower, where the Council chambers are located.</p>
  <p>As the Normandy-SR1 drew closer to the station, the occupants in the cockpit saw a huge dreadnought cruise into view.</p>
  <p>"Wow! Look at the size of that ship!" Ashley exclaimed in surprise.</p>
  <p>"The Destiny Ascension, flagship of the Citadel Fleet." Kaiden helpfully explained.</p>
  <p>When taking a closer look of it, Shepard couldn't help but snicker at the giant hole in the middle of the starship. It looked like a giant donut with four pointed ends.</p>
  <p>Still though, it was nonetheless pretty damn impressive.</p>
  <p>"Well, size isn't everything." Joker said rather defensively.</p>
  <p>"Why so touchy, Joker." Ashley asked teasingly.</p>
  <p>Shepard couldn't help but smirk as she thought of the same thing.</p>
  <p>"Just saying you need firepower." Joker said snippily.</p>
  <p>"And nearly everyone knows that superior firepower trumps size." Threw out the Commander.</p>
  <p>"Just look at that monster! It's main gun could rip through the barriers of any ship in the Alliance Fleet. That's superior firepower aplenty!" Retorted the Gunnery Chief, still looking out of the window in wonderment.</p>
  <p>"Good thing it's on our side then." Kaidan commented.</p>
  <p>"That's if they can aim something that large." Shepard pointed out with a scoff.</p>
  <p>There was one thing she knew from experience: the heavier the weapon, the harder the aim. Learned that the hard way when using rocket launchers for the first time.</p>
  <p>Joker nodded in agreement, happy to hear the commander supporting him twice on this peculiar topic. "And most of our smaller ships can run laps around that thing anyways."</p>
  <p>"If you can outmaneuver it, you can outshoot your opponent." Shepard added in, hammering in their pilot's argument as the Destiny Ascension veered out of their line of sight. "Besides, bigger ain't always better."</p>
  <p>"Talking from experience, Commander?" Joker amusingly said, earning a playful glare in return. Chuckling to himself, he typed a series of commands before speaking up. "Citadel Control, this is the SSV Normandy, requesting permission to land."</p>
  <p>"<em>Stand by for clearance, Normandy."</em> Instructed the Citadel Control operator over the comm unit. <em>"Clearance granted."</em> Came the voice a few moments later. <em>"You may begin your approach. Transferring you to an Alliance Operator now."</em></p>
  <p>"Roger, Citadel Control. Normandy out."</p>
  <p>Once Joker ended the transmission to Citadel Control, he soon received one from the Alliance. <em>"Normandy, this is Alliance tower, please proceed to Dock 422."</em></p>
  <p>Receiving their designated destination, the Normandy glided along the way with no further problems.</p>
  <p>Seeing as they will be docking soon, Shepard needed to get suited up for what she and the others will need to do really soon.</p>
  <p>
    <em>-Scene Cut-</em>
  </p>
  <p>
    <em>Day 32</em>
  </p>
  <p>A young human teen was walking around an area called the Sirta Foundation, surrounded by ships of multiple shapes and sizes.</p>
  <p>Up ahead of him was a Quarian female just a few years older than him that was looking around with an excited air around her. Her hooded helmet was moving about in every direction as she kept going from one ship to the other, openly gushing about anything and everything that the ship is supposedly capable of.</p>
  <p>Walking to keep up with her, Roxas momentarily paused as he gazed upon one ship in particular.</p>
  <p>It was similar to most of the ships around here but at the same time… the shape of it was much more angular and boxy with emphasis on the geometrical appearance.</p>
  <p>On top of that, it had an orange tint to it that really made it stand out.</p>
  <p>In fact…</p>
  <p>He could swear he could hear it.</p>
  <p>The familiar sound of engines thrusting while traversing the endless void, flying through asteroids, fighting off other enemy ships and…</p>
  <p>He wasn't alone.</p>
  <p>He was sure of it.</p>
  <p>Taking a step forward, Roxas wordlessly placed a hand against the ship with a blank look but his eyes told a different story.</p>
  <p>They weren't as empty as they usually were compared to most days.</p>
  <p>Right now, there was a glimmer. A sense of longing.</p>
  <p>Why was he…?</p>
  <p>"Roxas?"</p>
  <p>A soft hand on his shoulder and familiar voice jolted him out of his daze.</p>
  <p>He looked up slightly at Tali who was looking between him and the ship. Noting his hand, she tilted her head.</p>
  <p>"You wanna buy that ship?"</p>
  <p>"Hmmm?" Roxas blinked. "Oh, uh… no."</p>
  <p>"Is something wrong?" she asked.</p>
  <p>"No… just… thinking about something." Roxas said blandly.</p>
  <p>Tali was unsure of what to say or ask. In the short time that she had gotten to know Roxas, he was a bit of a literal person.</p>
  <p>Always speaking plainly, whatever's on his mind, regardless of who it is or how they react to him. This young human was as straightforward as they come from what she understands at least.</p>
  <p>She decided not to focus on that right now, instead returning her attention back to the ships around them.</p>
  <p>"It would be nice to get a ship." Tali said with a wistful sigh.</p>
  <p>"Really? How so?"</p>
  <p>"For most people, just a typical means of flying through space and going to planet to planet. But for Quarians, it's often seen as a good Pilgrimage gift."</p>
  <p>Roxas was silent but understood where she was going with that.</p>
  <p>He learned a bit more of her people yesterday and even some parts today, more so once stepping foot into this establishment.</p>
  <p>When her people vacated Rannoch and took to the stars, their entire population had been living in ships for practically all their lives. And in order to expand it more and more, they needed to gain ships.</p>
  <p>This meant they had to either purchase or salvage them, more so towards the latter in many cases. With the former option, it's often already used ships as the unused ones are rather expensive.</p>
  <p>Now while purchasing previously owned ships isn't much of a hassle, dealing with the ship registry is.</p>
  <p>In some cases, previous owners would suddenly call out and say their ship was stolen and a whole legal matter was brought in-in order to get back what was theirs. In reality, it's just wanting to screw with the Quarians in one way or another.</p>
  <p>Another issue is… because of the ship's name.</p>
  <p>Many ship names are often made due to a specific person or a culture or race as they wanted to honor something or someone. While that is good and all, most scenarios are not.</p>
  <p>With a Quarian taking on the ship's name as their own, it becomes that for the rest of their days… or when they are granted a ship transfer. So when a newly procured ship has a "unique" name, a simple means of changing it requires working through the ship registry.</p>
  <p>Sometimes the attempt is successful, sometimes it's not. When it's not, it becomes a bit of a stigma of sorts which some take it in pride… while in reality it's just an utter embarrassment.</p>
  <p>"How often is it that used ships are made into pilgrimage gifts?"</p>
  <p>"If I'm honest, it's not all that often." She responded as they strolled through the various ships on display. "When a ship is brought into the fleet, many of my people are ecstatic as we have more space to possibly live in."</p>
  <p>"But won't that mean you have to do more work?"</p>
  <p>"Depends on what that's needed to be done on the ship before officially 'moving in'. From modifications to all sorts of repairs to meet our specifications. One ship could become a living vessel while another could be used for our fighters while another is solely used to help produce our food and fuel."</p>
  <p>"Thought as much, given what you told me."</p>
  <p>"Yes. And sure enough, whoever goes in for the transfers for the 'new ship' have to be part of the workforce for what I just mentioned."</p>
  <p>"I think that sounds fair."</p>
  <p>"Some naive and stupid Quarians think otherwise."</p>
  <p>Hearing this caused Tali to momentarily halt in her step before moving a little faster. Seeing this, Roxas turned around and located the source of this little problem coming from a Turian.</p>
  <p>"Excuse me, but what did you say?" Tali asked as politely as she could muster.</p>
  <p>"I don't think you misheard me, vagrant." The Turian said scornfully. "You should just crawl back into the hole you came from and stay there."</p>
  <p>Tali fumed internally but at the same time…</p>
  <p>'Keelah.' She couldn't help but squirm. 'Why?'</p>
  <p>Before she was able to respond, Roxas stood in front of her with a scrunched up expression into one of tense annoyance.</p>
  <p>The Turian looked down at him with a scoff.</p>
  <p>"What's your problem with her?"</p>
  <p>"These suit-rats are nothing more than thieves and vagrants that should treasure their own existence then trying to leech off of others." Responded the Turian.</p>
  <p>"...What?"</p>
  <p>The cold tone that came out of Roxas was one that made both Tali and the Turian jolt.</p>
  <p>Tali was especially put off by such a drastic shift in her new friend's demeanor. For the majority of the time, there was usually a blankness laced with curiosity to his voice whenever he speaks. Sometimes logical, sometimes unsure of what to say.</p>
  <p>But what she had just heard?</p>
  <p>That… was rage.</p>
  <p>And she needed to de-escalate the situation before it got out of hand.</p>
  <p>"Come on Roxas, let's just get out of here." Tali said, grabbing the boy's hand.</p>
  <p>He resisted at first. "No, I wanna know what-"</p>
  <p>"Roxas." His friend stressed out. "Please."</p>
  <p>Roxas was about to do something in response to this growing feeling inside of him, but it didn't surface when the distance between him, Tali and the offensive Turian grew more and more.</p>
  <p>When leaving the Sirta Foundation, their jolly mood became soured with what just occurred.</p>
  <p>"What's his deal anyway?" Roxas finally asked.</p>
  <p>"He's just being prejudiced."</p>
  <p>"But why, Tali?"</p>
  <p>"Because not everyone likes my people, let alone standing their presence."</p>
  <p>"Why?" Roxas asked again, not fully understanding. "What'd you even do? Or… your people?"</p>
  <p>"It's been like this ever since our exile. People blame us for the Geth and it merely progressed from there. With us scavenging everything we can get our hands on to survive, a lot of people soon compared us to rats doing such an act; thus the suit-rat slander. And with us being labeled as thieves… we've been good people and excellent in our fields. When we seek jobs outside of the Migrant Fleet, we end up taking the really good ones and others think we're stealing their forms of employment. And don't get me started on the other forms of thievery we've been accused of."</p>
  <p>Tali's explanation started to make Roxas sick to his stomach upon hearing such… <em>things</em>.</p>
  <p>"Just trying to validate our own existence in the galaxy is a struggle." Tali said morosely, rubbing her arm. "No matter how hard we try, practically everyone wishes us to be gone from the galaxy."</p>
  <p>Roxas's expression soon fell when seeing Tali in such a depressed state. She appeared so happy just a few minutes ago. And now, after that moment with that jerk Turian…</p>
  <p>His head was down for a moment in thought until he slowly reached out and gently took her hand into his with the Quarian looking at him in surprise.</p>
  <p>"But you're not like that, Tali. None of that." Roxas said in a low voice. "You… are kind. And deserve to exist. More than a nothing like me."</p>
  <p>Though she had no clue as to what Roxas meant by the nothing part, the sincerity in his voice as well as him holding her hand like that and telling her she meant something certainly had quite the effect on her. Her suit just became really hot and she felt herself stammer momentarily.</p>
  <p>Oh no, her helmet was fogging up!</p>
  <p>"U-Um, come on." Tali retracted her hand and began walking ahead at a fast pace. "Let's find something to eat. I'm feeling a little hungry now."</p>
  <p>Roxas was thrown off by her change in mood and could only jog to catch up to her.</p>
  <p>For the remainder of the day, Roxas had noticed that Tali had gone to great lengths in avoiding eye contact with him.</p>
  <p>For some little instance, Tali had occasionally activated her Omni-tool to check if it was in working order. A meaningless task as it's been done several times over.</p>
  <p>This went on until Roxas began fiddling with his own Omni-tool, trying to figure out how to make it work properly.</p>
  <p>When they returned to Chora's Den yesterday in order to stay there for the night, Tali helped Roxas out in properly setting up his Omni-tool and finally looking him in the eyes even though they were always brief moments.</p>
  <p>Properly registering it in his name was the first thing that needed to be done. For one reason, it was so that if he were to lose it or have it stolen, someone could inform him through other means that it's been found/retrieved and he can pick it up when possible.</p>
  <p>Another would be so that he could finally have something called 'contact information' so others can message or call him through his device. Even setting up an electronic mailing address or 'email' for short.</p>
  <p>Tali was the first person in his 'contacts list' as they soon went through a small series of 'calls' through both audio, video and holographic to help him gain some experience in knowing the ins and outs of that particular Omni-tool feature.</p>
  <p>After that little training session, Tali finally went through all of the features on what standard Omni-tools have to what additions his -in particular- has.</p>
  <p>Being versatile and reliable, omni-tools can be used to analyze and adjust the functionality of most standard equipment, including weapons and armors, from a distance via scanning. This allows for field repairs and modifications to most things, such as reusing salvaged equipment. Even going so far to help out on programming to even hacking.</p>
  <p>There were other functions that are generally used in omni-tools such as a flashlight and a camera to even disburse medi-gel for first aid purposes. For some personal use, there's a function to read books to write journal entries for… <em>reasons</em>. And for more entertainment purposes, one can even download and play movies, songs and games.</p>
  <p>Roxas seemed to enjoy that last one as he ended up downloading a whole plethora of games. One noteworthy of all was something called <em>Classic Kingdom.</em></p>
  <p>He has been playing said game throughout most of the night as there's a lot of content in it. And there seemed to be something tied to the game that if he reached the high score in all twenty-three entries of Classic Kingdom, then he would win a very <em>exclusive</em> prize.</p>
  <p>Granted, the high-scores are ludicrously high on each and every one of them as the levels are progressively getting harder and harder as he goes. But it does serve its purpose in entertaining and distracting him.</p>
  <p>Getting away from the standard functions, there are the more unique ones that are given towards soldiers in the military and first-in colonists, even mercenaries as well.</p>
  <p>There are an assortment of them, often pertaining to one's field they are trained into what has been added in through "upgrades" to modifications. For example in most melee-combat applications, there's a thing called an Omni-blade and an Omni-shield for offensive and defensive means, respectively.</p>
  <p>There's that and a whole lot more and they were all within Roxas' device.</p>
  <p>...No. XIII had the clear indication that if either Vexen or Zexion or both get wind of this device, they would probably want to have one and see what limits can be pushed on them.</p>
  <p>The pair eventually made it back to the Stand Ramen shop they ate yesterday. The Chef greeted them once again as they ordered for their meal.</p>
  <p>Instead of being very happy for her delicious ramen, Tali was rather… somber and tired.</p>
  <p>Looking at his friend, Roxas wondered what he could try to do to cheer her up.</p>
  <p>Taking a shot in the dark, the Nobody spoke something which was on his mind.</p>
  <p>"Did you talk to your friends yet back at the Flotilla? What of your father?" Roxas asked with Tali becoming a bit downtrodden and nervous. "I've been meaning to ask."</p>
  <p>"No." She admitted with a sad tone. "I just… don't want to put them or the Flotilla in danger. <em>They</em> could be tracking me without us even knowing about it."</p>
  <p>Roxas frowned at seeing her like this again.</p>
  <p>It was strange that it bothered him when he saw her become so unlike her usual cheerful self. Seeing that just didn't sit right with him.</p>
  <p>And he didn't know why.</p>
  <p>He found his fists clenching up and without realizing it, snapped his chopsticks in two.</p>
  <p>Tali's head jerked up at the sound, turning to see the piece of Roxas's chopsticks fall from his hand.</p>
  <p>"Um… Roxas?" She spoke up in concern.</p>
  <p>Seeing what he had done, Roxas's expression became rather sheepish.</p>
  <p>"Sorry." He said to both her and to the chef who was slightly surprised by what he saw.</p>
  <p>"No worries." The Chef said, moving to pass him some new chopsticks which he accepted graciously.</p>
  <p>As the chef moved to toss the chopsticks out he muttered to himself.</p>
  <p>"This is made of metal."</p>
  <p>Soon after, once they finished their lunch, Roxas and Tali departed from the Stand returning to their small apartment where they had stayed these past two days that Fist had set up for them.</p>
  <p>Tali was quick to go to bed, wanting to take a nap so she may be in better spirits for the exchange happening later today. As the Quarian tried to sleep, Roxas had remained awake with him sitting on his bed while using his Omni-Tool.</p>
  <p>Since he had learned the overall basics of this device, now that he had the time, he was quick to transfer all of his personal journal entries he had written out during his first month of existence with the Organization.</p>
  <p>Now, he can add a new entry. A much longer one that detailed a great amount of everything he had experienced these past two days, especially on his time with Tali and his hopes of bringing Axel and Xion here.</p>
  <p>There was a small shuffling on the bed beside his own, him seeing Tali move about with her blanket falling off a bit.</p>
  <p>Quietly, he moved from his bed and gently moved to place the blanket back over her before sitting back down on his bed and returning to his work on his Omni-Tool.</p>
  <p>As he was working on his device, he thought back on what's about to be happening later today.</p>
  <p>This morning, Fist told them he got in contact with the Shadow Broker in order to tell them where the exchange will take place. It just so happened to be in an alleyway some distance away from Chora's Den at the designated time.</p>
  <p>Presently, both he and Tali needed to get over there in a little more than an hour from now. And they had already killed enough time today as it is with what they were doing up till now.</p>
  <p>Fist had offered to take what Tali had on her so he could do the trade-off instead of her, but she outright refused. She didn't want handing the information to anyone else but the representative the Shadow Broker was sending their way.</p>
  <p>Then came an odd bomb being dropped on them, the Shadow Broker <em>himself</em> will come deal with it personally.</p>
  <p>While both Roxas and Tali were surprised on hearing this, the Nobody soon felt suspicious all of a sudden. He didn't know why, but something was off. <em>Way off.</em></p>
  <p>"Hey Tali."</p>
  <p>Tali groaned a little, shifting in her bed before answering back. "Yes, Roxas?"</p>
  <p>"I've been thinking… something is off." Roxas said with his face contorting into one of concentration.</p>
  <p>This of course threw Tali off slightly.</p>
  <p>"Off? Off how?" She asked in concern.</p>
  <p>"I… I don't know but… let's be careful at the exchange." Roxas said, gazing at her with a serious expression.</p>
  <p>That was one of the most emotive moments she had seen out of the young human so rather than object, she simply nodded in agreement before resuming to take her nap.</p>
  <p>After a small period of time, the alarm clock feature on her Omni-tool went off, causing her to come out of her brief slumber. Sitting up on the mattress, Tali gazed at her device, seeing it was almost time.</p>
  <p>"Come on Roxas." She said in a more subdued manner.</p>
  <p>He only nodded, following after her as they headed out of their temporary abode and right towards the skycar in order to reach back towards the Presidium before going towards the spot Fist told them to go for the hand-off.</p>
  <p>Passing through Chora's Den, Tali followed the coordinates to the meetup spot from her Omni-Tool.</p>
  <p>Entering a rather discreet alleyway, Roxas felt his senses heighten as he saw a Turian and two well armored Salarians waiting for them.</p>
  <p>From what Roxas recalled, they were only supposed to be expecting one person being here, not three.</p>
  <p>And when he moved his head ever so slightly, he saw a few more people situated on the higher levels… looking right down on them.</p>
  <p>'Oh yeah, something was definitely off here.' He thought before seeing the Turian approaching Tali.</p>
  <p>Without even saying a word, Roxas stepped in between Tali and the Turian with the scaly alien looking down at him a small snort.</p>
  <p>"Are you the one's Fist told us to wait for?" The Turian asked condescendingly. "Did you bring-"</p>
  <p>"Where's the Shadow Broker?" Tali coolly interrupted him. "Where's Fist?"</p>
  <p>"They'll be here." The Turian assured and moved forward only for the human between them to move to Tali's side.</p>
  <p>Grasping her hand, Roxas pulled her away. "We're leaving."</p>
  <p>"What?" Chorused both Tali and the Turian.</p>
  <p>"You heard me. We're leaving. Deal's off." Roxas said, beginning to tug her along with Tali quickly obliging.</p>
  <p>Behind them, the Turian only growled as he reached back for his rifle.</p>
  <p>"Like hell you are, kid." The Turian snarled, pulling out his weapon.</p>
  <p>Just as he was ready to run, Roxas froze on the spot with his eyes wide and the sharp inhale of his breath.</p>
  <p>"Roxas?"</p>
  <p>Before he had the chance to act, he saw the secluded alleyway suddenly getting darker. Not because of the red lights dimming, but something else.</p>
  <p>The pair heard screams and yells coming from up above, causing both them and the Turian nearby to look up in utter confusion.</p>
  <p>"What the hell's going on?" The Turian then glared at the kid and the 'suit-rat'. "Are you behind this?"</p>
  <p>Roxas didn't answer his question</p>
  <p>From the alleyway, there was the sound of rather distorted movement. Suddenly, a human stumbled out from the alleyway without a helmet allowing for them to see the absolutely terrified expression on his face.</p>
  <p>Suddenly, right before their eyes, the human gasped and began to fall over.</p>
  <p>Yet…</p>
  <p>Before his body could even touch the ground, he literally vanished in front of their very eyes. In his place, a small glowing heart floated up into the air until it was seemingly consumed by wisps of darkness.</p>
  <p>Tali jolted back, completely stunned and rather horrified by what she had just seen.</p>
  <p>The Turian had a similar response, fumbling his gun up to aim at the alleyway.</p>
  <p>"The fuck-"</p>
  <p>Suddenly, a dark figure landed on top of the Turian, causing him to thrash wildly as claws sunk into his chest.</p>
  <p>"AURGH!" The Turian cried out in utter agony, trying to get the dark figure off of him.</p>
  <p>Then, without warning, rising from the ground itself were other dark figures that came in two shapes.</p>
  <p>Some were small and stubby with jagged antennae, large feet and small claw like arms.</p>
  <p>The other was more humanoid in appearance with the antennae being quite long and jagged. It was more muscular, and the hands were very large, each one sporting five clawed fingers. The feet are long and lack digits, slightly resembling boots. The bodies were also lined by several faint, blue veins of color.</p>
  <p>They were around the Turian who soon ceased his struggling and a moment later, suffered the same fate as the human they just saw a moment ago.</p>
  <p>From his chest, a glowing red heart came out and his body vanished a moment later. No sooner did that happen did the shadowy creatures turn their heads towards Roxas and Tali, the latter of whom was greatly frightened by what she had just seen.</p>
  <p>"Wh-What are these things?" She asked, staying close to Roxas who glared at them with a fierce look in his eyes.</p>
  <p>"Heartless."</p>
  <p>Tali practically whipped her head right towards her friend. "What?"</p>
  <p>"Heartless." He repeated. "Get your weapons out now. I'll need your help."</p>
  <p>Before she had the chance to say anything, a bright white light flashed in her vision. It was gone in an instant and before she knew it, the Quarian saw Roxas was suddenly some distance away from her as a bunch of dark wisps filled the area around them with glowing hearts disappearing into thin air.</p>
  <p>When he turned towards her, Tali saw the oddest thing in Roxas' grasp. It resembled an oversized skeleton key which measured about 3.5 ft. long and he was wielding it like a sword of all things.</p>
  <p>"Tali!"</p>
  <p>In another instant, he was behind her as he cleaved through another couple of Heartless with ease.</p>
  <p>"Get behind me and get ready to shoot." Roxas said, striking down one of the smaller Heartless before cutting down another.</p>
  <p>Shaking her head, Tali quickly grabbed her Geth shotgun and quickly primed it as one of the stubby ones leapt forward at her.</p>
  <p>Instinctively, she fired at the shadowy creature, her gun managing to destroy the Heartless into black wisps.</p>
  <p>"Keep your distance Tali." Roxas ordered, jumping in front of her with him throwing up his weapon.</p>
  <p>Silently casting Fire, a ball of flame shot out of his Keyblade and struck a couple of Shadows. With part of the space clear, he bounded off the nearby wall and casted Thunder, electrocuting a few Neoshadows before striking them down.</p>
  <p>Tali's went bug-eyed underneath her helmet, shocked beyond compare as to what she was witnessing.</p>
  <p>She had a feeling from the very beginning that Roxas was a bit of a special case among humans but this?</p>
  <p>Nowhere near in her imagination that the human that she had befriended since coming to the Citadel could do <em>all this!</em></p>
  <p>He literally shot <em>fire out of that key-shaped thing! And thunder coming down from the sky!</em></p>
  <p>
    <em>What was happening right now?!</em>
  </p>
  <p>Roxas all the while stood before Tali in a protective manner, eyeing the Heartless rapidly.</p>
  <p>There weren't much left and there were clustered groups of them.</p>
  <p>Four in total.</p>
  <p>He didn't know where this was coming from nor what it was but Roxas simply allowed his body to naturally move on its own as he reared his Keyblade back behind him…</p>
  <p>"<strong>STRIKE RAID!"</strong></p>
  <p>Before flinging it at full speed towards one of the clusters of Heartless with his Keyblade spinning and glowing.</p>
  <p>The Keyblade cleaved right through the first cluster, a large plume of black wisps dispersing up into the air.</p>
  <p>But Roxas was not done.</p>
  <p>Rearing his hand back once again, his Keyblade reappeared in his hand with him tossing his weapon at the next cluster and repeated the motion twice more until all the remaining Heartless were gone.</p>
  <p>Getting into his usual stance, Roxas made a quick scan of their surrounding areas to make sure no other Heartless appeared.</p>
  <p>Seeing that no more were appearing, his Keyblade vanished from his hand in a flash of light and he rounded about to Tali with a worried expression.</p>
  <p>"Are you alright?"</p>
  <p>Tali didn't say anything at first. No doubt shocked with what just happened. But when she was coming down from it…</p>
  <p>Roxas jerked his head back with how close Tali suddenly was to him.</p>
  <p>"Whatwasthat?!How'dyoudothatthingwiththefireandtheelectricity?!Andwhere'dyougetthatweapon?!"</p>
  <p>Roxas blinked as he was outright confused as he couldn't get what Tali was speaking. She was talking so fast that all of her words seemed meshed together as she spoke all in one breath of air.</p>
  <p>"Yeah… I think we'd <em>all </em>like to know that." said an utterly stunned female voice.</p>
  <p>The pair suddenly whirled around upon hearing the sudden voice. There they saw a group of five people standing by the flight of stairs.</p>
  <p>In an instant, Roxas jumped in front of Tali and once again called out his Keyblade. He didn't know who these people were.</p>
  <p>For all he knows, they could be enemies.</p>
  <p>The one who stood at the front of the group was a woman in her mid to late twenties with red hair and wearing armor that had the emblem N7 on the right side of her chest piece.</p>
  <p>She quickly held up her hands in a placating manner.</p>
  <p>"Whoa, easy there kid." she spoke in a calmer voice now, though there was still a tinge of disbelief as she looked at him and the weapon in his hand. "We're not here for a fight, trust us."</p>
  <p>The rest of the group nodded in agreement with the red-haired woman.</p>
  <p>One was a dark haired woman with her hair tied in the back as she presently wore white and pink armor. One was a dark haired man wearing what Roxas assumed was cobalt blue as it was sunk into the black. There was a Turian with them as he wore a blue eye visor which matched his blue armor.</p>
  <p>The fifth member of this small group however...</p>
  <p>"Wait a minute." A Krogan in red armor stepped forward, standing right in front of Roxas who clenched his Keyblade tightly.</p>
  <p>"I know you." The Krogan remarked. "I saw you a few days ago."</p>
  <p>Roxas blinked and rose a brow at the large reptilian man. "Oh yeah… It's you."</p>
  <p>"You know this kid Wrex?" The Red-haired woman asked with Wrex looking back at her.</p>
  <p>"Somewhat." the Krogan named Wrex apparently said with a shrug.</p>
  <p>"You told me I was an idiot." Roxas remarked bluntly.</p>
  <p>The rest just stared at the teen and his straightforward statement towards the largest species of the group.</p>
  <p>"You were standing around like one, runt." Wrex said looking back at him.</p>
  <p>"I was just looking around." The boy said though… he didn't appear to be all that offended.</p>
  <p>"While not moving in the middle of the walkways." Wrex countered.</p>
  <p>"Alright, can we not with this right now." The Red-haired woman said sharply. "Listen, we're not here to hurt either of you. We had a bit of a scuffle with a guy by the name of Fist who told us about the exchange here. We came here as fast as we could to help."</p>
  <p>"Seems like it wasn't needed in the end." The woman in the pink and white armor said, eyeing Roxas warily.</p>
  <p>"So Fist set us up." Tali said bitterly. "We shouldn't have trusted him."</p>
  <p>"Well, you turned out alright for the most part." The red-haired woman remarked.</p>
  <p>"Yeah…" Tali glanced at Roxas who was still holding his Keyblade. "I did."</p>
  <p>She placed a comforting and graceful hand on Roxas's shoulder with him looking at her.</p>
  <p>"It's alright Roxas, we can trust them." She assured him.</p>
  <p>He gazed at her momentarily before nodding, his Keyblade flashing out of his hand like it did just a few minutes ago.</p>
  <p>Once more, the group gazed at the boy before the red-haired woman cleared her throat.</p>
  <p>"Are you both alright?" She asked.</p>
  <p>Tali nodded. "Yes. As you just saw, we and especially Roxas here, can handle ourselves."</p>
  <p>"Yeah, clearly." The brunette haired human commented.</p>
  <p>"Who are all of you?" Tali asked.</p>
  <p>"I'm Commander Jane Shepard." The N7 armored woman said. "This is Kaidan, Ashley, Garrus and Wrex."</p>
  <p>"I'm Tali'Zorah."</p>
  <p>"Roxas."</p>
  <p>"Yeah, we heard." Ash quipped. "I gotta ask kid, what the hell was that just now?"</p>
  <p>Shepard however, had other plans in mind. "We can talk about all that later. Right now, we need to find the evidence that proves Saren is a traitor."</p>
  <p>"What?" Tali asked in surprise. "That's what I have here on my Omni-Tool. Is it true about Eden Prime?"</p>
  <p>"We're in luck, Shepard." Kaidan said with a triumphant grin.</p>
  <p>"The human embassy is nearby." Garrus stated, gesturing up ahead with an excited tone now. "I'm pretty sure your ambassador will want to hear about this."</p>
  <p>"Let's go, people." Shepard said, the group walking off.</p>
  <p>Save for…</p>
  <p>Tali halted and looked back to see Roxas had not moved from his spot.</p>
  <p>Instead, he was now gazing at the alleyway where the human who disappeared ran out from.</p>
  <p>"Roxas?" Tali called out to him with the group up ahead halting in their tracks as they turned back to see Tali walking towards the unusual boy.</p>
  <p>Standing beside him, she glanced over to the alleyway that had his attention and saw that it was still rather dark in appearance which made her squirm.</p>
  <p>"Roxas." Tali said aloud, breaking him out of daze. "Are you alright?"</p>
  <p>He didn't answer at first, simply keeping his eyes locked onto hers.</p>
  <p>"I… yeah… yeah, I'm fine." he replied after a few seconds though it was clear to Tali that he wasn't entirely sure himself.</p>
  <p>Something was troubling him and she had a good guess as to what it probably was.</p>
  <p>"Come on." Tali said gently. "Let's leave this place."</p>
  <p>Not seeing a reason to argue that, Roxas complied as he and Tali went to join the group that was patiently waiting for them.</p>
  <p>
    <em>-Scene Cut-</em>
  </p>
  <p>The human embassy was a rather small office, with a desk close by the door. As Roxas entered behind everyone else, while staying relatively close to Tali, he saw two rather dark-skinned men standing there. One of them looked considerably rugged and the other just looking… <em>old</em>.</p>
  <p>Not because of age, but out of stress.</p>
  <p>The old looking guy looked particularly angry and he sent a rather frightened glare at Shepard the instant she entered the room with the others.</p>
  <p>"You're not making my life easy, Shepard." The older-looking man said, voice straining with barely-contained rage. "Firefights in the wards? An all-out assault on Chora's Den? How many-" The man then gazed upon both him and Tali, blinking in surprise. All of his rage seemed to evaporate and disburse immediately. "Who's this? A Quarian? What are you up to, Shepard?"</p>
  <p>She crossed her arms confidently with a small grin. "Making your day, ambassador. Saren's a traitor, Udina, and she has the proof."</p>
  <p>"Really?" Hummed the now identified Udina. "Maybe you better start at the beginning, Miss…?"</p>
  <p>"My name is Tali. Tali'Zorah Nar Rayya."</p>
  <p>"We don't see many Quarians here. Why did you leave the Flotilla?"</p>
  <p>"She's currently here on her Pilgrimage." Roxas said on Tali's behalf.</p>
  <p>Both Udina and the rugged man looked at him before the Ambassador gazed back at the commander. "Why's a civilian here, Shepard?"</p>
  <p>"He is Tali's friend. But we can come back to him later."</p>
  <p>Udina quickly understood Shepard's words as she didn't want things deviating from the purpose of Tali's presence here.</p>
  <p>"Miss Zorah, would you mind telling us what you found?" Asked the rugged man.</p>
  <p>Tali complied and began to explain in detail.</p>
  <p>As Tali talked about the evidence involved, Roxas found himself tuning out of the conversation. He already heard most of the relevant information from the Quarian herself beforehand. He doubted she needed everything explained to him again at that point.</p>
  <p>Thus his mind and eyes wandered away from the conversation to everyone around him.</p>
  <p>As Tali's explanation went on, due to Shepard asking a number of questions here and there, Roxas concentrated his attention on the more rugged-looking man as he contributed a line or so to the bundles of dialogue. No. XIII noticed that he was wearing some kind of military uniform all in blue, an Alliance uniform if he remembered.</p>
  <p>Soon enough, Roxas' attention went back into the conversation when he heard the audio recording from Tali's findings.</p>
  <p>"<em>Eden Prime was a major victor. The Beacon has brought us one step closer to finding the Conduit."</em></p>
  <p>"That's Saren's voice." Spoke the man from the Alliance in utter shock. "This proves he was involved in the attack!"</p>
  <p>Shepard then spoke next. "He said Eden Prime brought him one step closer to finding the Conduit. Any idea what that means, Anderson?"</p>
  <p>Roxas, meanwhile, wondered the same thing. On occasion after hearing the recording, Roxas pondered what this Conduit was.</p>
  <p>Anderson, of the Alliance military, gave his guess. "The Conduit must have something to do with the beacon. Maybe it's some kind of Prothean technology… like a weapon."</p>
  <p>As much as Roxas wanted to ask a number of questions floating in his mind, he spoke up. "There's actually more to the recording."</p>
  <p>Tali nodded as she played back her salvaged evidence from the beginning.</p>
  <p>"<em>Eden Prime was a major victor. The Beacon has brought us one step closer to finding the Conduit."</em> Spoke the now identified Saren.</p>
  <p>"<em>And one step closer to the return of the Reapers…"</em></p>
  <p>Udina was silent for a few moments, scrunching his eyes. "I don't recognize that other voice. The one talking about Reapers."</p>
  <p>"Are they some kind of new alien species?" Shepard asked.</p>
  <p>Tali had an answer for that.</p>
  <p>"According to the memory core, the Reapers were a hyper-advanced machine race that existed 50,000 years ago that hunted the Protheans down to extinction." Tali said. "Then they just up and vanished… at least, that's what the Geth appear to believe."</p>
  <p>"Sounds a little far-fetched." Udina commented.</p>
  <p>Shepard however grew tense. "The vision on Eden Prime… I understand it now. I saw the Protheans being wiped out by the Reapers."</p>
  <p>Upon hearing this Roxas shared a look with the other non-humans present in the embassy as they were no doubt curious about the details.</p>
  <p>'Vision.' Roxas mentally thought to himself. Like… the ones he's had?</p>
  <p>"The Geth revered the Reapers as gods, the pinnacle of non-organic life." Informed the Quarian. "And they believe Saren knows how to bring the Reapers back.</p>
  <p>"So that crooked bastard wants to bring a race of genocidal machines back?" Garrus asked scathingly. "Bare-faced bastard."</p>
  <p>"The council is just going to love this." Udina grumbled aloud.</p>
  <p>"We just found out that Saren is going to bring about an extinction level event with the Reapers." Shepard adamantly stated. "They wiped out the Protheans and if they could do that to them, they could do that to us as well. They're a threat to every species in Citadel Space. We have to tell them." Shepard urged her plea.</p>
  <p>"It doesn't matter what the Council may think on this, those audio files prove that Saren is a traitor." The uniformed man said triumphantly.</p>
  <p>"At least it's a start, Shepard." Roxas said offhandedly. "You can't win everything all at once."</p>
  <p>Shepard looked over at Roxas and couldn't help but grin at him. "I agree with the kid."</p>
  <p>"Who even are you?" Udina finally asked. "Civilians should not trifle with matters that don't concern them."</p>
  <p>"Like I said earlier, he's Tali's friend and was protecting her from-"</p>
  <p>"Assassins." Tali quickly answered, making the others look at her in bewilderment in interrupting Shepard's line of dialogue.</p>
  <p>She looked at them with her eyes silently imploring them to play along.</p>
  <p>"Ye-yeah." Kaidan quickly jumped on to the ploy.</p>
  <p>"Right, he's a fighter." Shepard added.</p>
  <p>"Could have fooled me." Wrex mumbled with a small snort.</p>
  <p>Honestly, they should've tried to ask beforehand on what happened prior to their arrival. Because now they looked a little… off puttingly foolish.</p>
  <p>Well some of them.</p>
  <p>Tali explained her prior situation. "Fist sent men after us, wanting the evidence you just heard. Roxas here made sure that it would be delivered."</p>
  <p>"It was more like Saren's men at that point." Garrus interjected. "Saren paid Fist to eliminate you and your friend, Tali. The amount apparently had to be enough to persuade him to betray the Shadow Broker."</p>
  <p>"Which eventually got me roped into joining these lot." Wrex said as he gazed at the others around him.</p>
  <p>The uniformed man hummed aloud thoughtfully.</p>
  <p>Gazing at his subordinates, the high ranking officer already had a feeling there was… <em>more</em> to what is being mentioned. But it was more truthful.</p>
  <p>As much as he'd want to question them now on the actual truth, the Alliance Captain decided to push that aside… for now and focus on the important matters at hand.</p>
  <p>"It appears we owe you a debt, son." he stepped in front of the teen who gazed up at him. "Had it not been for you and your friend here, we may never have caught Saren red-handed."</p>
  <p>Roxas only looked up at the man with slight interest until he saw him stick his hand out.</p>
  <p>"Captain David Anderson." He introduced himself. "And your name is Roxas, I'm guessing."</p>
  <p>The sandy-blond haired teen simply nodded and looked at the hand offered to him for a moment.</p>
  <p>Why was he holding it out agai-</p>
  <p>'Oh right.' Roxas internally recalled seeing people throughout the Citadel shaking hands.</p>
  <p>He reached out and grasped the older man's hand with a firm shake between them.</p>
  <p>"Nice grip you got there." Anderson noted with a small smirk.</p>
  <p>"Thanks."</p>
  <p>"If you two are done dilly dallying, we need to present this evidence to the Council right away." Spoke the human ambassador.</p>
  <p>"What about her?" Wrex asked, jabbing a thumb to Tali. "The Quarian."</p>
  <p>"My name is Tali."</p>
  <p>"Shepard, I may not have been able to do much down in the wards, but I can handle myself." Tali said confidently. "Please, allow me to prove myself."</p>
  <p>"This is gonna be dangerous." Shepard countered. "And what about your Pilgrimage? Won't this just get in the way?"</p>
  <p>"The whole point of the Pilgrimage is to serve for the betterment of others." Tali explained. "And… may I see your weapon?"</p>
  <p>Quirking a brow at such a strange request, Jane was unsure of where she was going with this but decided to trust her gut and handed her rifle to the Quarian.</p>
  <p>The group blinked in surprise as Tali proceeded to dismantle the gun only to reassemble it in a matter of seconds. She held it out for Shepard to take with a sly look under her helmet.</p>
  <p>"I could do that to the Geth in a cinch."</p>
  <p>Jane had a broad smirk in place now. "Welcome aboard."</p>
  <p>Tali nodded happily, until she looked at Roxas. He seemed… contemplative.</p>
  <p>He didn't say anything to her about joining up with Shepard.</p>
  <p>Udina all the while spoke once more.</p>
  <p>"Anderson and I will go on ahead to get things set up with the council." he said. "Take some time to collect yourselves and then meet us at the tower afterwards."</p>
  <p>As the two elderly gentlemen walked away, the rest of the group remained behind.</p>
  <p>"So now wha-"</p>
  <p>"Um… Shepard."</p>
  <p>The group looked at Roxas who had his head down for a moment before he gazed up at the Commander.</p>
  <p>"Can… Can I come with you?" he asked hesitantly.</p>
  <p>Wait, what?</p>
  <p>"..."</p>
  <p>"..."</p>
  <p>"...er, yeah, sure." Shepard responded after a few moments of unclear silence.</p>
  <p>
    <em>-Scene Cut-</em>
  </p>
  <p>Roxas looked all around once departing from the elevator with everyone else as he saw himself looking down a long hallway. Said hallway opened up to an antechamber of sorts.</p>
  <p>"What's with all those stairs?" Roxas asked suddenly.</p>
  <p>"I thought it was symbolic." Came Kaiden's response. "Of the Council's position and power."</p>
  <p>Ashley scoffed. "I still think that's total bull. Those stairs make great defensive positions in the event of an invasion."</p>
  <p>"For me… makes me think of how painful it'll be to fall down its length." Shepard commented.</p>
  <p>Roxas took the time to analyze his environment as his training already kicked in moments later. With several ideas flowing in his head, his mouth became the outlet.</p>
  <p>"I don't think so." Roxas blurted out.</p>
  <p>"Huh?"</p>
  <p>The others in their group briefly looked at Roxas with a curious look.</p>
  <p>Roxas pointed up to the catwalks above. "I can make the jump and take care of the defensive forces stationed there."</p>
  <p>Ashley looked at the boy in disbelief, scoffing dismissively a moment later.</p>
  <p>"I highly doubt it."</p>
  <p>Roxas ignored the little dismissal as they ascended the long flight of stairs. When reaching the top ever more, he saw something quite obvious.</p>
  <p>"One could even break through the giant plane of glass and cause all sorts of trouble."</p>
  <p>"Like anyone could get close enough from the outside."</p>
  <p>Knowing it would take a lot longer to take the stairs, Roxas focused in on the catwalk and crouched down.</p>
  <p>Tali and Garrus were the first to notice this.</p>
  <p>"Ro-"</p>
  <p>In a sudden display of astonishing strength and athletic ability, Roxas jumped high into the air, reaching the catwalk before proceeding to <em>run up the wall.</em></p>
  <p>The entire group saw this with many other passersby seeing this display and many jaws falling to the ground.</p>
  <p>He eventually reached the top and casually stood there, turning to look down at the new companions he had been walking with.</p>
  <p>"See?" Roxas said with a smile.</p>
  <p>Eventually, the group made it up to where Roxas was waiting for them, all staring.</p>
  <p>"..."</p>
  <p>"..."</p>
  <p>"..."</p>
  <p>"..."</p>
  <p>"..."</p>
  <p>"What?"</p>
  <p>"...Really? What? That's all you have to say?"</p>
  <p>"...Uh…"</p>
  <p>"...Okay, I'll say it. What the fuck was that, kid?"</p>
  <p>Roxas shrugged. "I have a particular set of skills."</p>
  <p>"Don't be quoting Taken on us, Roxas."</p>
  <p>"Taken?"</p>
  <p>"...Never mind."</p>
  <p>The assemblage of species quickly resumed their pace, trying their best to ignore all the looks of bewilderment and astonishment from the many civilians and C-sec nearby who saw the boy pull off an astonishing feat.</p>
  <p>When they finally reached the top, the group saw Udina standing by a podium as the Citadel Council, stationed over yonder, were hearing the recording Tali found for their evidence.</p>
  <p>"<em>Eden Prime was a major victor. The Beacon has brought us one step closer to finding the Conduit."</em></p>
  <p>"<em>And one step closer to the return of the Reapers…"</em></p>
  <p>With the recording ending, Udina practically wore a smug, triumvirate look on his features. "You wanted proof. There it is!" He said, thrusting his finger at the Council before him.</p>
  <p>"This evidence is irrefutable, ambassador." The Turian councilor admittedly. "Saren will be stripped of his Spectre status and all efforts will be made to bring him to answer for his crimes."</p>
  <p>"I recognize the other voice," the Asari councilor added in, "the one speaking with Saren. Matriarch Benezia."</p>
  <p>"So she's working with Saren and the Geth then." Shepard concluded rather quickly. "Who is she, then?"</p>
  <p>The Asari councilor nodded. "Matriarch Benezia is a powerful biotic with many followers. She will make a formidable ally to Saren."</p>
  <p>"I'm more interested in the Reapers," interjected the Salarian councilor. "What do you know about them?"</p>
  <p>Captain Anderson supplied the answer. "Only what was extracted from the Geth's memory core. The Reapers were an ancient race of machines that wiped out the Protheans. Then they vanished."</p>
  <p>"The Geth believe that the Reapers are gods and that Saren is the prophet for their return." Shepard added in-in a somber tone.</p>
  <p>Anderson nodded. "We think the Conduit is the key to bringing them back. Saren's searching for it. That's why he attacked Eden Prime."</p>
  <p>"Do we even know what this Conduit is?" Asked the Salarian councilor.</p>
  <p>Shepard merely shook her head. "Saren thinks it can bring back the Reapers. That's bad enough."</p>
  <p>The Turian councilor scoffed. "Listen to what you're saying! Saren wants to bring back the machines that wiped out all life in the galaxy? Impossible. It has to be. Where did the Reapers go? Why did they vanish? How come we've found no trace of their existence? If they were real, we'd have found something!"</p>
  <p>From his spot, Roxas was processing what was just said. As much as he wanted to possibly argue, he had to agree that the Turian brought up some good arguable questions.</p>
  <p>Shepard, meanwhile, wanted to walk up to the councilor who recently dismissed the claim and slap him.</p>
  <p>"I tried to warn you about Saren, and you refused to face the truth. Don't make the same mistake again."</p>
  <p>"This is different, Commander Shepard." Said the Asari. "You proved Saren betrayed the Council. We can all agree that he's using the Geth to search for the Conduit, but we don't really know why."</p>
  <p>"The Reapers are obviously a myth, Commander." The Salarian said with a hint of disdain. "A convenient lie to cover Saren's true purpose. A legend he is using to bend the Geth to his will."</p>
  <p>Roxas, along with the rest of the entourage standing a respectable distance away from the initial proceeding, was bewildered by the Council's response.</p>
  <p>"Why are they so stubborn?" Roxas asked.</p>
  <p>"You have no idea." Garrus muttered out.</p>
  <p>As the meeting dragged on and seemingly went nowhere on the existence of the Reaper threat, Roxas found himself growing rather disinterested at what had been transpiring. He turned to walk away and as he descended down the stairs, Roxas spotted Wrex hanging back here.</p>
  <p>The Krogan saw him a moment later and snorted aloud.</p>
  <p>"What's the matter kid, got bored of that bullshit already?" Wrex asked with a rumble in his voice.</p>
  <p>Roxas simply nodded, getting a small bark of laughter out of the Krogan.</p>
  <p>"Yeah, annoying drivel ain't it?" Wrex rhetorically asked. "Hear it once, you hear it all."</p>
  <p>Before Roxas could respond once more, he heard someone from behind.</p>
  <p>"Hey kid!"</p>
  <p>Since this is a nickname that had become synonymous with him by this point, Roxas turned to see a rather familiar face.</p>
  <p>"You're…"</p>
  <p>"Good to see you again kid." It was the Turian General Septimus Oraka from Chora's Den he had met the other day.</p>
  <p>"Hi." Roxas said plainly, Septimus chortling in response.</p>
  <p>"Hi? That's the greeting I get from the human who helped get me out of my rut?" Oraka asked with a joking tone.</p>
  <p>Roxas didn't know how to respond to that.</p>
  <p>"I just saw you over here kid and just had to come and thank you personally." Septimus stated. "You really helped me out the other day with everything."</p>
  <p>"No problem." Roxas replied.</p>
  <p>"No problem he says." Septimus chortled. "You have no idea how much you've helped me out with my own problems."</p>
  <p>Before the Turian could go on or the Nobody could respond, an Asari walked up next to him with an expectant look.</p>
  <p>"Oraka? Mind telling me what caught your attention so suddenly that you practically ran away?" The Asari asked in a patient manner.</p>
  <p>The Turian appeared flustered suddenly, turning to the Asari.</p>
  <p>"Oh, apologies Sha'ira." Septimus said sheepishly. "It's just that I saw the human who helped me correct my mistakes towards you and well…"</p>
  <p>"Oh?" Sha'ira turned to the young human boy before her with an interested gaze. "You are quite young for someone to be assisting those who have experienced much more in their lifetime."</p>
  <p>The Nobody was a bit unsure of how to respond here when he saw the Asari smile kindly at him.</p>
  <p>"You have done me a great deal of kindness without having ever met me." Sha'ira said, her voice oozing a serene calm. "I wish to thank you personally for this."</p>
  <p>She gently placed a finger under Roxas's chin and tilted his head up so she could hold his gaze.</p>
  <p>"Uh… what are you doing?"</p>
  <p>"When you have the time, please come by my establishment for a proper thanks and reward." Sha'ira said, her tone becoming hard for him to discern.</p>
  <p>"I recommend you do so, Roxas. Out of courtesy, of course." Oraka said to the Nobody.</p>
  <p>"Er… ok?"</p>
  <p>"Splendid." Sha'ira said, pulling back. "I expect to see you soon young man."</p>
  <p>She placed a hand upon Oraka's shoulder a moment later as a silent gesture of goodbye before departing with the Turian gazing at her the entire way.</p>
  <p>"She's something, isn't she?" Septimus said with a breath taken tone.</p>
  <p>"I guess."</p>
  <p>Oraka laughed at hearing that. "Ah, can't believe I'm missing my youth." he patted Roxas on the shoulder. "Take care of yourself, Roxas. If you ever need a favor, you can get one from me."</p>
  <p>No. XIII simply nodded in response.</p>
  <p>With that, Septimus walked off.</p>
  <p>Roxas only stood there, unsure of how to exactly process the interaction he had just now.</p>
  <p>He heard slightly heavy footsteps come up from his side, seeing Wrex's large frame out of the corner of his eyes.</p>
  <p>"How the hell did you know a general?" Asked the Krogan, who quickly recognized the Turian's status due to the type of uniform he wore and specific add-ons. "A high ranking one at that."</p>
  <p>"I just talked to him."</p>
  <p>"You just "talked" to him?" Wrex said in a dry voice.</p>
  <p>"Yeah."</p>
  <p>The Krogan gazed at the Nobody for a few seconds until he sighed.</p>
  <p>"Figured I'd somehow get wrapped up with a whole circus of weird humans."</p>
  <p>"...Sorry?"</p>
  <p>Wrex chuckled wryly. "Don't worry about it kid. Least I know it's not gonna be boring being around you and Shepard now."</p>
  <p>Before the greater Nobody could comment about it, he and Wrex heard someone speak up from behind.</p>
  <p>"There you are, Roxas. We missed you up there." Kaiden said as the others were descending the flight of stairs.</p>
  <p>"Yeah, you missed a historic event." Said Ashley, practically shaking with anticipation.</p>
  <p>"Of what?"</p>
  <p>"Shepard here became a Spectre, the first human one at that." Garrus responded, patting the newly minted Spectre on the back.</p>
  <p>"...Okay."</p>
  <p>"..."</p>
  <p>"..."</p>
  <p>"Wow, it feels like I accomplished absolutely nothing." Jane jokingly quipped with a flat tone.</p>
  <p>"Sorry."</p>
  <p>"Don't worry about it, Roxas." Shepard said, ruffling his hair without even thinking about it. "Should have known you'd react like that. Becoming Spectre must mean nothing to a guy who runs up walls for fun."</p>
  <p>"Not to mention you haven't done anything so far." Wrex added in.</p>
  <p>"Can't argue with that. Udina didn't seem all that grateful when he left with Anderson." Shepard remarked.</p>
  <p>"So what now, Shepard?" Asked the Nobody.</p>
  <p>"Now? Now we need to get ourselves ready. Supplies, food, the works." Shepard listed off. "We're gonna be out for a while and don't exactly know when we'll come back to the Citadel for restock."</p>
  <p>"Maybe you should stop by that Consort." Wrex remarked slyly. "Heard she's really good at her job."</p>
  <p>"Consort?" Ashley repeated. "What Consort?"</p>
  <p>"What, the kid didn't mention her?" Wrex said, a large grin in place. "Roxas here is apparently a bit of a lady killer."</p>
  <p>"What?" Was the answer of several of the team with them looking at the blue eyed blonde.</p>
  <p>"What's this about, Roxas?" Tali inquired.</p>
  <p>"I dunno." Roxas shrugged. "She was with Septimus…"</p>
  <p>Tali blinked until she recalled the encounter two days ago.</p>
  <p>"Oh, him!" Tali remembered now. "You saw him again?"</p>
  <p>"Yeah he was with an Asari." Roxas elaborated. "It was the one that he was upset about."</p>
  <p>"Septimus… Oraka Septimus…" Garrus muttered. "The general of the Turian Hierarchy?"</p>
  <p>"You know him?" Tali asked.</p>
  <p>"Have to. Many Turians need to know the current higher ups in our military."</p>
  <p>"Seemed awfully friendly with him." Wrex noted.</p>
  <p>"How'd you become friends with a Turian General?" Garrus inquired.</p>
  <p>"I just-"</p>
  <p>"Talked to him." Wrex interrupted with a small huff of amusement.</p>
  <p>Garrus looked between Roxas and Wrex, seeing the former nod at the latter in confirmation.</p>
  <p>"That's all?" The C-sec detective asked disbelievingly.</p>
  <p>"Trust me, Vakarian, I had the same reaction." Wrex waved off. "Kid's an oddball."</p>
  <p>"You're telling us." Kaidan remarked.</p>
  <p>"Well c'mon people. While we're gonna be in the Presidium, C-Sec is one of our stops." Shepard declared.</p>
  <p>"What for?"</p>
  <p>"I need to speak with the requisitions officer there and get a number of things." Jane explained.</p>
  <p>With Shepard now a Spectre of the Citadel Council, she wanted to make sure she used her newest position to its most effective means possible.</p>
  <p>That means being able to stock up a number of resources and weapons she originally would not have access to. With their goal in mind, the rag tag squadron she had assembled here on the Citadel were told to go about their business in getting what they needed before reporting to the Normandy.</p>
  <p>The only two that had stuck with her was Tali and Roxas as she herself personally requested they come with her.</p>
  <p>If she were to have these two under her command, she needed to know them both a bit more than just their initial meetings.</p>
  <p>Walking away from the C-sec precinct once her business was concluded with them, Shepard looked over to Roxas for a moment.</p>
  <p>Now that she had the time for a proper look at him, the more she thought about it, the more this young kid seemed to stand out from just about everyone else on the Citadel.</p>
  <p>His hair for instance seemed to defy gravity and his crystal blue eyes were unnaturally… she didn't know how to describe it but, they appeared as though they were devoid of emotion.</p>
  <p>Like she was staring at two blank canvases.</p>
  <p>Now that wasn't entirely the case as she did see occasional sparks of interest within those two blue orbs. But still, Jane couldn't help but be put off by someone so young being so dead in the eyes if she were using more honest words.</p>
  <p>And then there was his age.</p>
  <p>Apparently he was fifteen.</p>
  <p>Now, normally, Shepard wouldn't even dream of taking someone that young along with her for <em>any </em>mission or operation.</p>
  <p>That would be the case unless of course this teen happened to have the ability to call for a weapon in his hand and can apparently pull off what could only be described as <em>literal magic!</em></p>
  <p>Not exactly something she was willing to turn down.</p>
  <p>And then of course there was the clothing he wore.</p>
  <p>They were entirely black and quite frankly, unlike any she had ever seen anyone else wear.</p>
  <p>Shepard has seen people wear hoods and trench coats and such but those were usually more of fashion statements and preference.</p>
  <p>What Roxas wore felt distinctly different from anything else.</p>
  <p>Juxtaposed to this walking question mark was another one that seemed easier to unravel.</p>
  <p>Tali was much more bubbly and open compared to her friend.</p>
  <p>Jane had never met a Quarian before, much less fought alongside one so this will turn into quite the experience.</p>
  <p>Not to mention it would be good to have a Geth expert on the team cause Saren had a whole damn Geth army at his beck and call.</p>
  <p>However, one burning matter that was on her mind above all else was to put it plainly, everything involving Roxas.</p>
  <p>That key-shaped weapon she saw.</p>
  <p>The magic.</p>
  <p>
    <em>Those creatures!</em>
  </p>
  <p>What were they?</p>
  <p>She knew that she had to ask eventually.</p>
  <p>But right now isn't the time for that.</p>
  <p>Right now… they were apparently gonna go speak with an Asari consort that wished to speak with Roxas.</p>
  <p>Something about her repaying a debt to the boy.</p>
  <p>Whatever that was.</p>
  <p>There was a sudden spark within Jane about the grim thought of this Asari possibly popping the boy's cherry and she had a swell of defensive feelings in that regard.</p>
  <p>He was too young!</p>
  <p>Eventually, they made their way down to the Consort Chambers of the Citadel where they saw an Asari standing at the entrance to greet them.</p>
  <p>"Welcome." The Asari said with a polite smile. "I am Nelyna. I… don't recognize you as one of our expected clients today. Would you like me to see when the Consort will be able to see you?"</p>
  <p>"No need." Shepard said. "Your consort is expecting one of us. She just spoke with him not too long ago."</p>
  <p>"Really? And who might this person be?"</p>
  <p>As this was asked, the eyes of Shepard and the others rebounded right towards Roxas. The moment that happened, he gently swerved his head as he received all of the attention.</p>
  <p>"This is Roxas." Shepard introduced him. "The Consort told him she wished to thank him for-"</p>
  <p>"Oh, this is the human that has done so much for her before even meeting her." Nelyna said in recognition.</p>
  <p>"Excuse me?"</p>
  <p>"Right, you probably wouldn't know of this as we were trying to be hush hush on the issue before it all blew over. But that didn't seem to be the case." Nelyna explained. "It had to do with a disgruntled Turian General and an Elcor diplomat that was spreading slanders of the Consort."</p>
  <p>Shepard blinked at that and raised a brow soon after. Tali stifled a slight giggle, now seeing that what she and Roxas had gone through to be a bit silly all things considered.</p>
  <p>"But soon after, the Turian and Elcor made amends with the Mistress, citing a young human boy in black with blue eyes being the source of their turnabout."</p>
  <p>Nelyna regarded the teen with a kind smile. "You have done a great service to the Consort, young man. Please, she is expecting you. Just walk all the way to the end of the lounge and up the stairs on the right."</p>
  <p>The door to the chambers opened with Roxas staring ahead inside with him briefly looking back at Jane and Tali, the former of whom clumsily egged him on.</p>
  <p>The moment Roxas left them, the air around them was a little awkward.</p>
  <p>"So… anyone wanna ask the obvious."</p>
  <p>"About what?" Tali responded.</p>
  <p>"With this whole Consort business." Wrex then turned to the Quarian. "Mind informing us on how this all started?"</p>
  <p>"I'm rather curious myself." Garrus muttered in agreement.</p>
  <p>Tali nodded, seeing as they needed some time to kill before her friend's return. "Ah, right… Well it began when Roxas and I were at Chora's Den to talk to Fist…"</p>
  <p>No. XIII all the while strolled through the lounge at a casual pace, taking the time to observe the area and the patrons inside.</p>
  <p>There were humans, Volus, Salarians and Turian all around with all the Asari wearing matching uniforms of sorts. Small conversations were heard here and there though Roxas really didn't pay attention to them all that much as he went straight towards his directed destination.</p>
  <p>He saw another Asari standing beside a set of stairs with her giving him a smile and holding her hand towards the staircase.</p>
  <p>"Once you reach the top, please press on the panel at the door to announce your arrival." The Asari instructed with Roxas only nodding.</p>
  <p>Arriving at his destination, he pressed the button beside the door.</p>
  <p>"Hello." He spoke up. "This is Roxas. You wanted to see me?"</p>
  <p>Moments after, the door automatically parted ways, granting the Nobody entry into the room.</p>
  <p>Stepping inside, Roxas saw the spacious room had a couch, a strange pod of some kind and the Consort standing at the center.</p>
  <p>"Ah, Roxas." Sha'ira said with a small smile. "So glad you were able to come by sooner than later."</p>
  <p>Roxas only shrugged. "You wanted to see me?"</p>
  <p>"Yes I most certainly did." Sha'ira said, walking over to him. "I wish to personally thank you for the great deeds you have done for me. You have no idea how much it means to me."</p>
  <p>"It's really no problem." Roxas said plainly.</p>
  <p>"Modest as you are straightforward." Sha'ira said with a pleasant smile. "Septimus told me of your nature and I can see you are one who wears your heart on your sleeve, as humans tend to say."</p>
  <p>Upon hearing the whole matter of the heart, Roxas found himself abruptly drawn in.</p>
  <p>"What do you mean?" He found himself asking.</p>
  <p>Sha'ira took note of his response, humming aloud with intrigue.</p>
  <p>"You seem like a young man who has much to do right now. Something that speaks of an individual burdened with purpose he has yet to realize."</p>
  <p>There was a strange tingle going through Roxas, feeling it the most in his right hand. He almost felt like calling for his Keyblade.</p>
  <p>Almost…</p>
  <p>"Now I wouldn't dream of letting you go without payment. I do not make a habit of incurring debts."</p>
  <p>"Um...I don't really need anything." Roxas admitted.</p>
  <p>"Yes, but this is something different from materialism." Sha'ira stated. "I insist."</p>
  <p>Not seeing anything wrong with that, Roxas complied. "What are you offering, then?"</p>
  <p>"First is a gift of words. An affirmation of who you are and what you will become…"</p>
  <p>She now stood directly in front of him, with her eyes locked on to his own and her soft hand placed on either side of his face.</p>
  <p>"I see the sadness behind your eyes. A void seeking to be filled. A story that makes me want to weep. But it drives you, makes you strong. You never hid it either. It serves you well. Terrifies your foes. Few will dare to stand against you. And even when you're alone, you will not be in actuality as your allies will always be with you."</p>
  <p>Roxas nodded upon hearing all this coming from her. Made him want to think about a number of things.</p>
  <p>"Now this may be who you are, but it is not who you will become. You are in the formative times of your life as the man you shall become in the end will be the man you shall be until the end of your existence. You are a Blank Canvas and the galaxy is at your fingertips, waiting for you to add the brushstrokes that will define who you are for all to see."</p>
  <p>Now that was an apt description.</p>
  <p>He truly was blank.</p>
  <p>A month of existence wasn't really much to begin with.</p>
  <p>No memories of who he was prior to becoming a Nobody nor much to have to begin with.</p>
  <p>Sha'ira went on.</p>
  <p>"Remember these words when doubt descends, Roxas. For they will give you strength."</p>
  <p>"I'll do what I can to remember them."</p>
  <p>In actuality, he might just write them down on his Omni-tool.</p>
  <p>Sha'ira only smiled once more.</p>
  <p>"And now, for my second gift."</p>
  <p>She knelt down and gently placed a chaste kiss atop his forehead which made the teen feel a flurry of… things within.</p>
  <p>"Wha-What was that?" Roxas asked in bewilderment.</p>
  <p>"The kindness of something I believe you have not experienced." Sha'ira said, pulling him in for a gentle hug. "I feel that you are one who has never understood or experienced gestures such as these. As time goes on, remember these actions for they may serve you in their own ways when the time comes."</p>
  <p>"...ok." he said softly as she pulled back.</p>
  <p>"And for my final gift, I would like you to have this small trinket." Sha'ira said, taking something from her table nearby and holding it out for Roxas to take.</p>
  <p>"A trinket? What is it?"</p>
  <p>"A small mystery. I have never learned its use or purpose, but I sense it is time for me to pass it on." Sha'ira said enigmatically. "With you and the journey you are about to undertake, I feel it will reveal to you the answers it holds."</p>
  <p>The Nobody examined the trinket for a few moments before pocketing it with a nod.</p>
  <p>"I've done everything I can to help you for what you've done for me. Now I must ask you to leave, I have other matters to attend to today." Sha'ira said until she gently ran her hand through his hair in an affectionate manner.</p>
  <p>"Er…"</p>
  <p>Sha'ira merely smiled, retrieving her hand in the process.</p>
  <p>"We shall see each other again." Sha'ira said.</p>
  <p>With that said and done, Roxas left her chambers in order to rejoin the others in the lobby. When he made it back down, he saw the group was sitting on the couches as they seemed to be in some discussion of some kind.</p>
  <p>That came to a quick end when they saw his return.</p>
  <p>"So…" Shepard spoke in a delicate manner. "How'd things go?"</p>
  <p>Roxas shrugged. "She said a few things about how I'm not alone and all. And she gave me this."</p>
  <p>He held up the trinket for both Jane and Tali to analyze.</p>
  <p>"Wonder what it is."</p>
  <p>"Beats me, Shepard."</p>
  <p>The Spectre threw her hands up. "Well, I think we have that taken care of here. Let's go. The Normandy is waiting."</p>
  <p>"But aren't we supposed to-"</p>
  <p>"Already taken care of."</p>
  <p>Roxas didn't say anything else as he had to quickly follow after her and soon rejoined with the others.</p>
  <p>They were all on their way to the Normandy, and they had called on an elevator to get them down to the docking bay.</p>
  <p>The elevator…</p>
  <p>Was abysmally slow.</p>
  <p>Roxas should have taken a corridor to get down faster.</p>
  <p>It was strangely quiet among all seven of its occupants with none of them not really saying anything to each other.</p>
  <p>It was getting kinda weird.</p>
  <p>"So…" Shepard began, with a small whistle. "What'd you all get?"</p>
  <p>"..."</p>
  <p>"..."</p>
  <p>"Alright, fine, don't say anything."</p>
  <p>The rest of them found themselves chuckling with Roxas looking at them all curiously.</p>
  <p>"Say… Tali." Garrus spoke up, the Quarian looking at the C-sec detective. "How did you meet Roxas here?"</p>
  <p>"Oh." Tali blinked. "Uh, well, you see, after I got the evidence on Saren I kinda had to run for my life for a while."</p>
  <p>"Why?" Jane asked, glancing back at her.</p>
  <p>"Saren didn't want to get exposed of course." Tali said. "I was pursued by some of his personal assassins and they had taken out several of my friends who were with me at the start of my Pilgrimage."</p>
  <p>She hung her head at the memory of them who died to keep her alive.</p>
  <p>"I was struck…" Tali said, subconsciously rubbing the spot that was shot at. "And I didn't know if I was gonna make it."</p>
  <p>The Quarian then turned her gaze to Roxas who was already looking at her, Tali shooting him a look of pure gratitude.</p>
  <p>"But then this blond, blue eyed human just comes up to me and saves my life."</p>
  <p>"Daw, your knight in shining armor sweeps in to whisk you away." Ashley couldn't help but tease.</p>
  <p>"Kinda reminds me of Fleet and Flotilla." Garrus said aloud which in turn got a small squeak out of the Quarian making her try to hide herself from the rest of the group who all laughed at her plight save for Wrex who only rolled his eyes at what he believed to be pointless drivel and Roxas who did not understand what was so funny.</p>
  <p>When the elevator came to a halt, its doors opened out to some docking area. Exiting it, he glanced all over the place as everyone filled out with Shepard crossing her arms.</p>
  <p>"Keelah…"</p>
  <p>"Tali?"</p>
  <p>"It's… It's… beautiful."</p>
  <p>Roxas rose a brow on what she just said before turning his head towards where she was looking at.</p>
  <p>There, clamped to the dock through something magnetic, was a ship unlike he had ever seen before. The hull was in a rather sleek shape, with a series of thrusters jutting out of the side of the ship like the wings of a bird of prey. The ship's nose was curved and the lettering 'SR-1' was displayed rather prominently on the side of the hull.</p>
  <p>Roxas surprisingly found himself rushing over to the guard raid to get a better look with Tali standing right beside him soon after.</p>
  <p>The ship was actually quite large, soon comparing them to a number of ships he saw with Tali earlier today. Though he was still a novice, he had noticed that each ship had a particular design to them that allowed them to be distinguished from one another and easily identifiable with the species that had created the ship.</p>
  <p>"Turian?" He muttered out. "Maybe."</p>
  <p>"What are you going on about, Roxas?" Kaidan asked.</p>
  <p>"Just trying to think of what the designs for this ship are from."</p>
  <p>The lieutenant nodded. "It's actually Turian and human." He said, drawing in the attention from both Nobody and Quarian. "A joint project by both the Turian Hierarchy and the Alliance."</p>
  <p>"Really? What for?"</p>
  <p>"Testing grounds for the simplest of explanations."</p>
  <p>Roxas nodded before gazing back at the Normandy. "It looks so unreal."</p>
  <p>"Never seen anything like this, huh?"</p>
  <p>Roxas only shook his head as he stared at the Normandy.</p>
  <p>"I was practically on the same boat when I first saw this ship." Ashley said as she came up to Kaidan and Roxas. "Sadly, it was not all that grand as you and Tali have now as we were on a bit of a bind when I first boarded it."</p>
  <p>"We did have to bring Shepard in after the Beacon exploded."</p>
  <p>Roxas wondered what they were talking about but figured he could ask more later. More so when they departed from the Citadel.</p>
  <p>When the others were boarding the Normandy, Roxas saw Shepard was talking to Anderson and Udina about something. Not wanting to intrude on their discussion, he walked over the ramp and entered the ship.</p>
  <p>The moment he stepped inside of the Normandy; his sights were assaulted with all sorts of activities. There were people running around holding datapads, there were holograms everywhere, the interior was slick. From what he can quickly tell, this was probably the normal hub of sorts for this ship.</p>
  <p>It was way, <em>way</em> more livelier than the lounge of the Organization back in the World that Never Was.</p>
  <p>Next to him, Tali appeared to be shaking with complete and utter glee with her barely being able to contain herself.</p>
  <p>"I'mgonnacheckouttheenginecoreroom!" she blurted out with Roxas being able to catch maybe one or two words out of that. He watched her practically skip away, leaving him momentarily alone.</p>
  <p>Strolling along the way, Roxas briefly looked back and saw a row of holographic panels all surrounding a holographic display of the Citadel itself. Soon enough, the image disbursed and took the form of the Milky Way galaxy. And right by it was a little ramp, leading to a spot which stood overhead of said holographic display… for some reason.</p>
  <p>His thoughts went back to Vexen and Zexion, how the two would love to be a part of all this and study everything aboard the ship.</p>
  <p>"Seems someone is distracted."</p>
  <p>Roxas looked over and saw Garrus standing beside him now.</p>
  <p>"What's the matter Roxas, first time on an Alliance Ship that wasn't your usual ship?" Garrus asked cheekily.</p>
  <p>"You can say that." Roxas stated, eyes returning to the activity around them.</p>
  <p>His gaze lingered over what appeared to be the mess hall, where everyone would be eating if they so choose. Nearby was what looked like the medical bay and over yonder seemed to have a number of pods lining up the walls, big enough to fit a whole person inside.</p>
  <p>It wasn't long before Roxas rose a brow on something.</p>
  <p>"There's an elevator on this ship?"</p>
  <p>Garrus took note of it. "There is. There's a few floors to this ship. Might as well check each of them and see what's what… well except for the top one."</p>
  <p>"Why's that?"</p>
  <p>"Because that's the captain's quarters. No one's allowed to enter it unless given permission."</p>
  <p>Roxas nodded as they walked through the area.</p>
  <p>"Oh, they have a forward gun here?" Garrus said to himself with intrigue. "Hmmm, wonder how it's calibrated."</p>
  <p>Before Garrus was able to walk off, Roxas called out to him.</p>
  <p>"Um… where's the engine core room?"</p>
  <p>The Turian looked at the human with confusion.</p>
  <p>"Why do you wanna go there?"</p>
  <p>"Tali probably went over there."</p>
  <p>"Ah." Garrus nodded understandingly. "Hmmm, since this is a Human-Turian ship, my guess it's connected to the hangar bay, which is on the bottom level."</p>
  <p>Parting ways from the Turian, Roxas soon saw there was a flight of stairs nearby the elevator. Deciding to take that route, he descended it. After some passing moments, he found his next destination.</p>
  <p>The hangar bay was a very spacious place and Roxas suspected that they would have been able to hold quite a bit more inside. As it was, though, he noticed there was a massive vehicle that looked like a mess between a tank and something else. And spread out through various spots here and there were a number of crates.</p>
  <p>Over on the one side, Roxas saw Ashely was working with a number of weapons on a maintenance table before storing some in a weapons locker nearby. Wrex was leaning against a large stack of crates, seeming to have one of those 'thousand yard stares' everyone spoke of.</p>
  <p>It wasn't long before he spotted where the engine room resided and once stepping inside, he was amazed.</p>
  <p>There was some kind of metallic wall in front of him that was adorned with many varieties of light. The wall seemed to focus on a central point which blue light seemed to emanate out. Stepping closer to it, he saw a row of computers right in front of a guard-rail that separated the engineers from the wall by what he guessed was at least four yards. And once right up to the guard-rail, the Nobody gazed up at the light of the drive core.</p>
  <p>"Keelah, can you believe this place Roxas?!" Tali was practically gushing. "This is the most advanced ship in the galaxy! And we're on it!"</p>
  <p>Though Roxas was unfamiliar with ships for the most part, seeing Tali be so joyful brought out a small smile on his face.</p>
  <p>"It's… pretty cool."</p>
  <p>"Pretty cool? Pretty <em>cool?!"</em> Tali abruptly shook him by his shoulders, rattling his head slightly. "This is amazing! I never would have thought I'd get an opportunity like this! And Commander Shepard let me come! I won't let her down."</p>
  <p>Roxas could only nodded shakily as he could as his head was slightly spinning as Tali returned to talking rapidly about everything the ship had to offer, not content with just settling on one thing.</p>
  <p>Seeing her like this, Roxas couldn't help but have his smile return to him and he pulled out something he managed to discreetly snag by himself.</p>
  <p>"I guess… us being here deserves the icing on the cake."</p>
  <p>Tali blinked upon seeing a small cup of ice cream in one hand and a stick of the same one in the other.</p>
  <p>"R-Roxas, where did you-? How did you-?"</p>
  <p>She looked up at him who wore a small smile with her only smiling back after a few seconds taking the cup of sea-salt ice cream out of his hands.</p>
  <p>"Thanks Roxas."</p>
  <p>"You're welcome."</p>
  <p>Beforehand, Roxas used a Corridor to acquire a bunch of Sea-Salt ice cream from the Zakara Ward and stored it somewhere on the Normandy. After all, he didn't know when they'd make it back to the Citadel to purchase more. And the only other place to get it was from Twilight Town.</p>
  <p>Just as they were about to eat their ice cream, the voice of Jane Shepard was heard over the intercoms.</p>
  <p>"<em>This is Commander Shepard speaking."</em> Jane's calm and confident voice reverberated across the Normandy. <em>"We have our orders: find Saren before he gets to the conduit."</em></p>
  <p>From many points on the ship, many halted in their actions to intently listen to the new captain of the ship.</p>
  <p>"<em>I won't lie to you, crew," </em>she continued. <em>"This mission isn't going to be easy. For too long, humanity has stood apart from the others. Now it's time for humanity to step up and do our part for the rest of the galaxy! Time to show them what humans are made of!"</em></p>
  <p>After a few moments of silence, allowing the ship's occupants to digest what was said, Shepard spoke more. <em>"Our enemy knows we're coming. When we go into the Traverse, Saren's followers will be waiting for us. But we'll be ready for them, too. Humanity needs to do this. Not just for its own sake, but for the sake of every other species out there. Saren must be stopped, and I promise you… We will stop him!"</em></p>
  <p>After some more moments of dramatic effect, Shepard spoke once more.<em> "It started in the Traverse when he attacked Eden Prime and he has an entire army of Geth waiting for us. That won't deter us in the slightest. If he thinks he can get away with bringing about extinction for all, he's dead wrong. Wherever he goes, we'll follow. We'll pursue him to the ends of the galaxy and bring him to justice. I'm counting on all of you just as the galaxy is counting on us. We will succeed!"</em></p>
  <p>With Shepard in the cockpit, she pulled away from the intercom with Joker looking up at her.</p>
  <p>"Well said Commander." Jeff commended. "Anderson would be proud."</p>
  <p>"The Captain gave up everything so I could have this chance." Jane said resolutely. "I won't fail him. <em>We</em> can't fail."</p>
  <p>"Yes sir." Joker said.</p>
  <p>Back in the engine room, Tali was gazing up in slight awe at the passion Jane projected but Roxas was having a different reaction.</p>
  <p>He was thinking on him being on this ship, him being a part of this crew now.</p>
  <p>By this point, there was a strange feeling coming over him on him now being here.</p>
  <p>Though he has only existed a little over a month now, he's starting to experience so much.</p>
  <p>His time with the Organization has introduced him to Xion and Axel who he still wanted to see again.</p>
  <p>But after arriving here?</p>
  <p>It may have been an accident.</p>
  <p>It may have been the Heartless, who knows?</p>
  <p>But what he does know is that he wants to continue to be here. With these people around him who are <em>far</em> more expressive than anyone back in the Organization, maybe he can learn the secrets of the heart.</p>
  <p>The secrets the Organization is after.</p>
  <p>And Roxas figured that rather than spending time around those who have no Hearts…</p>
  <p>It was better that he learned directly from those that have them.</p>
  <p>With these people.</p>
  <p>Soon after, he slightly felt the ship budge, signifying its departure from the Citadel.</p>
  <p>That means there was no turning back now.</p>
</div>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>So we're going a bit crazy right now with the speed in which we're throwing these out there.</p><p>Jebest4781: Staying up late and having very little amount of sleep hours. Doesn't really affect me all that much later in the workday but trying to get out of bed is a hassle these past few days.</p><p>FMW: Agreed. Thankfully, being used to such short sleeping hours is both a blessing and a curse. But mostly a curse.</p><p>Jeb: Lucky you. I'm not all that great on it on weekdays but weekends are a different matter.</p><p>FMW: Indeed. So, few things. Love the excited reviews, those picking up on you know who at the ice-cream vendor, excellent eyes. Second, the poll I have up. I removed a choice cause well those who voted were not also taking the secondary step in leaving a review. So that's gone cause well… laziness.</p><p>There's a lot that we have to cover here, the important thing being the blending of these two  drastically  different universes. J and I have several ideas and scenarios in mind where we will eventually get to a sort of exposition chapter that explains the nature of both these universes and how both will affect one another.</p><p>But until that time, we shall leave it off here.</p><p>Rate Read and Review and as Always Have Nice Day.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Excavating an Archaeologist</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p></p><div class="xcontrast">
  <p>
    <strong>Rate Read and Review and As Always Have Nice Day.</strong>
  </p>
  <p>I'm Nobody Chapter 4: Excavating an Archeologist.</p>
  <p>
    <em>Day 34</em>
  </p>
  <p>Roxas sat alone in the mess hall of the ship, a small meal before him as he ate calmly with one hand while he had his Omni-tool open in the other.</p>
  <p>Currently, the Normandy was on route to a place known as the Artemis Tau Cluster where they would need to track down an Asari of importance to the mission.</p>
  <p>Li-something was her name. He couldn't really remember at the moment with him reading about the Codex right now.</p>
  <p>Apparently, this was where a number of information could be found on the galaxy and all its species, ships, weapons and so on.</p>
  <p>He had been reading this for a while now, having been mostly spending his time alone for a majority of the day with a bit of it being spent with Tali. Though, after a while, she appeared dead set on learning as much as she was able to about the ship having Roxas realize he was not needed at the moment.</p>
  <p>So, it was back to research and recon as Vexen had so aptly put it during his first forays into Twilight Town.</p>
  <p>He was reading about the Citadel for the most part until Shepard seated herself before him.</p>
  <p>"Hey Roxas." She said politely.</p>
  <p>"Hi." He said plainly.</p>
  <p>"Mind if we talk? I'm just making the rounds to the squad."</p>
  <p>The Commander momentarily gauged the boy for a moment who deactivated his Omni-Tool and gave her his attention.</p>
  <p>"How are you adjusting here on the Normandy?"</p>
  <p>"Fine."</p>
  <p>"What were you reading there?"</p>
  <p>"The Codex. About the Citadel."</p>
  <p>"Cool." Shepard felt like slapping herself. 'Cool? What are you? Four?'</p>
  <p>"What about the Citadel?"</p>
  <p>"Everything I guess."</p>
  <p>"Oh…"</p>
  <p>"..."</p>
  <p>"..."</p>
  <p>"So…" Shepard was strangely at a bit of a loss on what to do here. She wanted to talk to the young kid but she was kinda finding it difficult.</p>
  <p>Jane was considered to be a peoples person. Someone who could talk to and get along with just about everyone. She can hold conversations with gracious ease and was able to gauge a person's characters after a few exchanges of words.</p>
  <p>Yet somehow… with this teenager before her, Shepard couldn't lie to herself.</p>
  <p>She didn't exactly know how and what to say to him.</p>
  <p>That was until her Omni-Tool gave her an idea.</p>
  <p>It gave her a notification that Garrus was conducting his physical checkup under the ship's doctor Karen Chakwas.</p>
  <p>"Oh, Roxas." Shepard said. "Have you gotten your physical yet?"</p>
  <p>"My… physical?"</p>
  <p>Jane could only stare a bit at the boy, not entirely sure if he was joking or not.</p>
  <p>"Yeah… you're physical." Shepard said again, hoping maybe he'd remember what that meant.</p>
  <p>"Like… to see if I can fight?"</p>
  <p>"Er… not the way I would describe it, but sure." Shepard said. "Just to see if you're all good medically. No ailments or illnesses, allergies, none of that."</p>
  <p>"Allergies?"</p>
  <p>…</p>
  <p>…</p>
  <p>…</p>
  <p>"J-just, when you see Garrus walking out of the hallway to your right, go down there and you'll see Doctor Chakwas." Shepard explained. "She'll give you a medical examination and physical to make sure you're up to snuff to fight with us. It's required for all new crew members to undertake before being deployed."</p>
  <p>Roxas only nodded with Shepard sighing and standing up from her seat and gave him a small nod of her own. As she walked away, she brought up her Omni-Tool and sent out a message to all but Roxas of the ground team.</p>
  <p>They needed to discuss a few things.</p>
  <p>As Shepard went off to speak with some of the other crew members, Roxas waited patiently for his turn to go to the medical wing while also finishing his food.</p>
  <p>Seeing Garrus leaving the med bay, Roxas realized it was his turn now for this physical he needed to take prior to doing field work.</p>
  <p>It's a little weird when hearing that. For him, Roxas never went through a physical prior to being sent out to training and his missions. Closest thing he guessed would count as a physical would be the ruthless training regime he had undergone by the other members of the Organization.</p>
  <p>Perhaps the Organization wanted him out to the field immediately to help take care of the Heartless for their intended goal for all of them.</p>
  <p>Seeing the light above the med bay door shutting off, Roxas saw that as the sign for him to properly enter it now.</p>
  <p>When entering the med bay, he saw an older woman with short grey hair sitting at the desk. She was finishing typing up things on the datapad before turning her attention towards him.</p>
  <p>"Hello," he greeted. "Are you Doctor Chakwas?"</p>
  <p>"Ah, you must be this Roxas fellow I've heard about." She said in a kind voice. "Welcome aboard the Normandy."</p>
  <p>"Thank you." Roxas nodded. "Shepard said I have to do a physical. You're going to do it for me?"</p>
  <p>"Yes I shall." Replied the doctor. "After hearing from Shepard on the addition of new crew members joining aboard, I needed to get everything taken care of for the long haul." She went back to her datapad and started typing away. "I do find it odd that someone with no military training would take part of Shepard's ground team, let alone boarding this ship."</p>
  <p>"But Tali told me that prior to being sent out on their Pilgrimage, everyone had to be trained at the basics before more is added in over time."</p>
  <p>"So she told me."</p>
  <p>"And I was trained before." Roxas said, making Chakwas look at him curiously.</p>
  <p>"Oh? And what kind of training was it?"</p>
  <p>"Physical." Roxas answered honestly.</p>
  <p>Karen was a bit surprised at how straightforward he was but she soon found herself chuckling.</p>
  <p>The doctor then gestured to one of the beds. "Please take a seat. I'd like to ask you several questions before we get into the greater part of the physical exam."</p>
  <p>Roxas complied with the request. Once getting onto the bed, Dr. Chakwas spoke the first question.</p>
  <p>"Now then, what are your earth weight, height and age?"</p>
  <p>Roxas paused for a moment, racking his mind a little for the answers. 'Earth weight and height?' He thought.</p>
  <p>"I… don't know exactly what I know about my weight." Roxas scratched his head. "I know I'm five foot two if I remember correctly. And I'm fifteen."</p>
  <p>A cover up lie. He didn't know how she'll react, along with everyone else, if they learned he was over a month old.</p>
  <p>"That's fine. We'll take your scale once the testing begins. It's just a little formality to somewhat speed things along." Roxas nodded as Karen asked the next question. "Have you had any history of physical handicaps that you feel we -the crew and I- should know about?"</p>
  <p>Roxas was unsure of whether or not to do this but… right now, it's the only thing that really works right now.</p>
  <p>"Does being an amnesiac count?"</p>
  <p>"Amnesiac you say?" Chakwas asked in slight surprise.</p>
  <p>The Greater Nobody nodded slowly. "Yeah… I… don't remember anything else other than the past month."</p>
  <p>"Really?" Chakwas eyed the boy, trying to find any deception yet she found none.</p>
  <p>He remembered Tali asking him about how he knew so little and he spoke of how he only remembers the past month. When she asked him if he had amnesia, he looked more into it afterwards in order to learn what it was. And so far, it's the best of an excuse he can work with in order to hide the origins of his "existence".</p>
  <p>"So…" Roxas awaited her response to his previous question.</p>
  <p>"Being amnesiac counts… only if it's actually legitimate." The doctor typed down the bit of information onto her datapad. "You would not believe the number of people I heard of trying to use that excuse in order to get away with a number of things. But I'll be sure to see it so."</p>
  <p>Before Roxas could have the chance to question it, Karen asked her next one. "Do you possibly know any allergies you have?"</p>
  <p>"Allergies?"</p>
  <p>"Something your body reacts to negatively and rejects it one way or another." She said without missing a beat. "Trouble breathing, rashes and swollen areas on one's face are some examples."</p>
  <p>"No." He said quickly.</p>
  <p>Karen hummed as she checked more things off her list, no doubt having to skip over them due to several factors. "Do you perhaps have any serious injuries or illnesses?"</p>
  <p>"Not that I'm aware of."</p>
  <p>The doctor nodded before saying something that came to mind. "Now, with athletics… I heard from Shepard that you were able to jump extremely high into the air and run up the length of the wall with no sign of falling down. Is that correct?"</p>
  <p>Roxas simply nodded. "The others saw that."</p>
  <p>Dr. Chakwas hummed as she wrote some more details on her datapad. "Anything else athletic wise?"</p>
  <p>Roxas shrugged. "Haven't done anything else."</p>
  <p>Now that was interesting.</p>
  <p>He did not appear to confirm nor deny that. As a matter of fact, it almost appeared as though he was unsure of his own capabilities.</p>
  <p>If he truly has amnesia as he has just told her, then perhaps he is rediscovering what he can do. After all, if the mind doesn't remember, often the body can do it for you. Chakwas has seen and studied individuals where that turned out to be the case.</p>
  <p>"Any history with drugs, stimulants or alcohol?"</p>
  <p>"No to all of them." He didn't exactly know what they were to begin with save for that alcohol bit after seeing people in Chora's Den drinking. From seeing the side effects, he wasn't really keen on having the same reaction.</p>
  <p>Since these drugs and stimulants were lumped into the same question as alcohol, he figured they would probably cause the same kind of response.</p>
  <p>The doctor nodded before quickly checking those off.</p>
  <p>"Can I ask you a question?" Roxas abruptly asked.</p>
  <p>Karen momentarily paused and looked at the Nobody quizzically. Seeing no harm, she complied on the request. "Ask away."</p>
  <p>"I'm just wondering but…" Roxas rubbed his chin. "What are your thoughts of Shepard being in charge of the Normandy instead of Anderson?"</p>
  <p>He had learned that Captain Anderson was the previous commanding officer of this ship since it first took flight into space on its maiden voyage. He oversaw the enlistment of many of the crewmembers when they were first assigned onto the Normandy. Practically everyone cared and respected the man because he earned it from each and every one of them.</p>
  <p>Yet it came to a surprising shock when Anderson had to step down as commanding officer with Shepard taking his place.</p>
  <p>Reason why this happened was simple, Spectres need their own ship for assignments. The Normandy is quick and quiet, a perfect vessel for such a Council operative. One can put too and too together.</p>
  <p>But when looking behind the curtain, there's more to that story.</p>
  <p>Roxas learned from Kaiden and Ashley that Anderson was in Shepard's "shoes" twenty years ago as he was a candidate of becoming the first human Spectre. He didn't make the cut apparently because the soon-to-be captain was sent out on a mission with Saren and it was botched with the Turian causing it to happen. He then reported to the Council on the results and thus Anderson was rejected.</p>
  <p>One can see that if Anderson took part in being majorly present on the Normandy when this assignment was taken place, actions might be hampered with the 'old beef' the man had towards the former Spectre.</p>
  <p>Roxas wondered if something like that could happen to Xemnas.</p>
  <p>The Organization has a very set structure with each of its members having a strictly defined role that occasionally overlaps with other members depending on the circumstance.</p>
  <p>Hearing about a leader willingly stepped down to let another take his place, despite circumstances, intrigued Roxas.</p>
  <p>"I think that Captain David Anderson is a man who has nothing left to prove and was very brave in making such a hard choice." Chakwas said. "I've known him for quite a while. This is not a decision he would make lightly or just on a whim. And I think Shepard is even braver in being willing enough to take up the role Anderson offered to her directly. You heard her on the intercom the other day. She owes Anderson a great deal with everything he himself has done for her."</p>
  <p>Roxas nodded after digesting her words, utterly fascinated by the answer.</p>
  <p>"And you young man?" Chakwas then asked. "What do you make of it?"</p>
  <p>No. XIII frowned, thinking it over.</p>
  <p>"I… don't know." Roxas said after having all these thoughts race through his head. "I don't really understand all this."</p>
  <p>Chakwas found his honesty rather endearing. She rubbed his hair with a kind smile with him gazing at her in confusion.</p>
  <p>"You're an honest young lad." Chakwas said kindheartedly. "I think you will make for a fine addition to the crew."</p>
  <p>This certainly surprised the young teen who hadn't had someone say such a thing to him.</p>
  <p>"Before we start the actual test, I'd like to ask you one last thing?" Chakwas placed the datapad on the table as her attention was completely focused on him. "Why…?"</p>
  <p>"Why what?"</p>
  <p>"Why not live out your life peacefully instead of taking part in this mission the Council gave Shepard? You're young, impressionable. You could be able to find a nice girl -or boy if you prefer- to settle with one day and enjoy things to their fullest." Chakwas said, watching the boy for any reaction out of her words. "Not many people can get away with this cleanly. You haven't been in this too deeply yet, so there's a chance for you to just walk away."</p>
  <p>The young teen sat there, staring at the elderly doctor with her chewing the inside of her cheek. She didn't want to come across like this but she'd rather not see a young man such as Roxas here just throw his life away for something he clearly doesn't understand.</p>
  <p>She could see it in his eyes and hear it in the way he talked and asked questions.</p>
  <p>His inquisitive nature she feels may get the better of him on this mission and Chakwas would be damned if she didn't at least try in dissuading him from making a foolish mistake.</p>
  <p>"I can't." Roxas suddenly declared, surprising the doctor.</p>
  <p>"You can't?" She asked expectantly. "Or you won't?"</p>
  <p>"... Both." He stated. "I… I have to do this. I <em>need </em>to do this."</p>
  <p>Chakwas gazed intently at the boy, trying to locate any measure of doubt within him yet failed in doing so.</p>
  <p>He was resolute in doing this and was not going to turn back.</p>
  <p>She didn't know whether to be impressed or disappointed with the answer.</p>
  <p>"Now then, with those questions out of the way, I'd like you to follow me."</p>
  <p>Roxas hopped off the bed and walked behind Karen, who soon directed him to a machine.</p>
  <p>"This here will be the first part of your physical," she said, going to a virtual control panel and looking at the piece of technology. "This will scan your vital signs and your health. I will ask that you do a few other physical activities afterwards, but this will cover most of the exam."</p>
  <p>"I see…"</p>
  <p>Chakwas nodded as a bed was laid out from the machine. "Now please lay here." Roxas complied and laid along its length. "Try to relax," she said. "This process can take upwards of fifteen minutes or so. Scanners will go over your entire body, and a few might get very close, so just relax and you should be fine."</p>
  <p>Roxas nodded as he did the best he could to relax, as if he was trying to take a nap.</p>
  <p>"Alright," said the doctor. "I'll be starting the exam… now."</p>
  <p>Roxas soon felt a small jerk on the bed as it was being pulled into the device. As he went through it, it was mostly quiet as he heard some faint sounds here and there with a small hint of light breaching past his eyelids as the scan commenced.</p>
  <p>
    <em>-Scene Cut-</em>
  </p>
  <p>"Alright." Shepard cleared her throat, taking a moment to look at the five individuals seated in the comm room. "I think some of you can take a gander as to why exactly I brought all six of us here together."</p>
  <p>While one or two of them had an idea, the others were sort of iffy as to why they were all gathered here. One in particular voiced her opinion on this meeting.</p>
  <p>"Shepard." Tali meekly raised her hand. "Not to sound rude or anything but… why isn't Roxas here?"</p>
  <p>Shepard hesitated for a moment. "Er… ya see Tali, that's kinda the reason we're having this meeting."</p>
  <p>Tali paused, soon connecting the dots. "This is about Roxas?"</p>
  <p>"Yeah." Ashley confirmed a moment later. "Look, we don't wanna come across like a couple of assholes but we need to be frank. What the hell is his deal?"</p>
  <p>"Pardon?"</p>
  <p>Shepard rubbed the bridge of her nose. "Ash, for God sake."</p>
  <p>The Gunnery Sergeant realized her slip up, cringing in an apologetic manner towards Jane. "Sorry Commander. Couldn't contain myself."</p>
  <p>Tali however ignored all this, looking around at the new squad she had joined.</p>
  <p>"What is this about Roxas?"</p>
  <p>"Oh come on, Quarian." Wrex rumbled. "You seriously can't figure out why we would have this little get together to begin with? Calling that human strange would be putting it politely."</p>
  <p>"Yeah, not to sound rude or anything but I've been kinda holding back on really getting to know the kid after seeing what he did down in the wards." Garrus admitted. "I thought I saw him float for a moment before all that thunder came down. Which, by account, should be impossible to happen in such a location."</p>
  <p>"What was up with that?" Kaidan asked a moment later. "Not gonna lie, that shit looked like straight up magic."</p>
  <p>"I-I-I don't know any of that." Tali said defensively.</p>
  <p>"How can you not?" Wrex accused.</p>
  <p>"Hey now." Shepard said in a firm tone. "I saw her how she reacted when Roxas did what he did. Pretty sure that was a first for her too… was it?"</p>
  <p>"It was." Tali confirmed.</p>
  <p>"Really?" Ashley was slightly disbelieving. "<em>That </em>was the first time you saw him do that?"</p>
  <p>"I've only known him for <em>two</em> days by that time." Tali countered. "How was I supposed to know he could do that?"</p>
  <p>"You didn't ask?" Garrus inquired with him slightly flinching at the flat look he got from the Quarian.</p>
  <p>"Oh I'm sorry, and how would you approach him on abilities you had <em>no idea</em> existed." Tali deadpanned. "Hey Roxas, I know we've only known each other for a day but is there a possibility of you having the ability to summon a weapon to your hand, shooting fireballs and reign down lightning?" She asked in a mocking tone. "Because if so, that'd be really neat."</p>
  <p>"Alright, alright." Shepard said placatingly. "Let's not go jumping to conclusions about Roxas just yet. We just wanted to have at least an idea of who it is we're dealing with. We're not here to make an enemy out of him."</p>
  <p>"I'm still not sure we should have even allowed him to come." Ashley said with her arms cross. "He's just a kid for crying out loud."</p>
  <p>"And yet you saw what he did to those… what were they called, Tali?"</p>
  <p>"Heartless." Tali answered. "He called them Heartless."</p>
  <p>"And they are…?"</p>
  <p>"I don't know." Tali threw her hands up. "That was the first time I saw them too, you know."</p>
  <p>"We should ask him sooner than later." Shepard said.</p>
  <p>"Do you think he'll give us an answer?" Kaidan asked.</p>
  <p>"Kid's probably a lot of things." Wrex said contemplatively. "But from what I've seen… he ain't a liar. Don't think it's in his nature to lie."</p>
  <p>"Best to do this as delicately as possible." Kaidan said.</p>
  <p>"Or just straight forward." Wrex said with a huff.</p>
  <p>"He might just whack you with that oversize key of his if you pressure him too much. Let alone hitting us with that 'magic' before hitting it towards the nearest escape pod."</p>
  <p>"No…" Tali shook her head. "I think Wrex is right on this one. We should just ask him outright. This is something that's very serious. Who knows if we'll encounter those creatures again."</p>
  <p>"Are you sure, Tali?" Shepard asked.</p>
  <p>Tali nodded. "We should."</p>
  <p>"...Well that wasn't unsettling to hear at all."</p>
  <p>"What?"</p>
  <p>"The whole creature crap." Ashley dryly responded. "And here I thought those Husks back on Eden Prime were scary enough."</p>
  <p>She could still remember it clearly as day as if it were yesterday. The Geth skewering innocent people, out in the open, on those odd dragon teeth-looking devices. The moment they died; the people started to drastically change way too quickly. Anything organic was replaced with metal and what <em>Husks</em> remained acted like zombies out of the 28 Days and Weeks Later films with the Rage Virus.</p>
  <p>And it didn't stop on living victims as fresh corpses were turned as well.</p>
  <p>"Actually." Kaidan frowned with a slightly disturbed look to him. "You guys saw what happened to that Turian guy right? When that, what's it again? Heartless? That Heartless stabbed its claws into the guy's chest, he vanished a moment later. There was no body left behind."</p>
  <p>"Just questions on top of questions." Jane said with a sigh, leaning against her empty chair.</p>
  <p>"Another one to the list to add when we talk to him." Garrus said.</p>
  <p>"Wonder what he's made out of." Ashley mused aloud.</p>
  <p>"What?" Shepard looked at her.</p>
  <p>The Sergeant shrugged. "Just wondering out loud. Kid's a human but maybe there's something else to him. Kinda like biotics and all with their implants. Maybe he's got something special inside him that allows him to perform all that crazy shit."</p>
  <p>"It seems you want Roxas dissected in a lab somewhere." Tali accused.</p>
  <p>"What? No! I didn't mean to insinuate- Look; I don't want to offend Roxas or anything but he might become a very peculiar person of interest from a whole lot of people." Ashley said. She may not exactly trust the kid just yet but she wasn't cruel. "I was just wondering aloud is all. And you gotta realize there's some messed up people out there that would probably think the same."</p>
  <p>"The Salarians, for example." Wrex said in a dark tone. "Slimy little Pyjaks always studying everything. Won't leave anything of interest alone for even a moment."</p>
  <p>"Alright, enough of that." Shepard said sharply. "We're not here to talk about that kinda crap about a teammate. I feel dirty enough already talking about a kid like this behind his back. He's a part of this squad now. All of you are. That means we'll have to trust each other for this mission we're all a part of now. Are we clear?"</p>
  <p>The squad all nodded and spoke in compliance.</p>
  <p>"Crystal."</p>
  <p>"Yes sir."</p>
  <p>"I'll be holding you on that, Commander." Tali said, tightening her hands together.</p>
  <p>Shepard took notice of the Quarian's reaction and didn't address it, clearly knowing what she's feeling right now.</p>
  <p>The only friend she's with at this time, prior to coming onto this ship, is being discussed in a rather mistrustful manner. Jane would feel the same way if she were in her shoes.</p>
  <p>"Alright, dismissed." Shepard waved her hand. "Just get ready. We'll be at the cluster soon enough."</p>
  <p>The squad all stood from their seats and departed from the meeting room.</p>
  <p>When Jane finally left the room, she was about to make it back to her quarters to get suited up for their upcoming task.</p>
  <p>As she walked past the med bay, she saw the door open up with Roxas stepping out.</p>
  <p>"Ah, Roxas." Said the commander. "How'd the physical go?"</p>
  <p>"Chakwas said I'm good to go." Roxas declared.</p>
  <p>"Great." Jane said with a smile.</p>
  <p>"She said she also wants to talk to you." Roxas said, making Jane gaze at him.</p>
  <p>"What for?" She then smirked slightly. "I hope she knows I already had my physical. No need for another one."</p>
  <p>The young teen only shrugged.</p>
  <p>"She wanted to talk to you about something important." he said.</p>
  <p>Shepard only nodded. "Alright then. Get suited up, Roxas. You're coming with me on the ground for this mission."</p>
  <p>The teen inclined his head forward, walking away whilst Shepard went off to the Med bay.</p>
  <p>Arriving at the med bay, Jane saw Chakwas looking over her datapad before seeing her out of the corner of her eye.</p>
  <p>"Ah Shepard, glad you could come." the Doctor said. "I needed to speak with you."</p>
  <p>"Alright."</p>
  <p>"I just wanted to let you know the squad you have is in good health and is ready for combat." Chakwas declared getting a satisfied nod out of the newly anointed Spectre.</p>
  <p>"Great to hear." Shepard said, her eyes momentarily looking down at the datapad and saw the name of the person she had just conducted a physical for. "So, Karen, what do you think of Roxas?"</p>
  <p>"First off, he's in perfect health, better than I expected." She said to the commander. "He would need to be in a specific exercise regimen as I don't exactly know what he'll be like out there, due to him being a civilian."</p>
  <p>"Seems I'll be seeing him in the gym a bit more often. Wonder how much he'll do well on that."</p>
  <p>"Might give you a run for your money, Jane. Probably even Wrex."</p>
  <p>"Excuse me?"</p>
  <p>Karen typed away on the keypad and pulled up Roxas' results. "He has an abnormally high endurance and strength rate from what I was able to find. Seemed to exceed the standard limits on the machines on his cardio and weight limits."</p>
  <p>"I don't see that being a problem. Kid's probably a good runner." Shepard dryly stated, recalling his astonishing gravity defying fleet back at the Citadel. Not to mention cleaving through those Heartless quite well.</p>
  <p>"I placed him on the treadmill and he ran until I told him to <em>stop</em>." Karen accentuated that last word with great emphasis. "He barely broke a sweat. If he did at all."</p>
  <p>Shepard was silently taking it in.</p>
  <p>"And how fast did you...?"</p>
  <p>"Far exceeding than I should if I'm honest. And the same goes for the time limit."</p>
  <p>"So… what exactly are you insinuating here, Doc?"</p>
  <p>"He was trained, conditioned prior to Miss Zorah meeting him." Chakwas said. "He spoke of physical training."</p>
  <p>Shepard didn't respond at first.</p>
  <p>"Has he also told you he has amnesia?" Chakwas asked, causing Shepard to jolt back.</p>
  <p>"I'm sorry, what?"</p>
  <p>"Amnesia." Chakwas repeated. "Apparently, he doesn't remember <em>anything</em> other than a little over a month since as of right now. Emphasis on anything from what I am able to gather."</p>
  <p>Shepard was at a bit of loss as to how to respond to such a revelation.</p>
  <p>"D-did you-?"</p>
  <p>"I'm not entirely sure of the validity of this but he has told me that Tali'Zorah is aware of this."</p>
  <p>"Why didn't he say anything?"</p>
  <p>"It appears to me that Roxas doesn't like bothering people with things that perhaps shouldn't be fretted over."</p>
  <p>Shepard scoffed. "I'm sorry but having a squadmate who has amnesia isn't exactly a casual problem that could be fixed so easily like a scratch."</p>
  <p>"How do you think I feel?" Chakwas asked rhetorically. "I've had to deal with cases of Amnesia before but they were for the most part dealing with a few short hours or days at most. Roxas doesn't remember <em>anything </em>from his past <em>fifteen years </em>of his life."</p>
  <p>To say that was disconcerting to Shepard would be putting it mildly.</p>
  <p>"He told you all this?" Jane asked softly.</p>
  <p>"He was rather forthcoming." Chakwas stated. "I asked and he answered for the most part."</p>
  <p>"For the most part?" Shepard noted in a questioning tone.</p>
  <p>"Like I said before, he says he remembers only this past month." Chakwas said. "Roxas wound up on the Citadel somehow, not knowing how he got there. I asked if perchance was with anyone else before his arrival there and he said only a name. A friend he had by the name of Xion."</p>
  <p>"And?"</p>
  <p>"And when I prodded further he seemed upset, but at himself instead of me." Chakwas said. "I heard him mutter underneath his breath that he wants to see <em>her</em> again soon and one other named Axel. Whoever they are, I only have the foggiest. But they clearly appear to be important to him."</p>
  <p>"Anything else?"</p>
  <p>"Nothing after that." Chakwas said. "I'd rather not pry more than I need to. He's still a young boy after all. However…"</p>
  <p>She looked down at her datapad with a deeply troubled expression.</p>
  <p>"I am concerned with his heart rate."</p>
  <p>"...I don't follow." Shepard frowned in worry. "Is there something wrong with it?"</p>
  <p>Heart conditions aren't exactly common these days. Some come naturally due to hereditary traits or through certain illnesses. Others, however, come through a heavy consecutive take of various stimulants and drugs that are rather harmful to the body. Back in the past few centuries, the treatments have been developing better over time.</p>
  <p>"Throughout the rigorous tests I put him through, I expected it to go through the normal results. Instead, it was <em>steady.</em> I had to triple check if the machines were receiving an error, but in fact they weren't. Not to mention when I was checking to hear the heartbeat afterwards through a stethoscope when the machines wouldn't help, do you want to know what I heard? <em>Nothing</em>."</p>
  <p>That threw Shepard for a loop. "Huh? What do you mean nothing?"</p>
  <p>"I mean that he has <em>no heart rate." </em>Chakwas said aloud in confusion and trepidation. "There was nothing. Nothing at all. I couldn't pick up on anything. It's contradictory. The machine shows there <em>supposedly</em> is one yet hearing it through a stethoscope shows there's not."</p>
  <p>"Doc… what are you insinuating?"</p>
  <p>"Shepard." Chakwas was grim. "There is something <em>very</em> wrong with Roxas. And I do not know how to diagnose him or help him or whether I can."</p>
  <p>Who in God's name were they dealing with right now?</p>
  <p>"I… I…" Jane wasn't really sure on how to respond to such a declaration.</p>
  <p>What did this mean? Roxas had no heart? Then how in the hell is he alive right now?</p>
  <p>He's not a machine from what she was able to tell.</p>
  <p>And Chakwas didn't refer to him as a machine to begin with so…</p>
  <p>'Ugh.' Shepard internally groaned. 'It's really too soon for this kind of madness.'</p>
  <p>"Listen, doc." Jane was massaging her eyes and forehead. "I just gotta know right now, is any of this gonna affect him on the field at all?"</p>
  <p>"At first glance, no." Chakwas said, making Shepard slump forward a bit dramatically.</p>
  <p>"Uh… Doc? I kinda already told him he's gonna be a part of our first mission together." Shepard said. "Kinda gonna need a different answer."</p>
  <p>"If you would allow me to finish." Karen said with a dry voice. "Much as I abhor the thought of sending a boy so young as Roxas out into the field, from everything I have been able to gather, there's nothing truly stopping me from clearing him for active field service."</p>
  <p>Jane was silent for a few moments, processing what was spoken.</p>
  <p>"Do you get out in the field much?" The commander asked suddenly.</p>
  <p>"Heavens no. I'm not a field medic. I'm more suited here." Came Karen's answer. "But I can tell you this, I don't have to be a field operative to see the <em>obvious</em>. It's quite often a young people's game."</p>
  <p>"But Wrex told me he's hundreds of years old." Shepard pointed out.</p>
  <p>"Roughly 700 years, actually." She corrected her. "I know what you're trying to say, but I'm trying to say this… there is no shame in admittance, Jane. The shame actually comes when it's too late."</p>
  <p>Jane gritted her teeth a little. "He said he was ready to help us, Chakwas."</p>
  <p>The doctor breathed in a little before giving the commander a certain look. "Perhaps you <em>can't</em> see it or… you <em>won't</em>."</p>
  <p>"What are you implying?"</p>
  <p>"You're sentimental about him."</p>
  <p>"As long as I'm in charge of this ship, I choose my field team."</p>
  <p>Karen gave Jane a longer look before breaking away. "Fair enough. I just hope you don't regret taking him with you out there."</p>
  <p>'You and me both, doc.' Shepard mentally told herself as Joker announced their arrival into the Artemis Tau Cluster.</p>
  <p>Their planet of destination?</p>
  <p>Therum.</p>
  <p>The last known location of Doctor Liara T'soni.</p>
  <p>Jane bade Chakwas goodbye, leaving the doctor to her own devices. Karen knew that Shepard wished to change the subject back there and frankly, she was rather glad for it.</p>
  <p>She wasn't quite sure how she would react to the unusually high brain activity going on in Roxas' head.</p>
  <p>She's pretty sure that missing one vital organ and the other having enough activity to power a ship would make Shepard put Roxas on hold indefinitely. Not that she wouldn't mind that. But she's also painfully aware that he'd probably go out on his own.</p>
  <p>Down in the cargo hold, Shepard arrived to see Tali and Garrus, two of her comrades for this mission getting prepped and ready for Therum.</p>
  <p>"You two all set?" Jane asked, walking over to them.</p>
  <p>Garrus nodded with Tali quickly pulling up her Omni-Tool to be sure.</p>
  <p>Jane then took a moment to look around.</p>
  <p>"Where's Ro-"</p>
  <p>"Sorry I'm late." Spoke the aforementioned teen, walking up to them from the stairs above. "I was talking to Joker."</p>
  <p>"Ah, Joker. It's no problem." Said the commander, waving him off. "Get him talking the right way and you don't know when he'll shut up."</p>
  <p>Suddenly the intercom to the hangar bay came on. <em>"I heard that, commander."</em> Said the helmsman.</p>
  <p>"Were you listening in?"</p>
  <p>"<em>Occasionally."</em></p>
  <p>"Please don't make it a habit."</p>
  <p>"<em>No promises."</em> Was all he said before cutting things off.</p>
  <p>Roxas managed to crack a little smile, something which the other ground team members took notice of.</p>
  <p>Wanting to know more of the people he was going to be with for the unforeseeable future, Roxas soon found Joker in the cockpit.</p>
  <p>To Roxas, Joker reminded him of Axel on a number of aspects.</p>
  <p>He was snappy, quickly spoke his mind -with some restraint- and often had a good comeback on something said around him.</p>
  <p>Joker wasn't his real name, but in fact a nickname he received back in flight school.</p>
  <p>Back then, Jeff -his real name- never smiled, causing one of his instructors to start calling him Joker in hopes of getting a rise out of him. Soon enough, it stuck.</p>
  <p>When asking the reason why he didn't smile all that much was because he was more focused on his work, his craft.</p>
  <p>Joker boasted that he wasn't a good pilot, not even great. In fact, he is the best damn helmsman in the Alliance fleet. By the time he graduated from flight school, he came out as the best pilot to ever grace it's halls, even better than the instructors.</p>
  <p>It was only then did Joker start living out his nickname as he smiled triumphantly as the "sickly kid with the creaky little legs" kicked all of their asses.</p>
  <p>Joker's words, not his.</p>
  <p>Roxas didn't know if that was true or not on being the "best helmsman" bit, but he heard the utmost confidence in his voice and the determined look on his face that probably said just that.</p>
  <p>For some argument's sake, Roxas would want to witness the man in action to see if the pilot proved just that.</p>
  <p>He worked hard to earn everything on whatever military file there was on him and those weren't given to him out of charity for his disease.</p>
  <p>Speaking of… Roxas learned about his condition, something called Vrolik's Syndrome or brittle bone disease for the simplest of means. The bones in his legs didn't develop properly, rendering them basically hollow. He had to be careful with how he moved them or else they'll shatter easily. Same applied when getting hit.</p>
  <p>It's hard to get around, even with support with crutches and leg braces, but he learned to manage his moderate to severe condition over the years.</p>
  <p>It was quite inspiring really.</p>
  <p>Though Roxas still had much to learn he was able to recognize Joker's conviction and determination to prove he was something more than he was born with.</p>
  <p>Something that honestly resonated with the young Nobody.</p>
  <p>The ground crew looked down at the teen with them taking a moment to look over his attire which he did not change out of.</p>
  <p>"Uh… Roxas?"</p>
  <p>"Hmmm?"</p>
  <p>"Where's your suit?" The commander asked.</p>
  <p>"What suit?"</p>
  <p>"Your combat suit? You know… for combat?"</p>
  <p>"This is my combat suit." Roxas said, gesturing to his outfit.</p>
  <p>"Roxas, that's just your cloak."</p>
  <p>"Yeah."</p>
  <p>"Roxas." Garrus began slowly. "I'm pretty sure you can't fight in a cloak."</p>
  <p>"But I've always fought in this."</p>
  <p>"That thing doesn't have shields." Shepard pointed out. "What if you get hit?"</p>
  <p>"I'll heal."</p>
  <p>Garrus and Shepard both short circuited for a moment.</p>
  <p>"Th-that's not how it works." Jane stuttered.</p>
  <p>"This is all I have."</p>
  <p>"Um, Shepard?" Tali spoke up tentatively. "This is <em>seriously</em> all Roxas has worn."</p>
  <p>"What?" by this point they had gotten into the Mako, even though Jane's attention was on the young Nobody. "Doesn't that thing smell?"</p>
  <p>"It's self-cleaning."</p>
  <p>"..."</p>
  <p>"..."</p>
  <p>"Self-cleaning?"</p>
  <p>"And what about it being blasted and ripped apart?"</p>
  <p>"It repairs itself as well." Responded No. XIII as he earned some bewildered looks. "Look, it's what I was told when I was given it. Hasn't been proven wrong yet."</p>
  <p>"By whom?"</p>
  <p>"Saix."</p>
  <p>"Who?"</p>
  <p>"No. VII."</p>
  <p>"No. VII?" Garrus repeated. "What's that supposed to mean?"</p>
  <p>Roxas suddenly clamped his mouth shut making everyone now look at him.</p>
  <p>Seeing his little bit of duress, Tali spoke. "Perhaps we can talk about this later. Not when we're about to depart."</p>
  <p>Shepard wanted to ask him more questions, something Garrus shared, but Tali was right.</p>
  <p>They were nearing Therum with Joker about to fly by to drop them off. She needed to focus.</p>
  <p>"Aren't we going to wait for Wrex, Kaiden and Ashley?"</p>
  <p>"I'm having them stay behind as our backup." Shepard stated. "Right now, the four of us are enough as is."</p>
  <p>With that out of the way, the squad prepped themselves as the Mako was turned on with the vehicle rumbling and shaking.</p>
  <p>"Get ready!" Shepard yelled from the driver's seat.</p>
  <p>They then heard Joker on the intercom saying. <em>"Mako, prepare to drop in 5… 4… 3… 2… 1… Mark!"</em></p>
  <p>Shepard accelerated the Mako forward as they exited the cargo bay. For a few seconds, they all could feel the free-fall as they felt the pressure of being dropped from the Normandy. Roxas felt the sudden stress in his body as it went from stable to weightlessness in an instant. This sensation wasn't new to Shepard and possibly not to Garrus, due to their respective training; however it was new to Tali since she hasn't had this type of experience before.</p>
  <p>The drop only lasted four or five seconds, but to Roxas it seemed shorter. It ended when he felt the sudden rush come to an end as Shepard activated the Mako's boosters. That was when the harness around Roxas took effect because he felt his body jerk and jolt back and forth in his seat, nearly falling out of it, as the Mako landed on the planet's surface as he felt all six tires slammed on the ground following a few more bounces as the vehicle stopped moving.</p>
  <p>He was slightly bug-eyed at the landing, looking around with Garrus and Tali showing similar reactions with the former managing to reign it in more so then the latter.</p>
  <p>Shepard took a moment to glance back at them and couldn't help but smirk slightly at the reactions.</p>
  <p>The Spectre then pressed the accelerator of the Mako, the tank on wheels driving towards where the marked dig site is located. That's where Liara T'soni's last known location was.</p>
  <p>As she drove, Joker informed them on what's going on. "Commander, I'm picking up some strange readings. Really strange. Like, off the damn charts. It looks like it's coming from an underground complex a few clicks away from the drop zone."</p>
  <p>"That's where we are heading?" Roxas asked aloud.</p>
  <p>"Must be." Shepard replied as she drove off towards the location of where the signal originated. "Then I guess that's where we should go."</p>
  <p>The Mako began its traverse across the rocky ground below, constantly going over multiple bumps and small craters.</p>
  <p>During the entire drive, Tali was not enjoying it at all as Shepard hit another pothole as she continued to plow through the rocky volcanic terrain.</p>
  <p>"Hey, you doing alright, Tali?" Asked her blue eyed friend.</p>
  <p>"Keelah, This is not how I pictured my first experience inside a ground roving vehicle, Roxas."</p>
  <p>"What's the matter, Tali?" Shepard teased. "Can't handle the road?"</p>
  <p>Tali gave the human a flat stare in response.</p>
  <p>"I kind of doubt this will be the last." Garrus said from his seat. "Probably best to get used to this sort of thing."</p>
  <p>"Really?"</p>
  <p>"...Maybe without her driving."</p>
  <p>"Hey! I'm a good driver!"</p>
  <p>"Shepard, this is our first outing together." Garrus said as cordially as he was able to convey himself. "You're leaving a bad first impression here."</p>
  <p>"Ah, come off it with that." Shepard waved off, performing an exceptionally sharp swerve.</p>
  <p>"Bosh'tet" Tali muttered under her breath.</p>
  <p>"What about you, Roxas?"</p>
  <p>"I seem to be alright."</p>
  <p>Garrus practically rose a brow. "You're kidding me, right?"</p>
  <p>"Am I supposed to?"</p>
  <p>Tali only shook her head, which seemed to be a bad idea as she leaned her head back against her seat.</p>
  <p>"Just… Never mind, Roxas, never mind."</p>
  <p>"Incoming." Shepard said aloud. "Garrus, Geth on the horizon. Get up on that gun."</p>
  <p>"Copy that Commander." Garrus quickly moved up to the primary cannon of the Mako, staring down two large quadrupedal Geth armatures that were marching their way towards them.</p>
  <p>Shepard pivoted the Mako to the side with Garrus adjusting himself as he aimed at the Geth and began firing.</p>
  <p>It was a brief skirmish with the Turian managing to take out the two Armatures, clearing the way for them to continue on.</p>
  <p>Their path had several more Geth foot soldiers along the way, Garrus making quick work of them until they reached a gate.</p>
  <p>A gate that wasn't opening for them.</p>
  <p>And with the Geth around, Shepard was correct in assuming that the gate won't open unless they access it directly.</p>
  <p>When the Mako stopped, Shepard got out of the driver's seat. "Let's move it, people. We're stuck between a river of molten lava and a base of sorts blocking the rest of the way."</p>
  <p>"So we gotta take care of that, then?" Roxas asked, earning a nod from the commander.</p>
  <p>"Sooner we clear that out, sooner we can progress." Garrus said, stating the obvious.</p>
  <p>The three residents of this galaxy stepped out of the Mako with their weapons drawn from their respective holsters.</p>
  <p>Roxas, however, merely summoned his Keyblade with a flash of light surrounding his hand.</p>
  <p>"So… that's just a giant oversized key then?" Garrus found himself asking.</p>
  <p>Roxas blinked glancing down at his weapon. "It's called a Keyblade."</p>
  <p>"Right." Garrus paused, looking between his weapon and the young humans. "...Would you think it's sad of me admitting that I'm envious?"</p>
  <p>"Why'd you say that?"</p>
  <p>"Easier to not hold so much gear and just… <em>summon</em> it on the fly."</p>
  <p>"Then what would happen if you <em>could</em> but then <em>can't</em>?" Said the commander.</p>
  <p>"Then I could pull the stick out of my ass every Turian has and use it."</p>
  <p>Roxas arched a brow up. "Stick up his ass? What does that mean?"</p>
  <p>The Commander and the Turian looked at each other, rather flummoxed by the boys…</p>
  <p>Oh right… amnesia.</p>
  <p>"It's a joke, Roxas." Tali quickly said. "A bad Turian one at that."</p>
  <p>"Oh please, it's a good old classic." Garrus defended.</p>
  <p>"Weapons up people." Shepard abruptly said in a sharp tone.</p>
  <p>Immediately, the four of them saw Geth running out from the base and began firing upon them. Some hit them yet their kinetic barriers absorbed the bullets.</p>
  <p>Roxas on the other hand…</p>
  <p>Deflected them.</p>
  <p>The shots went sailing in different directions as he rolled into cover with the rest of the team.</p>
  <p>"Spirits, you could deflect fire?" Garrus asked in disbelief.</p>
  <p>"Apparently." Roxas said.</p>
  <p>"Appa- <em>Apparently?!"</em></p>
  <p>"Not the time for that." Shepard said, a bluish-purple hue surrounding her body drawing Roxas's attention.</p>
  <p>Rising up from cover, Shepard threw her hand forward and a blue sphere shot out from her palm which sailed forth and ensnared several of the Geth firing at them. The Geth began to float up and about, flailing with Garrus and Tali popping out of their cover to take out the Geth.</p>
  <p>They then proceeded to quickly move out on the offensive, Tali bringing out her Omni-Tool to send out an overload against more nearby Geth.</p>
  <p>The synthetics spasmed with Roxas running forward and bashing the Geth with such force that they either caved in from the power or were shattered by it.</p>
  <p>Shepard utilized more of her strange, unfamiliar power once again, this time causing a red armored Geth to fly across the battlefield, crashing into the gates.</p>
  <p>Garrus snapped over to it, shooting its single optic out.</p>
  <p>Next to Shepard, the Nobody gazed upon the Spectre's glowing form with awe.</p>
  <p>"What was that?" Roxas asked in open wonder.</p>
  <p>"That? Oh you mean my biotics." Came the clarifying statement. "It's something I can do along with most of the galaxy."</p>
  <p>"...Cool." Roxas said softly, with Shepard unable to hide the small smile on her face.</p>
  <p>"I'll show you what it could do more later." Shepard promised. "Now come on, let's get these bastards."</p>
  <p>Roxas nodded, Keyblade resting on his shoulder as he ran towards the remaining Geth.</p>
  <p>Cleaving through the Geth one by one seemed much different than the damage received via ammunition.</p>
  <p>"I've gotta ask this, but how can you cut through them?" Garrus questioned him. "That Keyblade of yours is just so… <em>blunted</em> and round."</p>
  <p>Roxas simply shrugged. He didn't know how the Keyblade worked half the time. Just that it did. And that was all that mattered in the end.</p>
  <p>Garrus only rolled his eyes by the lack of a response.</p>
  <p>He felt this may become a common occurrence with the human.</p>
  <p>A few moments later, the Geth in the area were cleared out.</p>
  <p>"Alright, help me find the controls. They can't be that hard to find." Shepard said, gesturing for Tali to follow with Garrus staying behind with Roxas to look out for the Mako in case of any stragglers.</p>
  <p>As Shepard and Tali went inside the small base, Roxas merely stood in his spot, gazing at the gate before him.</p>
  <p>There he stood, looking at the gate from top to bottom until…</p>
  <p>He felt an unusual sensation.</p>
  <p>Eyeing the gate, his vision seemed to flicker for the briefest of moments. When it did, he saw something rather odd.</p>
  <p>The rocky surroundings around him was replaced with an urban environment. Before him was a large gate that appeared to be locked. Suddenly the Keyblade was brought up and a beam of light shot out of its tip. Once connected to the door, it glowed for several moments before it opened up.</p>
  <p>Returning back to the present time, Roxas gazed down at his Keyblade in hand and back at the gate before him.</p>
  <p>Wordlessly and a bit unsure of himself, he raised his Keyblade up, the teeth pointed down.</p>
  <p>Garrus saw this, perking up at the boy's behavior.</p>
  <p>"Rox-?"</p>
  <p>Light gathered around the tip of his weapon until a beam of light shot out</p>
  <p>This time, however, the gate had a glowing symbol of a keyhole appearing and hovering above its surface. A clicking sound was heard soon after before the light disappeared. Not long after, the gate opened up on its own.</p>
  <p>"Spirits, what the hell did I just see?" Garrus asked aloud, jaw gaping.</p>
  <p>The blond teen looked over to his Turian companion and then back down at his Keyblade.</p>
  <p>"What the hell happened out here?"</p>
  <p>No. XIII saw Shepard and Tali exiting the base, both conveying bewilderment as they had seen the gate open before they could even find a control panel. Both had their eyes on Roxas, momentarily looking over to the still slightly gaping Turian detective.</p>
  <p>Roxas didn't verbally answer the Commander, merely giving his weapon a quizzical look.</p>
  <p>"As much as I wanna know now, I'm not gonna look at a gift horse in the mouth." The commander remarked. "Let's get back to the Mako and keep going."</p>
  <p>Tali and Roxas moved to re-enter the Mako with Shepard having to go over to a shell-shocked Garrus and grabbing him by the back of his armor and pulled him inside.</p>
  <p>"Come on Garrus, snap out of it." Shepard ordered. "I need you manning the gun."</p>
  <p>Finally shaking himself out of his stupor, he looked back at Roxas who had seated himself before going back on the gun just as the Mako began moving again.</p>
  <p>Along the way, they occasionally came across Geth Armatures. They were these mobile anti-vehicle and anti-personnel units employed in high-risk areas. They were quadruped tank-like walkers, armed with superior firepower and a pulse assault cannon. While deadly, it does have a slow recharge time between each shot, giving Garrus the opportunity to fire his shots to take them down.</p>
  <p>This went on for several minutes, drive by encounters with the Geth along the way.</p>
  <p>Upon reaching a peculiar rock formation, too small for the Mako to fit through, their signal began to jam.</p>
  <p>"Think this is as far as we can go with the Mako." Garrus muttered.</p>
  <p>"Gonna need to walk from here, then." Shepard stated.</p>
  <p>"Yeup."</p>
  <p>The squad jumped out from the Mako once more, moving past the rocky formations and immediately being fired upon by several Geth yet they were handily taken care of.</p>
  <p>From a distance, however, the group could see the first proper wave of Geth coming down from the cliffside as they readied their weapons again. Some Geth units were activating a type of transparent barrier this time to create cover for themselves while others were charging forward.</p>
  <p>Shepard and Garrus fired upon the charging units as Tali was pacing herself since she knew that shotguns are only effective at close range.</p>
  <p>Roxas, meanwhile, was eyeing the Geth hiding behind the barriers, looking at them and then down at his Keyblade.</p>
  <p>He recalled that sudden move he did back on the Citadel, what was it called again? Strike Raid, right?</p>
  <p>He hasn't had a chance to practice it yet but maybe he could pull it off here, breaking through those makeshift shields the Geth deployed.</p>
  <p>Now or never.</p>
  <p>Reeling his arm back, a brief light flashed around his body with his Keyblade having a glowing aura around it.</p>
  <p>"<strong>STRIKE RAID!"</strong></p>
  <p>Roxas flung his Keyblade, the spinning weapon crashing right through the hard light barrier the Geth deployed and directly into the Geth behind them.</p>
  <p>He continued this attack several more times, causing pandemonium in the Geth lines as it was clear to see for the squad that the synthetics weren't quite sure on how to combat this new foe.</p>
  <p>"They're in shambles, move!" Shepard yelled out, going on the offensive.</p>
  <p>This strategy done on the fly was working as Shepard and Garrus were firing on either opposing sides whereas Roxas and Tali managed to draw a few Geth into the center.</p>
  <p>Yet things came to a snag with a resounding crack heard in the air.</p>
  <p>"Sniper!" Garrus yelled out, ducking for cover.</p>
  <p>The others followed suit behind some of the natural defensive areas. Garrus peaked over and saw the shot came from a control tower, which looked over the entire layout.</p>
  <p>It made the perfect sniper's nest. Yet it often depends on the surrounding environment.</p>
  <p>"Do you see the sniper?" Shepard asked.</p>
  <p>"Yeah." Garrus nodded while noticing Geth coming down from the ledge. "Not much room for a clear shot but need you guys to take care of our new <em>friends</em>."</p>
  <p>"You got it!" Roxas replied as the hooded duo went out and attacked on the advancing Geth from their cover.</p>
  <p>"I'll cover you two." Shepard said, firing from her assault rifle.</p>
  <p>From his cover, Garrus switched into his sniper rifle and lined the shot. He controlled his breathing in order to keep his weapon steady. Once it was set and done, he pulled the trigger. A resounding crack filled the air, resulting with the Geth's head exploding soon after.</p>
  <p>The body fell limp, fell over and plummeted to the volcanic floor below.</p>
  <p>Seeing his work done, Garrus switched his sniper rifle back to his assault one in order to assist the others.</p>
  <p>"Move up." Shepard ordered. "The dig site is just over the ridge."</p>
  <p>The four began their run up the hill, taking out several other Geth troopers until at last they reached the main facility.</p>
  <p>They moved in slowly, weapons up with Shepard noting Roxas walking forward in a rather unusual stance.</p>
  <p>"This looks like the place." Shepard said, pointing at the two structures. One was an ore loading dock while over on the right side was the mining entrance to the side of the mountain.</p>
  <p>Just as they arrived on the scene, a Geth dropped before them and ran on the ground and climbed upon the walls with its four limbs before hopping around all over the place.</p>
  <p>No sooner did that happen did a Geth ship fly by and drop down even more Geth on the scene with one large one in particular that they had fought on the road here.</p>
  <p>Yet this one seemed a bit bigger than before.</p>
  <p>"An Armature?" Garrus asked, running for cover as the Geth fired at them.</p>
  <p>"Worse, a Colossus." Tali said grimly, cocking her shotgun.</p>
  <p>It looked just like a Geth Armature, but it was larger in scale and no doubt had thicker plating to withstand a number of attacks. And instead of just having a cannon, it also had machine guns built into it.</p>
  <p>They saw that the Geth were here in force and this fight would undoubtedly be a lot tougher than before.</p>
  <p>
    <em> <strong>*THUM*</strong> </em>
  </p>
  <p>And of course the bastards decide to drop another Colossus with some Armatures to back the gargantuan two Geth up.</p>
  <p>Of course they would.</p>
  <p>Why wouldn't they wanna make this easy?</p>
  <p>Cycloptic assholes.</p>
  <p>Seeing the numbers before them, Shepard instinctively called the Normandy. "We've run into a pretty heavy resistance with a pair of Geth Colossus. Please send back up."</p>
  <p>"<em>Copy that Commander." </em>Joker responded.</p>
  <p>The Normandy flew overhead, the pilot chiming in again a second later.</p>
  <p>"<em>Okay, so hitting a snag here but I can't seem to find a drop zone here."</em></p>
  <p>"<em>This'll work fine."</em> A Krogan Battlemasters voice rumbled with an excited tint in his tone.</p>
  <p>"<em>Wrex!"</em> Kaidan shouted over the comms.<em> "What are you doing?!"</em></p>
  <p>"<em>Taking care of business, Alenko."</em></p>
  <p>Back down below, Tali saw the Normandy hovering above and took note of a red blob jumping out from the ship.</p>
  <p>"Um, Shepard?"</p>
  <p>The Spectre looked up in time and gawked at what she saw.</p>
  <p>Wrex looked like a falling meteor, surrounded in a biotic field. As he plummeted, he roared from the skies, barreling straight towards the large Geth.</p>
  <p>The Geth war machine, processing the sudden arrival of the newest threat, turned it's optical sensors upward, just in time to see a roaring, angry Krogan smashing right into it. Then everything went black.</p>
  <p>The battlefield erupted in a cloud of biotics, debris and synthetic material, obscuring the other colossus from view for a few seconds. Suddenly, Wrex burst from the wreckage, roaring in a battle rage as he started firing his shotgun at the surrounding Geth.</p>
  <p>"Now <em>that</em> is how you make an entrance." Wrex declared triumphantly, immediately firing at a Geth trooper nearby.</p>
  <p>"Keelah." Tali said aloud, rushing over to assist the crazy Krogan.</p>
  <p>"Leave it to Wrex to live up to the old saying." Garrus said, shooting down a Geth Rocket Trooper.</p>
  <p>"We still have that other Colossus to deal with and I think setting up another flying Wrex would take a while." Shepard said, biotics flaring as she shot out several throws to send the Geth around them flying back.</p>
  <p>"Incoming!" Tali shouted as the Geth Colossus began shooting at them directly, kicking up rocks and dirt into the air.</p>
  <p>Leaping high into the air, Roxas cleaved through a Geth Hopper before kicking the severed halves into the other Geth down below. While midair, he casted Thunder to help shock their present enemies.</p>
  <p>"I don't think I'm gonna get used to that." Garrus murmured, firing at the Geth that were shivering in place with electricity crackling all around them.</p>
  <p>"Really useful though." Wrex grunted out, grabbing one of the paralyzed Geth and throwing it into another Geth that was running towards him. "Could help deal with those annoying Hoppers-"</p>
  <p>Suddenly, the ground beside the Krogan Battlemaster blew up, causing him to stumble back. A moment later, another explosion sent the Krogan hurtling back and crashing down hard on the ground.</p>
  <p>"Wrex!" Shepard yelled out.</p>
  <p>"I'm fine." The centuries old Krogan growled out, managing to rise to his feet though he was wincing.</p>
  <p>Resilient as a Krogan was, there are still things that even the strongest don't take head.</p>
  <p>Like a missile to the face.</p>
  <p>Wrex felt his body aching yet he managed to fight on, albeit slightly more defensively. He figured now wouldn't be the best time to go into a blood rage.</p>
  <p>Over with Roxas, he had seen the damage the Colossus would cause if it continued to hold its presence here on the battlefield.</p>
  <p>It nearly took out Wrex just now.</p>
  <p>Needing a bit of an advantage, Roxas ran up a nearby wall and cleaved through some Hoppers getting in his way. When he reached high enough, he kicked off the metal surface and basically flew in an overarching way right above the Geth Colossus.</p>
  <p>In a new sense of freefall, Roxas splayed out his body, letting the drag momentarily slow his fall, if only by so little. Soon enough he came close to the Colossus, swinging his Keyblade with the momentum and crushing through most of the larger Geth's armored plating like a hot knife through butter.</p>
  <p>The Colossus' kinetic barriers and armor didn't stand much of a chance soon after as the Nobody continued his assault.</p>
  <p>He continually bashed his Keyblade into the Geth until his Keyblade glowed with a bluish-white aura momentarily appearing and encompassing his weapon down to the golden guard. With a final slash, Roxas sliced through the Geth's head with it falling to the ground.</p>
  <p>The Colossus' body swayed on the spot for a brief moment until its legs gave in and fell to the ground.</p>
  <p>As the body fell, Roxas used the falling body as a platform using his own strength and the momentum of the falling Colossus to propel himself forward.</p>
  <p>He landed in a kneeling crouch as he sliced through two more Geth shock troopers.</p>
  <p>Wrex saw all this and barked aloud in laughter. "Shit, that kids got a pair of quads bigger than any on Tuchanka."</p>
  <p>"Trying to process what I just saw." Garrus stated.</p>
  <p>"I can't tell who was crazier." Shepard said dryly. "The kid with amnesia and magic key sword or the free falling cannon ball Krogan."</p>
  <p>Their comms roared to life once everything settled down. <em>"Guess you guys don't need any more backup after all."</em></p>
  <p>"<em>Shut it, flight lieutenant."</em> Ashley said to the pilot.</p>
  <p>"<em>Commander,"</em> spoke Kaidan. <em>"Chief Williams and I are still ready to assist. Do you require backup?"</em></p>
  <p>"We're all set here, LT. Thanks, though. But stay ready on the Normandy just in case things get dicey."</p>
  <p>"<em>Roger that."</em> Kaidan said before cutting the connection.</p>
  <p>With everything settled, the group got back together with Tali speaking up first.</p>
  <p>"Wrex! You-You!" Tali managed to stutter out before Wrex cut in.</p>
  <p>"Literally air strike that colossus from the Normandy, yeah I know." Wrex said with a smug air around him</p>
  <p>Shepard just grinned before punching Wrex on the shoulder. "Great aim there!"</p>
  <p>"Thank the spirits you didn't fall into the lava pools." Garrus jabbed in.</p>
  <p>Wrex merely smirked. "Haven't done that since my early days as a merc."</p>
  <p>"And how long ago was that?" Roxas asked.</p>
  <p>"Trust me, kid, it was a long time ago." The Krogan then patted Roxas on the back, causing him to stumble forward. "Great job on the other one, though."</p>
  <p>Roxas blinked before feeling a small grin come across his face with him scratching the back of his head.</p>
  <p>"That's putting mildly." Shepard said, ruffling his hair. "That was insane."</p>
  <p>"Spirits, both of you are." Garrus quipped. "Looks like we've joined the craziest squad in the galaxy for this one."</p>
  <p>"You could say that again." Tali commented.</p>
  <p>"I remember Joker saying we were an odd ragtag group or something." Roxas muttered out.</p>
  <p>"No disagreements from any one of us." Shepard said, resting her rifle on her shoulder. "Much as I'd love to continue talking about that wild shit we just saw; we still got a mission to accomplish."</p>
  <p>The team of five now nodded at the Commander, with them moving forward to enter into the underground caverns.</p>
  <p>The entrance of the mine was long and burrowed deep into the rocky soil. It didn't take a genius to figure out that this mining operation stopped when the Prothean artifacts were found. Some of the ground team began thinking about the team of surveyors that might've been here or gotten out when the Geth showed up, hoping there could've at least been survivors.</p>
  <p>There weren't any Geth along the way, surprisingly.</p>
  <p>Guess they took care of them up on the ground level.</p>
  <p>Still, that didn't mean they were naive enough not to keep their weapons up. Who knows what might be able to sneak up on them.</p>
  <p>The group found an elevator and took the ride down as far as it would take them.</p>
  <p>"What were they looking for down here?" Roxas asked curiously.</p>
  <p>"Prothean artifacts and technology." Garrus answered.</p>
  <p>Suddenly, the elevator malfunctioned before taking them to the direct bottom.</p>
  <p>"What's the big deal?" Tali said in annoyance.</p>
  <p>"It's broken, obviously." Wrex said bluntly.</p>
  <p>"Come on people." Shepard ordered. "Can't have ourselves be sitting out in the open like this."</p>
  <p>Wrex got the elevator doors open with his strength and they resumed their trek downward.</p>
  <p>As they got to solid ground, the group heard the voice of a woman calling, distorted even. "Uh… hello? Could somebody help me? Please?"</p>
  <p>Tali asked the obvious question. "Did you hear that?"</p>
  <p>"I sure did." Was Roxas' response.</p>
  <p>"Hello?" The woman called out again. "Please, is anyone there?"</p>
  <p>They followed the voice and found the source coming from an Asari wearing a green and white suit. She was situated behind a blue barrier as she was levitating with her arms and legs outstretched, trapped inside a glowing ball.</p>
  <p>The team approached the barrier with the Asari's eyes widening with a hopeful look in her eyes.</p>
  <p>"Can you hear me out there?" The Asari called out in desperation. "Please, help. I'm trapped."</p>
  <p>"Doctor Liara T'Soni, I presume?" Shepard asked the captive Asari.</p>
  <p>"Thank the goddess." Said the Asari. "I did not think anyone would come looking for me."</p>
  <p>Roxas spoke next. "Are you okay? What happened?"</p>
  <p>With a hint of mixed urgency and relief, the now identified Liara explained her situation. "I was excavating this Prothean ruin when the Geth showed up. Can you believe that? Geth beyond the veil. Anyways, I hid in here and I got caught up in this stasis field. I must have pushed something I wasn't supposed to and now I'm trapped."</p>
  <p>"We need to get her out of there." Tali said looking to Shepard, but the Spectre appeared guarded.</p>
  <p>"Not to insinuate anything on you, but…" Shepard eyed Liara analytically. "We're after a rogue Spectre named Saren. And with Saren is a Matriarch by the name of Benezia, your mother. Whose side are you on?"</p>
  <p>"What?!" Liara asked in bewilderment. "I-I'm not on anyone's side. Please, I haven't seen my mother in years. I am nothing like her, truly. I just wish to be out of here."</p>
  <p>"Any way we can get her out?" Garrus asked, looking around the area for any clues.</p>
  <p>"We just need to figure some way to get past this barrier." Shepard said as she tried thinking of some ideas.</p>
  <p>"You must be careful." Liara warned from her confinement. "There is a Krogan with the Geth. They've been trying different ways to get past the barrier."</p>
  <p>Roxas kept his eyes on the trapped Asari when the hairs on the back of his neck stood up.</p>
  <p>Immediately, he whirled round to face behind the group with Keyblade flashing into his hand and crouching down into his stance.</p>
  <p>"Guys!" Roxas shouted. "We have company."</p>
  <p>The group turned round with their weapons raised and at first were confused as they saw nothing there when...</p>
  <p>Tali's eyes widened greatly as the small shadowy creatures from the Citadel rose up from the ground.</p>
  <p>And this time, they weren't alone.</p>
  <p>Small orbs of darkness appeared only to be replaced with bipedal humanoids with a black and red heart shaped emblem on their chest, clawed hands, a knightly helmet and pointed shoes.</p>
  <p>On top of that was one large, round and fat enemy that also had a small silver helmet with large, beefy arms, small stubby feet and a big armored belly.</p>
  <p>This one too had the black and red heart emblem on their chests though the one unifying feature all three of these enemies shared with one other was the sickly yellow eyes.</p>
  <p>"Roxas." Shepard said slowly, slightly nervous even. "Are they…"</p>
  <p>"Heartless." Roxas said grimly. "Shadows, Soldiers and a Fat Body."</p>
  <p>"Ah, lovely, they have names." Garrus quipped, trying his best to steel his nerves.</p>
  <p>"Goddess!" Liara said aloud in stunned silence. "What in Thessia's name are those?"</p>
  <p>"What, you didn't hear the kid?" Wrex said, pumping his weapon. "Heartless."</p>
  <p>The Heartless were all either twitching about or swaying about but they were all facing the direction of the squad.</p>
  <p>"Keep your distance." Roxas found himself instructing them without realizing it. "Use your Biotics and don't hold back on firepower. These guys can take a lot of damage."</p>
  <p>Without waiting for them to respond, Roxas jumped straight into action, not hearing Shepard call out for him to wait.</p>
  <p>"Come on Shepard." Garrus said. "This looks like his specialty. Let him lead."</p>
  <p>Much as she wanted to argue such a notion, she saw how quickly Roxas jumped into the fray and in an instant cleaved through several of the smaller, twitchier Heartless.</p>
  <p>Resigning herself to the fight, Shepard thrust her hand out, capturing several of those Soldier Heartless that were running about.</p>
  <p>Rather than wasting ammo, Shepard instead lobbed two grenades at the ensnared group of Heartless, the explosions destroying several with two remaining.</p>
  <p>She fired at the other two, taking care of them before turning to face a set of Shadows running at her.</p>
  <p>Garrus stayed in front of the barrier, taking shots at the Heartless with some being taken out while the others were only stunned.</p>
  <p>These small opportunities were taken advantage of by the four fighters below who made sure to take them out as quickly as they were able to.</p>
  <p>There wasn't much though it was still a bit hectic.</p>
  <p>Several had even managed to slip by them and actually land hits upon Wrex, Shepard and Tali.</p>
  <p>These strikes… they felt distinctly different from any pain they had felt before in the past.</p>
  <p>There was an unusual burning sensation that lingered making them either wince openly or internally as they fought on.</p>
  <p>These injuries didn't appear to hinder their combat capabilities so they soldiered on for the most part.</p>
  <p>Wrex was currently fighting the big bodied Heartless, with his bullets and headbutts seemingly bouncing off the Fat Body.</p>
  <p>The Heartless swung its large arms in an attempt to hit the Krogan who jumped back to avoid them.</p>
  <p>Growling, Wrex saw the Heartless raise one of its hands up and appear to scratch its head underneath its helmet.</p>
  <p>Although he was thrown off by the strange absentminded behavior, Wrex saw an opening and threw his shotgun up to fire directly at the head.</p>
  <p>Now, most people in the galaxy are aware that most Krogan can take quite a bit of punishment and handle some heavy duty equipment.</p>
  <p>This of course was reflected on their weapons as well with most Krogan making sure that they have some heavy-duty firepower on them at all times.</p>
  <p>So being a Krogan of seven hundred years old, the shotgun had some serious power behind it as it was fired at the head of the Fat Body.</p>
  <p>This in turn caused the Heartless to flinch.</p>
  <p>Rather violently.</p>
  <p>And it responded in an almost childish, temper-tantrum like manner.</p>
  <p>Its form glowed, with its arms waving about as it hopped back and forth from one foot to the other.</p>
  <p>Bewildered by this behavior, Wrex's eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets when he saw the Fat Body quite literally fling itself forward.</p>
  <p>It rocketed right at him, the rocky ground not slowing it down in the slightest.</p>
  <p>Now… being a Krogan, when they see an enemy charging at them their typical response would be holding their ground to fight back.</p>
  <p>However, this was an enemy Wrex was completely unfamiliar with and was facing for the first time. And the one hit he received was bothering him.</p>
  <p>So, he decided to follow his mind for this one, jumping out of the way as the Fat Body crashed into the rocky wall behind him.</p>
  <p>It popped out of the hole it made unperturbed, jumping up and down angrily as it thumped its belly and once again threw itself forward.</p>
  <p>Wrex managed to get to his feet and saw the oncoming fat missile.</p>
  <p>Knowing there wasn't time to dodge, Wrex braced himself, digging his feet into the ground and roared aloud in challenge.</p>
  <p>The Fat Body drew closer with the Krogan tensing up and ready to take the damage…</p>
  <p>When a black blur suddenly jumped before Wrex.</p>
  <p>The Krogan blinked, recognizing Roxas who shocked the Battlemaster when he performed an upward diagonal slash that sent the Fat Body spinning about wildly. Not waiting for a chance that it could recover, Roxas jumped forward and spun the teeth of his Keyblade downward.</p>
  <p>He then impaled his weapon straight through the back of the Fat Body with it dispersing a moment later.</p>
  <p>Standing up, he looked back to Wrex who was just staring at the human trying to make sense of what he just saw.</p>
  <p>"Well… that just happened." Wrex said as he kept blinking in surprise.</p>
  <p>Roxas regarded his handiwork momentarily before shrugging.</p>
  <p>"Uh Roxas?" Shepard called out to him.</p>
  <p>He looked over to her seeing the Commander next to a bunch of blue and yellow spheres and diamonds.</p>
  <p>"Mind explaining just what this is?" Shepard asked, warily pointing to the currency on the ground. Next to her was Garrus and Tali who were equally unsure of how to address the spheres and diamonds around them</p>
  <p>"Munny." Roxas said, picking up a few next to him. "Sometimes, Heartless drop munny or other items when you beat them."</p>
  <p>"Uh-huh." Shepard deadpanned. "Munny. And that's supposed to-"</p>
  <p>"INCOMING!" Garrus shouted, eyes snapping upward as the five squadmates all scattered.</p>
  <p>From above, six large pieces of metal fell to the ground, clanging up off the ground violently and sailing up into the air.</p>
  <p>There the pieces hovered until they all came together to form a large body of sorts.</p>
  <p>The new arrival consisted of several pieces resembling a violet and silver knight's armor from Earth: a body, a head, two arms and two legs. Neither of said pieces were directly connected to each other. The torso is vaguely hourglass-shaped with a diamond pattern around it's waist with the Heartless symbol on its center.</p>
  <p>It's spherical head sports three silver spikes and a silver faceplate with several holes in it. Both of the gauntlets are violet with wide wrists and segmented fingers. The legs are short and end in large hammer-like black feet.</p>
  <p>
    <em> <strong>-Play Shrouding Dark Cloud: KH1 OST-</strong> </em>
  </p>
  <p>"By the Goddess!" Liara exclaimed.</p>
  <p>"Oh you gotta be kidding me." Shepard couldn't help but whine. "They get <em>bigger</em>?"</p>
  <p>"This is supposed to be one of the smaller ones." Roxas said, readying himself for battle as the newly arrived Guard Armor began stomping towards him with its hands spinning about.</p>
  <p>"Not helping Roxas!" Garrus shouted, firing repeatedly at the Heartless with his bullets unfortunately bouncing off the metal body.</p>
  <p>Roxas swiped his Keyblade left and right, deflecting the swinging arms that Guard Armor had. When the right one came in for another attack, Roxas jumped and swung down from overhead. The force in which he delivered the strike sent the hand down, embedding it slightly into the ground.</p>
  <p>Roxas used the hand as a jumping off point, going straight for the main body of the Heartless. However, he has a momentary lapse in judgement as he forgot about the other hand which promptly whacked him across the cave.</p>
  <p>"Roxas!" Tali cried out in horror at seeing her friend crash into the ground.</p>
  <p>"Tali, focus." Shepard barked out. "We need to take this thing out!"</p>
  <p>"And how are we supposed to do that?" Garrus asked aloud, running a large rock the Heartless threw at him.</p>
  <p>"There's five of us and only one of it." Shepard said, firing at the Heartless. "We just need to find the right way to take it down."</p>
  <p>"In case you haven't noticed Shepard, but our "expert" is-"</p>
  <p>They heard the shifting of rocks, glancing over to see Roxas on his feet again a small trail of blood going down the side of his head. His clothing was miraculously intact with a few scratches here and there. If one squinted their eyes, they would be able to see that the cloak was slowly losing some of its creases and tears.</p>
  <p>"Roxas." Shepard said with relief. "You alright?"</p>
  <p>"I'm fine." Roxas grunted, holding his Keyblade forward.</p>
  <p>As he gazed upon the large Heartless, Roxas experienced an unusual shift in his vision.</p>
  <p>It blurred for a moment with Roxas blinking for a moment to find himself in an entirely different place.</p>
  <p>His surroundings were that of a town plaza… no, a district.</p>
  <p>And there were barriers around the area that prevented him from escaping.</p>
  <p>Before him was the same Heartless from before, standing before a small fountain of some kind.</p>
  <p>But he wasn't alone.</p>
  <p>By his side were two anthropomorphic individuals with one being a duck holding a magic staff and the other being a dog wielding a silver shield that had three circles on it.</p>
  <p>And like that, Roxas's vision snapped back to reality with him shaking his head and looking around for a moment.</p>
  <p>'What was that?' Roxas thought to himself.</p>
  <p>"Roxas!" Shepard called out to him, snapping him out of his stupor in time to see the Heartless was stomping over to him.</p>
  <p>Cringing at his own lack of awareness, Roxas barely managed to swat aside the two spinning arms of the Heartless.</p>
  <p>He used the armored arms, jumping on top of them to get to the head to deliver a strong whack across the head.</p>
  <p>The strike rattled the Heartless with it falling apart into a heap on the ground, Roxas quickly spinning about and bashing his Keyblade into the chest piece of the Guard Armor.</p>
  <p>The Heartless was sent into the air rather dramatically only for the six components of the armor to break and paired off. Chest to head, arm to arm and leg to leg.</p>
  <p>All operating separately.</p>
  <p>"What was that about us having the numbers, Shepard?" Garrus sarcastically asked, Shepard grumbling beneath her voice.</p>
  <p>"Bite me, Vakarian." Shepard said, retreating away from the arms that were spinning towards her and Garrus.</p>
  <p>Tali and Wrex in the meantime had to deal with the tromping pair of metallic feet that had a visible shockwave with every step.</p>
  <p>Leaving Roxas with the spinning torso and head that was making it slightly difficult to hit. It just kept spinning around with him having to keep himself at a distance.</p>
  <p>Shepard in the meantime kept throwing out Biotic Stasis fields to keep the Heartless from moving. Yet the damn Stasis only appeared to work for two or three seconds at most with the blue Biotic aura bursting off the arms.</p>
  <p>In that time, Garrus and Shepard unloaded on the arms, noticing that a few of their shots appeared to leave a mark or two on the Heartless' arms. That means it wasn't as invulnerable as it seemed to be.</p>
  <p>Over with Wrex and Tali, the Krogan Battlemaster led the charge with him infusing himself with his Biotics and charged at the legs with Tali firing her Geth weapon.</p>
  <p>They appeared to stagger the legs when it shifted suddenly and delivered a swinging hit that sent Tali tumbling on the ground.</p>
  <p>"Shit." Wrex growled, unfortunately being occupied with the large boot that nearly punted him.</p>
  <p>Roxas saw this from the corner of his eye, his Quarian friend struggling to get back up.</p>
  <p>"Tali!"</p>
  <p>He jumped away from the spinning torso and made a beeline for her, screeching to a halt in front of her.</p>
  <p>Without waiting, he threw his Keyblade up into the air.</p>
  <p>"<strong>Cure!"</strong></p>
  <p>Immediately, a flutter of green leaves with an emerald aura surrounded the Quarian who froze.</p>
  <p>"Are you alright?" Roxas asked, holding his hand out to her.</p>
  <p>The Quarian stared up at her friend in wide eyed awe, carefully grasping his offered hand and being helped up.</p>
  <p>"Wha-What was that?" Tali asked softly.</p>
  <p>"A Cure spell." Roxas quickly explained. "Heals a few injuries and bruises."</p>
  <p>"Right." Tali said weakly. Honestly, it was just one surprise after another. And it's only been a few days. Four at most.</p>
  <p>Roxas simply nodded, turning back to the Heartless who had at last lost an arm and a leg thanks to the combined efforts of the other three squadmates.</p>
  <p>The Guard Armor had recalled its remaining two limbs to the rest of its body, ready to fight again.</p>
  <p>Roxas frowned, looking over to the others and it was clear that they were starting to get worn down.</p>
  <p>Much as he figured they could go on fighting for a while, this was their first time against an enemy that they didn't know how to fight yet.</p>
  <p>Not on the level that he was able to.</p>
  <p>He knew that he needed to end this now.</p>
  <p>Sliding his feet apart slightly, Roxas held his Keyblade out to his side and focused on his power.</p>
  <p>He called upon his element, his power.</p>
  <p>Light.</p>
  <p>Wind swirled around him with light surrounding him and his Keyblade had a bluish aura appear and encompassed the weapon with it expanding.</p>
  <p>"You're finished!" Roxas shouted aloud, making the squad turn to him with their eyes widening and jaws dropping.</p>
  <p>The others could only watch as he literally glided over the ground and directly in front of the Guard Armor, unleashing a string of hacks and slashes that struck the Heartless with such force it staggered upon every hit.</p>
  <p>And like that, in a matter of a few swings, the Heartless lost its remaining limbs and crashed down on the ground.</p>
  <p>Before it's head and torso portions could get back up and attack, several pillars of light exploded out of Roxas' form and spread outwards as they faded away. This happened a couple of times with each "explosion" caused significant damage to what remained to the Guard Armor.</p>
  <p>As Roxas' Limit Break ended, the Heartless was trembling spastically until the head fell from the body and a moment later, a large glowing heart came out from the chest with the body fading away.</p>
  <p>"Whew." Roxas exhaled, the white aura around him subsiding.</p>
  <p>The rest could only stare, trying to make heads or tails as to what they had just seen.</p>
  <p>"I… I-I… I don't even…" Shepard was trying her damndest to formulate anything, <em>anything</em> right now yet she was finding it a bit difficult to do so.</p>
  <p>"Seven hundred years." Wrex groused out with a huff of amusement. "I've seen and done a lot of shit. But a kid that's not even close to your version of adulthood is the biggest shock I've ever seen in my life."</p>
  <p>"Yeah… yeah…" Garrus was fairing no better than Shepard with him just at a loss for words and thoughts. Who in the hell did they recruit to the squad?!</p>
  <p>Their lone spectator hovered in her stasis field, mind being unable to comprehend what she saw. At first, it was slightly difficult to make out until she saw the gigantic armored being fall from above to engage the squadron of people who had come for her.</p>
  <p>Then… that young boy in black with a strange weapon performed feats of astonishing powers and strength that she couldn't wrap her mind around.</p>
  <p>Tali was just as in shock, her mind blank.</p>
  <p>"Kee… lah…" Was what she managed out.</p>
  <p>Roxas had already turned back to the Asari still trapped in the Prothean field, moving to assist her.</p>
  <p>"Shepard-"</p>
  <p>"Let's just… let's just not right now." Shepard at long last managed to gather her wits together. "Can we just get the Asari and get outta here?"</p>
  <p>Wordlessly, Garrus and Wrex went to follow after Shepard, joining Roxas who was standing in front of the trapped Asari.</p>
  <p>Tali however still needed a moment to process what she had just seen.</p>
  <p>Her bearings were slowly returning to her until she saw something on the ground where the Guard Armor was slain.</p>
  <p>Curiously getting the better of her, Tali went over to the item on the ground and saw that it was a rectangular block of some kind that was blue in color with black stars all over it.</p>
  <p>'What's this?' Tali internally asked herself.</p>
  <p>"Tali!"</p>
  <p>"Sorry." Tali said, grabbing the block and pocketing it.</p>
  <p>She rejoined the others with them standing before the still entrapped Asari who was staring directly at the Nobody.</p>
  <p>"So…" Shepard rubbed the back of her head. "Any ideas on how to get you outta here? We… kinda got distracted."</p>
  <p>Liara didn't answer, mouth opening and closing as she attempted to gather her thoughts together when Roxas called forth his Keyblade once more and held it up to the barrier.</p>
  <p>The Asari froze up when she saw light being concentrated at the tip of the blade when a beam of light was shot out, striking the barrier.</p>
  <p>Liara's eyes widened at the appearance of a keyhole on the barrier itself until it vanished with her falling flat on her rump.</p>
  <p>Shepard was by her side quickly, helping her back to her feet.</p>
  <p>"You alright there?" Shepard asked, hand on her shoulder to keep her steady.</p>
  <p>"I… yes, I am…" Liara said offhandedly, eyes firmly placed upon the Nobody who was starting to look left and right feeling a bit uncomfortable at the prolonged gaze she gave him.</p>
  <p>Noticing this, Shepard shook her slightly, making her look to her now.</p>
  <p>"I get it, crazy shit, crazy creatures, trust me and all of us, we're <em>just</em> getting introduced to all this." Shepard said with an understanding look. "Let's just get outta here, ok? We'll talk when we're in the clear."</p>
  <p>"Yes… yes… of course…"</p>
  <p>Now that Liara was no longer trapped inside the barrier, she was eager to follow the others. As they were about to activate the Prothean made elevator to take them back to the surface, Liara was trying to come to rationalize a few things.</p>
  <p>Specifically, what she had just seen.</p>
  <p>"What were they?" Liara asked in a soft tone.</p>
  <p>"The kid here called them the Heartless." Wrex said evenly.</p>
  <p>"And… why were they here?"</p>
  <p>"Don't know." Shepard said, side eyeing the Keybearer who held a look of contemplation. Maybe he knew.</p>
  <p>"And… the Geth?" Liara was starting to get her thoughts in order. "You mentioned Saren and my mother."</p>
  <p>"Saren's is looking for something called the Conduit. It has to do with the Protheans." Shepard explained. "And since you have such an impressive resume on Prothean artifacts, I figure he wants your expertise."</p>
  <p>"The Conduit? But I don't know-"</p>
  <p>Liara was unable to finish when the whole complex began to shake violently.</p>
  <p>"What the hell was that?" Wrex asked.</p>
  <p>"These ruins aren't stable." Liara looked upwards and then looked at the others. "That armored <em>thing</em> you fought must have triggered a seismic event."</p>
  <p>"It was pounding the ground a bit too much." Roxas muttered out, earning dry looks from the rest.</p>
  <p>Liara activated the Prothean control panel and found the button to take them to the top floor. "We have to hurry. The whole place is caving in."</p>
  <p>Shepard immediately called Joker in the most urgent tone she could muster. "Joker! Get the Normandy locked in on my signal! On the double, mister!"</p>
  <p>Joker responded on his end of the line. <em>"Aye, aye, Commander. Secure and aweigh. ETA eight minutes."</em></p>
  <p>Wrex merely grumbled. "If I die here, I'll kill him."</p>
  <p>"I have a knife on me you could use."</p>
  <p>This drew in a surprised look from nearly everyone present as they looked right at the Quarian.</p>
  <p>"Why do you have a knife on you?"</p>
  <p>"For self-defense."</p>
  <p>"Do you even know how to use that thing?"</p>
  <p>"Yes… stick 'em with the pointy end."</p>
  <p>Wrex chortled. "Well that's the general idea."</p>
  <p>The ancient elevator took all six people headed for the surface and now that the security barriers were deactivated, they will not have trouble getting out of the mine.</p>
  <p>At least that was the plan.</p>
  <p>As they reached the surface, everyone was ready to race out of the mine. That was until they were greeted by a fully armed Krogan being accompanied by nearly a small army of Geth.</p>
  <p>"Surrender. Or don't. That would be more fun." Said the enemy Krogan.</p>
  <p>"In case you didn't notice, this place is falling apart." Shepard tried to reason with quakes happening around them.</p>
  <p>"Exhilarating, isn't it?" The Krogan stepped forward. "Thanks for getting rid of those energy fields for us. Hand the doctor over."</p>
  <p>"Whatever it is you want you're not getting it from me." Liara defiantly replied.</p>
  <p>Roxas quickly summoned his Keyblade and went into his battle stance. "In other words, you'll have to get through us first."</p>
  <p>The enemy Krogan quickly got out of his little moment of surprise before chuckling. "I like your attitude, human. But Saren wants her and he always gets what he wants." He turned his head and gave a command to the Geth. "Kill them. Spare the Asari if you can. If not, doesn't matter."</p>
  <p>The Geth complied with the Krogan's orders as Shepard, Garrus, and Tali drew their weapons and opened fire. Liara ducked for cover behind the console of the Prothean elevator as the fight before her commenced.</p>
  <p>With the speed that belied his size, Wrex rushed from his spot and released a throw field that pushed all of the Geth off of their feet. The enemy Krogan was sent skidding back. Sensing the implicated challenge, he roared out in response, charging at Wrex in return.</p>
  <p>Roxas, meanwhile, somewhat followed Wrex's lead but only towards the enemy Geth. With a few Hoppers in their present ranks, he had to occasionally leap into the air in order to deliver successful hits on them. When they were cleaved in half, he batted the remains into the other surrounding Geth for some added damage.</p>
  <p>The act helped Shepard and Garrus as they were dealing with their own respective Geth. The incoming synthetic body parts helped throw the whole Geth off balance, giving the ground team members a better shot in taking them down. Especially when Roxas casted Thunder to help electrocute them.</p>
  <p>Soon enough, a familiar crack filled the air, causing Garrus to instinctively duck for cover. Switching out to his sniper rifle, he was quick to work in finding where the sniper shot came from.</p>
  <p>"Of course it would hide behind a blasted crate." Muttered the Turian.</p>
  <p>Tali ducked behind one of the nearby hydraulics connecting to the elevator and used it as her cover from the attacking Geth. She took careful aim with her shotgun and unleashed round after round while the others worked on the rest of their opposition.</p>
  <p>It was at this point did the Quarian notice Liara hiding behind the panel and realized that she was not armed. Her natural instinct told her to protect the Asari doctor as she crouched next to Liara in order to keep her safe from her abductors.</p>
  <p>As the two Krogan grappled, Wrex looked at his opponent with a savage grin. "You're strong."</p>
  <p>"And you're too weak." Growled the enemy Krogan.</p>
  <p>Wrex's grin only widened. "Your mistake here is underestimating your opponent."</p>
  <p>With that said, Wrex suddenly let his resistance go slack and let the enemy Krogan push him backwards. Skidding on his feet, Wrex pivoted. The other Krogan, thrown off balance by the sudden lack of resistance, became an easy target for Wrex, who turned to the side and threw his enemy away from him. And for extra measure for hurt, Wrex threw yet another throw field to send his opponent further away.</p>
  <p>Tali kept Liara safe as best as possible, firing upon the Geth trying to get close to them. Everything seemed fine at the present moment until the enemy Krogan ended up landing near their position due to Wrex's biotic attack.</p>
  <p>The moment he scrambled onto his feet, the Krogan felt his kinetic barriers flare. Looking over, he saw Tali recently unloading a clip from her Geth Assault Rifle and was presently in its cooldown period. The Krogan knew the Quarian was protecting his target, so the large reptile decided to change his opposition from Wrex to Tali and specifically charged right at her.</p>
  <p>Tali fired upon the Krogan, just when the cooldown period just ended. The kinetic barrier broke with a few bullets punctured the enemy Krogan's thick armor, but it wasn't enough to stop the bulldozing mass of muscle and rage. Before she could attempt to fire again, the Krogan knocked Tali's weapon out of her grasp before taking a hold of her neck and lifted her off the ground.</p>
  <p>"Ha! What are you going to do now, Quarian?" Laughed the enemy Krogan, seeing the 'suit-rat' struggle to free herself from his tightening hold.</p>
  <p>While Tali was on the verge of losing consciousness, she could see Liara possibly being helpless in the wake of her present protector about to meet her demise. Glancing over, she saw the others were too preoccupied with helping her as they were taking care of the enemy Geth.</p>
  <p>Not wanting her Pilgrimage to end like this, a small thought popped into her mind before bringing her one free arm down to her side.</p>
  <p>"Savor these last moments of life before I kill you and swallow-"</p>
  <p>The Krogan immediately stopped talking as he felt a solid object pierce into the flesh of his head.</p>
  <p>Tali unsheathed her knife earlier and drove it hard as she could and just as hard as she could feel her strength leave her body. But the adrenaline and drive was pushing her to bring down the knife again and again on the Krogan's forehead, located between the soft fleshy mound above the eyes and the shell plate covering the upper head area. As each knife strike came and went, thick orange blood started pouring out of the Krogan's head.</p>
  <p>"AAAARRRRGGGGGGGHHHH!" Screamed the Krogan as the knife strikes soon pierced one of his eyes. The pain was enough for him to let go of Tali, who fell to the floor.</p>
  <p>Tali took this opportunity to unholster her shotgun and while the Krogan kept screaming, she quickly shoved the barrel of her weapon into its open mouth.</p>
  <p>"Swallow this, you Bosh'tet!"</p>
  <p>Tali squeezed the trigger and a large cloud of orange mist erupted from the back of the Krogan's head.</p>
  <p>Once the Krogan fell to the floor, Tali unleashed another round at the back of the large bipedal reptile's head to make sure the Krogan was dead. After that, Tali started to pant heavily with air returning to her lungs.</p>
  <p>"Tali." Said Quarian looked over and saw Roxas rushing over to her. "Are you alright?"</p>
  <p>"I'll be fine." Tali said, voice rather horse due to her throat being clamped by the Krogan earlier. She looked down to the corpse as her heart rate was starting to go back to normal. "I can't believe I just did that."</p>
  <p>"You and me both." Roxas said to himself, slightly disturbed at what he just saw.</p>
  <p>That was… certainly different.</p>
  <p>The others managed to finish off the rest of the opposition just before they all witnessed Tali killing off the enemy Krogan. Shepard nods in approval and while Wrex does the same, his reaction was a bit more with a grin.</p>
  <p>Garrus though…</p>
  <p>"Huh, and some people say knives aren't a good staple in any military these days.</p>
  <p>"Seems no one will talk shit about knives anymore, then." Shepard chuckled out. "She proved just that."</p>
  <p>"Quarian's got a quad on her now."</p>
  <p>Tali overheard this conversation, but she was a bit more focused in seeing Liara's mortified expression of her witnessing Tali brutally killing the Krogan.</p>
  <p>"Sorry you had to see that, Dr. T'Soni." Tali roughly said as she retrieved her fallen Geth Assault Rifle.</p>
  <p>The Asari merely gulped and nodded as she couldn't speak in response when getting back onto her feet.</p>
  <p>Suddenly, the Prothean structure was shaking violently and it was time before they all found themselves trapped underneath tons and tons of rock.</p>
  <p>"MOVE! MOVE! MOVE!" Shepard screeched out the order.</p>
  <p>The six fled down the corridors and raced as fast as they could to get back to the surface. They dodged the falling rocks and collapsing catwalks while Roxas occasionally swatted any debris about to hit his squadmates. This continued on until daylight was sighted, having the group narrowly escaping the collapsing mine shaft.</p>
  <p>They saw the Normandy get as close to the ground as it dared with the hangar door opened with Kaiden and Ashley hanging at its edge. The others seemed to get the message having themselves run as fast as possible before jumping into the air.</p>
  <p>Garrus and Shepard were able to land on the hangar door while Garrus and Tali needed assistance from the two Alliance soldiers to get pulled in.</p>
  <p>Roxas was about to jump but saw Liara fall to the ground.</p>
  <p>Screeching to a halt, he jumped back to the fallen Asari and picked her up in a bridal carry, starting to run as fast he could.</p>
  <p>"They're not gonna make it!"</p>
  <p>Suddenly, Roxas' and Liara's form blurred out of existence, like a quick flicker.</p>
  <p>"Where'd they go?!"</p>
  <p>In an instant, both suddenly appeared beside them, shocking the other ground team members, even the Asari still in his arms.</p>
  <p>Shaking her head, Shepard yelled at the top of her lungs. "Joker, get us out of here, <em>now</em>!"</p>
  <p>With this said, the hangar door began closing with sounds of a loud rumble being heard. The ground beneath the ship started cracking open as steam escaped from the fissures. Suddenly, a jet of lava jumped up barely missing the hull off the Normandy.</p>
  <p>"Whoa!" Garrus cried out, leaping further back into the hangar.</p>
  <p>The sight and sound from the area below was cut off as the hangar door finally closed before the ship flew away from the planet's surface which soon soared past its orbit.</p>
  <p>The Normandy ground team all slumped over, save for Roxas who was checking over his suit and saw that a majority of his outfit was back working order.</p>
  <p>A moment later, Ashley and Kaidan rushed in, the former immediately asking…</p>
  <p>"Shepard, with all due respect, what the hell happened down there?"</p>
  <p>The commander scratched the side of her head as she responded to Ashley's inquiry. "Nothing much… well except for this giant suit of armor looking… Heartless, causing the semi-active volcano to wake up."</p>
  <p>"Heartless?"</p>
  <p>Shepard groaned, slumping down to the ground. "I'll explain later."</p>
  <p>
    <em>-Scene Cut-</em>
  </p>
  <p>Now that things were settled down, everyone in the ground team was present in the comm room with Liara brought along for this meeting.</p>
  <p>Roxas looked at the newcomer in silence. In terms of comparison, the Asari's skin was a few shades darker than Sea-Salt Ice-cream with some dark blue freckles sprinkled on her face. The doctor was a little flustered, but it was excusable given the whirlwind of events that happened to her prior to boarding this ship.</p>
  <p>Breaking his little inspection of the Asari, Roxas gazed around the rest of the room.</p>
  <p>The seating arrangement where each member of the ground team was sitting was placed in a circular manner. It reminded him of The Round Room or The Room Where Nothing Gathers, a place that was inaccessible by any means other than a Corridor of Darkness. Thirteen throne-like chairs made out of marble were arranged around the space and had interchanging heights to each.</p>
  <p>Asides from the commander, No. XIII was the only other person standing. There had not been enough chairs there to seat everyone for this briefing, but it was solved with Roxas volunteering to stand. He didn't mind at all as he stood beside Tali with hardly any problems at all.</p>
  <p>"<em>Gotta say, Commander, that was too close."</em> Joker's voice rang through the intercom. <em>"Ten more seconds, and we would've been swimming in molten sulfur. The Normandy isn't equipped to land in exploding volcanoes. They tend to fry our sensors and melt our hull."</em> The pilot then paused for a few seconds. <em>"Just for future reference."</em></p>
  <p>"We almost died out there and your pilot is making <em>jokes</em>?" Liara asked in disbelief.</p>
  <p>Shepard decided to alleviate the situation. "Joker pulled our asses out of there. I think he's earned the right to a few bad jokes."</p>
  <p>"I see. It must be a human thing."</p>
  <p>"More like a coping mechanism of his." Kaidan said aloud.</p>
  <p>Liara nodded, shifting in her seat slightly. "Sorry, I don't have a lot of experience dealing with humans. But I am grateful to all. You saved my life back there, and not just from the volcano. Those get would've killed me. Or dragged me off to Saren."</p>
  <p>"I believe some of the credit should go to Tali." Shepard pointed to the Quarian. "She was the one who defended you whether or not that Krogan wanted to take you away."</p>
  <p>Liara looked at Tali and gave her a thankful nod. "That is true. Thank you, Tali for what you have done for me back at the ruins."</p>
  <p>"It was nothing." Tali said, clear signs of her voice slowly returning to normal as the injury was getting better. "But you're welcome."</p>
  <p>Ashley spoke next. "Yeah, I heard of what happened from Wrex on some of the details. Very impressive."</p>
  <p>Kaidan soon changed the subject, looking at the Asari doctor. "What did Saren want from you? Do you know something about the Conduit?"</p>
  <p>"Only that it was connected to the Prothean extinction." Liara answered as best she could. "That is my real area of expertise. I have spent the past fifty years trying to figure out what happened to them."</p>
  <p>The conversation briefly diverged off topic for a little bit when Shepard asked Liara of her age. Being 106, while impressive on some naive individuals in the looks department, is actually considered a child or a teenager in Asari culture, due to them living as long as a thousand years or so.</p>
  <p>But this tied in with the fact that due to her Liara's age, much of her research hasn't received the attention it deserves, having other Asari doctors dismissing her theories in Protheans.</p>
  <p>With so little archaeological evidence found on the Protheans, Liara thought that someone or <em>something</em> was deliberately covering things up to make it much harder for people to learn the truth.</p>
  <p>Yet that wasn't the only thing the Asari found out as the Protheans were not the first galactic civilization to mysteriously vanish as it went on a cycle of sorts that's repeated itself many times over. The subtle patterns emerged from whatever scrap and shred of evidence she tracked down in these past fifty years.</p>
  <p>Kaidan frowned, looking at Shepard immediately. "Commander, do you think this is related to the Reapers?"</p>
  <p>Liara looked over at the Lieutenant. "The Reapers?" She asked.</p>
  <p>"We don't know much about them, but we recovered a recording of Saren talking about the reapers." Said the commander. "Even better, I know what they are."</p>
  <p>The Asari glanced at Kaidan before shifting it at Shepard. "You do? How?"</p>
  <p>"I received a vision from a Prothean Beacon on Eden Prime… just before it blew up in my face." Shepard rubbed the side of her head. "It showed me these… <em>machines</em>, overrunning the Prothean empire. There were so many screams… and then I saw a planet get blacked out like it was being consumed by something <em>dark</em>."</p>
  <p>For the briefest of moments, Roxas momentarily thought of the Heartless as something nagged him in some corner of his mind. Something to do with the Heart of a World and Keyholes. But that wasn't the case right now.</p>
  <p>"The sentient race of machines I'm talking about are the Reapers."</p>
  <p>"Visions?" Liara stated and quickly came to a conclusion. "I… suppose that makes sense. The Prothean Beacons were meant to transmit information directly into the mind of the user. Finding one that still works is extremely rare."</p>
  <p>"Well too bad that it didn't last past Shepard, though." Ashley interjected. "Saren had already used it before we got to it too."</p>
  <p>"That would not surprise me." Liara added. "A Prothean Beacon, even one that is not fully functional, is worth any risk. It is no wonder Saren worked with the Geth…" The Asari then looked at the commander. "Whatever information you received would have been confused, unclear. I'm amazed you were able to make sense of it all. A lesser mind would have been utterly destroyed by the process. You must be remarkably strong willed, commander."</p>
  <p>"Okay, I don't mean to sound rude and all, but this doesn't exactly help us find Saren or the Conduit." Snapped the Gunnery Chief.</p>
  <p>"Ash…" Jane warned.</p>
  <p>"No, it's alright. I'm sorry." Liara quickly apologized. "My scientific curiosity got the better of me. Unfortunately, I do not have any information that could help you find either of them."</p>
  <p>"Don't know why Saren wanted you out of the picture. But I think we'll be a lot better off if we bring you along."</p>
  <p>Liara smiled. "Thank you, Commander. I cannot think of anywhere safer than here on your ship. And my knowledge on the Protheans might be useful later on."</p>
  <p>For the first time in this meeting, Wrex spoke up. "And her biotics will come in handy when the fighting starts."</p>
  <p>Shepard nodded. "Welcome aboard the Normandy, Liara. It'll be good to have you on the team."</p>
  <p>Liara stood up, wanting to shake hands with the commander. "Thank you, I am very-"</p>
  <p>All of a sudden, Liara felt lightheaded swaying a little on her step but was quick to rebalance herself.</p>
  <p>"You alright?"</p>
  <p>"Thank you for your concern. Just a bit light-headed is all."</p>
  <p>Kaidan soon voiced a concerned thought. "When was the last time you ate? Or slept? Dr. Chakwas should take a look at you."</p>
  <p>"It's probably just mental exhaustion, coupled with the shock of several startling discoveries." Liara said, sitting back down onto her seat. "I… just need some time to process all this… while eating something. I'm rather peckish right now."</p>
  <p>"Could this help?"</p>
  <p>Liara looked over and saw Roxas holding out a Sea-Salt Ice Cream in his hand.</p>
  <p>"...Where'd you get that Roxas?"</p>
  <p>Roxas shrugged.</p>
  <p>"I usually have one at the end of a successful day."</p>
  <p>"...You just… have that on you?" Ash dryly asked. "Where do you keep a popsicle intact like that on you?"</p>
  <p>Wrex chuckled however.. "I hear that, kid. But instead of an icy treat, I go for the hard stuff."</p>
  <p>Garrus groaned a little. "Please don't tell me you brought ryncol."</p>
  <p>"I did, but I'm saving that for <em>later</em>."</p>
  <p>Liara on the other hand, tentatively accepted the ice-cream stick, feeling it to be rude if she were to deny the offered treat from one of the individuals that had saved her life. Especially from the one with the extraordinary powers.</p>
  <p>"Even a small thing of ice-cream won't help all that much." Liara bit into the treat and hummed a little on the unique taste. "Still, it couldn't hurt to be examined by a medical professional. It'll give me time to think things over." Eating a bit more of the ice-cream, she asked one final question. "Are we finished here, Commander?"</p>
  <p>Shepard shifted about uncomfortably in her seat, clearing her throat slightly as she took a look around the squad until her eyes stopped on the one who was truly on most everyone's mind.</p>
  <p>He had pulled out another bar of ice-cream (where in the hell was he getting these?) and began munching on it casually.</p>
  <p>Even Tali seemed to have a bowl of the stuff as she was slurping it away in a cup this time through a straw.</p>
  <p>How did that even happen?</p>
  <p>...Anyways… Roxas looked rather adorably innocent right now, just sitting there like that eating his ice-cream like the kid he is. If only he didn't just display powers and abilities that couldn't be described whatsoever.</p>
  <p>"Not… exactly. We have a few other things to discuss."</p>
  <p>"Like?" Ash looked inquisitive.</p>
  <p>"The Heartless…" Shepard then turned to Roxas. "And you."</p>
  <p>"Me?"</p>
  <p>"Yeah." Shepard sighed. "Look, Roxas, we don't wanna be forceful or anything but, you gotta level with us here. We just saw creatures that we've never heard of that only you seem to know and can use magic and all sorts of other shit we probably haven't even seen yet."</p>
  <p>"...And?"</p>
  <p>Shepherd's head fell with the others sharing similar reactions.</p>
  <p>"Roxas." She began slowly. "What you have shown us and what we've seen is something we can't even begin to comprehend. We're used to fighting synthetics and merc assholes who were getting paid too much to get shot at. But with you…"</p>
  <p>"What were those things?" Wrex asked bluntly. "The Heartless. They were some tough bastards."</p>
  <p>"More like that oversized armor." Tali grumbled, rubbing her sides as she felt phantom pain around her body.</p>
  <p>"Since we are working together, we need to know a number of things so we can trust you better." Shepard stated.</p>
  <p>Roxas frowned, hands resting on his legs.</p>
  <p>He was never really put in a position like this before.</p>
  <p>Whenever he questioned things back with the Organization, they would usually have an answer for him or would brush it off and tell him he didn't need to know.</p>
  <p>But here, this group of people were asking him something that he barely understood. Something he hasn't really experienced doing yet.</p>
  <p>"What… do you want to know?"</p>
  <p>"You could start with the Heartless." Garrus said. "What are they? How many of them are out there? What else can they do?"</p>
  <p>"You mentioned that they can get… bigger?" Tali asked nervously, dreading the thought of facing even larger foes like that one down in the caves.</p>
  <p>Roxas was silent for a brief moment, thinking of what he had been taught by the Organization.</p>
  <p>"The Heartless…" Roxas began. "Are creatures born out of the darkness of one's Heart."</p>
  <p>…</p>
  <p>…</p>
  <p>…</p>
  <p>"Uh… what?"</p>
  <p>"What's that supposed to mean?"</p>
  <p>"...Sounds rather religious right there."</p>
  <p>"Ok…" Shepard said slowly. "Let's try to have an open mind on this."</p>
  <p>"Shepard, if my mind is gonna get any more open, I'm pretty sure I'll be able to see the Spirits themselves."</p>
  <p>"After what we just went through and saw… you really wanna tempt such a thing?" Wrex asked.</p>
  <p>Garrus clamped his mouth shut.</p>
  <p>"Right… Roxas." Shepard looked back to the young teen. "Care to elaborate?"</p>
  <p>Roxas slowly nodded. "The Heartless are creatures who come from the darkness of people's hearts. You can say… they are the evil or sinister intentions within taken form. Going after their primal instincts and intuitions in order to grow their ever expanding numbers. And there is no definite number to their limit."</p>
  <p>"...Well that's just fucking perfect." Wrex grunted out.</p>
  <p>Garrus could feel a migraine coming along now.</p>
  <p>"Where did they even come from?" Tali asked.</p>
  <p>Roxas looked down. "I'm not really sure. They just are."</p>
  <p>"But we've never met anything like them before." Shepard pointed out. "How do you know about them then?"</p>
  <p>Roxas wracked his brain, trying to think of the proper means in which he could explain.</p>
  <p>Then, as if from the recesses of his mind, something came up. His vision blurred, the room around him reforming into one of a studio sort of apartment with him sitting on a bed.</p>
  <p>In front of him were two people, a man and a woman with one wearing a short sleeved jacket and the other a green vest and headband.</p>
  <p>The man was momentarily holding his Keyblade and then held it out with it flashing out of his hand and back into Roxas'.</p>
  <p>Or so he thought.</p>
  <p>Then the vision shifted back to normal as he looked at the ground team in the comm room.</p>
  <p>The group watched in awkward silence as Roxas had remained quiet for several seconds until the Keyblade had appeared in his hands.</p>
  <p>"The Heartless… have great fear of the Keyblade." Roxas began. "They fear its power but they will also pursue the one that has it. To claim his heart for themselves. For if he stands, the Heartless will never truly be victorious."</p>
  <p>"..."</p>
  <p>"..."</p>
  <p>"..."</p>
  <p>"Um… ok…" Shepard was seriously lost right now. Nothing he said made sense to them.</p>
  <p>The darkness in one's heart? Claiming the Heart for themselves?</p>
  <p>What did that all mean?</p>
  <p>"How did you learn about them?" Liara asked, leaning forward.</p>
  <p>"I was… <em>taught…</em> by the people I worked with." Roxas said, not really sure if he should divulge the Organization.</p>
  <p>From the looks he was seeing, Roxas wasn't entirely sure if they were ready to learn of thirteen other individuals with powers and abilities as crazy as his own.</p>
  <p>They had enough to deal with as is.</p>
  <p>"Who were they?" Shepard asked.</p>
  <p>The teen didn't answer.</p>
  <p>"Roxas." Jane urged. "We're not trying to pry or be rude. We just have to know what we're up against."</p>
  <p>"What can we expect from these Heartless?" Garrus asked.</p>
  <p>"They can show up at the most random of times. Sometimes when you least expect it."</p>
  <p>"Wonderful." Ash and Wrex said sarcastically.</p>
  <p>"Anything else?"</p>
  <p>"I… don't know how to explain it all." Roxas admitted. "I only know what I've been told for a month now."</p>
  <p>"Right…" Tali glumly said. "Amnesia."</p>
  <p>The air in the meeting room was rather heavy now.</p>
  <p>"I don't know about you, but I believe I have learned enough for now. Anymore and I might be like the Asari."</p>
  <p>Liara didn't know if she wanted to be offended or not from hearing Wrex's words. But she had to agree with the comparison.</p>
  <p>"At least we'll be able to accept it better than the Council." Ashely pointed out. "Their heads are so thick they hardly accept anything, even with evidence presented right in front of them."</p>
  <p>Many in the room practically snorted in utter agreement.</p>
  <p>"Am I missing something here?" Liara asked, who just finished her ice-cream.</p>
  <p>"You had to be there to know, Liara." Said Kaidan.</p>
  <p>"Alright everyone." Shepard exhaled tiredly. "Dismissed. I'm in the mood for some grub and a nap."</p>
  <p>She received grunts and vocal sounds of agreement as the group stood and departed from the meeting room.</p>
  <p>All the while, the first human Spectre had her gaze linger upon Roxas up until he was out of sight.</p>
  <p>There was much she felt that he didn't tell them. As much as she wanted to actually leave and take her nap, she needed to report to the Council. Not about Roxas, thankfully, but on the results of her latest mission.</p>
  <p>Talking about the Heartless may come as a difficulty.</p>
  <p>But who knows.</p>
  <p>Maybe the Heartless could up and show up right in front of the Council.</p>
  <p>That would save her a headache… or give her another one, undoubtedly having to explain just what they're supposed to be.</p>
  <p>Shepard groaned aloud.</p>
  <p>This Spectre status was becoming more of a hassle then it was cracked up to be.</p>
</div>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>So, that was a long one but it was damn fun to write.</p><p>We got Liara now and the crew had their first run in with the Heartless, yay~</p><p>My brain is sorta pounding right now cause there are so many crazy scenarios and events that will occur and I just can't even begin to convey to you guys the excitement I have of when we get to them.</p><p>The Normandy is getting exposed to the madness that is Roxas' life and it only goes uphill from there cause that's the only way some stories can go.</p><p>But really, nothing else to be said.</p><p>If you guys have an idea for a poll pairing, please leave it in the review and I may add it. Don't forget to vote.</p><p>Not much else to say really, just really glad how this one turned out.</p><p>Rate Read and Review and as Always Have Nice Day.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Getting to know your Crew</h2></a>
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    <p></p>
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      <p>
        <strong>Alright, still going strong with this one. I appreciate those who are willing to give this unusual story a try. Means a lot.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Don't forget to vote on the polls because that'll be taken down soon and replaced with another soon after that one. Then again, with what I'm looking at, it's quite obvious the projected winner is going to be.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Other than that, not much to say for the moment.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Rate Read and Review and as Always Have Nice Day.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>I'm Nobody Chapter 5: Get to know your crew</p>
      <p>Far above a dark city, a castle of multiple sections and towers that moved about on its own while remaining stationary in the air.</p>
      <p>One could say it was the perfect mesh between a medieval and technological marvel with how grandiose it appeared. Almost hovering above the world's very surface as it rests at its center.</p>
      <p>The castles occupants were currently in the middle of a meeting with only several members unaccounted for.</p>
      <p>Inside of the Round Room or The Room Where Nothing Gathers, the majority of the thirteen throne-like chairs were occupied with the cloaked members of the Organization. The only means of reaching this place was through a Corridor of Darkness, nothing else. It would have to be a miracle to get here otherwise.</p>
      <p>The marble-made chairs were all occupied for the most part save for the seats of Numbers VI, VIII and XIII.</p>
      <p>Placed at the highest seat was Xemnas, Number I and leader of the Organization.</p>
      <p>He was calm and collected as he usually conveyed himself to be.</p>
      <p>Opening his eyes, they trailed over numbers XI and XII who were clearly aggravated in being here.</p>
      <p>They were still rather upset so to speak when Xemnas called for them personally, stating that he was indeed aware of their intentions to overthrow his leadership. Being quickly put in their place, their plans of a coup were put out.</p>
      <p>For now.</p>
      <p>Right now, however, they were gathered for an extremely serious matter.</p>
      <p>The matter of a missing member.</p>
      <p>Roxas.</p>
      <p>"This is too soon. His departure is far too soon from the timetable." Xemnas announced.</p>
      <p>"We have barely begun the formation of Kingdom Hearts, barely the framework of it by a small margin. Without No. XIII we would have to rely on the Keybearer to take up the slack." Saix stated.</p>
      <p>"What of No. XIV? Has her Keyblade manifested more?" Xaldin inquired.</p>
      <p>"Barely, just barely. Can't hold out no longer than a handful of minutes at a time." Vexen reported. "Been trying to figure out how to increase it until she can summon it properly. Without Roxas' presence, I don't know what to do."</p>
      <p>"Maybe we should just take the Keybearer brat and make the squirt absorb the power from the source directly." Larxene suggested. "Problem solved."</p>
      <p>"As much as it's a good idea, we don't want to play our hand too soon and reveal ourselves."</p>
      <p>"But the brat is not strong enough to take us on." The Savage Nymph pointed a finger at their esteemed leader. "If I heard correctly, you popped up at Hollow Bastion and fought the twerp and got beat. And I'm putting it lightly."</p>
      <p>"Indeed. I held back a lot of my power, only to gauge his capabilities." Drawled out No. I. "He's got a long way to go before he can be a proper threat."</p>
      <p>Xigbar merely snorted. "And yet he killed that Heartless counterpart of yours, who was so full of darkness and at his esteemed peak."</p>
      <p>"Where is the child anyway?" Luxord inquired.</p>
      <p>"The Nobodies we sent out are still searching every World as we speak, tirelessly in finding a clue to his location."</p>
      <p>"So we got two Keybearers that we have completely lost track of with one that's barely functional." Marluxia remarked with a small smirk.</p>
      <p>Xemnas looked down at the Graceful Assassin. He shared a look with him and the rose-haired Nobody backed down.</p>
      <p>"If he doesn't return, you know what we must do." Xaldin said aloud. "He has had every opportunity to return on his own accord by using a Corridor. And yet…"</p>
      <p>"I truly hope he's enjoying his little adventure, wherever he is." No. X spoke up, holding up a number of his Nobody themed cards in his hand. He played a few tricks as he continued. "Maybe he'd like a hand to determine his fate."</p>
      <p>Demyx merely shrugged. "Hey, as long as it works in our favor. I say we let him do what he wants for now then we all jump ship if needed."</p>
      <p>"Those are bold words coming from you. Are you saying you'll volunteer to take care of it if things go wrong? Huh?" Xigbar teased.</p>
      <p>Demyx practically flailed in his seat. "What!? Me? No, you have the wrong guy. I'm not comfortable with doing all that work."</p>
      <p>The Freeshooter chuckled. "Well if the kid is anything like his Somebody, he might surprise you. He could be out there and working in clearing out the Heartless one way or another. And all those hearts will naturally come to us, with the framework already formed."</p>
      <p>"And yet you forget we need Xion to have her own Keyblade to speed up the process. Without that, it'll take far longer than it should for our Kingdom Hearts to fully form." Saix said from his throne. "Then she will be worthless to us."</p>
      <p>"Oh give the Poppet a chance, Saix. She has the potential to manifest it, despite her being a <em>True</em> Nobody." No. II smirked. "After all, she's based on a number of individuals. It'll be a waste to start from scratch now."</p>
      <p>"You act as though you think she has a conscience." Said Xaldin. "When was the last time any one of us felt anything?"</p>
      <p>"Do any of us really?" Vexen muttered. "We are Nobody's after all. The memories our shells have do have the <em>lingering</em> feelings when we were once whole. They could manifest and take a life of their own. Making us actually experiencing them."</p>
      <p>"Truer words were never spoken." Luxord said in agreement. "For now we just have to wait and see what will come next."</p>
      <p>"Enough of this drivel." Saix spoke up. "There is the matter of Roxas to be found and Castle Oblivion. We had to leave Zexion and Axel behind."</p>
      <p>Xemnas nodded, turning to No. V.</p>
      <p>"Lexaeus."</p>
      <p>"Yes, Lord Xemnas?"</p>
      <p>"Inform Axel and Zexion of our recent meeting while still giving out the order to not return otherwise."</p>
      <p>The Taciturn Stalwart said nothing, only nodding before a Corridor encompassed his form before departing from the chamber.</p>
      <p>"The rest of you must conduct searches in the times in between your missions." Xemnas instructed. "Either Roxas has lost his way or abandoned us all together. Regardless, we shall bring him back. For now, I'll let our wayward Keybearer embark on his adventure. He might still fill his purpose… <em>elsewhere</em>. We'll find him, eventually."</p>
      <p>Every member present in the Round Room soon disappeared from the vicinity in order to return working on their already present tasks.</p>
      <p>Elsewhere, in another realm of existence, a large castle situated at the end of a road, located at the Realm Between Realms.</p>
      <p>From the road leading up to the castle is a beautiful landscape of large grassy plains and hills. Yet the environment surrounding the large castle in fact a facade, a cover to hide the true emptiness the surrounding land has. When breaching past the barrier, one can see the rough stalagmites sprouting from the barren ground.</p>
      <p>The castle's architecture is very remarkable, with its tower tops resembling interesting isosceles triangles and noticeable monster horns at the castle's center. Two smaller parts of the castle, lying on floating islands, are joined to the main structure via chains.</p>
      <p>When breaching past the large doorway, the interior is surprisingly white, stark white to be exact, an opposite of the dreary colors on the exterior. Yet white can be dreary as well.</p>
      <p>Within the Castle walls, a lone man in the Organization's black coat was "patrolling" the castle halls with one companion.</p>
      <p>"Geez, can this castle be any more dull?" Axel groaned aloud, walking around one of the many corridors with a young girl around the age of Roxas and Xion. "I mean they could have at least told us how blaringly empty this whole damn place is."</p>
      <p>From what they were told prior to coming here, the castle's layout is truly unknown to any visiting the place. When going through floor to floor, there is an… <em>unusual</em> happenstance occurring to someone traversing through it. For their memories manifest and take shape into an environment, distracting them for an unknown period of time.</p>
      <p>This occurred for Axel when he blindly went into the first floor and suddenly found himself in a scarily recreated version of Twilight Town, with practically everything exact to the very last stretch of land.</p>
      <p>And another floor, it was of a place he hasn't stepped foot on since he became a Nobody. A place where both he and Saix lived and worked under a <em>Wise</em> old man and befriending an amnesiac girl.</p>
      <p>One would realize that it was the intention of the 'designer' of this grand piece of architecture. Confusing any and all intruders not welcomed to this place, throwing them off from finding any and all secrets this castle hides within its walls.</p>
      <p>In order to safely get to the other floors without traversing through the Halls of Memories, as some of the Organization members dubbed them, they would need to use a Corridor to jump to each in between floor and the central meeting rooms in both the upper and basement floors.</p>
      <p>"Namine, how the heck do you navigate this place?" Axel asked, looking down at the platinum blond haired girl, clear blue eyes and a white dress that stopped down at her thighs.</p>
      <p>She let out a small giggle, giving him a sympathetic look.</p>
      <p>"I try not to think about it." She said kindly, looking up at him with a smile.</p>
      <p>When Namine thought on her situation, she thanked the stars above that the Organization recalled their members back leaving her with Axel.</p>
      <p>Before, she had the Graceful Assassin hovering over her shoulder nearly every waking moment, a feeling of complete and utter fear held over her.</p>
      <p>Until by a miracle, he was called back.</p>
      <p>Something happened with the Organization where he along with his partner in crime, the Savage Nymph, had to be sent back.</p>
      <p>Replacing him was a much more easy going and infinitely friendlier individual known to her now as Axel.</p>
      <p>The red head didn't seem all that interested in her powers as a matter of fact, he didn't even care for it.</p>
      <p>All he really cared for was alleviating his boredom to pass the time.</p>
      <p>So he had opted to have Namine keep him company for the most part.</p>
      <p>For the most part, Axel was the lord of the castle on the top thirteen floors whilst one other member watched over the bottom twelve. And from what he could tell, it was probably Zexion.</p>
      <p>There was honestly not much to do while watching over her… like at all. He either had to take her out on walks or watch her crudely draw all over the place. Occasionally, he joined in though they were hilariously atrocious, something she teased him over repeatedly with him messing up her hair in retaliation.</p>
      <p>It was rather… nice to have a friend.</p>
      <p>However, it appears that she wasn't his only friend.</p>
      <p>The redhead said in passing to the young blonde that he would rather be back eating ice-cream with his "pals" instead of doing this.</p>
      <p>Namine found it strange when hearing it and wondered why, given their status as Nobodies.</p>
      <p>Unbeknownst to the "witch", Axel has his reasons.</p>
      <p>Axel had always yearned to fill the void within himself with what he'd been all so longing for. Even prior to becoming a Nobody. The fires of friendship were kindling with what he formed with both Roxas and Xion. He thought he could've had it when both he and Saix became Nobodies, using their old ties when they were once Somebodies.</p>
      <p>Yet that didn't seem to be the case as The Luna Diviner became more of a lapdog than what the Flurry of Dancing Flames could stomach, severing nearly all ties with Axel in the process.</p>
      <p>He was originally sent here by Saix to dispose of the traitors and anyone else that would get in the way of their "plan".</p>
      <p>But now since nearly everyone was called back, what was the point of him being here? His one order served no purpose now. The plan was moot for the most part as of right now.</p>
      <p>With a disgruntled sigh, Axel pulled out two Sea-salt ice cream bars and held one out for Namine to take. She accepted it happily and began munching on it with Axel digging into his.</p>
      <p>"I'd rather go to Twilight Town for this but gotta stay here." Axel said peevishly.</p>
      <p>"Why not just inform the other member down that you wanna step out?" Namine asked.</p>
      <p>"Pretty sure Zexion would get annoyed at me going out <em>every</em> single day." Axel remarked, taking another bite of his bar. "Don't wanna leave him alone in this dreary castle."</p>
      <p>"Axel." Namine said knowingly. "He's basically all by himself in the lower levels."</p>
      <p>No. VIII just shrugged. "Meh, whatever."</p>
      <p>The duo were now on the first floor, both taking a seat on the steps.</p>
      <p>"This is just too boring." Axel drawled. "Can anything exciting happen at least?"</p>
      <p>Ask and you shall receive.</p>
      <p>The front door to the Castle opened, alerting both Axel and Namine as the former shot up to his feet.</p>
      <p>Once the door was open, in walked…</p>
      <p>"Xion?" Axel said in bewilderment and pleasant surprise. "What are you doing here?"</p>
      <p>"Wanted to find you." Xion said with a worried face.</p>
      <p>Axel frowned at his friend's expression. "What for?"</p>
      <p>"...Who's she?"</p>
      <p>Axel soon realized his young friend was looking at the blonde girl beside him.</p>
      <p>"Uh… Namine, this is Xion. Xion this is Namine." Axel quickly introduced them.</p>
      <p>"Hi." Namine said softly with Xion muttering it back as they both gazed at one another intensely.</p>
      <p>Looking back and forth between them, Axel realized a startling revelation. Both girls looked rather a lot alike.</p>
      <p>Like shockingly similar faces, eyes, everything accept the hair and their clothing. One could even mistake them for sisters.</p>
      <p>Clearing his throat, Axel gained both their attention.</p>
      <p>"Xion, what are ya doing here?" Axel asked again. "How'd you even find the place?"</p>
      <p>"I said I wanted to find you."</p>
      <p>"Okay, and?"</p>
      <p>"Well…" She looked down at the floor with a troubled look. "Axel… Roxas is missing."</p>
      <p>It took a moment for those three words to hit the taller Nobody with him doing a double take a moment later.</p>
      <p>"Wha-what?" Axel stammered. "What do you mean he's missing? What are you talking about?"</p>
      <p>"That's just it, he's missing." Xion reiterated with a concerned face. "He and I were finishing a mission in Twilight Town when Heartless attacked us when we least expected it. They then dragged him into a Dark Corridor and I couldn't save him."</p>
      <p>The dejected look that befell No. XIV made Axel frown, subconsciously reaching up to place his hand on her head in a comforting manner.</p>
      <p>"Hey, it's alright Xion." Axel said. "Just start from the beginning. What happened?"</p>
      <p>Xion complied, recounting on what happened on that day, beat by beat. By the end of it…</p>
      <p>"That explains the recall." Axel murmured, rubbing his chin. "So nearly the entire Organization is looking for Roxas?"</p>
      <p>Xion nodded emphatically. "We've been looking for him for a few days now."</p>
      <p>"Then what the hell am I still doing here?" Axel asked in frustration. "Zexion too. There's no point in us being here."</p>
      <p>"Roxas…" Namine repeated. "Isn't he one of your friends?"</p>
      <p>Axel and Xion blinked at Namine with her looking at them both.</p>
      <p>"The friend with the Keyblade?"</p>
      <p>"Yeah, that's him." Axel confirmed before releasing a sigh. "Oh man, this is gonna be a real pain to deal with."</p>
      <p>"I've been trying to find him but I just don't know where to look." Xion said with a defeated look.</p>
      <p>"Hey, don't sweat it, Xion. You've done your best just like the rest."</p>
      <p>"What are you gonna do?"</p>
      <p>No. VIII adopted a thinking pose and thought for a few moments. Getting out of it, he spoke.</p>
      <p>"How about you two go to the top floor and get to know each other?" He said to them.</p>
      <p>"And what of you?"</p>
      <p>"Need to talk to Zexion downstairs."</p>
      <p>Soon enough, a Dark Corridor appeared and swallowed Axel up before disbursing.</p>
      <p>With the two female Nobodies left alone on the first floor, they looked at each other.</p>
      <p>"So…"</p>
      <p>"So…"</p>
      <p>Xion then saw the Ice cream in Namine's hand, her expression brightening a moment later.</p>
      <p>"You like Sea Salt?" Xion asked with a smile.</p>
      <p>Namine blinked and looked down before mirroring Xion's face to hers. "Yes, it's really tasty."</p>
      <p>Down below a few levels, Zexion was minding his own business and sitting in a lounge chair.</p>
      <p>Taking a sip of tea, he was about to turn the page of the one book he was presently reading when a Dark Corridor appeared not far away from him.</p>
      <p>"Yo, Zexion."</p>
      <p>"Axel." The Cloaked Schemer greeted calmly. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"</p>
      <p>"You know what's going on back at HQ?" Axel asked with No. VI looking to the fire wielding Nobody.</p>
      <p>"Not in particular. Though it did appear to cause a big fuss."</p>
      <p>Axel nodded. "Yeah, about that. Xion just came by and told me why. Roxas has gone missing. The entire Organization save for the two of us are looking for him."</p>
      <p>Zexion paused in his turning of the next page in his book, looking over to Axel.</p>
      <p>"Truly?"</p>
      <p>Axel shrugged, a troubled glint in his eyes that Zexion missed.</p>
      <p>"Yeah. Whole team is in an uproar apparently." Axel said. "Reason why it's just the two of us."</p>
      <p>"Hmm… I see." Zexion turned back to his book. "You mentioned Xion. She is here in the Castle?"</p>
      <p>Axel nodded. "Came to personally tell me the news."</p>
      <p>"Fascinating."</p>
      <p>The Flurry of Dancing Flames observed Zexion's reaction, finding the choice of wording a bit unusual.</p>
      <p>Why was it "fascinating" that Xion came here?</p>
      <p>Another Dark Corridor appeared nearby. When it disbursed, Lexaeus was revealed to them.</p>
      <p>"Ah, good, you two are here. Saves me the trouble in reaching the top." Said The Taciturn Stalwart.</p>
      <p>"Lexaeus." Zexion greeted.</p>
      <p>"Hey." Axel said simply. "News from the head honcho?"</p>
      <p>No. V nodded before relaying the news from their recent meeting.</p>
      <p>"Are you serious?" Axel hissed. "Xemnas wants the two of us," pointing to both himself and Zexion, "to stay here and do nothing!"</p>
      <p>"That is Lord Xemnas' orders."</p>
      <p>"Why?" Axel asked in confusion. "What's the point to this Castle anyway?"</p>
      <p>"That is none of your concern Axel." Lexaeus said stoically.</p>
      <p>"The hell it is. With Marluxia gone, I'm considered the boss of this base and I need to know what's going on!"</p>
      <p>"You will do no better than either of us, Axel." Zexion coolly replied. "I am stuck here with you."</p>
      <p>"And what's changed for you?" Axel dryly asked. "Cause last I checked, you read your books back at HQ as well."</p>
      <p>"All I can do now is still do my original purpose in being here."</p>
      <p>"Oh yeah, and what's that?"</p>
      <p>"Researching memories."</p>
      <p>Receiving a flat look from No. VIII, the red-head tilted his head and held a hand up to his ear.</p>
      <p>"Run that by me again?"</p>
      <p>"You heard what I said."</p>
      <p>"And why is that so important?"</p>
      <p>"Do you find it strange that the floors reflect one's memories?"</p>
      <p>Quirking a brow, Axel looked to No. V who remained silent as he usually is.</p>
      <p>"Is this some kind of test?"</p>
      <p>"This is the <em>original</em> purpose as to why some of us were sent here, to research the Memories of the Heart." Zexion elaborated. "Memories hold a key piece within those who have Hearts. I am surprised Marluxia failed to inform you of such matters."</p>
      <p>"Yeah, well he was too busy trying to think of a reason to overthrow the Organization." Axel wryly reminded before remembering something recently spoken. "You said 'original'. Was there something else?"</p>
      <p>"If I remember correctly, you were acting bored while being here."</p>
      <p>"Get to the point, Zexion." Axel snipped.</p>
      <p>"Very well." The Cloaked Schemer faced the redhead. "As per Xemnas' other orders, we're here searching for a Chamber."</p>
      <p>"...A Chamber?"</p>
      <p>"That is what I said."</p>
      <p>"And what's so special about it?"</p>
      <p>"It's not exactly the room itself, but what's apparently <em>inside</em>."</p>
      <p>
        <em>-Scene Cut-</em>
      </p>
      <p>
        <em>Day 39</em>
      </p>
      <p>The Alliance ship of the Normandy SR1 was currently flying towards the Mass Relay that would take them back to the Citadel.</p>
      <p>Therum had been a relative success so to speak with the crew recruiting a new member who is both a Prothean expert and competent Biotic herself.</p>
      <p>Liara T'soni was adjusting herself to her new environment and her new purpose. One that Commander Shepard hoped wouldn't weigh down on her mind more than it already did.</p>
      <p>It was easy for Jane to pick up on the conflict of emotions on Liara's mind and heart. The Asari has been trying to figure out just what was it that caused her mother to ally with a Rogue Spectre?</p>
      <p>She would get around to her eventually.</p>
      <p>Right now, she just needed a bit of space due to her being aboard a new ship with an entirely new crew.</p>
      <p>Presently, her living quarters were from the back room in the med bay. An odd choice by some, but for Liara it suited just fine.</p>
      <p>She had been resting up since Therum, rubbing the spots where she was injured during their mission down on the planet.</p>
      <p>In particular, she was trailing over the locations where the Heartless had managed to strike her with the memory of the lingering pain that came with those strikes returning in full. It disturbed her because those injuries felt so unlike anything she had ever felt before.</p>
      <p>And of course, to add to the bizarreness, it was Roxas who came in to alleviate the injuries by utilizing his magic to "cure" her of these wounds. They vanished in an instant and he told her after a good rest they would be gone entirely.</p>
      <p>He repeated the action for Tali, Garrus and Wrex with her crew back up to fighting speed after Therum.</p>
      <p>Which was good cause no less than a day went by when Shepard was contacted by Admiral Steven Hackett of the Fifth Fleet.</p>
      <p>There were a number of issues he informed the Commander that needed to be resolved when possible. And of course, she complied and put them on first priority as their search for Saren was presently going nowhere.</p>
      <p>So, off they went to the Plutus system first in order to deal with a supposed treaty at an Element Zero mining facility.</p>
      <p>Liara, Kaidan and Roxas joined Shepard on the proceedings in case things didn't go so well, due to Darius' records showing he had a "short fuse" personality as it were.</p>
      <p>Negotiations were going well for the most part which was astonishing considering how gigantic of an asshole the man they were bartering with turned out to be.</p>
      <p>But it quickly went south when the Heartless appeared. Panicked, Darius quickly thought the Normandy crew was backstabbing him and his group, causing him to order his underlings to attack the ground team while dealing with the newly arrived threat.</p>
      <p>This was Liara and Kaidan first time properly encountering the Heartless with the two following Roxas' instructions on how to properly deal with them.</p>
      <p>Luckily, with three Biotics in tow and an expert in fighting Heartless, it thankfully was not as hectic as it was on Therum.</p>
      <p>After the Heartless were dealt with, Darius was rather frightened into signing the treaty since he saw the creatures just pop up out of nowhere and the effective means Roxas displayed in taking them out.</p>
      <p>So… at least that worked out in the end.</p>
      <p>There was another mission that took place shortly after, as per Hackett's request.</p>
      <p>An old Alliance espionage probe had turned up in the Voyager Cluster, which contained a nuclear payload leftover from the First Contact War. The Alliance feared that if the Citadel Council discovered this, it would embarrass them considerably, among other factors. So they needed to find, disable and recover the probe.</p>
      <p>There were no Heartless that opposed them this time but a lot of annoyingly well armored pirates.</p>
      <p>Their leader had an apparent grudge against Shepard, a personal vendetta that he wished to accomplish.</p>
      <p>From what Liara learned afterwards, their target was moved into the mine as a means of trapping Shepard and her team before killing them by setting off the payload. The culprit behind this was the mastermind behind the Skyllian Blitz, Elanos Haliat.</p>
      <p>Thankfully, they were able to disable the bomb with some time to spare before going after the man behind this whole thing.</p>
      <p>It's a good thing Wrex, Ash and Garrus were with her for this one. The four of them fought off the Pirates in tandem with one another, taking out Elanos in the end.</p>
      <p>Frankly, after that last one, Shepard figured her crew was up for some R&amp;R which is why they were currently returning to the Citadel.</p>
      <p>Unfortunately, that had to be put on hold for now as Shepard was presently out with Kaidan and Ashley on a mission as they were in the Fariana System. But the commander promised that once that was taken care of, they'll head straight back to the Citadel.</p>
      <p>Liara was brought out of her musings when the door to her quarters opened up. Looking over, she saw Roxas stepping through the door.</p>
      <p>"Roxas?"</p>
      <p>"Hey Liara." He greeted her.</p>
      <p>She turned away from her console in order to put her attention towards her. "Are you here to check up on me?"</p>
      <p>"Yeah." He said truthfully. "You looked shaken up from Therum."</p>
      <p>"Dr. Chakwas assured me I am going to be fine. Just have to recuperate a bit more, especially after going out on missions."</p>
      <p>"Like with the one with that Darius situation."</p>
      <p>Liara nodded. "You know, I haven't properly thanked you from both instances. If you hadn't-"</p>
      <p>"You don't have to thank me, Liara. It was mostly Shepard who did most of the work."</p>
      <p>"Yet you helped out more with the Heartless." Liara countered. "I believe that makes you just as responsible for my safety as was Shepard and the rest of the crew.</p>
      <p>Roxas nodded, not sure knowing how to go on from there. Ever since coming here, for the most part, whenever anybody wanted to speak to him, mostly Shepard, they would come looking for him directly. The only other person that Roxas sought out personally was usually Tali as he was the most familiar with her.</p>
      <p>Ever since coming to this bizarre World… or <em>Worlds</em> rather, Roxas had been learning a great deal on so much information that he was having a bit of a hard time keeping up with it all. Most of the time, his thoughts were preoccupied with him being here, outside the Organization and their rules and regulations.</p>
      <p>He had gotten here by something completely out of his control.</p>
      <p>Upon arriving here, there was a reflex for him to return to the World That Never Was.</p>
      <p>Yet, all that changed when he took a moment to gauge as to where he was. A place unlike anything he could ever imagine.</p>
      <p>His need and want to know and learn more about this place completely overrode his drilled in instructions of always returning home. Something within stirred him on to stay.</p>
      <p>Stay and learn.</p>
      <p>And after his most recent talk with Shepard, the Commander encouraged him to keep going after this innate desire. When asking how, she simply responded with…</p>
      <p>"<em>Just do what I do."</em></p>
      <p>"<em>Walk around and ask?"</em></p>
      <p>"<em>Sure. Seems to work with me all the time."</em></p>
      <p>Thus leading to him meeting up with Liara here.</p>
      <p>"So how are you being on the Normandy?"</p>
      <p>Liara gave a bemused expression, finding this question slightly familiar. Shepard had asked her the same thing not too long ago. It seemed Roxas shared the sentiment of making sure people were comfortable here. How kind of him.</p>
      <p>"It's been alright, though I have seen the way the crew has looked at me."</p>
      <p>"Really? How come?"</p>
      <p>"They don't seem to trust me."</p>
      <p>Rather than asking why, Roxas appeared contemplative.</p>
      <p>"Huh… I wonder if that's the case with me."</p>
      <p>Liara looked at the young man before her with a curious expression.</p>
      <p>It was strange. For some time, she thought only she was receiving those looks. But in fact, Roxas has been getting them as well.</p>
      <p>"Perhaps it's because of your age." Liara said to him. "You are a bit too young for a standard person taking these kinds of risks."</p>
      <p>Roxas' lip twitched upwards. "Didn't you just say being a 106 is young for your people?"</p>
      <p>Liara gaped before chuckling lightly.</p>
      <p>"Perhaps. But that is different."</p>
      <p>"True."</p>
      <p>"But in all honesty, they can be right. A human of your age should be going to school and dealing with normal everyday problems. Not… this."</p>
      <p>"If only I were normal. Never been exactly normal, to everyone else's point of view, for as long as I can remember." He muttered aloud, earning a sympathized look from Liara. Feeling a little uncomfortable on the topic, he changed to something else. "So about your mother…"</p>
      <p>"Don't worry, Roxas, I am not like Benezia. I swear I will do whatever I can to help stop Saren."</p>
      <p>The Nobody shook his head. "It's not about that, I just… Well, your… mother seems like she's really important. Are you ok about all this? Shepard told me it's hard what you're doing and doesn't blame anything on you."</p>
      <p>Though if Roxas were being honest with himself he didn't fully understand this whole parent deal. He was a Nobody born out of the nothingness that comes from the darkness. He had no parents, no siblings, nothing.</p>
      <p>He had been taking his time in researching these concepts and they honestly left him with more questions than answers most of the time. He wished that he could know more. That he was able to understand more.</p>
      <p>A soft smile graced her lips as she heard the same kind of promise coming from the commander. But hearing it from more than just Shepard was reassuring.</p>
      <p>"It means a lot hearing that, Roxas. Thank you."</p>
      <p>"So been meaning to ask, if you don't mind, but can you tell me about yourself?"</p>
      <p>"Me? I'm afraid I'm not very interesting, Roxas. I spend most of my time on remote digs, unearthing mundane items buried in long-forgotten Prothean ruins."</p>
      <p>"Yet it proved beneficial in the long run, right?" A smile was earned from this. "But have you been doing it with others or…"</p>
      <p>"Mostly been by me." She said.</p>
      <p>"That must be lonely, not being with others."</p>
      <p>"I admit it has its pros and cons. Solitude has its merits as I sometimes need to get away from everyone else. But then I would occasionally run across some indigenous life-forms, or stumble across a small band of mercenaries or privateers."</p>
      <p>"Sounds dangerous. I hope you were being careful, Liara."</p>
      <p>"I have had to take a lot of precautions when doing so. Until the Geth showed up on Therum, I never found myself in any situation my biotics couldn't handle."</p>
      <p>He nodded before asking an inquiry. "So I'm just asking this, but don't you like being around others? I think it's better to be with other people." Roxas began scratching the back of his head. "Well, some who you can be fine with."</p>
      <p>"I know, Roxas, but I suppose it comes from being a Matriarch's daughter." She explained the reason. "People expected me to follow in Benezia's footsteps. They wanted me to become a leader of my people."</p>
      <p>"Seeing as you're an… archaeologist, that's not really the case." He noted. "Is there any particular reason why?"</p>
      <p>"Matriarchs guide their followers into the future; they seek the truth of what is yet to come. Maybe that's why I became so interested in the secrets of the past." Admitted the Asari. "It sounds so foolish when I say it out loud, me becoming an archaeologist simply to spite her."</p>
      <p>"Could be or you just want to go on your own path and become someone else rather than her."</p>
      <p>Liara chuckled. "You almost said the same thing as Shepard, even Benezia when I told her of my decision." She exhaled a sigh. "But there was more to it than that. I felt drawn to the past. The Protheans were these wondrous, mysterious figures. I wanted to know everything I can about them."</p>
      <p>'Might explain why she seemed to enjoy talking to Shepard a lot.' He thought to himself. 'She did get hit with that Prothean Beacon.'</p>
      <p>"And what of you, Roxas?"</p>
      <p>"Huh?"</p>
      <p>"How have you been faring?" She asked. "You don't seem all that bothered being thrust into something like this."</p>
      <p>Roxas rubbed the back of his head. It is true, he never really batted an eye at the thought of joining up to chase down the rogue Spectre Saren. When he really thought about it, he wasn't here for Saren.</p>
      <p>He was here for himself.</p>
      <p>To learn.</p>
      <p>"I guess I haven't really thought about it." Roxas said simply.</p>
      <p>Liara was unsure of what to make of that answer.</p>
      <p>He just jumped on board this ship without a second thought. What in the Goddess for?</p>
      <p>Before she could ask another question, she found herself bewildered when Roxas pulled out a bar of sea-salt ice cream from seemingly nowhere.</p>
      <p>"Where did you-?"</p>
      <p>"Hmmm?" Roxas looked at her waiting for her to ask whatever it is she wanted to know while taking a bite of his ice cream.</p>
      <p>Just another quirk to add to the enigma that is Roxas. Him and his strange obsession with this ice cream.</p>
      <p>That she couldn't deny, she was rather craving right now.</p>
      <p>It had only been two times by this point but she had gotten hooked on the flavor rather quickly. A sentiment shared by Tali'Zorah.</p>
      <p>"Do you perhaps…"</p>
      <p>"Oh, right."</p>
      <p>Reaching behind his back, he seemingly pulled out another ice-cream from out of nowhere and gave it to the Asari before him.</p>
      <p>"Thanks."</p>
      <p>The two enjoyed their treats in relative, companionable silence.</p>
      <p>"Roxas."</p>
      <p>"Yeah?"</p>
      <p>"Where do you get these?" Liara asked, holding up her ice cream.</p>
      <p>"Some from the Zakara Wards on the Citadel, some from Twilight Town."</p>
      <p>"Yes, I recall you mentioning something about that place once." Liara said. "But where is it? I have looked it up on human colonies and thus far have found no settlement matching that name."</p>
      <p>The Nobody wasn't quite sure how to answer that.</p>
      <p>"It's… It requires a special means of finding." Roxas vaguely said. "Something that I'm not sure you guys are ready to go through."</p>
      <p>What was that supposed to mean?</p>
      <p>Liara wasn't well versed with human interaction… or most interactions really, for the most part due to her nature in studying the ancient history of the galaxy in comparison to socializing with others. But right now, she figured that there wasn't much in regard to answers that Roxas may have.</p>
      <p>After all, he had amnesia from what Shepard and the others have told her.</p>
      <p>So that means she had to change the subject.</p>
      <p>"Roxas, I've been meaning to ask." She gazed at her Sea-salt bar for a brief moment. "But who introduced you to these? Did you find them on your own?"</p>
      <p>"Oh, that was actually Axel." Roxas said with a small smile. "When he found me, he introduced me to these."</p>
      <p>"And is Axel a friend of yours?" Liara asked.</p>
      <p>Roxas paused for a moment before nodding. "Yeah, he is."</p>
      <p>That tone was a mix of fondness and somberness. Did something happen between this Axel and Roxas? Or did it have to do with something else?</p>
      <p>Soon after No. XIII left from the back of the lab and storage room,</p>
      <p>Walking out into the main quarters of the ship, Roxas spotted Kaidan at the control panel in front of the sleeper pods.</p>
      <p>"Hey Kaidan."</p>
      <p>"Hmmm? Oh, hey Roxas." Alenko greeted him with a small smile. "How's it going?"</p>
      <p>"Fine." Roxas shrugged. "How'd the mission go, Kaidan?"</p>
      <p>The lieutenant turned around and leaned against the control panel with a satisfied expression. "Better than I would've expected."</p>
      <p>During these past few days, Kaidan thought it was still strange to see a civilian being on this ship. After seeing all of the dead ones back on Eden Prime, he was worried Roxas would meet the same fate. Yet he proved that wasn't the case a couple of times now with taking care of the Geth and Heartless on his own.</p>
      <p>To Kaidan, the kid was quite the enigma.</p>
      <p>Suddenly Kaidan groaned a little, holding his head slightly.</p>
      <p>"Hey, you alright?" Roxas asked.</p>
      <p>"It's fine Roxas." He reassured him as the pain slipped away quickly. "I usually have these quick headache flares every so often."</p>
      <p>"What do you mean? Is it bad?"</p>
      <p>"Not entirely. But there are some instances that if left unchecked, it can be."</p>
      <p>"Why does it happen?"</p>
      <p>"It's the L2 implant I have in my head." Kaidan then went down on the details. "Most Biotics these days have implants to help out on their control or even enhance it. And for a lot of people these days, they have the L3."</p>
      <p>"Any reason why? And what's so different with an L3?"</p>
      <p>"Improvements for simplicity sakes, learning from the problems the L2 had and working through them."</p>
      <p>"And what problems would those be?"</p>
      <p>"Mental disabilities, insanity, crippling physical pain; list goes on. I'm just one of the lucky ones by only suffering from headaches."</p>
      <p>Roxas winced. "I'm sorry to hear that, Kaidan. I didn't know."</p>
      <p>Kaidan smiled at the kids' earnesty. He could see why Shepard had found him so endearing in such a short amount of time.</p>
      <p>"Don't worry about it." The marine waved him off.</p>
      <p>"How'd you get these implants?" Roxas asked curiously.</p>
      <p>"Got this thing in my head when I first signed on in Brain Camp."</p>
      <p>"Brain Camp?" Roxas had a hand go up to his head.</p>
      <p>"Er, sorry." Kaidan soon corrected himself. "Biotic Acclimation and Temperance Training, BAaT for short."</p>
      <p>Roxas scrunched his face a little. "That seems to be a mouthful."</p>
      <p>Kaidan laughed. "It was, reason why a number of us usually called it Brain Camp instead when we were hauled in."</p>
      <p>"Hauled in?"</p>
      <p>"Sorry, 'hauled in' is unkind." Kaidan apologized before speaking in a way that he was quoting something. "We were encouraged to commit to an evaluation of our abilities, so an understanding of biotics could be compiled."</p>
      <p>"That… doesn't make much sense."</p>
      <p>"You and every other kid your age practically had the same idea. At the first sign of using biotics at a young age, you would be sent off in order to help control and work with your abilities so you wouldn't be a problem with everyone else."</p>
      <p>"And how'd that happen?"</p>
      <p>"I was accidentally exposed to Element Zero while I was still in the womb. My folks didn't know at the time, but years later the signs showed. Soon enough, I was shipped off to Jump Zero and got the implant to help control my abilities."</p>
      <p>"What about this 'Jump Zero'? Is it this Brain Camp you mentioned?"</p>
      <p>Kaidan nodded. "It's just a nickname for Gagarin Station, which sat at the edge of human controlled space. It's the biggest and farthest facility we had for decades. Originally it was where they did all the 'goose chase' FTL research, right before we caught on to using mass effect fields."</p>
      <p>"And how was that like? Were you with anyone else?"</p>
      <p>"Had a little circle of friends that got together every night before lights-out. Did what we could to entertain ourselves since it was just a research platform then."</p>
      <p>"What did you do to entertain yourselves?"</p>
      <p>"Usually sit around and bull every night after dinner. Play cards or network games."</p>
      <p>"That sounds like fun."</p>
      <p>"It was. Our little reward for the end of a stressful day."</p>
      <p>"The icing on the cake." Roxas quoted.</p>
      <p>Kaidan chuckled. "You can say that. I bet you have something similar."</p>
      <p>Roxas nodded. "Axel, Xion and I usually ate Sea-Salt Ice Cream at the end of each day and watch the sunset together."</p>
      <p>The Marine hummed, remembering the little detail he heard in passing these past few days as to who this Axel and Xion people were. The only friends Roxas had prior to ending up on the Citadel. And where was it that he watched this "sunset"? Was it back on Earth? Or another location?</p>
      <p>Another question for another day.</p>
      <p>"Sounds like a pleasant sight. Was there anything else you three did to finish the day?"</p>
      <p>"Um… we went on missions together."</p>
      <p>"Missions?" Kaidan said in confusion. "Missions for what?"</p>
      <p>"To take out the Heartless."</p>
      <p>Now that was a bit of an eye opener. So Roxas has been tasked before to take out the Heartless. Then… was he here to do just that? Frankly, all these questions were starting to make his head hurt again.</p>
      <p>Kaidan hummed with a brief nod. "To each their own, I suppose."</p>
      <p>Roxas returned the gesture before asking something. "Don't mind me asking, but what was the mission you recently went out on anyway?"</p>
      <p>The lieutenant saw no harm and informed the Nobody. "Hostage situation dealing with biotic extremists holding Chairman Burns of the System's Alliance Parliamentary Subcommittee captive."</p>
      <p>"...Okay… Any reason why?"</p>
      <p>"They were protesting his vote against reparations towards L2's."</p>
      <p>Roxas blinked quickly responding. "Was it about those problems you mentioned earlier?"</p>
      <p>Kaidan exhaled a sigh. "Right on the dot. The extremists were angry at how bad the L2's were suffering and they were getting desperate when hearing there was a repeal on helping them out. So they hijacked the MSV Ontario and were holding Burns at gunpoint."</p>
      <p>"And did…"</p>
      <p>"Burns made it out alive with everything ending peacefully."</p>
      <p>"How?"</p>
      <p>"Shepard was able to talk the leader down and reasoned with him that they'll still need Burns' alive for his political connections. And the Commander is planning to see the chairman sees it through on his vote. But if he had died, then the repeal will happen and everything will be done for naught."</p>
      <p>"And what about you? You're an L2. Did you help out in the negotiation?"</p>
      <p>"I did. Was able to help push the leader down the right path in letting the chairman go." Kaidan ran his fingers through his hair and scratched it. "Though I don't know what might happen, even with the reparation discussions opening back up again in the L2's favor."</p>
      <p>"What do you mean by that, Kaidan?"</p>
      <p>"Now some people might think L2's are terrorists and will be weary of us because of the extremists' stunt."</p>
      <p>Roxas winced a little. "I'm sorry that had to happen."</p>
      <p>"It's fine. Just have to prove myself harder, I suppose. Something I couldn't handle before." Kaidan humbly admitted.</p>
      <p>Their conversation came to an abrupt end when hearing a small bang on the cafeteria table. Looking over, the two saw the source coming from Tali of all people. And no one was around her at all.</p>
      <p>"Wonder what that's all about?" Roxas muttered.</p>
      <p>"Huh, looks like something's bugging her." Kaidan noted. "Maybe you should check it out. You know her better than most of us here."</p>
      <p>Kaidan patted Roxas on the shoulder before walking away with Roxas turning to the Quarian who had her head hung low.</p>
      <p>"Keelah." Tali grumbled under her breath, once again failing on her current task.</p>
      <p>She was currently in the cafeteria, tray of Dextro food next to her having been all but forgotten by this point.</p>
      <p>In front of her on the table was a blue rectangular block that was blue in color with dark stars patterning it.</p>
      <p>Ever since taking it from Therum after the fight with the Heartless, Tali has been studying this strange block in her off time aboard the Normandy whenever she was able to.</p>
      <p>And she had no clue as to what it was that she had been studying.</p>
      <p>What was this supposed to be?</p>
      <p>"Tali?"</p>
      <p>The Quarian looked up at the familiar pair of blue eyes that belonged to her friend.</p>
      <p>"Oh, hey Roxas." Tali greeted.</p>
      <p>"What's wrong?" Roxas asked, making Tali blink.</p>
      <p>"What?"</p>
      <p>"I saw you bang your hand against the table." He pointed out.</p>
      <p>"Oh…" Tali shifted about, slightly embarrassed. "Sorry about that. Just, something that's been bothering me."</p>
      <p>"What is it?" Roxas asked, seating himself in front of her.</p>
      <p>Tali wasn't really sure how to speak of what was troubling her to Roxas. Well, troubling wasn't it. It was more like it was frustrating.</p>
      <p>But then, Tali remembered something important. The person seated before her was the one member in the crew that had an expertise in fighting the Heartless.</p>
      <p>So maybe it was safe to assume he could have an idea on what has been giving her so many headaches.</p>
      <p>"Well there's something that I've been trying to figure out the past few days." Tali explained, Roxas leaning forward. "Asides from doing my normal tasks in Engineering, I've been looking into… <em>this</em>."</p>
      <p>The Quarian held up the blue block in her hand with Roxas studying it.</p>
      <p>Eyes squinting momentarily, there was a weird familiarity to this object.</p>
      <p>"What is it?" He asked.</p>
      <p>"That's just it." Tali said in annoyance, dropping the block on the table. "I have no idea."</p>
      <p>Roxas picked it up, holding it up to get a closer look at the block. "Where'd you get it?"</p>
      <p>"I've been analyzing this thing ever since Therum. As for how I got it, you told us Heartless dropped… <em>things</em> for us, right?"</p>
      <p>"That's the gist of it, yes. Why, what's that have to do with-"</p>
      <p>"Because I found this odd block when that armored Heartless was defeated. Call me curious but I wanted to check what it was and so far I've been having migraines. Been having some progress in learning what this is, but I'm still missing something… Some information that will let me fully understand <em>what</em> it is."</p>
      <p>"What have you managed to learn?"</p>
      <p>Tali glanced at him before looking back. "It's made of some unknown element. And I briefly thought it was just that… until I found something <em>deeper</em>." Picking up the block, her eyes bore into it. "I thought it was just my exhaustion messing with my mind, but I definitely found something."</p>
      <p>"Which is?"</p>
      <p>"Schematics." Tali revealed.</p>
      <p>"What?"</p>
      <p>Tali pulled up her Omni-tool and pulled up a file. "Take a look."</p>
      <p>Roxas gazed at the display before him, noting how, true to her words, there were blueprints to ships of some kind. Ships that Roxas swore he had seen before… <em>somehow</em>.</p>
      <p>Tali couldn't really gauge his face though there was a hint of recognition. Though he remained silent for the most part.</p>
      <p>Sighing, Tali put the schematics away with a shake of her head.</p>
      <p>"This is just silly, right? I mean, this little thing is like some sort of hard drive or something all wrapped up into something so… <em>squishy</em>."</p>
      <p>"Squishy?"</p>
      <p>Tali emphasized the point by having the block placed in between her fingers and started pressing down with it with ease. No sign of break or resistance at all. When letting go, it went back to its original shape.</p>
      <p>"It's surprisingly rubber like and elastic. Something I briefly compared it to was an assortment of candy. More specifically what you humans eat with those… what were they called again? Gummi-bears?"</p>
      <p>Roxas had a faraway look appear.</p>
      <p>"Gummi…"</p>
      <p>He then jolted, startling his friend before him.</p>
      <p>From his point of view, the world around him shifted into one of endless expanse.</p>
      <p>With him were the other two individuals from before when he had that static-like vision on Therum.</p>
      <p>They were both beside him like before, fighting the Heartless and now travelling with him through the stars.</p>
      <p>His perspective then shifted again, with the orange ship he had seen before, multiple arms moving about other blocks and pieces of other ship parts to rearrange and strengthen the Highwind.</p>
      <p>Highwind?</p>
      <p>Where'd that name come from?</p>
      <p>"Roxas?"</p>
      <p>And like that, he snapped back to where he was a second ago.</p>
      <p>The blond looked up to see the glowing eyes of Tali gazing upon him with concern.</p>
      <p>"Huh?"</p>
      <p>"Are you alright there, Roxas?" Tali asked, propping her arms up and leaned forward.</p>
      <p>"I… I don't know." He admitted, hand over his eyes. "I just…"</p>
      <p>His eyes trailed down to the black-starred blue block between them with Roxas wordlessly lifted up the unusual item.</p>
      <p>"Gummi blocks." Roxas stated, squeezing the block lightly. "These are what help build the ships that help traverse from World to World."</p>
      <p>Tali tilted her head, looking at the block and the teen in confusion. "I don't follow Roxas. We're standing within a ship right now, which takes us to planet to planet."</p>
      <p>Roxas smiled slightly. "Not in the way that you know."</p>
      <p>What in the galaxy was that supposed to mean?</p>
      <p>She knew her friend was a weird one when she had first gotten to know him. And as time went on, that strangeness had only grown with a growing litany of questions.</p>
      <p>The Heartless, the Keyblade, his strange abilities, his amnesia and now this?</p>
      <p>Before she had a chance to ask about this "Gummi Block", Roxas went on.</p>
      <p>"The ship's schematics you got are designed to help safely traverse through the Lanes In-Between. When there's enough gathered, they can be applied to a normal ship and help them safely travel through the Lanes. Or make a whole new ship entirely called Gummi Ships." Roxas spoke as if he were reading from a text.</p>
      <p>"But what are these Gummi-blocks made of?"</p>
      <p>"Remnants of the protective barriers of Worlds." Roxas said almost robotically. "With the Heartless present, the barriers are breaking down, letting more and more come through."</p>
      <p>"Keelah Roxas, you're not really helping here." Tali said, half-amused and half-exasperated. "None of what you just said makes any sense."</p>
      <p>"Sorry." Roxas said, smiling apologetically.</p>
      <p>Tali, without realizing it, reached forward and grasped Roxas' wrist in a silent message of "apology accepted".</p>
      <p>She thanked her enviro suit right about now cause the blush she had under her helmet would have had many aboard the Normandy mercilessly tease her.</p>
      <p>Clearing her throat once she retracted her hand, she returned her attention to the Gummi-Block.</p>
      <p>"So these… "Gummi-blocks" are used to build ships?" Tali asked with Roxas nodding. "How can we find more? There's only one Gummi-block."</p>
      <p>"At this point, only through certain Heartless." Roxas surmised. "That Guard Armor was lucky."</p>
      <p>"Right, lucky." Tali said in a rhetoric manner. "I still don't get the whole dropping credi- I mean Munny. Why can't we just call them Credits? They convert to Credits immediately when we pick them up."</p>
      <p>"That's just how it always has been." Roxas said plainly with a shrug. "Munny from Heartless change and adapts to the currency of the… civilization."</p>
      <p>Another unusual answer.</p>
      <p>For now, she knew that that was all she was gonna get. She'd have to be patient with her young friend as his memory was gone to the point that simple gestures seemed alien to him. However, she had begun noticing these faraway and intense looks that he had on occasion like he had just now with the Gummi.</p>
      <p>And after every one of these long gazes, there were these moments where he spoke as though he were recounting a memory or something he knew of. Something perhaps from his lost memories.</p>
      <p>"So what can these Gummi's do then?" Tali asked, holding up the one she had been studying for days.</p>
      <p>"Normal basic ones are good for structure, but not for navigation and weaponry. Those are the special ones that need to be acquired." Roxas answered.</p>
      <p>"Is there a way to get Gummi's without fighting Heartless?"</p>
      <p>Roxas frowned in thought.</p>
      <p>He briefly thought of the unusual station he saw in his vision and two smaller furry creatures that assisted him.</p>
      <p>"I… I'm not really sure." Roxas admitted. "I've never really seen them that much."</p>
      <p>He wasn't sure if that was the truth or a lie. It felt kinda like both.</p>
      <p>"What happens if we get more?"</p>
      <p>"I guess… we'll just have to figure something out eventually." Roxas answered. "I think we'll get something eventually."</p>
      <p>"I would have believed that to be a stretch a week ago." Tali said jokingly. "But you're probably right. We'll just have to wait and see what else we'll get as time goes on."</p>
      <p>
        <em>-Scene Cut-</em>
      </p>
      <p>After flying back to the Citadel for a little over half a day, a number of people departed from the Normandy in order to enjoy their bit of shore leave. While a number of people of the standard crew departed already, the rest had to stay in order to get everything ready for their next departure.</p>
      <p>Presently, most of the ground team were ready to head out immediately while Wrex and Liara were heading out later. Their reasons were their own and no one wanted to bother.</p>
      <p>"So where to first?" Kaidan inquired.</p>
      <p>"Me, I wanna hit Flux. Need to unwind with what we went through so far." Shepard informed them. "Before that, I probably need to find out what can be taken care of while we're here. Even try to see if there are any leads on Saren and Benezia before we leave."</p>
      <p>"I need to go shopping for a few things." Said their Turian teammate.</p>
      <p>"Like what?" Roxas inquired.</p>
      <p>"Armor and weapons. Need to see if anything is good lately or hold off for later."</p>
      <p>"Speaking of, I think Roxas needs to go shopping as well." Ashley said suddenly, causing the Nobody to halt in his step.</p>
      <p>"I do?"</p>
      <p>"I agree with Ashley on this one. Can't have you wear that all the time." Said the commander, gesturing to his Organization attire.</p>
      <p>Roxas looked down before looking back at the redhead. "What's wrong with what I'm wearing?"</p>
      <p>"Nothing, if I'm being honest. It surprisingly works well in the field. But you need something for your down time."</p>
      <p>"You don't see us wearing our armor all the time, Roxas." Said the lieutenant.</p>
      <p>"Yes, but what about Garrus and Wrex?"</p>
      <p>"They're different."</p>
      <p>"But-"</p>
      <p>"No buts." Shepard turned and then pointed a finger at the blonde teen before her. "As a member of my crew, I need you to fill the requirements to stay aboard the Normandy. And as of right now, you are required to wear something other than that outfit of yours." She then turned to Ashley and Tali. "If you two would be so kind…"</p>
      <p>Chief Williams had to hold back a laugh, but she didn't stop her growing smile. "Say no more, Commander."</p>
      <p>"Wait, why do I need to help?" Asked the Quarian.</p>
      <p>"Because the kid would feel more comfortable shopping with you than just Ashley." Garrus said as if it was the most obvious thing in the galaxy. "No offense, Williams."</p>
      <p>"None taken, Vakarian."</p>
      <p>As they eventually stepped onto the gangway, Roxas saw a man dressed in a blue uniform approaching the group. He was quick to notice it was similar to Captain Anderson's Alliance uniform, but upon a second glance there were a few more additions to it.</p>
      <p>"Hey, guys." He called out, pointing to the man coming towards them.</p>
      <p>Shepard looked towards the source of Roxas' attention and noticed what rank the man was. Giving a quick salute, along with Kaidan and Ashely out of formality, she spoke. "What can I do for you, Admiral?"</p>
      <p>"Commander Shepard." The Admiral said sternly. "Your reputation precedes you. I'm Rear Admiral Mikhailovich of the 5th Fleet and I command the 63rd Scout Flotilla."</p>
      <p>The Commander, Lieutenant and Gunnery Chief ended the salute before being at ease. "We weren't told to expect you, sir." Said Jane. "I would have prepared a formal greeting."</p>
      <p>"Spare me the pleasantries." Said Mikhailovich. "You and the Normandy were slated for my unit after shakedown. Then the Council got their paws… claws… tentacles whatever. They got them on our ship. And you."</p>
      <p>Hearing this made Roxas frown along with Shepard and the others.</p>
      <p>Still wanting to be formal, the commander spoke. "I still serve the Alliance, sir. As a Spectre, I can advance our interests to the Council."</p>
      <p>Mikhailovich huffed in response. "You still know what color your blood is, Shepard?" This earned some deeper frowns. "I don't begrudge the politicians' decision to throw you to the Council. It's an… <em>opportunity</em>. I do begrudge this overdesigned piece of tin, though."</p>
      <p>"The Normandy is a fine ship, sir. She's served us well so far."</p>
      <p>"It's a gimmick, Commander. Useless in a stand-up fight."</p>
      <p>Roxas raised a brow at this as he wondered what Joker's input on this would be like.</p>
      <p>The rear admiral slammed a fist onto his open palm. "This <em>experiment</em> diverted billions from our appropriations bills. For the same price, we could've had a heavy cruiser. But no, we had to make nice to the Turians. Throw money at a co-developed boondoggle."</p>
      <p>Now Roxas looked over and saw Garrus took some offence to that.</p>
      <p>"Is there a reason why you're here, Mikhailovich?" Jane formally asked.</p>
      <p>The admiral nodded. "I'm here to make an inspection, Commander. Normandy is an Alliance warship. I intend to see she's up to snuff."</p>
      <p>Shepard nodded out and formally spoke. "We'd be honored to show her to you, Admiral."</p>
      <p>Mikhailovich nodded. "I bet." He soon walked into the ship. "Wait here. I won't be long."</p>
      <p>When the rear admiral disappeared into the Normandy, Roxas turned to Shepard. "I don't like him." He said quickly.</p>
      <p>"Same here." Garrus growled out.</p>
      <p>Shepard exhaled a sigh while Kaidan snorted. "Gotta agree with you there, Roxas." He said, slapping the teens back. "Be glad he didn't hear you say that."</p>
      <p>"But is he allowed to do surprise inspections?" Roxas inquired.</p>
      <p>"He can, unfortunately." Said the Gunnery Chief.</p>
      <p>"There have been a number of times I wish it didn't happen." Shepard muttered out.</p>
      <p>After a few brief minutes, Mikhailovich returned with a displeased look on his face. "I'm not happy."</p>
      <p>Shepard stood up straight as she formally spoke to him. "Sorry to hear that, sir. What seems to be the problem?"</p>
      <p>The Rear Admiral gave off the first problem in his inspection. "Who designed that CIC? Putting the commander aft of everyone else is inefficient. What if he needs to discuss with the operators toward the bow?"</p>
      <p>Shepard was quick to answer. "There are no amateurs on this crew, Admiral. They know to keep idle chatter minimized during combat. And I can bellow with the best DIs."</p>
      <p>"A fair point. I suppose the design has no chance of becoming standard. No need to worry about a generation of recruits learning bass-ackwards."</p>
      <p>Roxas leaned over and whispered to Kaidan. "Is bass-ackwards even a thing?"</p>
      <p>The lieutenant merely shrugged as he didn't have a proper response.</p>
      <p>"Was there anything else?"</p>
      <p>"Yes, that drive core of yours. 120 billion credits of element zero to make it able to move without giving itself away. You realize we could make drive cores for 12,000 fighters with that money? What good is it to hide for a few hours, anyway? Useless, I say!"</p>
      <p>"We can loiter an enemy system and monitor traffic or drop infiltration teams on enemy worlds. The Normandy can be more effective than the Salarian STG."</p>
      <p>"Maybe, but that's not the job of a proper warship. We're supposed to find and kill the enemy fleet, not count how many times their garrison goes to the bathroom."</p>
      <p>Roxas scrunched up his face and turned to his side and he swore Tali probably had the same expression underneath the glass panel of her helmet. And he didn't need to look back to see the controlled looks Kaidan and Ashely wore. Garrus, though, chuckled under his breath.</p>
      <p>"And we need to talk about your crew, Commander. It's intolerable."</p>
      <p>"Excuse me?" Shepard asked with her hands on her hips while the rest of the ground team present paid a bit more attention now.</p>
      <p>"The aliens. Why are they here?" Mikhailovich demanded. "I just saw an Asari hanging around the medical bay. There's a Krogan coming out of the ship right now. And I see a Quarian standing behind you with a Turian and a civilian teenager, no less. What are you up to Shepard?"</p>
      <p>"Diplomacy?" Shepard responded sheepishly.</p>
      <p>She was prepared on what to say for the ship schematics and her own spin of it, but the crew portion quickly threw her off her game.</p>
      <p>"But this is a human ship and what are they doing here? You can't allow them free access to Alliance equipment!" Said Mikhailovich. "I must say that I'm not impressed. This is definitely going in my report and hopefully I'll take rightful possession of the Normandy."</p>
      <p>Hearing this man talk in such a degrading manner towards Tali and the rest of the crew was starting to rile up the blue-eyed blond.</p>
      <p>Roxas wanted to yell out that it was unfair on what the Rear Admiral was about to do. But before he even had the chance, Shepard spoke up in a stern voice.</p>
      <p>"Are you suggesting a mutiny, Admiral?"</p>
      <p>Mikhailovich was taken back in surprise. "Excuse me?"</p>
      <p>"It sounds to me you want all of the humans aboard this Alliance vessel to take back control of this ship from the 'dirty aliens'."</p>
      <p>Some of the ground team present heard the last bit and could tell there was no harshness when Shepard said 'dirty aliens'. It was just to prove a point, returning fire as to what the rear admiral was saying.</p>
      <p>Mikhailovich stuttered, trying to form a counter argument. "What? I don't-"</p>
      <p>Yet Shepard was quick to act. "I mean you have the means and the motivation, don't you? You use your rank to make an inspection so then you order all the Alliance personnel to throw my team off this ship and then take the Normandy for yourself before having it placed under your command in the 5th Fleet."</p>
      <p>"But I would never-"</p>
      <p>Shepard leaned forward and she could practically see the sweat forming on the man's brow. "Your motivation is that you do not like aliens at all and you do not like the Council, so you attempted to orchestrate a mutiny, huh?"</p>
      <p>The rear admiral of the 5th Fleet decided to fight back with anger in his voice. "Now listen here, Shepard! I-"</p>
      <p>"Yet you forget, not only am I still a part of the Alliance, I'm also a Council Spectre with me now catching onto this plot of yours." She stepped in closer, causing the man to step back. "I can even call it in before you even have the chance to do so."</p>
      <p>"You have no proof!" Mikhailovich protested.</p>
      <p>"Do eyewitnesses count?" Roxas asked as the other present ground team members nodded.</p>
      <p>"Asides from Shepard, there's six present here." Tali said aloud.</p>
      <p>"It's practically a crime to interfere with a Spectre's investigation." Said Detective Vakarian</p>
      <p>Lieutenant Alenko spoke next. "Especially with what mission they are on right now."</p>
      <p>Ashely added her piece into the conversation. "Don't know about you, but isn't stealing a Spectre's ship while that's happening a capital offence?"</p>
      <p>Wrex soon contributed into the conversation, his grin feral. "And since Spectres are often above the law, Shepard here could take your life here and now without consequence if she suspects you of endangering a whole lot of people."</p>
      <p>"And if you took the Normandy away, you can be considered an accessory to whatever Saren's planning." Said the Commander, nailing the final bolt into this conversation.</p>
      <p>The Rear Admiral was in a small state of shock. Realizing he couldn't win this argument, he conceded in defeat. "Alright, Shepard, you win. But this will not be forgotten. I will have to make a report of all this."</p>
      <p>"Then I hope that asides from your crass intentions, the inspection flew with flying colors."</p>
      <p>Mikhailovich was about to object to Shepard's words, but quickly changed his mind when he saw Wrex stepping closer as his hand was inching towards his gun.</p>
      <p>The rear admiral soon complied in a nervous manner. "Yes, you passed."</p>
      <p>"Thank you. Glad to see the ship for the first human Spectre is up to snuff." She then made a shooing motion with her hand. "Now would you kindly please clear the gangway?"</p>
      <p>As Mikhailovich vacated the area, Liara soon came out of the Normandy with a questioning look on her face. "Was there something I missed? You all seem pleased for some reason."</p>
      <p>"We can tell you the details on the elevator ride down." Shepard said as the rest of the ground team walked through the gangway.</p>
      <p>"It does take a while, sadly." Ashley lamented.</p>
      <p>"You know, for all this time with technological advancements, why do the elevators have to be so slow?" Roxas asked aloud.</p>
      <p>"Good question, Roxas." Garrus said approvingly, rounding on the others for answers. "Any takers?"</p>
      <p>"Safety measures?" Kaidan said unsurely.</p>
      <p>Wrex snorted. "Yeah, right."</p>
      <p>
        <em>-Scene Cut-</em>
      </p>
      <p>Upon entering the Citadel proper, Shepard made a silent gesture towards Roxas which turned into him being taken by Tali and Ashley to be dragged away from the others. Utterly bewildered, Roxas barely struggled with him only looking to Shepard as to why this was happening with her only waving goodbye at him.</p>
      <p>Garrus and Kaidan were chuckling with Liara and Wrex clearly amused by his predicament.</p>
      <p>Ash and Tali soon dragged Roxas towards their destination.</p>
      <p>A clothing store.</p>
      <p>"Why are we here?" Roxas asked, looking around at the many clothes hung on the racks.</p>
      <p>"Isn't it obvious?" Ashley said, lightly pushing him by his shoulder deeper into the store. "We gotta get you some new duds. You can't always just walk around in that black cloak all day."</p>
      <p>Roxas took a look at his own clothing. "What's wrong with what I have?"</p>
      <p>Tali crossed her arms. "That's just it Roxas, that's <em>all </em>you have. You can't just walk around with just that all the time."</p>
      <p>"But what about everyone else?" Roxas pointed out. "Don't Wrex and Garrus wear the same armor the entire time?"</p>
      <p>"They're different and have their own reasons in case you forgot." Tali said before holding her hand up. "And in case you forgot, I can't exactly change out of this suit of mine often for obvious reasons."</p>
      <p>Ashley gave the Quarian a sympathetic look, learning about how difficult it is for a Quarian to change out of their vacuumed tight suits beforehand. "Sorry on that, Tali. Wonder if there's a store out there that can sell Quarian clothing."</p>
      <p>"Highly doubt it." Tali remarked.</p>
      <p>"But why do <em>I </em>need clothing?"</p>
      <p>"Oh for God's sake." Ash groaned. "Just go pick some things you like and come back here. You're getting some new clothes and you'll like it."</p>
      <p>Not wanting to incur her wrath, Roxas went off and did as she ordered.</p>
      <p>Tali laughed a bit at Roxas's plight watching him wander around aimlessly as he looked at the multiple choices in clothing that there was to choose from. The Quarian snorted a moment later upon hearing the frustrated but also amused groan from the marine chief beside her.</p>
      <p>"I don't if I should feel annoyed or sorry for his cluelessness." Ash stated in a dry tone.</p>
      <p>"He does have amnesia." Tali reminded her.</p>
      <p>"What sort of amnesia makes some forget about, literally, <em>everything?</em>" Williams questioned. "He barely has any sort of common sense and everything he looks at reads about, it looks like it's the first time he's ever seen anything like that."</p>
      <p>"Um…"</p>
      <p>"I mean, come on. He had to get used to handshakes." Ashley stressed out. <em>"Handshakes. </em>My baby sister learned how to do that in nine mo- Roxas! You go to the dressing room to change, not out here!"</p>
      <p>The young teen followed her instructions, locating the dressing rooms and quickly shuffling in.</p>
      <p>"You seem to be taking all of Roxas' hiccups in stride." Tali noted</p>
      <p>The Marine Chief held a withered look. "Take it from me having experience with a couple of sisters. I know what I'm doing."</p>
      <p>"What about brothers?"</p>
      <p>Ashley muttered out a response. "Sometimes I wish I had at least one."</p>
      <p>The Gunnery Chief soon heard a distinctive ping coming from her Omni-tool. Pulling it up, she saw there was a notification that recently came up in her email. Reading through it, she smiled before typing away and sending the response.</p>
      <p>"You seem rather cheerful." Tali pointed out.</p>
      <p>"You can say that."</p>
      <p>"If you don't mind me asking, but what was it about?"</p>
      <p>"Just got an invite for a funeral viewing."</p>
      <p>Tali became rather confused, wondering why Ashley was happy for such a thing.</p>
      <p>"I don't understand."</p>
      <p>"It's for one of my 212 squadmates from Eden Prime. Their family sent it out to me in hopes I can attend."</p>
      <p>Tali felt a bit awkward in asking this. "Do you think you'll be able to take some time out to make it?"</p>
      <p>Ashley kept her gaze upon the floor, chewing the inside of her cheek.</p>
      <p>"Don't know that I can, but I wanted to at least know she's finally being put to rest back home. It took too long for Nirali to return to her family."</p>
      <p>"Did something happen?"</p>
      <p>"Yeah." Ashley exhaled a sigh as she leaned against the nearby wall. "Like a number of people on Eden Prime, Serviceman Nirali Bhatia was killed in the line of duty against the Geth. Instead of her body sent back with her family, the military kept it for study."</p>
      <p>Tali was astonished. "What? What for?"</p>
      <p>"<em>Research</em>." Spat the Gunnery Chief. "They wanted to study the wounds Nirali received from the Geth in <em>hopes</em> of combating them better in the future." Ashley rubbed the bridge of her nose. "I'll save you the <em>pleasantries</em> and cut right to the end. Once Shepard heard of what happened, she worked tooth and nail for her body to be released back to her family."</p>
      <p>Tali smiled. "That is really great to hear. I'm glad Shepard was able to resolve that problem."</p>
      <p>"Same here." Ashley looked up towards the ceiling. "She was a good friend of mine, all of them were. We trained together once our squads formed up. We hung out. We laughed. We cried. All of it together. After so long together, we were family."</p>
      <p>The Gunnery Chief started tightening her hands as she could still remember how each of her friends died in Eden Prime. It still gave her nightmares, even days later.</p>
      <p>"Outside of my sisters, I considered Dog Squad, and by extension the 212, my family as well." Ashley said somberly. "I… really failed them. I don't deserve to be there."</p>
      <p>Ashley choked slightly, tears threatening to spill at the thought of her deceased friends when she felt a three fingered hand on her shoulder.</p>
      <p>She turned to Tali to see the Quarians understanding and sympathetic hand on her shoulder.</p>
      <p>"It's ok, Ashley." Tali said kindly. "I know what it's like to lose friends in front of you, being able to do nothing. But I know they want me to keep moving forward so I can hopefully live <em>for</em> them. And I believe your squad will want you to do the same. Let the bonds you shared with them help make you stronger to fight for another tomorrow."</p>
      <p>The Gunnery Chief paused in her thoughts, thinking back to prior thoughts on the matter of having non-human personnel aboard the Normandy. How she was distrustful of them and believed that humanity needed to do this on her own.</p>
      <p>But here was Tali, a Quarian, offering her sympathies and knowing what she had gone through as well. Really makes her realize how rather narrow minded she was.</p>
      <p>Giving her a wide smile, Ashley reached up and patted Tali's hand with her own with an appreciative expression.</p>
      <p>"Thanks Tali." Ash said softly with Tali simply putting her arm around Ashley entirely for a side hug.</p>
      <p>The Alliance Marine was a bit surprised by the action but leaned into it a moment later. This was a rather pleasant moment. She actually doesn't remember the last time she had been hugged.</p>
      <p>And it was done with someone who wasn't human no less.</p>
      <p>Guess she really does need to take Shepards words of cooperation into consideration.</p>
      <p>Now if only the Council weren't such self-aggrandizing assholes.</p>
      <p>"Oh my!"</p>
      <p>Tali and Ash looked over with the former having steam coming out from under her hood to Ashley choking on her breath.</p>
      <p>There, they saw Roxas shirtless and basically being groped and feeled up by two Asari who worked in the store. Their hands were traveling all over his shoulders, arms, pecks, abs and back with both women giggling profusely.</p>
      <p>"I have seen many of you humans pass by through here." the Asari on his left commented. "They were in shape but you're simply <em>fit."</em></p>
      <p>"Ah… thanks?"</p>
      <p>"Mmm, and these rippling muscles." The Asari on his right was practically pressing herself against the boy who was beginning to lose a grasp as to how to react to this situation. "Tell me, how old are you?"</p>
      <p>"Uh… 15?"</p>
      <p>"Ah, still a young one." The left Asari said in false defeat before reaching under his chin to tilt his face up to hers. She gave him a sensuous look which appeared ineffective yet that didn't deter her.</p>
      <p>"Tell me, how often do ladies such as ourselves in their early 200's throw themselves at you?" she asked in a sultry whisper.</p>
      <p>Before Roxas had a chance to respond, Ashley was right behind him with an enraged expression directed at both of the Asari.</p>
      <p>"Okay you hussies, back!" Ashley could practically hiss. "Don't you see he's uncomfortable right now?"</p>
      <p>The duo balked at such a look of fury, backing away which allowed for Roxas to look in between them both with a complete and utter loss as to what was happening right now.</p>
      <p>A second later, the Asari to the right of Roxas managed to regain her nerve and step forward challengingly.</p>
      <p>"Excuse me, lady, but in case you weren't aware of personal boundaries."</p>
      <p>"<em>Personal boundaries?" </em>Ash parroted mockingly. "You wouldn't know the meaning of that word if a billboard of it struck you dead on."</p>
      <p>The right Asari became enraged by such words with the left one stepping forward now.</p>
      <p>"We just found someone that interests us." The left Asari said angrily. "What's it to you?"</p>
      <p>Ashley grasped Roxas' shoulders from behind and pulled her to him.</p>
      <p>"Kindly leave my little <em>brother</em> alone." Ashley gritted her teeth out with a burning anger in her eyes.</p>
      <p>The teen in her hands glanced up at her in confusion. "But I'm-"</p>
      <p>Roxas was silenced when Ashley covered his mouth and practically shoved him into Tali's arms.</p>
      <p>"Just play along." Whispered the Gunnery Chief.</p>
      <p>Roxas didn't say anything as he was completely unsure on how to "play along".</p>
      <p>He looked up at Tali who was apparently not interested in looking at him.</p>
      <p>Said Quarian was steaming up a storm. If one could properly look at her glass panel of her helmet, they could see it completely fogged up.</p>
      <p>With Roxas being shirtless and being right next to her, she realized the appeal that the two Asari saw in the boy.</p>
      <p>He may have been younger than her by 3 or 4 years but he was literally muscular in the lean manner with most of his form being accentuated at every curve.</p>
      <p>It was a bit much for Tali.</p>
      <p>"...nd piss off!"</p>
      <p>The Quarian and Nobody turned back to Ashley in time to see that she had finished properly scathing and scolding the two Asari in a manner that left both appearing to look quite guilt ridden and defeated.</p>
      <p>"Let's go." Ashley sighed out. "Grab your coat and let's move."</p>
      <p>"What about the clothing I was supposed to buy?"</p>
      <p>"We'll tell Shepard it was a bust."</p>
      <p>If Shepard had a hissy fit about it, she'll be damn sure to tell her what happened personally.</p>
      <p>As they were departing from the clothing store, Roxas heard a random conversation that for a brief instance held his attention.</p>
      <p>"...ure what it was. Just that it was small and wore all black."</p>
      <p>"What are you talking about?"</p>
      <p>"You missed it. It was really small with a red nose of some kind and it was floating around like a balloon. I swear, it even spoke! Something about scoping out the competition."</p>
      <p>"Are you on that red dust crap?"</p>
      <p>"What? No you… ah forget it. You wouldn't have believed me anyway."</p>
      <p>Roxas didn't dwell on the conversation, realizing he had been eavesdropping. He caught up to Tali and Ashley, leaving the discussion behind.</p>
      <p>Right now, they needed to meet back up with Shepard, wherever she was and inform her of their failed attempt at finding him some new clothes.</p>
      <p>'Wonder where Shepard is right now?' Roxas mused internally, following after the two girls he was with.</p>
      <p>Elsewhere on the Citadel…</p>
      <p>Entering the diplomat's lounge in the Presidium, Shepard was looking around for this person who wanted to talk to her. And judging by the name, the commander would be expecting to talk to an Asari.</p>
      <p>Moving throughout the space, her green eyes wandered all over. It was a bit packed at this time with all sorts of rabble going about. Jane had spotted a few Asari present here and there, but a number of them were together for some luncheon business meeting.</p>
      <p>After spending a few minutes combing through the lounge, Shepard might've found the Asari she was looking for as she sat at the far off edge of the area.</p>
      <p>Coming up to the Asari, the Commander spoke the obvious question. " Are you Nassana Dantias?"</p>
      <p>The Asari broke away from her computer and looked at the commander. "Ah, Commander Shepard. I see you got my message."</p>
      <p>"I did. Is there something wrong?"</p>
      <p>Nassana waved her hand at the empty seat from across the table. "Please sit." Shepard complied, not wanting to be rude. "Would you like something to eat?"</p>
      <p>"I'm good. Thanks for asking."</p>
      <p>The Asari took no offense as she soon spoke. "Now the reason for this meeting involves my sister, Dahlia." Shepard nodded, ushering her to continue. "She is a crewman on a cargo vessel operating beyond the fringes of the Traverse. Her ship was attacked by privateers with there being no reported survivors."</p>
      <p>"I'm sorry to hear that, Nassana. So do you want me to hunt down the people who killed her and return her body back to you?"</p>
      <p>The Asari before her released a sigh. "This is where it gets complicated. Last week, I received a message with her voice on it. Dahlia is alive!"</p>
      <p>"Well that's great news."</p>
      <p>"I know, but there's something you should know. While the rest of the crew was killed, she's been taken prisoner. The privateers demanded a huge ransom from me in exchange for returning her unharmed."</p>
      <p>Shepard nodded as she voiced an inquiry. "Why didn't they kill Dahlia along with everyone else?"</p>
      <p>"My sister probably told them who she was." Nassana then explained. "My family is very wealthy, Shepard. They must have realized she was worth more to them alive."</p>
      <p>"Then do you want me to deliver the ransom personally?"</p>
      <p>The Asari merely shook her head. "I've already transferred the funds to the account they specified. Only, they never released her. They haven't contacted me since."</p>
      <p>"These pirates could be scamming you of your money after sending the audio file, ma'am." Shepard suggested, knowing it wouldn't be the first time this happened.</p>
      <p>"You don't think I wouldn't know that." Nassana snapped before quieting down and composing herself. "Sorry. Just in a lot of stress lately."</p>
      <p>"Hey, it's no problem. I understand, mistakes can be made."</p>
      <p>"I know as I've made one, Shepard. I'm a diplomatic emissary! By law, I am required to report any attempted extortion to C-Sec immediately." The Asari brought her hand up to her face to rub her eyes. "But I was afraid for Dahlia, so I just paid the ransom. Now she is still missing, and if anyone finds out what I did I could end up in jail!"</p>
      <p>"I get it." Shepard said, trying to calm down Nassana. "You want me to find her and bring her back, hopefully in one piece."</p>
      <p>"That's all I ask for, Commander Shepard." She then pulled up her Omni-tool. "But you don't need to worry about finding her location as I already found it for you."</p>
      <p>"How?"</p>
      <p>"I tracked the ransom payment through several accounts. Eventually, it led to a small mercenary band operating out of the Artemis Tau cluster." Said the Asari, already sending the data pack to the commander.</p>
      <p>Shepard soon heard her Omni-tool ping as she received the information she needed. "So you just need me to go to the merc base, take them out and bring your sister back. Got it." She was about to leave but asked a couple of questions. "Anything else I should know about?"</p>
      <p>"Pretty much what you'd expect: rough, dangerous and well-armed. Nothing a Spectre like yourself can't handle."</p>
      <p>"Then why me instead of someone else?"</p>
      <p>"You operate outside official channels. My superiors cannot find out I never reported the ransom in the first place."</p>
      <p>"And how were you able to track them down, if you don't mind me asking."</p>
      <p>"I have resources. Contacts and credits can go a long way, especially if you are willing to bend the rules. I already broke the law when I paid the ransom. This couldn't make things any worse."</p>
      <p>"Good to know." Shepard stood up from the table and faced the Asari one last time. "I'll bring your sister back, I promise."</p>
      <p>Nassana smiled. "Thank you, commander. I knew you were the right person for the job. Please come see me when the job is done."</p>
      <p>Shepard simply nodded in turn, exiting from the diplomat's lounge.</p>
      <p>This was going to be something she'll be getting used to for now on. Doing these sudden assignments left and right for anyone who catches her attention. She has the option of declining them, but it wasn't in her nature to refuse helping someone else.</p>
      <p>Besides, some of these assignments could be beneficial in the long run.</p>
      <p>Jane brought up her Omni-Tool, seeing that there were a few new messages.</p>
      <p>Ash had apparently gone back to the Normandy to drop off a few things and had informed her that Wrex was already, Liara was back as well, in the medic and science wing with where she usually resided.</p>
      <p>There and that Roxas' clothes shopping was a bust.</p>
      <p>She arched her brow up at the wording of the last message, unsure of what that meant. She'll no doubt question about this later.</p>
      <p>Kaidan had gotten some medication for his L2 implants and had met up with Garrus and the two were now in Flux with Tali and Roxas.</p>
      <p>She wondered as to why Roxas was at a bar since he was underage but there was a note from Kaidan that told her they were gonna just get him something to nibble on.</p>
      <p>It was bizarre how she felt so alleviated after reading that little nugget of information.</p>
      <p>There was much that she had yet to know or understand about Roxas. How he had no memory whatsoever to the way he acted around just about everybody. He was perceptive and had an intelligence to him but he was also astonishingly naive when it came to most encounters and scenarios with other people.</p>
      <p>Every interaction with people, she always noticed just how observant Roxas was on just about everything that was said and done. She didn't understand it but she didn't want to press him on it just yet. Right now, Shepard knows to take her time, one step at a time with him before she was able to learn more about him.</p>
      <p>Exiting the presidium proper, Shepard figured she'd finally make her way down to Flux and meet up with her squadmates before going back to the Normandy.</p>
      <p>Maybe catch a drink with them before doing so. That'd be nice.</p>
      <p>And speaking of which…</p>
      <p>Roxas had entered the club known as Flux, eyes wandering all over the place as he got a lay of the land here.</p>
      <p>With him were Tali, Kaidan and Garrus, having met up with the latter of the two on the way here. They were the ones that had suggested to stop by here before heading back to the Normandy.</p>
      <p>Right now, the four of them were walking towards the main bar.</p>
      <p>The bass of the club assaulted their ears as they drew closer. The sound made his chest vibrate as soon as they entered the vicinity. He could barely hear anything else going on in the club. And he could wager that no one could be able to possibly hear him, even if he tried.</p>
      <p>Roxas didn't know which one was better: Chora's Den or Flux.</p>
      <p>He was still new to music but there was a lot to choose from and after some consideration, he figured Flux had the better beat.</p>
      <p>Though the music was loud, it was not loud enough to drown out the conversation beside them.</p>
      <p>Garrus was sitting on the left with him being right near a woman speaking to the Volus bar keeper on the other side.</p>
      <p>"Are you… concerned again… Rita?" The Volus Bartender asked with his species usual raspy pauses.</p>
      <p>"C-Sec isn't helping at all." The woman, Rita, bemoaned as she slumped against the bar. "I don't know what to do Doran."</p>
      <p>"I wish… I could offer… some assistance… my friend…"</p>
      <p>Rita shook her head, though she held an appreciative expression towards the Volus.</p>
      <p>"Thanks Doran."</p>
      <p>Before Rita was able to return to whatever it was she was supposed to do, Garrus cleared his throat aloud, gaining her attention.</p>
      <p>Rita regarded Garrus with a raised brow.</p>
      <p>"Ahem, I uh, sorry, I didn't mean to," Garrus began apologetically. "But I couldn't help but overhear you have some issues with C-sec."</p>
      <p>"Excuse me?" Rita was defensive. "You do know it's rude to eavesdrop, yes?"</p>
      <p>"I didn't mean to." Garrus held up his hands in a placating manner. "I just heard you mentioned C-Sec and well… that's my jurisdiction."</p>
      <p>"Wh-what?"</p>
      <p>"Garrus Vakarian." The Turian introduced himself, showing her his badge. "C-Sec Detective at your service ma'am."</p>
      <p>Upon hearing that about Garrus, Rita's mood immediately shifted. By this point, Kaidan, Roxas and Tali had seen Garrus shift his attention toward the human with them also listening in now.</p>
      <p>"I thought he didn't work at C-Sec anymore." Tali whispered to Kaidan who only shrugged</p>
      <p>Well he still technically works for C-Sec, just not at this time. With him recruited by Commander Shepard to hunt down Saren, his status is revoked to a certain degree until Shepard let's him go. This didn't mean his connections with C-Sec aren't hampered.</p>
      <p>"What were you discussing with the Volus?" Asked Vakarian, gesturing to the barkeeper.</p>
      <p>"Who, Doran? I was just asking him about my sister. She worked for Doran before she left to…" The woman quickly waved them off. "Sorry, I don't know if I should be talking to you about this."</p>
      <p>"Hey, it's okay. I'm fine with hearing you out." Garrus said. "I did tell you I'm C-sec, right? Rita, correct?"</p>
      <p>"I am. And are you sure?"</p>
      <p>"Positive. Wouldn't have spoken up otherwise."</p>
      <p>Rita appeared to hesitate for a moment before she conceded. "Well… okay. My sister Jenna left here to work at Chora's Den."</p>
      <p>"I don't see that much of a problem." Garrus remarked. "Last I checked, it's supposed to be under new management."</p>
      <p>"I know, but that's not the problem."</p>
      <p>"Then what's bothering you?"</p>
      <p>"She began working as an informant for C-Sec." Rita then rambled on. "You know, eavesdropping on people there."</p>
      <p>"Ah… that type of work." Garrus dryly said..</p>
      <p>"Yeah." Rita said with a worried look.</p>
      <p>Being an informant is never as easy as it's cracked up to be. It's usually unpleasant, given what has to be done most of the time making one have to make difficult choices more often than not compared to other officers.</p>
      <p>"So is there a particular problem happening over there, Miss Rita?" Garrus asked, putting his badge away soon after.</p>
      <p>"I'm just worried for her officer."</p>
      <p>"Detective." He corrected her.</p>
      <p>"Right, sorry, detective. I just… I just worry if she's found out, they'll kill her."</p>
      <p>"It's very understandable, ma'am. Being an informant is a dangerous job, more so if they aren't properly prepared."</p>
      <p>"That's what I've been telling her." Rita then released a groan from her lips. "I don't know why she's doing this. I think it's just because she wants to do it just to spite me."</p>
      <p>"Could you tell me who her contact at C-Sec is? I probably should know them." Requested the Turian.</p>
      <p>"No, I'm sorry detective. It's all very secret. Last time I asked an officer there, he told me to stay out of it- 'for Jenna's safety'." Rita said bitterly.</p>
      <p>"That's usually true." Garrus said, being all too familiar with these types of responses. "Most informants try to keep their connections secret in order to not hamper an investigation."</p>
      <p>"Hey Garrus." Kaidan spoke up, making him and Rita turn to her.</p>
      <p>"Um… and you are?" Rita asked.</p>
      <p>"We're friends with Garrus." Kaidan said. "We heard your problem and I have a suggestion. Maybe we can help her understand how dangerous Chora's Den is."</p>
      <p>Rita brightened up considerably. "Would you?" She asked and saw the collective nods. "Thank you! Oh and just don't tell her I sent you."</p>
      <p>"No problem. Just keep doing what you were doing beforehand and we'll take care of this before you know it." Garrus assured.</p>
      <p>"I can't thank you enough for this, Detective." Rita said appreciatively, leaving the four to their new objective.</p>
      <p>"You know, I thought we'd have left by now." Tali asked, head resting against her hand.</p>
      <p>Garrus had the decency to look a bit sheepish upon realizing what they had gotten them into.</p>
      <p>"Er… sorry guys."</p>
      <p>"Don't worry about it." Tali waved off. "Roxas did it a few times himself."</p>
      <p>Soon after, the four departed from Flux and eventually made their way towards Chora's Den, entering the familiar bar with its patrons, Asari dancers and guards.</p>
      <p>It was a weird feeling for Roxas to be back here. He had stayed close to this place at one point, looking over to the spot where he first met General Septimus Oraka.</p>
      <p>"I think it wouldn't be too hard to convince Jenna that being here is a dangerous place." Garrus said in a matter of fact tone.</p>
      <p>"After all, this place was shot up when we were here last." Said the lieutenant.</p>
      <p>"Really?" Roxas voiced the same question he had with Tali.</p>
      <p>"Oh yeah, it was something." Kaidan soon reminisces a little on the events. "The firefight was crazy with Fist's men already waiting for our arrival. Holed up at the entrance and began shooting at us once we came in sight."</p>
      <p>"Of course, I showed up and was able to help take care of a number of them from afar with my trusty sniper rifle." Garrus said in a self-aggrandizing tone.</p>
      <p>"I believe one of those shots almost hit Wrex when he tried entering through the doors." Kaidan deadpanned.</p>
      <p>"It wouldn't have happened if he didn't rush on ahead." The Turian countered naturally.</p>
      <p>Kaidan shrugged before looking around the place. "You know, now that there's not a shootout happening, I can finally see why this place is so popular."</p>
      <p>"And what would that be?" Tali said with a stern challenging tone.</p>
      <p>The lieutenant hesitated on answering the truth towards Tali, more so with Roxas around. "It's got quite the… uh… view."</p>
      <p>"View?" Roxas questioned as Garrus started growing a smirk from his mandibles.</p>
      <p>"Yes, <em>view</em>!"</p>
      <p>"Right." Muttered the detective. "Whatever you say, Alenko."</p>
      <p>Rounding about the central bar, they saw the only female barkeeper presently there. Drawing close, she soon took notice of them.</p>
      <p>"May I help you folks?" She asked kindly.</p>
      <p>"Your name wouldn't be Jenna, would it?" Came Garrus' response.</p>
      <p>"Um, yes?" The identified woman supplied hesitantly, hoping she hadn't done something wrong.</p>
      <p>"We just need to talk to you about your work with C-Sec."</p>
      <p>Jenna started blabbering a little. "I-I don't know what you're talking about." She tried and failed to compose herself. "Now, if you don't mind I need to get back to my customers."</p>
      <p>"Look, Jenna. This isn't a game. The people here are dangerous."</p>
      <p>The barkeeper simply scoffed. "Now you sound like my sister." She practically threw her arms into the air. "Why is everyone so concerned about me? I can take care of myself."</p>
      <p>Roxas wanted to speak up, hoping to contribute helping on this issue when Jenna spoke again. "I need to go. I'm not a stripper. I don't get paid to stand around and look pretty."</p>
      <p>With that said, she left the central bar and headed towards the back.</p>
      <p>"Well that went nowhere." Kaidan muttered out.</p>
      <p>"At least she puts on a brave face." Tali added in.</p>
      <p>"What do we do now?" Asked Roxas.</p>
      <p>"Probably would be best to head over to C-Sec." Garrus said, hand over his mouth with a finger tapping on his cheek. "I should probably be able to find out what exactly is going on here. Let me call up a few friends from C-sec."</p>
      <p>His companions complied as they made their way out of the club.</p>
      <p>When nearing the entrance, a "drunken" Turian staggered up to them. When he got close, he bumped into Garrus.</p>
      <p>Vakarian grunted in aggravation. "Hey, watch where you're- Chellick?"</p>
      <p>The "drunkard" leaned closer to Garrus and almost whispered into his ear. "Head over to C-Sec, Vakarian. I'll tell you what I know about Jenna."</p>
      <p>"What are you doing?" Roxas asked, wondering if something was wrong.</p>
      <p>The "drunkard" soon snapped at the Nobody. "Push off, brat! I never did nothing to you." He rudely said before he shoved himself past Tali and Roxas before maneuvering around Kaidan. "Damn newcomers. Think they can run the place."</p>
      <p>Seeing the "drunk" Turian stagger off, Kaidan soon voiced the same question popping up in Roxas' and Tali's head. "What was that about?"</p>
      <p>"A lead." Garrus said suddenly, drawing their attention. "C'mon, let's head over to C-Sec."</p>
      <p>"But who was that?"</p>
      <p>"Detective Chellick." Said their Turian teammate as they walked out of the club.</p>
      <p>'Chellick?' Tali thought with a frown. 'He doesn't mean <em>him</em>, does he?'</p>
      <p>"Tali, come on."</p>
      <p>"Oh, right, sorry."</p>
      <p>As soon as they arrived by the C-Sec Station, Garrus was practically pulling his companions through the door into the offices. As soon as they entered, their Turian teammate was scanning all over to see where his fellow detective was at. And soon enough, he was there.</p>
      <p>'How did he get here so fast?' Garrus questioned himself before shaking his head. "Chellick." He addressed the "drunkard".</p>
      <p>"Vakarian." Chellick greeted before taking a quick glance at his entourage. "Come into my office, I'd like for us to talk in <em>private</em>."</p>
      <p>"No can do. They're with me."</p>
      <p>Chellick appeared unconvinced. "Okay, and?"</p>
      <p>"And they are a part of Shepard's crew."</p>
      <p>Chellick released a sigh. "Fine." Upon entering Kellick's office, he had the door behind them closed. "No offence, Garrus, but what the hell were you thinking? You could've blown Jenna's cover."</p>
      <p>"I know and wasn't trying to." Garrus then jabbed a thumb to his companions. "My friends and I were there trying to help her get out."</p>
      <p>"I gathered that. It might seem gold letting her take all the risk, but we're keeping a close eye on her."</p>
      <p>"What for, Chellick?" Garrus demanded. "She doesn't look like a person actually prepared for these sorts of things. Her life is at risk and for what?"</p>
      <p>"Hey, I'm not enjoying this just as much as you are, Vakarian. I need all the help I can get." Chellick scratched his head a little. "But since you're so concerned with her safety, maybe there's a way we can sort this all out."</p>
      <p>Garrus snorted. "Nice to see you're still working all the angles, Chellick. But in all honesty, do you really need an innocent civilian helping you out on this job of yours?"</p>
      <p>Chellick was silent for a few moments before exhaling a sigh. "Maybe you're right, Garrus. She's not cut on this anyways."</p>
      <p>"If we do this job of yours, then you better cut her loose, get her out of Chora's Den with no strings attached."</p>
      <p>"Done."</p>
      <p>"Then mind telling us what's going on?" Garrus asked.</p>
      <p>Chellick took a moment to look over the motley group of individuals that had accompanied his old C-sec friend. He glanced over at Roxas, who had Tali scooching a little closer to him. Not paying any more attention to them, he focused on telling Garrus and his teammates the details. "I'm trying to track down an illegal arms producer. I just need some of their products. And thanks to Jenna's intel, I've learned there's a seller here on the Citadel."</p>
      <p>"And who is it we'll be seeing?"</p>
      <p>"You'll be meeting a Krogan named Jax, Garrus. Just pick up the mods and bring them back here. That'll give me everything I need to shut this case." Chellick said as the detective was typing away on his computer.</p>
      <p>"Where can we find this Jax?"</p>
      <p>"Jax is down in the lower level of the markets. I'll send word through our channels that you're the buyer."</p>
      <p>"You sure about that Chellick?"</p>
      <p>Chellick halted his keystrokes and looked at his fellow detective with a quizzical look. "There something wrong?"</p>
      <p>"I'm just wondering if it should be <em>me</em> doing it." Garrus then explained his reason. "I don't know about you, but when I was digging up information for my case against Saren, I ended up getting a bit too much attention through my… <em>methods</em>." Garrus saw his fellow detective exhale a frustrated sigh, clearly knowing what he meant exactly. "So I figured there could be someone else that could fill the role."</p>
      <p>"Then who else should I have posed as the 'buyer' if not you?" Chellick pointed towards the Nobody first. "I doubt Jax would be convinced that a freaking kid would be 'buyer' material unless he's a 'loose-end' middleman." He then aimed his attention towards the Quarian. "And do you even see any Quarians that can be taken seriously these days? One look outta her, Jax will just leave and make my case ever more difficult."</p>
      <p>Tali took offense to what Chellick said of his opinion towards her. Roxas, however, didn't really understand what the detective meant to him as not being "buyer" material.</p>
      <p>"Don't worry, I wasn't planning for either of these two being the 'buyer'." Garrus then eyed the only other human present in the office. "Kaidan here, on the other hand."</p>
      <p>Chellick eyed Alenko with a raised brow. "Him?"</p>
      <p>"Me?"</p>
      <p>Garrus patted his teammate's shoulder with a smile. "Yes, Kaidan, you. You would fit well."</p>
      <p>"And why, Garrus, does it have to be me?"</p>
      <p>"Asides from our two young friends here being crossed out for obvious reasons, you're the least suspicious-looking person I've ever met. You can practically pass off as anyone."</p>
      <p>Kaidan gave the Turian the driest look he could ever muster. "Don't I feel special."</p>
      <p>Chellick then spoke up. "I'm fine with the human. Just as long as this matter is settled." Reaching into a drawer, he pulled out some credit chits and handed them to Kaidan. "Hand those to Jax specifically. And please be sure to hand over the product to me once you're done."</p>
      <p>Walking out of Chellick's office, Roxas voiced an inquiry. "Don't mind me asking this, Garrus, but why was Chellick concerned about the 'product'?"</p>
      <p>"C-Sec's got connections with the most sophisticated armaments there is. It's given us our edge against the underbelly of the galaxy, Roxas. But what do you think would happen if we lost that edge?"</p>
      <p>Tali was the one to answer in Roxas' place. "The criminals would basically have an advantage in firepower and C-Sec would have a harder time to take them down."</p>
      <p>"Essentially."</p>
      <p>Upon arriving at the marketplace, the foursome hanged back and took a peak of where Jax was located. It didn't take long to spot the Krogan as he was situated in the back area with a number of men beside him. No doubt some muscle in case things go badly.</p>
      <p>Looking back at Kaidan, Garrus gave him the lowdown. "Alright, you remember the plan?"</p>
      <p>Kaidan gave a brief nod. "Yes, I do. Go in, hand over the marked credits, grab the product and head out."</p>
      <p>"Great." Garrus then gestured towards himself, Tali and Roxas. "We'll be here in case of anything."</p>
      <p>Before the marine left, he gave Garrus one last look. "I swear if this goes south, I'll be haunting your ass until you die."</p>
      <p>"Oh don't be like that, Alenko. You'll do fine."</p>
      <p>"If you say so. Any advice?"</p>
      <p>"Keep calm, collected and be yourself. Oh and don't follow the cheesy cop film and show tropes. Most of them end up trying to arrest the dealer and it goes badly from there."</p>
      <p>"...I'll keep that in mind."</p>
      <p>Venturing deeper into the marketplace, Kaidan kept a steady pace and did his best in not getting nervous. Wasn't long before he reached his destination.</p>
      <p>"Hold it." Spoke the Krogan. "That's close enough."</p>
      <p>Kaidan crossed his arms and stared down at the blue crested Krogan. "You Jax?"</p>
      <p>"Maybe. You got my payment?"</p>
      <p>The marine snorted. "I didn't come here to look."</p>
      <p>Jax motioned the Turian beside him to open up a large case. Inside were at least a dozen weapon mods all tucked in neatly for display.</p>
      <p>After some moments of inspecting the product, Kaidan leaned back up and looked at the Krogan dead in the eye. "Looks good."</p>
      <p>"Damn straight it is!" Snapped the Krogan. "These mods are the best on the market. Now hand over my credits."</p>
      <p>Kaidan nodded and handed over the marked credits. "Here you go."</p>
      <p>Once receiving the payment, Jax had his Turian hand over the mods. "And here you go. Enjoy it."</p>
      <p>"I will."</p>
      <p>After that, Jax and his men vacated the marketplace.</p>
      <p>Once they were out of sight, Kaidan released a breath of air he didn't know he kept in his chest.</p>
      <p>"Glad that's done and over with."</p>
      <p>"That was rather easy." Roxas said from their hiding spot.</p>
      <p>"It was, wasn't it?" Said Tali.</p>
      <p>"I mean the last time we were down here, we had to help Dr. Michel out."</p>
      <p>This piqued Garrus' interest. "Dr. Michel? What happened?"</p>
      <p>"She was dealing with a blackmailer. We helped take care of it through the middleman." Answered the Quarian before she turned her attention more towards the Turian. "Wait, it sounds like you know her."</p>
      <p>"Cause I do, sort of."</p>
      <p>Before either Tali or Roxas could ask, Kaidan arrived back to them. "Alright, got the product here. Let's head back."</p>
      <p>"Good. And along the way, Garrus can tell us about something." Said the Quarian.</p>
      <p>Kaidan quickly adopted a curious expression. "That being…?"</p>
      <p>"How he knows Dr. Michel."</p>
      <p>"Oh, you mean the same doctor held at gunpoint by one of Saren's men?"</p>
      <p>Both Tali and Roxas then turned their attention towards Garrus, who soon found the ceiling all so interesting.</p>
      <p>"...And we're hearing about this now because…"</p>
      <p>Garrus scratched the back of his head as he released a nervous chuckle. "It never came up until now."</p>
      <p>It seemed to take longer to return to C-Sec, more so when Tali was grilling Garrus on what went on with the doctor who helped save her life. And making their return couldn't have come faster enough as they returned to Chellick's office.</p>
      <p>"Here you go, Chellick." Said Garrus, handing over the large case of weapon's mods.</p>
      <p>Opening up the case, Chellick looked pleased. "Excellent. This is everything I need." He then hummed as he took a better look. "Maybe more than I need."</p>
      <p>"Something wrong?"</p>
      <p>"No, everything's fine, Garrus." He then reached into the case and picked up a few of the mods. "Take these." He said, handing said mods to Garrus. "I won't need all of this and you earned some payment on this job."</p>
      <p>"You know I can't accept this."</p>
      <p>"Maybe you can't, but maybe your Spectre buddy and your fellow teammates."</p>
      <p>Garrus ends up complying in taking the unique payment.</p>
      <p>"And what of Jenna?"</p>
      <p>"Don't worry, I didn't forget her. I'll make sure she's out of Chora's Den immediately." Chellick closed up the cases and made his way out of his office. "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to file these mods into evidence. Thanks again, Vakarian."</p>
      <p>Leaving the office once more, the group made their way out of C-Sec in order to properly enjoy the rest of their shore leave.</p>
      <p>"When we get back to the Normandy, we can see who'll want what weapon's mod." Garrus stated.</p>
      <p>"That's kind of you, Garrus." Said the marine.</p>
      <p>"Just don't want to hog all of them. Makes me look bad if I did."</p>
      <p>Both Kaidan and Roxas nodded upon hearing the Turian's reason.</p>
      <p>Tali on the other hand...</p>
      <p>"At least he didn't recognize me."</p>
      <p>"Who?"</p>
      <p>"Chellick."</p>
      <p>"What? Why?"</p>
      <p>"Because he was the one who detained me and Kennah when we first came to the Citadel."</p>
      <p>Overhearing this, Garrus pondered for a few moments. "I had heard Chellick apprehending some Quarians…" He then snapped his head towards Tali's direction. "Oh, Tali, I'm so sorry about that."</p>
      <p>"It's no problem. I'm just glad he didn't make a fuss about it now with me being here."</p>
      <p>"Why would you say that?" Roxas asked.</p>
      <p>"Because I believe Chellick is the kind of man who doesn't tell one Quarian over the other."</p>
      <p>Roxas and Kaidan frowned when hearing this while Garrus gave her a sympathetic look.</p>
      <p>The somber mood surrounding them eventually faded away as they were making their return to the Normandy.</p>
      <p>The four of them were walking together silently for the most part, a silent comfortable air around them now after they had done much today.</p>
      <p>As they walked further, Roxas' stride began to slow slightly though not noticeable enough for the others to notice.</p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>*thisshig rrrerrk*</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>Everything within Roxas' vision started to change, and so did his hearing. He twitched, blinking his eyes and holding one hand up to his ear as he winced at the ringing inside.</p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>*thisshig rrrerrk*</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>Instead of a technological environment, Roxas suddenly appeared within a dark cave. Crude drawings littered the walls and at its farthest end lay a door with a very large keyhole plastered at its center.</p>
      <p>"<em>This World has been connected."</em></p>
      <p>"<em>Wh-Who's there?"</em></p>
      <p>Whirling around, Roxas saw a hooded man standing within the cave. Even if his features were hidden, he could feel the man's stare directly at him.</p>
      <p>"<em>Tied to the darkness…"</em></p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>*thisshig rrrerrk*</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>He was laying on the beach…</p>
      <p>Sitting up, Roxas saw the endless expanse of the sea and let out a yawn. Going back down to lay on the sand, a girl with auburn-red hair and blue eyes peek into his line of sight.</p>
      <p>"<em>WHOA."</em> He shot up with the girl laughing.</p>
      <p>"<em>Give me a break, Kairi."</em></p>
      <p>The next thing he knew, he was racing/running right alongside someone who felt extremely familiar to him.</p>
      <p>"<em>Giving up already."</em></p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>*thisshig rrrerrk*</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>"<em>The Door has opened."</em> Spoke a young silver-haired teen, holding out his hand invitingly.</p>
      <p>"<em>What?"</em></p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>*thisshin rrrerrk*</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>"<em>If there are other worlds out there, why did we end up on this one?"</em></p>
      <p>"<em>Sora? Don't ever change."</em></p>
      <p>Sora? Who's Sora? And… that girl. And that boy. Why were they so familiar to him?</p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>*thisshig rrrerrk*</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>From his place at a wrecked up shore, Roxas saw a Darkside rising from out of the darkness.</p>
      <p>"<em>You understand nothing."</em></p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>*thisshig rrrerrk*</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>He was standing in that familiar town again, surrounded by the Heartless.</p>
      <p>"<em>What happened to my home? Riku? Kairi?"</em></p>
      <p>Roxas was then confronted by a man with brown hair.</p>
      <p>"<em>They'll keep coming after you."</em></p>
      <p>"<em>Who are you?"</em></p>
      <p>"<em>They will come out of you out of nowhere. As long as you continue to wield the Keyblade."</em></p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>*thisshig rrrerrk*</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>Standing within the middle of a plaza, Roxas looked around as he continued wondering what was going on.</p>
      <p>Suddenly, he heard an explosion coming from some direction. When he quickly searched for the source, he saw an anthropomorphic duck and dog falling down from the sky before crashing on top of him.</p>
      <p>Roxas was in a complete daze as a result.</p>
      <p>"<em>The Key!"</em></p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>*thisshig rrrerrk*</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>"<em>Hey, why don't you come with us?"</em> Asked the anthropomorphic dog. <em>"We can go to other worlds on our vessel."</em></p>
      <p>"<em>Sora, go with them." </em>The man in the black vest and brown hair stated. <em>"Especially if you wanna find your friends."</em></p>
      <p>"<em>Donald Duck."</em></p>
      <p>"<em>Name's Goofy."</em></p>
      <p>"<em>I'm Sora." </em>he clapped his hand down over the two hands of Goofy and Donald. <em>"I'll go with you guys."</em></p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>*thisshig rrrerrk*</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>*thisshig rrrerrk*</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>*thisshig rrrerrk*</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>*thisshig rrrerrk*</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>Roxas halted in his tracks, the feeling of a cold sweat going down his forehead.</p>
      <p>He was now breathing heavily.</p>
      <p>"What… What was that?" He asked himself in utter bewilderment.</p>
      <p>The greater Nobody soon realized something and began looking around desperately. Where did his squad go?</p>
      <p>His… his…</p>
      <p>"Friends." Roxas murmured, gazing at his hand, the phantom feeling of placing it over that of Donald and Goofy's. "Who… are they?" He said, referencing the anthropomorphic duo. "And what's this feel-"</p>
      <p>"<em>WHAT IS THAT?!"</em></p>
      <p>Roxas whipped his head at the yell with other people soon beginning to stir and then, more screaming came.</p>
      <p>And from in between the civilians, Roxas spotted a familiar shadowy figure that was joined by several more.</p>
      <p>Widening his eyes in alarm, Roxas whipped his hand out with his Keyblade appearing while running full speed towards the commotion.</p>
      <p>The commotion that started due to the arrival of the Heartless.</p>
      <p>Without waiting for the people to clear out, Roxas instantly vaulted over them and came down with his Keyblade destroying a Soldier.</p>
      <p>Looking up, he saw Shadows, Soldiers, Air Soldiers and Neo Shadows all running about with a few managing to get two people down to the ground. The clear intention being the acquisition of their hearts.</p>
      <p>His own "heart" freezing over momentarily, Roxas subconsciously infused his Keyblade with light and flung it in a manner similar to Strike Raid. Only this time, rather than aiming at the Heartless, he aimed at the space in between the cluster of them around the terrified civilians.</p>
      <p>As soon as it reached the spot he had aimed for the Keyblade halted in the air and out from the blade were thirteen pillars of light that burst forth and struck the Heartless.</p>
      <p>The pillars of light striking multiple Heartless, eliminating a few while the rest flinched back violently and moved away from the two civilians.</p>
      <p>Roxas was rather tactless in how he blurred in between them both to grab and get them out of danger.</p>
      <p>When he was in a safer area, he saw a human female with a Salarian male, both appearing in a daze.</p>
      <p>"Get yourselves out of here." Roxas said seriously, disregarding their current state as other Heartless would no doubt threaten the other people on the Citadel.</p>
      <p>Facing the Heartless again, Roxas ran forward, jumping up and slicing an Air Soldier down. Landing down on the ground, Roxas immediately spun in a circle and bashed his Keyblade into two Soldiers at once.</p>
      <p>Eyes shifting about rapidly, Roxas spotted a large group of Heartless converging upon an Asari that was desperately trying to escape. She didn't get far as a Neo Shadow used its ability to sink into the floor and move with complete freedom, came out from below and hooked her leg.</p>
      <p>The Asari tripped over and fell to the ground. She scrambled into a seated position, looking back at the Heartless with terror in her eyes as several Neo Shadows surrounded her. She was breathing heavily, fear overriding her senses. All she could do was throw her hands up in a vain attempt to defend herself as the Heartless leapt at her.</p>
      <p>"<strong>THUNDARA!"</strong></p>
      <p>Suddenly, a downfall of large thunderbolts reigned down from above, hitting all the Neo Shadows around the Asari.</p>
      <p>The Heartless were destroyed a moment later with the Asari shivering and too frightened to lower her hands until…</p>
      <p>"Hey are you alright?"</p>
      <p>The Asari looked up to see a young human teenager with blond hair, blue eyes and wearing a black coat standing over her. In his hand was an unusual key shaped weapon.</p>
      <p>Gazing up at him, the Asari's eyes widened with recognition.</p>
      <p>She knows this human!</p>
      <p>"I-It's you!" The Asari stammered out in slight disbelief.</p>
      <p>Roxas' head angled itself to show his confusion until he got a good look at the Asari. There was something strangely familiar about her. Had he met her somewhere before.</p>
      <p>Where?</p>
      <p>"Roxas, correct?"</p>
      <p>Well, looks like she remembered him.</p>
      <p>"Come on." Moved to get her to her feet, instinctively slashing through an Air Soldier from behind that tried to dive bomb him.</p>
      <p>He ran alongside the Asari until she was out of the vicinity of the main cluster of Heartless. She looked back at Roxas who simply nodded at her before he turned back and ran toward the Heartless that were running about.</p>
      <p>Nelyna could only stare as the teen who had caught the interest of the Consort jumped forward to cut through several more of those dark creatures.</p>
      <p>Who was this boy?</p>
      <p>She suddenly jolted at the sound of gunfire.</p>
      <p>Glancing over to the side, she spotted a familiar human and Quarian charging forward backed by two other humans, an Asari and a Turian with them moving towards the boy.</p>
      <p>Upon reaching him, he quickly spoke and pointed to various spots around the area where these strange dark creatures were being seen.</p>
      <p>They all simply nodded and dispersed into small groups, the Quarian and human male staying with the teen, the Turian, the red-head, pink armored and Asari going off in another direction.</p>
      <p>With Roxas, Tali stayed close to him, firing her Geth shotgun at any Heartless that came close by.</p>
      <p>Kaidan was utilizing his Biotics to constantly capture the Heartless with him either sending hurtling away, throwing them towards Roxas or just having them stay in place for Roxas to deliver the killing blow.</p>
      <p>With Shepard, she and Liara launched a wave of Biotics that had ensnared multiple Heartless. Having Ashley and Garrus with them, the four worked rapidly in gunning down Heartless as quickly and efficiently as possible.</p>
      <p>Primarily pinning down the Heartless and riddling the head with holes.</p>
      <p>This was the overall method that they had conducted, though the blasted Soldier and their aerial counterparts were aggravating as all hell with how they were the most mobile that they were dealing with.</p>
      <p>Back with Roxas, Tali and Kaidan, they were clearing up the Heartless in their area having taken care of the Shadows with only a few Soldiers and Air Soldiers.</p>
      <p>Roxas had fired a Blizzard spell, freezing a Soldier entirely.</p>
      <p>Before he was able to destroy it, the Soldier abruptly burst into thousands of smaller pieces courtesy of a shotgun.</p>
      <p>The trio that were fighting together looked over to see Wrex sauntering over with an annoyed expression.</p>
      <p>"So~ while I sit my ass in the Normandy waiting for all of you to come back, you're all out here kicking ass without inviting me?" Wrex asked in a faux-insulted tone.</p>
      <p>"Uh…" Kaidan, Tali and Roxas exchanged looks with each other, the Krogan Battle Master huffing.</p>
      <p>"Well next time, don't forget." Wrex was almost petulant right there.</p>
      <p>"Sure." Roxas said with Wrex now grinning.</p>
      <p>"The rest are mine." Wrex declared.</p>
      <p>Eventually, the pandemonium of the Heartless attacking came to an end. The Normandy crew had eliminated them all, going over to check for any who had been hurt or if they had seen anything… unusually gruesome.</p>
      <p>They had reported that they hadn't seen anything yet one human was rambling about the fact that his Salarian coworker was missing. He couldn't find him.</p>
      <p>C-Sec soon arrived, cutting the place off from the public as they began taking statements and investigating what had happened.</p>
      <p>There were many questions being thrown around but the main constant was just who and specifically <em>where </em>in the hell were the instigators.</p>
      <p>All they heard was that the First human Spectre, Jane Shepard and her crew, were involved and had saved several lives.</p>
      <p>C-Sec operatives questioned them all, with the last being Roxas as several had surrounded him specifically.</p>
      <p>His description was the one that had popped up on nearly all the statements and eyewitness reports they had received.</p>
      <p>He didn't know how to answer these people, with the Normandy Squad having instructed him to be vague to a degree.</p>
      <p>When he asked why, they simply said that Shepard's warning of the Reapers were ignored so the Heartless may be disregarded as well.</p>
      <p>Of course, that idea had been shot down to a degree with Roxas asking if the Citadel lacked security footage.</p>
      <p>"Well… least it ain't visions."</p>
      <p>"Screw you, Vakarian."</p>
      <p>Shepard had soon taken care of the officers that were hounding Roxas, telling them that he's her subordinate meaning his jurisdictions fell under her. Course, she was respectful to them but the underlying defensive tone was there.</p>
      <p>The officers appeared to miss it for the most part but several members from the squad picked up on it, having small grins appear in the way Jane was acting.</p>
      <p>Then of course, the Asari Acolyte Nelyna of the Consort Sha'ira had made sure to thank Roxas personally.</p>
      <p>What was her show of gratitude?</p>
      <p>A simple kiss upon his cheek which made the boy jolt. She chuckled softly at his reaction, simply stating she was in her debt and hoped to see him again. The Squad teased him mercilessly with him not really knowing how to respond to this.</p>
      <p>Tali was certainly glad for a helmet now more than ever. She had nearly let out a small squawk from the Asari's actions though her mood turned into amusement upon seeing Roxas at a loss at what to do.</p>
      <p>The rest simply made the same statement and joked about him understanding when he becomes older.</p>
      <p>Once that was all well and handled, another situation just had to spring up on them.</p>
      <p>This one however, came directly from the Normandy via Joker.</p>
      <p>Something about an invader inside the ship causing pandemonium.</p>
      <p>Without waiting for another incentive, the squad sprinted back at full speed back towards the Normandy.</p>
      <p>Upon reaching the Normandy, the ground crew saw a dozen or so of the non-combatant personnel of the ship standing outside.</p>
      <p>"Shepard!" One of the crewmen saw her arrival.</p>
      <p>"What's going on in there?" Shepard asked in a sharp tone.</p>
      <p>"There's an intruder of some kind on the ship." Someone else explained. "And it was a small creature, all in black and was floating around and just causing a commotion."</p>
      <p>"Is anyone hurt?" Kaidan asked in a serious tone.</p>
      <p>"Well… no." A marine admitted. "It's just, you guys have been fighting those weird Heart-thingies recently and frankly, the crew didn't want to take any chances."</p>
      <p>That was understandable enough.</p>
      <p>She looked to her squad, lingering last on Roxas before she pulled out her weapon and the rest followed suit.</p>
      <p>Keyblade in hand with his teammates by his side, Roxas noted how empty the Normandy felt with the crew members missing.</p>
      <p>"Alright, split up." Shepard ordered. "Kaidan, Liara, you two check this floor. Garrus, Ashley, with me. Tali, go with Wrex and Roxas and go below deck and make sure there's nothing wrong with the engine core room.</p>
      <p>With their destinations in mind, the crew split themselves into their designated teams and went off.</p>
      <p>Jane, Garrus and Ashley check in the upper levels of the ship, making sure to peak around every corner and any potential blind spots.</p>
      <p>"Looks clear from our end up here." Garrus reported with Shepard nodding in agreement.</p>
      <p>"Kaidan, status?" Shepard asked through the comms.</p>
      <p>With the Lieutenant and Asari, both were one opposite end of their respective floor on the Normandy.</p>
      <p>"All clear here, Commander." Alenko stated.</p>
      <p>"We have found nothing out of the… wait." Liara walked over to an open case of medi-gel and found the contents of it missing.</p>
      <p>Last she checked, when she had passed through her to go on to the Citadel, this case was supposed to be full.</p>
      <p>"There's a missing box of Medi-Gel." Liara informed the rest.</p>
      <p>"A missing box of Medi-Gel?" Ashley reiterated in confusion, turning to Shepard and Garrus for answers.</p>
      <p>Frowning, Jane spoke into the comms again. "Anything else missing?"</p>
      <p>Kaidan was now near the armory with him holding up his weapon. It looked like it was raided though only slightly at best.</p>
      <p>"Got a few weapons missing." Kaidan said. "Some armor pieces as well."</p>
      <p>"So we have a thief on our hands." Wrex rumbled in annoyance. Thieves were always a pain in the ass.</p>
      <p>Roxas was next to him, Keyblade raised in case of any surprise attacks.</p>
      <p>"Tali, what's the situation on your end?" Shepard asked the expert engineer.</p>
      <p>She was in the core room of the ship, looking over the controls.</p>
      <p>"Nothing seems out of the ordinary." Tali said tentatively. "The engines are still operational and no signs of it being tampered with."</p>
      <p>She tilted her head at the sound of tromping footsteps, recognizing it to be Wrex.</p>
      <p>The Quarian was ready to leave when she heard an unusual bouncy sound from behind.</p>
      <p>"Ah, this looks nice. Hmmm… no materials for synthesis though. Oh well."</p>
      <p>Quickly whirling around to the source, Tali saw…</p>
      <p>…..</p>
      <p>…..</p>
      <p>…..</p>
      <p>"Hello, Kupo!"</p>
      <p>"AAHH~~~"</p>
      <p>From his placement in the hangar, Roxas bolted from his spot, running towards the source of the commotion.</p>
      <p>They heard the tell-tale signs of gunfire going off in use with several biotic blasts flinging several metal crates all over the area.</p>
      <p>"WHOA! WATCH WHERE YOU'RE SHOOTING, KUPO!"</p>
      <p>"Kupo?" Roxas muttered out.</p>
      <p>Soon arriving, Roxas had his Keyblade drawn out when-</p>
      <p>"KUPO!"</p>
      <p>He found his face being covered by a small little creature before he pried it off of him. Taking a moment to regain his bearings, Roxas looked at what he held in his hands with his eyes widening in surprise a moment later.</p>
      <p>"Y-You?!" Gaped No. XIII.</p>
      <p>"Oh! It's so good to see you again, Kupo! I see you're doing well!" the small creature said ecstatically, hugging his face once more.</p>
      <p>"Roxas!"</p>
      <p>The little creature yelped, quickly hiding behind Roxas as the Nobody faced the rest of the ground team.</p>
      <p>"Roxas, you better start explaining just what the hell that thing is supposed to be?" Wrex asked aggressively, glaring at the small white creature with a red nose and an antenna with small pink bat-like gothic-styled wings on its back… while oddly wearing a smaller size of the black cloak that Roxas wore.</p>
      <p>"It sure doesn't look like a Heartless." Kaidan pointed out.</p>
      <p>"Hey, relax guys." Roxas raised his hands in a placating manner. "This here is a Moogle."</p>
      <p>…..</p>
      <p>…..</p>
      <p>…..</p>
      <p>"And… What the hell is a Moogle supposed to be?" Ashley asked, glaring at the tiny floating creature that was using Roxas for cover.</p>
      <p>"Moogle?" Tali perked up, now approaching the strange little creature. "Is this a Moogle?"</p>
      <p>This earned more bewildered looks from the rest as they could hear the little bit of familiarity picked up in Tali's voice.</p>
      <p>"You know what this <em>is</em>?" Ashley questioned.</p>
      <p>"How would you know a Moogle, Tali?" Shepard demanded.</p>
      <p>"Roxas told me he got his one credit chit pouch from a Moogle." She then glanced at Roxas. "Sadly, he didn't tell me beyond <em>that</em>."</p>
      <p>Roxas seemed to become rather sheepish all of a sudden as a result.</p>
      <p>The Quarian soon leaned down a bit to reach the Moogle's level. "Hello there. Sorry if we gave you a fright."</p>
      <p>"That's fine, Kupo." Said the Moogle, hovering out from behind Roxas. "I should've entered the ship through normal means instead of my usual methods."</p>
      <p>"And what methods would they be?" Shepard questioned as her hands were still on her weapon.</p>
      <p>Roxas ended up answering the inquiry instead of the Moogle. "They just have their own way of getting around."</p>
      <p>"And how would you know?" Kaidan inquired.</p>
      <p>"I just… do…"</p>
      <p>"That isn't all that helpful."</p>
      <p>"Okay so first contact here…" Garrus muttered out. "Will need to dust off the old regs on this one."</p>
      <p>"Maybe." Shepard said before glancing back at Roxas. "Alright, Roxas, you seem to know what this little guy is." She remarked. "What exactly is a <em>Moogle?"</em></p>
      <p>"Well I'm glad you asked, Kupo!" The Moogle in question declared cheerfully, hovering before the rest of the Normandy's ground team.</p>
      <p>Pulling back the hood, the Moogle revealed more of its features. It appeared to be of a small mammal-like species with smooth white fur. And for its eyes, they seemed squinted at first before the creature opened them up more to show very innocent little peepers.</p>
      <p>As much as the women present wanted to squee upon seeing this, they had to fight back the urge.</p>
      <p>"Whenever you need a potion, trinket, rings or armbands, synthesizing, selling and trading items is the way of our brands." Said the Moogle, like a salesman would when selling a product.</p>
      <p>…..</p>
      <p>"Er~ What?" Was the collective response from Garrus, Wrex and Kaidan.</p>
      <p>"He's someone we can buy, sell and trade items within a simplified version." Roxas clarified.</p>
      <p>"Like the requisition officer?" Kaidan asked in bewilderment.</p>
      <p>"And what does he mean by 'Synthesizing'?"</p>
      <p>"Wonderful, more questions about my trade!" The Moogle declared. "It's the creation of newer stronger metals, weapons, objects and such with the use of the proper materials needed."</p>
      <p>"Items? Like what?" Liara inquired.</p>
      <p>"A lot to choose from." Roxas murmured.</p>
      <p>"It doesn't matter what you guys get for me Kupos!" The Moogle said cheerfully. "Whatever materials you are able to bring me, I can probably synthesize them into new useful items.</p>
      <p>"...Why am I getting this odd feeling there's a large sense of a fantasy genre going on here?" Said Kaidan.</p>
      <p>"Seems like it." Ashley grumbled, eyeing the floating puffball distrustfully.</p>
      <p>"Roxas." Shepard hesitated a moment. "Can we trust this thi-Moogle?"</p>
      <p>Roxas nodded in an instant. "All he cares about is helping… at a certain fee. But these guys are really useful."</p>
      <p>"And why is it that you didn't mention this before?" Liara asked an inquisitive fashion.</p>
      <p>"You never asked."</p>
      <p>The group, save for Tali, nearly face faltered forward at the simplicity in the answer.</p>
      <p>"So… What items do you have for sale?"</p>
      <p>Upon hearing the question, an ethereal panel was formed before the Moogle where he soon displayed many of his wares. The floating creature spun it around and presented it towards the ground team.</p>
      <p>Shepard was the first to approach. She gave the panel a quizzical look as she didn't see an Omni-tool activating to have this come up.</p>
      <p>Shoving the question aside, she swiped through the selections that were shown in the Moogle Store.</p>
      <p>"Why am I seeing a whole number of weapons and armors from all sorts of companies in the galaxy?"</p>
      <p>"Oh, sorry about that." The Moogle said honestly. "I did not mean to steal without repaying you in a proper manner."</p>
      <p>"And how did you pay?"</p>
      <p>"Normally, it would be in munny or trade." The Moogle said. "But for now, I believe these will do."</p>
      <p>Suddenly, a flash of light appeared before Shepard with a bag filled with items inside. The Spectre barely managed to grab it out of the air.</p>
      <p>"What's this?"</p>
      <p>"A small compensation and gift for the beginning of a wonderful partnership, Kupo." The Moogle said happily, form bobbing about in the air.</p>
      <p>"If your companions want a look," the Moogle formed more panels around him and had them drift towards the ground team, "here you go."</p>
      <p>Taking the gander, the others started browsing as well.</p>
      <p>The team seemed to quickly get interested upon seeing the selections. There were some exclusive brands that peaked their interests while the rest were somewhat ignored; either due to not fitting their style or the like.</p>
      <p>"Honestly, have no idea what half of this stuff is." Wrex muttered out before coming across what appeared to be a war-hammer of some kind. Taking a glance at the specs, he whistled. "Is this stuff legit?"</p>
      <p>"Yes, sir!"</p>
      <p>"Then how were you able to come by this stuff? Some of what you got is clearly not on the market, let alone designed." Wrex stated. "Hell, I don't even think some of these things <em>exist."</em></p>
      <p>"Us Moogles have our trade secrets." The Moogle said happily. "Some from searching, some from trading and creating. We are multi-talented."</p>
      <p>"How come we never heard of your kind before?" Liara inquired. "Surely we would've-"</p>
      <p>"You just don't know where to look."</p>
      <p>"...That's a lame-ass excuse as I've ever heard of one." Ashley blandly said.</p>
      <p>"They kinda just appear whenever." Roxas admitted with a shrug. "They appear when they're needed you could say."</p>
      <p>"So what, they're a bunch of Gandalf's?" Garrus inquired in his baritone voice making the humans look at him. "What? I saw the films a while back. They're amazing. Don't judge me, it was your species' movies."</p>
      <p>Amused by the Turian's defensive response, they looked to the Moogle and the teen standing beside it.</p>
      <p>Releasing a sigh, Jane gave Roxas an expectant look.</p>
      <p>"Alright Roxas, we're trusting you on this one." Shepard said. "Since you vouch for the little guy, he… she… uh, what are you?"</p>
      <p>"Boy." The Moogle said.</p>
      <p>"Right." Jane nodded. "You vouched for him, so he can stay."</p>
      <p>Roxas' expression brightened a moment later with the Moogle twirling in the air.</p>
      <p>"I am happy to be of service now to new customers and old."</p>
      <p>"So you <em>know</em> Roxas then?" Tali inquired.</p>
      <p>The Moogle nodded. "He's a great customer and Kupo, Kupo." He then seemed to pout, quickly causing the present women to recoil of the cuteness. "Then again, he is probably the only customer who bothered to buy from me, asides from his two friends at the Organization."</p>
      <p>The group were all greatly confused as to what the Moogle was talking about.</p>
      <p>They were about to ask for further clarity when the voice of Joker chimed in through the comms.</p>
      <p>"<em>Uh Commander? Not for nothing but you guys have been in there for a bit and ya haven't said anything." </em>the Normandy pilot said. <em>"Is everything alright?"</em></p>
      <p>"Oh, Sorry Joker. Problems resolved."</p>
      <p>"<em>You sure?"</em></p>
      <p>"Definitely."</p>
      <p>"<em>...Are you really? Cause I don't want to deal with-</em>"</p>
      <p>"Oh for the love of- Yes!"</p>
      <p>"Just come inside already." Kaidan said. "We need to get this ship moving."</p>
      <p>"<em>Ok, ok, geez, sorry being cautious." </em>Joker said. <em>"But, I gotta ask. What exactly did you find in the Normandy?"</em></p>
      <p>Nobody responded at first, slowly turning to Roxas who was still next to the floating Moogle.</p>
      <p>"It's best you just come here and see it for yourself." Was all Shepard said.</p>
      <p>"<em>If you don't mind me hobbling down wherever the hell you guys are. It'll take a while."</em></p>
      <p>"By all means." Shepard encouraged. "Gives us time to process it ourselves."</p>
      <p>
        <strong>AN</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>And that's one more for the story. Feels damn good to churn this one out so rapidly and in such large quantities with every growing chapter.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Not always gonna happen mind you but hey, J and I give our best.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>So the polls for Roxas' pairing are gonna close after Chapter 6 so if you haven't had a chance to, go on my profile for a vote.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Jebest4781: After Chapter 6, we will get onto the next pairing vote pertaining to our loveable redhead, chakram wielding Nobody.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>FMW: Everyone deserves love. Especially since we're talking about Mass Effect. Half the game is about romancing people. And I got some interesting choices lined up for the Flurry of Dancing Flames. Wanna see what people choose. That one will go on for probably five to seven chapters at most cause I want this story to grow for a bit before closing down the next poll for this one.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Pretty sure by this point, we already know what you guys have chosen but still, you have a bit of time left.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Other than that, as usual.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Rate Read and Review and as Always Have Nice Day.</strong>
      </p>
    </div>
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<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Forward to Friendly Encounters on Feros</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
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  <p></p>
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    <p></p>
    <div>
      <p>
        <strong>Thanks for all those reviews guys, means a lot.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>So, closed the previous poll because that one was just… WAY too obvious.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>And for those who had been paying attention and keeping their eyes on it, our young lad Roxas is getting everyone's favorite Quarian Tali and one of my favorite KH characters Xion.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Well, Roxas, Axel and Xion are my top three really. I've been wanting to do a story about them and hooray, here it is.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>So now, we're onto Axel in the polls and so far Fem Shepard is leading considerably with a surprising Miranda Lawson in second. Aqua and Jack are on the board with only our favorite Kleptomaniac and Unofficial Queen having yet to garner any votes. Can't deny that, while J and I can do a lot with Shepard and Axel, the idea of our fiery red head and the uptight Cerberus cheerleader being a couple is equally tantalizing.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>So keep voting people, that poll will be there for a while.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>I'm Nobody Chapter 6: Forward to Friendly Encounters of Feros</p>
      <p>The beach was dark with a moon far off on the horizon.</p>
      <p>Upon a rock, a lone figure sat as he gazed upon the lapping waves ahead.</p>
      <p>One might call this area quite scenic and even beautiful in a sublime way.</p>
      <p>But this man knew better. This place was dangerous to those who came unprepared.</p>
      <p>It is why he wore the cloak here.</p>
      <p>Here, in the Realm of Darkness, where the Heartless thrive, there is a place called the Dark Margin. It's a shoreline along the dark sea. Fall into its depths and you'll be consumed by the concentrated abyss.</p>
      <p>Over to the man's left, a shift in the air warped reality before out stepped another wearing the black coat with his hood up.</p>
      <p>This boy was younger than him and the newest member to Organization XIII.</p>
      <p>Roxas.</p>
      <p>Arriving at his destination, the boy saw the leader of the Organization sitting on a large rock as he gazed at the perpetual moon-set, the only source of light in this darkened realm.</p>
      <p>Approaching the leader, he heard him speak. "I've been to see him." He then turned towards him. "He looks a lot like you."</p>
      <p>This confused Roxas very much on what he meant by that.</p>
      <p>"Who are you?"</p>
      <p>"I'm what's left. Or… maybe I'm all there ever was." The Leader said, turning back to the endless horizon.</p>
      <p>"I meant your name."</p>
      <p>"My name is of no importance." The leader then voiced an inquiry. "What about you? Do you remember your <em>true</em> name?"</p>
      <p>"My true name is…"</p>
      <p>It was at the tip of his tongue, but it didn't seem to come out. And just like that, it was gone.</p>
      <p>Hearing the silence coming from No. XIII, the leader then said, "You have been with us for six days now." Standing up, he pulled back his hood to reveal his long and spiky silver hair with a tan complexion. His dull orange eyes stared into Roxas' form. "The time has come…"</p>
      <p>When the leader walked past him, Roxas swore he said his name… but it didn't seem right.</p>
      <p>It wasn't his given name… as it was something else.</p>
      <p>As Roxas attempted to collect what the leader said, both his hearing and the darkness around him started to fizzle out.</p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>*thisshig rrrerrk*</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>When the static cleared, Roxas suddenly found himself in some sort of undersea grotto… for some apparent reason. Lining up the many rows upon rows inside the chamber lay all sorts of random items here and there.</p>
      <p>Before Roxas could have the chance to start looking at them, he was confronted by an elderly man who wore a barnacle crown, wielded a golden trident and appeared to be half-fish due to the fish tale he bore instead of legs. If Roxas remembered correctly, the man was a mermaid.</p>
      <p>"<em>-As the Keybearer, you must already know one must not meddle in the affairs of other Worlds."</em> He sternly said, glaring holes into him.</p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>*thisshig rrrerrk*</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>A red haired teenage female mermaid started floating towards the hole in the grotto's ceiling with a forlorn expression.</p>
      <p>"<em>So many places I want to see… I know I'll get there someday."</em></p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>*thisshig rrrerrk*</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>He was free falling down, though at an extremely slow pace.</p>
      <p>Donald and Goofy were with him.</p>
      <p>In an instant, they were now in front of what appeared to be the trial of… Alice? Yeah Alice, that's right!</p>
      <p>"<em>Off with her HEAD!"</em></p>
      <p>"<em>Hold on!"</em></p>
      <p>He ran forward to intervene on behalf of the unjustly accused girl.</p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>*thisshig rrrerrk*</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>Roxas now stood in front of a short, stout, goat looking individual with a tall muscular man by his side. Donald and Goofy were with him as always.</p>
      <p>"<em>Thus, I do hereby dub thee junior heroes." </em>The goat-man stressed out when he read from a rolled up scroll.</p>
      <p>"<em>Hey, whaddya mean junior heroes?!"</em> Donald asked in an affronted manner.</p>
      <p>The goat-man furled up the scroll and scowled at the anthropomorphic duck. "You rookies still don't understand what it takes to be a true hero."</p>
      <p>"<em>Then… do you know how we can become true heroes?"</em></p>
      <p>"<em>That's something you'll have to find out for yourself."</em> The muscled man stated. <em>"Just like I did."</em></p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>*thisshig rrrerrk*</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>His vision changed, the sight of blue butterfly's fluttering about before him.</p>
      <p>As usual, Donald and Goofy were with him along with a couple new individuals.</p>
      <p>One was a woman in slightly torn clothing. The other was a gorilla and the last was another well-toned man yet his hair was wild and he wore nothing but a small loin cloth.</p>
      <p>"<em>I get it." </em>The woman spoke. <em>"Ee, Oo, oo ah, means Heart."</em></p>
      <p>He gazed down at his chest, placing a hand over it.</p>
      <p>"<em>Heart?"</em></p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>*thisshig rrrerrk*</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>Standing within a rundown home, a mid-teenaged man wearing baggy white pants, a red cap and a purple vest seemed to be contemplating on something. And floating in front of him was a blue entity with an ethereal tail instead of legs.</p>
      <p>"<em>I… I wish…"</em> He said softly before speaking with a firm voice. <em>"I wish for your freedom, Genie."</em></p>
      <p>The entity now identified as Genie was about to grant something else, but suddenly wore an expression of utter shock.</p>
      <p>"<em>Al?!"</em> Genie cried out.</p>
      <p>In mere moments, bright purple-pink mist swirled around Genie as his ethereal tail formed into legs and the gold bindings on his arms broke apart.</p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>*thisshig rrrerrk*</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>"<em>But the boy is a problem." </em>A sinister voice spoke. <em>"He found one of the Keyholes."</em></p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>*thisshig rrrerrk*</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>*thisshig rrrerrk*</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>*thisshig rrrerrk*</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>*thisshig rrrerrk*</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>Groaning awake, Roxas rubbed his eyelids in order to rid himself of any gunk and crusties forming as he slept. Once done, he blinked as he saw himself in one of the Normandy's sleeper pods.</p>
      <p>He briefly winced, rubbing his head before frowning, lowering his head in deep contemplation.</p>
      <p>Even though he was insured he would get a relatively good night's rest and wake up fully rested, the 'dreams' he's been having didn't make it so.</p>
      <p>They had been happening for the past few days now.</p>
      <p>Actually, these were the same flashes he had seen during times of combat or nostalgia that washed over him when he was awake. Only this time, these… dreams if that's what he should call them, were much clearer.</p>
      <p>"Another dream about him." Roxas murmured to himself, unsure of what it could all possibly mean.</p>
      <p>It took him a moment to recall anything that could possibly explain why he was having these dreams.</p>
      <p>Thinking hard for a moment, Roxas recalled the boy named Sora using the Keyblade.</p>
      <p>The same Keyblade that he-</p>
      <p>"Roxas?"</p>
      <p>The teen looked up to see Shepard who appeared to be up at the moment as well.</p>
      <p>"Shepard? What are you doing up?"</p>
      <p>"I could ask you the same question." Jane remarked, walking over to him and leaned on the pod beside him. "What's the matter, kiddo? Having some nightmares?"</p>
      <p>Shepard didn't really mean the last question yet with the facial response she got with Roxas made her reconsider the possibility.</p>
      <p>"I wouldn't consider them… nightmares." Roxas said slowly, hand resting on the side of his head.</p>
      <p>She adjusted herself on the pod she leaned upon, making herself shift closer to her youngest squadmate.</p>
      <p>"Oh? Why's that?" she asked curiously.</p>
      <p>He didn't respond at first, removing his hand from his head and placing it over his chest.</p>
      <p>"I… can't explain." Roxas said, voice barely above a whisper. "I don't know what it's supposed to be. They've been happening these past few days."</p>
      <p>Shepard's face scrunched up at that little revelation.</p>
      <p>"And you didn't think to tell me?" Jane asked. "Or anyone for that matter?"</p>
      <p>"I didn't wanna bother anyone." Roxas said plainly, making Shepard snort.</p>
      <p>"Be he ever so humble." Jane quipped, reaching out to ruffle his head and lightly shoved it down.</p>
      <p>He looked back up at her in surprise at the gesture, seeing her give him an understanding grin.</p>
      <p>"I know you wanna figure this out on your own." Shepard said. "But we are here for ya, Roxas. You don't need to keep everything to yourself and say you're alright. You can talk to us on whatever's on your mind."</p>
      <p>"Like, what happened on that last mission of ours?" Roxas asked innocently.</p>
      <p>The N7 marine grumbled under her breath. "Really hate that Nassana was keeping crap like that from me."</p>
      <p>"Why would she lie to you?" Roxas inquired, slightly concerned.</p>
      <p>Shepard scoffed derisively, thinking of that Asari bitch that set her up.</p>
      <p>"Because some people are fickle, some are manipulative but <em>all </em>of them fall under the main umbrella of being gigantic assholes. Because they can." Shepard finished in a scornful manner. "When I see her again, I'm gonna make sure to give her a peace of my mind."</p>
      <p>Of what exactly happened was not all that simple.</p>
      <p>You see, they had arrived at the planet Sharjila in the Macedon system in order to find Nassana's captive sister from pirates.</p>
      <p>It went along quite easy, at first, with an all so typical shootout with the pirates inside of their base. Then it escalated with another Heartless skirmish appearing from out of nowhere. Said beings of darkness had ended up "taking" many of the pirates, making more of their kind in the process.</p>
      <p>Once the dust settled, Shepard wanted to find any sign of Dahlia, Nassana's sister, whether she was dead, alive… or taken by the Heartless.</p>
      <p>During their search, the N7 marine had actually found the asari she was looking for, holed up in an office in the pirate base's second floor.</p>
      <p>Now, one would expect to find an Asari either quivering in fear of her circumstance or dead due to not making it on time.</p>
      <p>What one <em>doesn't </em>expect is that the one you came to rescue was worse than those that one had just finished killing off.</p>
      <p>Nassana's sister was none other than a slaver herself.</p>
      <p>Even worse, she was their <em>leader.</em></p>
      <p>Shepard was quite reasonably infuriated at being used as nothing more than a tool for some high ranking smug assholes dirty work. This sentiment was shared with the squadmates that had joined her on this mission with only Roxas being left out of the loop.</p>
      <p>He didn't quite understand what had happened, with Ashley explaining to him that they had been lied to.</p>
      <p>"<em>Not getting the full picture of the situation leaves us in a disadvantage."</em> Said the Gunnery Chief. <em>"In this case, we were intentionally misinformed on the purpose of this little mission we went through."</em></p>
      <p>It was strange how much those words rather resonated with Roxas. That first statement, not having a full picture of a situation, made him think back to the Organization.</p>
      <p>"And by 'giving her a piece of your mind', what do you imply exactly?"</p>
      <p>"Nothing that should concern you." Shepard said.</p>
      <p>"If you say so." Roxas shrugged.</p>
      <p>Jane chuckled a little before adopting a small concerned look on her features. "Now, what are these nightmares that have been bothering you?"</p>
      <p>"Not nightmares." Roxas corrected. "But…<em> something else."</em></p>
      <p>"Well, what is this 'something else'?"</p>
      <p>He paused in thought, recalling everything he had been seeing thus far.</p>
      <p>"It feels like… visions of some kind." Roxas began slowly, trying to properly word this phenomena. "Every time I sleep, they appear. And they're clear. Concise. I can hear every word and feel everything that's happening."</p>
      <p>"What are they like?" Shepard asked, getting slightly drawn into his description. It felt a bit familiar.</p>
      <p>"Like I'm there." Roxas said. "All my actions are my own. They all come from me directly. I even have my Keyblade with me."</p>
      <p>'Interesting.' Shepard internally mused.</p>
      <p>"Anything else?"</p>
      <p>"Yeah… a lot else."</p>
      <p>She simply waited for him to continue as he continued on.</p>
      <p>"There are these worlds I'm in that… I've never been to but it feels so familiar." Roxas said, a faraway look in his eyes. "I know I've never been to these worlds but seeing them, I get…"</p>
      <p>"Nostalgic?" Shepard ventured a guess getting a nod out of Roxas.</p>
      <p>"Whenever I have them, it's like my entire body is seizing up and I just don't know how to process it."</p>
      <p>The commander adopted a thinking pose. "Sounds a little similar to my vision from the Prothean Beacon."</p>
      <p>"Maybe." He mumbled.</p>
      <p>Shepard hummed aloud in thought. "You mentioned that you saw your Keyblade in the dreams, right?"</p>
      <p>Roxas nodded.</p>
      <p>"Could they be your memories finally resurfacing?" Shepard suggested.</p>
      <p>She watched as the teenager with the crazy powers thought over this possibility.</p>
      <p>After several seconds, he shook his head. "They don't seem like my memories."</p>
      <p>"What makes you say that?" Shepard asked.</p>
      <p>"It's just that…" Roxas recalled one specific detail. "Every time I get a look at myself, it's not me. It's someone else. A boy my age with brown hair and red clothes. He's always with these two other guys named Donald Duck and Goofy."</p>
      <p>'Donald Duck and Goofy?' Shepard internally repeated those names, a snort escaping her lips with Roxas looking up at her.</p>
      <p>"Sorry, just found those names a bit amusing." She admitted. "Who has a last name as Duck?"</p>
      <p>"He did apparently." Roxas remarked.</p>
      <p>"So then, what do you think of this, Roxas?" Shepard asked. "Are they memories? Or something else."</p>
      <p>Roxas looked down at the ground, replaying all these… visions? Memories? He just didn't know. Is it weird that he considered them as…</p>
      <p>"...both?"</p>
      <p>"Both?" Shepard repeated in slight amusement.</p>
      <p>He slowly nodded though his eyes conveyed how unsure he was himself.</p>
      <p>Shepard sighed. "I would naively say it's just you reading too much codex entries and whatnot, but that would be stupid."</p>
      <p>He glanced back up at her as Shepard placed a hand upon his shoulder.</p>
      <p>"If anything is troubling you, don't hesitate to talk to me or anyone else on the crew." Shepard stated in a comforting manner. "Whatever it was that you were facing before, you're not doing it alone anymore. You're here with us and you're one of us now."</p>
      <p>He gazed upon Shepard, a warm feeling swelling within him. Slowly, a small smile appeared, a look of appreciation being clear to see.</p>
      <p>"Thanks Shepard."</p>
      <p>Slightly surprised by this display of emotion from such a usually emotionless Roxas, Jane only smiled in return.</p>
      <p>She ruffled his hair once more in an affectionate manner before pushing herself off the pod she was leaning on.</p>
      <p>"Try to get a bit more sleep, Roxas." Shepard instructed. "We're gonna have a busy day."</p>
      <p>"Got it."</p>
      <p>
        <em>-Scene Cut-</em>
      </p>
      <p>Later in the day, the Normandy had arrived at the planet Eletania of the Hercules system.</p>
      <p>Their task in being here was relatively simple. Admiral Hackett requested they recover a data module that crash landed on the planet's surface. Within its data lies intel of Geth movement in the Attican Beta Cluster.</p>
      <p>For this simple mission of theirs, Shepard had brought along Wrex, Garrus and Roxas with her.</p>
      <p>After departing from the Normandy, the N7 marine was haphazardly driving all over in search for the lost module.</p>
      <p>It was during the drive that Garrus made a remark for Jane not to drive off a cliff.</p>
      <p>"<em>Don't tell me what to do, Garrus."</em> She said.</p>
      <p>And then she drove off a cliff, just out of utter spite.</p>
      <p>After the rough, tumbling landing, the group was forced to exit out of the Mako.</p>
      <p>"I'm surprised this thing is in one piece." Roxas remarked as he gave it a quick inspection. "Nothing seems to be broken or misaligned."</p>
      <p>"Thank the Spirits that didn't happen."</p>
      <p>"I thought the drop was fun."</p>
      <p>"Of course you would say that Wrex."</p>
      <p>"Hey, what's that?"</p>
      <p>Hearing Roxas' inquiry, the others turned and saw something quite peculiar.</p>
      <p>"Is that-?"</p>
      <p>"Looks Prothean to me." Wrex interrupted Shepard's dialogue.</p>
      <p>It was a small set of ruins seemingly hidden through the mountain terrain. And in its center was this gigantic, floating ball of shiny metal. When the four got close, the metal seemed to ripple a little as it appeared to be mercury or something.</p>
      <p>It didn't take long for the others to discuss what to do with it while walking around and inspecting it.</p>
      <p>Roxas opted for a closer look, though he recalled how Jane told him about the beacon on Eden Prime that gave her those visions of the Protheans' extinction. So he exercised caution by staying a good yard away from the floating sphere.</p>
      <p>It didn't seem all that special for the most part.</p>
      <p>Just a shiny ball of floating metal.</p>
      <p>Nothing all that special when he saw something that he considered out of the ordinary on this otherwise perfectly spherical ball.</p>
      <p>Examining the strange Prothean artifact a little more closely revealed a small, irregular slot on the underside of the surface.</p>
      <p>Remembering the strange trinket he received from the Asari consort on the Citadel, Roxas pulled it out of his coat and placed it into the slot. The mercury surfaced ball soon vibrated and gave off a green hue.</p>
      <p>"What the?"</p>
      <p>"Roxas?"</p>
      <p>"Roxas, what did you do?"</p>
      <p>Before he could have the chance to respond, the green light started to grow brighter and brighter until it suddenly exploded in a flash, momentarily blinding and disorienting everyone present.</p>
      <p>Next thing he knew, he heard a loud *clang*.</p>
      <p>Slowly opening his eyes, he saw the mercury surfaced ball was no longer extremely large. Now it was the size of his head.</p>
      <p>"Shepard!"</p>
      <p>Roxas looked back and saw the commander was lying on her back.</p>
      <p>Rushing over, he and the others looked down and saw her coming too.</p>
      <p>"Ugh, what happened?" She groaned out.</p>
      <p>"There was a flash of light from the artifact and you just toppled over." Said the Krogan.</p>
      <p>"Are you okay, Shepard?"</p>
      <p>She didn't answer right away, unsure as to what she could tell them all on what she exactly saw.</p>
      <p>Like the Prothean Beacon on Eden Prime, she received another vision. But instead of fragmented, it seemed a bit more whole. Yet she still had more questions than answers.</p>
      <p>How long did the Protheans study the primitive humans, observing them and analyzing their results at their base on Mars? And what, if anything, did they learn from humankind?</p>
      <p>"I'm fine." She finally replied, realizing the questions she just had will never be answered anytime soon, probably never. "Forget about it."</p>
      <p>"So… this thing happened."</p>
      <p>Shepard looked over and saw the head sized metal ball lying on the ground, unmoving.</p>
      <p>"So it just shrank in the end?" Shepard asked, standing back up with Garrus and Roxas assisting her.</p>
      <p>"Kinda disappointing, isn't it?" Garrus quipped.</p>
      <p>"What should we do with it?" Roxas inquired.</p>
      <p>"I say we sell it." Wrex suggested. "Prothean artifacts fetch a lot of credits."</p>
      <p>"Maybe we can give it to Liara to study." Garrus added in. "She is our Prothean expert, after all."</p>
      <p>Shepard hummed. "Both are good points." She then gazed at Roxas. "What do you say? You were the one who activated the damn thing. You decide on what to do for it."</p>
      <p>"You sure?" Asked the Nobody.</p>
      <p>Seeing the N7 marine nod, Roxas thought for a few moments before quickly coming to a decision.</p>
      <p>"Let Liara have it."</p>
      <p>"Well, you just made her day Roxas." Garrus remarked approvingly.</p>
      <p>Satisfied with the decision, Shepard had Roxas bring the now shrunken artifact into the Mako as they went back to find the fallen data module.</p>
      <p>Once departing the mountain terrain, the Mako sped through a large valley. During the silent drive, they soon came across their intended target.</p>
      <p>Hopping out of the tank-like vehicle, the group were soon greeted with the only sign of life on this planet.</p>
      <p>"Oh, great, <em>them</em>." The Battlemaster grumbled aloud.</p>
      <p>"C'mon, Wrex. Pyjaks aren't that bad."</p>
      <p>"Say that again at a later time."</p>
      <p>When gazing at the Pyjak, Roxas saw it resembled that of a monkey. Before he could try and inspect it more, he quickly moved his head aside as something sailed passed it.</p>
      <p>"WHOA!"</p>
      <p>Wrex looked over and saw the last few moments before barking out a laugh. "Ha! Glad to see your reflexes are good in avoiding that."</p>
      <p>Composing himself, the Nobody asked the obvious question. "What did it just throw at me?"</p>
      <p>"What else, Pyjak shit."</p>
      <p>Ignoring the unsavory moment, Garrus approached the Alliance satellite and gave it a quick inspection.</p>
      <p>"Is the data module intact?" Asked the commander.</p>
      <p>"I would give a proper response to that if there was a module to actually see here."</p>
      <p>Upon hearing Garrus' statement, Roxas knelt down and inspected the immediate area.</p>
      <p>"I see tracks leading up to this. And from there… they headed off somewhere up north."</p>
      <p>Wrex groaned. "Great… Pyjaks stole the module."</p>
      <p>"Guess we're doing this the hard way." Shepard drawled out.</p>
      <p>Once getting back into the Mako, Shepard took off as the four person team headed off to their possible destination.</p>
      <p>It took some time till they spotted a Pyjak colony situated in front of what appears to be an abandoned mine.</p>
      <p>After combing through each and every one of them, the team soon came to the conclusion the Pyjak they were looking for was somewhere in the mine.</p>
      <p>"I don't know if this is gonna be a trend or anything, but what's up with us going into the mines lately?" Garrus said aloud.</p>
      <p>"Beat's me, Vakarian."</p>
      <p>"I just know we're gonna get buried under a mine." Garrus bemoaned. "Damn near happened to us on Therum and now we're entering yet another one."</p>
      <p>"Don't try to tempt fate too much like that, Garrus." Shepard joked. "She'll answer in quite a spectacular way."</p>
      <p>Reaching the bottom, Wrex used his biotics to pry the broken doors open for them to pass on through easily. The lights flickered on and off in the underground cavern. And scurrying on the floor were a couple of Pyjaks.</p>
      <p>"Alright, you guys know what to do." Said Shepard.</p>
      <p>"Can I kill them?" Wrex pleaded.</p>
      <p>"No."</p>
      <p>Trying to catch his Pyjak, Roxas stumbled into a large locked crate.</p>
      <p>Out of instinct, Roxas summoned his Keyblade, twirled it and bopped the lid. Moments later, the electronic lock fizzled out, granting the Nobody to properly open the container.</p>
      <p>Peering inside, Roxas soon called out to his team. "Found something."</p>
      <p>"Did you find the module?"</p>
      <p>"No, but I found these."</p>
      <p>When seeing the state of the crate, Garrus let loose a small chuckle. "Still weird to see that Keyblade of yours opening up any locked up container; no matter how hard the inscriptions are."</p>
      <p>Roxas only shrugged. "I guess so."</p>
      <p>"Is there anything it can't unlock?" Garrus inquired in a curious tone.</p>
      <p>The Keybearer frowned thoughtfully. "I don't know. Never really tried it out."</p>
      <p>The Turian accepted the answer before he inspected Roxas' recent find.</p>
      <p>"Hmm, a Katana IV shotgun, an Edge IV pistol and several sets of armor." Garrus muttered aloud as he inspected them. "Don't know how well their conditions are, given how long these might have been down here for."</p>
      <p>"Could check them out back on the Normandy before possibly selling them to the Moogle."</p>
      <p>"Ah yes… the Moogle." The C-sec detective murmured, still not really used to having the little guy on the Normandy.</p>
      <p>As a matter of fact, Garrus still wasn't used to everything that had been happening that was either directly or indirectly connected to Roxas.</p>
      <p>But… he was a good kid.</p>
      <p>And a dangerous opponent on the battlefield.</p>
      <p>So, he'll just roll with it as best as he was able to right now. It's basically what the entire crew had been doing since first seeing the teen's astonishing abilities.</p>
      <p>Seeing as the present Pyjaks didn't have the module, the group ventured further into the mine.</p>
      <p>Upon entering the next couple of chambers, the group repeated their same duty as before. And within said spaces, Roxas "opened" some more locked crates. In total, he found a number of shotguns, pistols, sniper rifles and an assortment of armor sets.</p>
      <p>Eventually they were finally able to snag the thieving Pyjak they were looking for.</p>
      <p>"Sooner you let go, the sooner you can run free, you stinking pile of shit." Wrex growled out as the Pyjak was falling within his grasp.</p>
      <p>As it tried to get itself free, the module dropped out of the pack's grasp. Not wanting to have it fall and break, Roxas dived and caught it just in time.</p>
      <p>"Good catch."</p>
      <p>"It's a miracle the data module is still intact. Joker can transmit this info to Alliance Command once we get back above ground."</p>
      <p>Departing from the deepest mine chamber, the four started heading back towards the entrance. But upon entering the next chamber up, the group heard some movement up ahead.</p>
      <p>It wasn't a Pyjak, given the heavy steps the sound was emanating.</p>
      <p>Volunteering to check it out, Roxas went up ahead and ducked for cover. Peeking over, he saw the source.</p>
      <p>Geth.</p>
      <p>Summoning his Keyblade, he quickly fired off a Fira spell, blasting the synthetic being away.</p>
      <p>The moment the spell was cast, more Geth started appearing in the mine shafts and congregated at their position.</p>
      <p>"<em>What the hell was that, Roxas?"</em> Garrus said over the Omni-tool comm.</p>
      <p>"There's Geth down here."</p>
      <p>"<em>Finally some action!"</em> Roared the Krogan.</p>
      <p>It didn't take long for the Battlemaster to arrive at his position, charging in and firing his shotgun at the incoming Geth.</p>
      <p>"And here I thought this mission was going to be a simple walk in the park." Shepard remarked, firing off her assault rifle as she closed her position onto Roxas'.</p>
      <p>"Would've been boring if it were, sadly." Garrus added in, firing his sniper rifle from behind a crate.</p>
      <p>Upon receiving enemy fire, the Geth deployed their hexagonal barriers. Shortly afterwards, a number of them were electrocuted through Roxas' Thunder spell. With them momentarily short-circuited, it became easy pickings for Shepard's team to take care of them.</p>
      <p>"Move on up, people." Said the human Spectre, prompting them to head into the next chamber.</p>
      <p>When they were about to step foot into the next area, the air cracked, signaling the team to quickly duck for cover.</p>
      <p>Without being ordered to, Garrus went to work in finding the Geth Sniper with his own weapon.</p>
      <p>"I can barely see it." Said the Turian. "Can't get a clear shot. Need someone to push it out."</p>
      <p>"I'm on it." Said the Nobody, rushing out as his Keyblade cleaved through several Geth along the way.</p>
      <p>As this was happening, Shepard was doing occasional shots at their synthetic opponents. The commander spotted a cryo container near a grouping of Geth. Firing a shot at it, the container soon exploded and froze a number of them while the rest didn't seem to be entirely affected.</p>
      <p>The Krogan Battlemaster, meanwhile, eventually grew tired of firing at the Geth coming to him. So he left his spot and went towards them. Getting in close, he used a biotic throw to essentially throw his opponents off the ground before his shotgun rounds helped finish them off.</p>
      <p>Reaching near the enemy sniper, Roxas quickly maneuvered around it and kicked it out of its hiding spot. The moment it was in the open area, Garrus fired a round from his sniper and blasted it's flashlight-like head dead center.</p>
      <p>"And that takes care of them." Garrus said, standing up from his cover.</p>
      <p>"Hopefully, it's just them." Roxas said as the rest regrouped.</p>
      <p>"Let's not stick around to find out." Shepard stated as they went as fast as they could.</p>
      <p>Once exiting out of the abandoned mine, Shepard radioed Joker.</p>
      <p>"Mission Complete, Joker. We need a pickup at our coordinates while you transmit this data back to Alliance Command."</p>
      <p>"<em>Will do, Commander."</em> Said the Normandy Pilot. <em>"Oh, and I was just about to call you guys. Something came up."</em></p>
      <p>"What's wrong? Is the Moogle acting up again?"</p>
      <p>"<em>No, not that. We just got reports of Geth activity on Feros, and a large amount apparently."</em></p>
      <p>Shepard nodded. "Right. Set a course to Feros once you retrieve us."</p>
      <p>
        <em>-Scene Cut-</em>
      </p>
      <p>Exiting out from the relay that brought them to the Theseus system, the Normandy flew towards the colony world of Feros.</p>
      <p>From what Roxas learned of their destination, they were heading towards a colony founded by the ExoGeni Corporation. Feros was founded as a pilot colony to explore the Prothean ruins that blanket 2/3rds of the planet's land mass. Much of the visible Prothean ruins were skyscrapers that were tall enough to peak above the clouds, because the clouds below trapped the dust and debris that littered the planet's lower atmosphere which made traveling to explore the surface impossible.</p>
      <p>When Roxas was peeking from the cockpit's window, he saw that some of the Prothean structures looked as if the work was incomplete, showing signs of exposed scaffolding on the top of certain buildings.</p>
      <p>It kind of gave the impression that the Protheans disappeared while in the middle of their work.</p>
      <p>When Joker had attempted to contact anyone on comms earlier, it came back as static.</p>
      <p>This immediately put the pilot and the crew on edge.</p>
      <p>More so then they already were with the advent of the Geth being present within this system and the colony.</p>
      <p>At the sound of the static being broadcasted in various parts of the ship, Roxas winced, feeling his ears ring briefly before it subsided.</p>
      <p>Piloting the ship down to the surface while engaging the Normandy's stealth functions to go undetected by the Geth. Of course they also knew it was only a matter of time until they would be dealing with the synthetic AI directly.</p>
      <p>Really, all the ground platforms had to do was look up at one point then they'd come runnin'.</p>
      <p>Flying through the atmosphere of Feros, Joker picked up on a transmission of some kind. With the Normandy's VI assisting him, he managed to clarify the transmission, revealing it to be a distress call.</p>
      <p>Reaching a tall building, where the colony was primarily based at, Joker maneuvered the ship into the docking bay. Once properly docked, the assigned squad began preparing themselves for the planet.</p>
      <p>They had themselves geared and armored up with their equipment and weapons checked over several times to be sure. Though there was a bit of hesitation from several of them, the squadmates for this mission equipped themselves with some of the items that the Moogle had prepared for them.</p>
      <p>Apparently, armor pieces that they had were strengthened and increased in endurance. It really looked a bit shinier if anything.</p>
      <p>Then there were their weapons.</p>
      <p>For the most part, the Moogle simply told them that the caliber and power behind them have been made stronger and next time they come back for synthesis, he'll have something special for each of them.</p>
      <p>So, aside from Roxas vouching for the little guy(who really needed a name), the crew would just have to trust his word for it.</p>
      <p>And speaking of…</p>
      <p>Normally, Shepard would make sure to select her squad for each planet and assignment right before the start of the op.</p>
      <p>However, with an entire colony not sending out any transmissions other than distress beacons and the presence of the Geth apparently being so large, Shepard knew this was an all hands on deck operation.</p>
      <p>So, upon the Normandy being docked, the entire ground squad of eight stepped out onto the platform.</p>
      <p>Shepard led at the front, Ash to her left, Garrus to her right and Wrex to his.</p>
      <p>Behind them were Tali, Kaidan, Roxas and Liara respectively.</p>
      <p>Transitioning from the Normandy to the port's long walkway, the ground team had their weapons drawn. They didn't know what was going on to greet them.</p>
      <p>Their suspicions were momentarily put to rest when a man was waiting for them at the end of the walkway. They approached the man and when they got a closer look at him, they saw his present condition. His clothes have been worn thin with several tears here and there, his face was covered in smudge and his eyes have the look of someone who witnessed too many people die.</p>
      <p>When the group got close, the colonist spoke. "We saw your ship. Fai Dan wants to talk to you immediately."</p>
      <p>"Who's Fai Dan?" Shepard asked.</p>
      <p>"He's our leader." Said the man. "He needs your help to prepare for the Geth. They're making another push. Please. Up the stairs and past the-"</p>
      <p>In an instant, Roxas pushed the man out of the way before using his Keyblade to deflect an incoming rocket.</p>
      <p>The moment he swatted the projectile away, which exploded soon after, the rest of the ground team went into action; pulling out their weapons and firing at the Geth that had ambushed them.</p>
      <p>"Numbers?"</p>
      <p>"I'm counting four so far!" Garrus responded, firing a round from his sniper rifle. "My <em>mistake</em>, three." He gazed upwards through his scope and gave his next report. "There's another grouping coming down the stairs."</p>
      <p>"Tali, you're up." Shepard ordered. "Roxas, Wrex, back her up. Kaidan, Biotic cover."</p>
      <p>Instantly, Tali had Roxas and Wrex in front of her with the two fighting off the Geth whilst Kaidan provided cover for them.</p>
      <p>Unleashing an overload, the first group of Geth began to shake about with Kaidan dropping the shield. Wrex and Roxas charged forward, the gunfire from behind them backing them up at the Geth that were still mobile.</p>
      <p>From under the platform, several Geth crawlers came up from behind the advance group.</p>
      <p>Shepard rushed forward with Liara and Ash by her side, Garrus slightly behind them to better utilize his sharp shooting skills.</p>
      <p>Getting to the closest Geth, Shepard immobilized it with a stasis and promptly bashed the butt of her rifle into its head, shooting it a moment later.</p>
      <p>Liara and Ashley worked in tandem with one another, the former using her Biotics to either fling, pull in or freeze any Geth she got within her sights and the latter taking them out with exceptional efficiency.</p>
      <p>Garrus was firing at anything that wasn't organic, taking out a group of Geth Troopers that came out a doorway that led into the main structure of this building.</p>
      <p>Soon after, the last Geth was brought down by tail, clearing the platform of enemies.</p>
      <p>Once the fighting was over, Shepard went over to the colonist Roxas pushed out of the way. When getting close, she saw something unusual about the man as he didn't seem scared at all.</p>
      <p>'Strange.' She pondered. Shaking her head, Jane offered her hand to the colonist, which was ignored as the man got up himself. 'Weird and rude.'</p>
      <p>"Are you alright?" She asked.</p>
      <p>"Yes," the colonist said in a monotonous tone. "Like I said, Fai Dan wishes to speak with you. Please, this way."</p>
      <p>Unnerved by the colonist's strange behavior and speech pattern, Shepard signaled the rest of her ground team. As they neared a set of stairs, Shepard raised her arm, blocking their guide's way.</p>
      <p>"Wait." She ordered.</p>
      <p>"What's wrong?"</p>
      <p>"This place is too perfect for an ambush." She answered. "We'd practically be entering a bottleneck, here."</p>
      <p>In her field of view, she saw a different Geth hugging the walls with a red laser point flashing in the Spectre's eyes.</p>
      <p>"DOWN!" She yelled, pulling the colonist into the nearby cover, just as a bullet came screaming past.</p>
      <p>Immediately, the group swung back into action, shooting at the newly arrived Geth through the entryway. But the synthetic was too quick, hopping away out of sight.</p>
      <p>"It's too quick!" Tali commented.</p>
      <p>"Can't get a good shot." Ashely added in.</p>
      <p>"Leave this to me."</p>
      <p>Upon hearing Roxas' words, the team hanged back as he rushed in and leaped into the air. Feet planting on the wall, he ran up its length and went after the hopping Geth. The synthetic swung it's head at the Nobody, aimed and fired a shot, all in a span of a second. But Roxas had a better reaction time, moving his head over slightly to avoid the hit.</p>
      <p>Seeing the hopper launch off the one wall, Roxas flipped towards the wall opposite, launching himself forward in an interception play with the leaping Geth. With a swing of his Keyblade, Roxas caved in the flashlight head in, causing the synthetic to fall down.</p>
      <p>Before he could go back down and regroup, Roxas gave off a warning.</p>
      <p>"We've got more incoming!"</p>
      <p>Geth descended down, crawling along the walls.</p>
      <p>"Pick your targets." Shepard ordered, raising her rifle up and letting out bursts.</p>
      <p>Tali pulled out her Omni-tool under the safety of the Biotic barrier Kaidan threw up. Punching in an override, several of the Geth Crawlers spasmed upon the walls, feeling the effects of Tali's override.</p>
      <p>Raising his sniper rifle, Garrus paused for a moment as he glanced at the side of his weapon. Next to the trigger, just above it, was a new knob that he was supposed to twist whenever he wanted to test out one of the new capabilities the Moogle had installed into his weapon. He was greatly unsure on just how this was supposed to work but he recalled what the hood wearing puff ball told him.</p>
      <p>When he turned the knob, his weapon would connect to his eyepiece and he had to "lock on" to his targets before firing.</p>
      <p>Well… no time like the present.</p>
      <p>Flicking the nob, Garrus's eyepiece glowed with multiple crosshairs appearing.</p>
      <p>He was greatly overwhelmed by this influx of visual stimulation, having to shake his head in order to get a grasp as to what was happening.</p>
      <p>Gritting his teeth, Garrus gazed through his eyepiece, trying his best to concentrate on one of the Geth.</p>
      <p>Eventually, the multiple crosshairs vanished with one being displayed, turning red as it marked one Geth on the walls. He then shifted his head over to a Geth trooper on a higher floor. Then to another Geth crawler.</p>
      <p>It was then that the crosshairs blinked rapidly and he felt his weapon jolt. Looking down, Garrus saw it slightly transformed, with the barrel breaking up slightly and expanding forward. It began whirring and shaking.</p>
      <p>Garrus balked, instinctively pointing the barrel upward just as a large beam was shot out from his weapon.</p>
      <p>As it reached a certain elevation, the beam burst and became three separate shots that swirled and swerved into the three Geth's he had targeted. The synthetics didn't even have a chance to respond properly as the beams smashed into them and destroyed them entirely.</p>
      <p>Fighting momentarily stopped, save for one, as the Normandy squad looked to their Turian sniper in stunned disbelief.</p>
      <p>Roxas, who was used to insane displays of power that Garrus had just pulled off with his weapon, continued fighting against the Geth with not much left.</p>
      <p>The others however just stopped to stare, with the Geth appearing to focus more on the immediate threat over the easy targets.</p>
      <p>All the while, Garrus was holding his gun like it was the most delicate thing in the galaxy with a look of giddy reverence.</p>
      <p>A Geth head abruptly fell next to the Turian with Roxas landing beside it a moment later.</p>
      <p>"How is it?" Roxas inquired, looking at the gun with interest.</p>
      <p>Wordlessly, Garrus placed a hand upon Roxas's shoulder. He had his head down for a few moments until he looked up at the Nobody with his eyes appearing to have tears in a comedic fashion.</p>
      <p>"I'll never doubt anything you say ever again, Roxas." Garrus said with a dramatic flair of joy.</p>
      <p>The rest of the squad could only look to their own weapons, a sense of shaking excitement now at giving them a test run.</p>
      <p>"God damn." Ashley murmured, pretty much summarizing the collective feeling they were all sharing.</p>
      <p>Looks like the Moogle more than lived up to his word.</p>
      <p>"Oh!" Roxas spoke up, making everyone look to him as he pointed up. "Uh, clear Commander."</p>
      <p>They all held blank looks before they couldn't help but guffaw at the casual nature in which Roxas addressed them. No surprise though, considering what <em>he</em> is capable of.</p>
      <p>"Alright, let's-"</p>
      <p>The colonist that had greeted them suddenly walked past the group. "This way. Fai Dan is waiting."</p>
      <p>Following the guide, Kaidan couldn't help but comment about something. "I've got a bad feeling about this colonist."</p>
      <p>"How so, Alenko?" Asked Garrus.</p>
      <p>"Didn't bother to introduce himself, for one. Could just be me on that." Commented the lieutenant. "Asides from that, it's just the way he talked is a little odd."</p>
      <p>"How would you describe it?" Liara inquired.</p>
      <p>"I dunno." Kaidan frowned. "It was kinda like he was a zombie. Not all there, you know?"</p>
      <p>Roxas, meanwhile, merely thought to himself. 'Was that how Axel reacted to me when we first met? Me being a zombie?'</p>
      <p>Shepard gave a brief nod. "Yeah, I noticed that too. There's something a little off about him, but we'll just let things play out."</p>
      <p>"Understood, Commander." said the group in response.</p>
      <p>The ground team continued their way up to the colony when they came across a poorly made sign over the entrance called Zhu's Hope. The entrance was either guarded by security officers or people who have never held a weapon in their lives.</p>
      <p>The mood of these colonists was downright bad. And when the team showed up, they didn't receive a warm welcome at all.</p>
      <p>"This is rather <em>pleasant</em>." Ash said with a bitter voice, not liking the situation they found themselves in.</p>
      <p>"Can't say I blame them for being nervous." Kaidan commented as he gazed at the surrounding people. "Some of these people probably never trained to fight prior to coming here."</p>
      <p>"And now they're learning first-hand of actual combat while being very unprepared." Spoke the Turian.</p>
      <p>"Surely there's something we can do." Liara said as she gazed at the many colonists suffering from the Geth attacks, suffering from fresh wounds or a previous assault.</p>
      <p>"We will." Shepard said reassuringly. "Just need to talk to this Fai Dan and see what's what."</p>
      <p>Traversing through the "warzone", the ground team's guide eventually led them to a human man and woman, who were engaged in what sounded like intense planning. After that, said guide merely walked away without saying another word.</p>
      <p>The conversation taking place was put on hold when the human pair saw the group approach. "Oh thank goodness! I'm so glad they finally sent people to help us." Gleefully said the man.</p>
      <p>The woman, however, seemed more upset. "You're a bit late, aren't you?"</p>
      <p>"Arcelia!" Rebuked the man. He looked back at the commander and expected her to be offended, but with a raised hand, she showed she wasn't really offended nor intimidated. "I'm sorry, but everybody's on edge."</p>
      <p>"It's no problem. I'm Commander Shepard. And you are?"</p>
      <p>"I'm Fai Dan and-"</p>
      <p>"Watch out!" Arcelia yelled out, upholstering an assault rifle from her back.</p>
      <p>Tali looked over and yelled. "Geth in the tower!"</p>
      <p>"Protect the heart of the colony!" Fai Dan shouted, before Shepard roughly pulled him down, placing herself between the colony leader and the direction of the Geth.</p>
      <p>The surprise attack ended up becoming rather short. A result from the Geth caught in the bottleneck this time around and was destroyed easily.</p>
      <p>"Clear!" Garrus called out.</p>
      <p>Hearing this, Shepard holstered her weapon and pulled Fai Dan up. And while the others were holstering their respective weapons, Roxas didn't dismiss his. Presently, he was looking around, wanting to be ready for any more sudden attacks.</p>
      <p>It was then that Roxas heard something from within the tower.</p>
      <p>"Shepard…"</p>
      <p>"Yeah, I heard it too." The N7 marine turned to Wrex, Liara and Kaidan. "I want you three to stay here by the entrance. I don't want any Geth breaching, understand?"</p>
      <p>"You got it, Shepard." Wrex grunted out, hefting his shotgun.</p>
      <p>"Understood, commander." Came Kaidan's reply.</p>
      <p>"Of course." Liara simply said.</p>
      <p>"Stay here," Shepard said to Fai Dan and Arcelia before turning to the rest of her team. "Everyone else, let's move. Tali, you're point. Garrus, cover rear. Ashley, with me. Roxas, you're back up."</p>
      <p>When the group made it into the tower, they heard a colonist yell at the top of his lungs. "Help me! Please! I don't want to die!"</p>
      <p>What followed was an explosion of Geth chatter on the floor above.</p>
      <p>Realizing what needed to be done, Roxas reacted immediately. "I've got this!"</p>
      <p>No. XIII leaped onto one of the supporting columns and bounded off of it onto the side of the stairs before leaping further up onto the second floor. Grabbing the ledge, Roxas pulled himself up and came face to face with three Geth pointing their weapons right at a colonist.</p>
      <p>Without thinking, Roxas rushed over and intercepted the coming fire. With the rounds being blocked by his Keyblade, he soon delivered several quick strikes and wrecked the synthetics rather easily.</p>
      <p>Shepard, Tali, Garrus and Ashely stormed up the stairs, only to stop when they saw Roxas speaking to the colonist. "You better get back to the colony."</p>
      <p>"You got it, kid. Thanks."</p>
      <p>With that said, the colonist bolted as fast as he could. Once disappearing from sight, the ground team heard the violent chatter of the Geth.</p>
      <p>Looking to their right, down the hall which led to the tower, Shepard saw another Geth squad closing in. "Incoming!" She called out.</p>
      <p>As the enemy opened fire upon them, the ground team retaliated and made quick work out of the present Geth.</p>
      <p>As the five eventually reached the entrance to what was the top of the tower, they burst through and took the Geth by surprise at the speed and ferocity of their attack. Dashing up the side of a sloped incline, they ducked into cover as the Geth returned fire.</p>
      <p>Pulling out her Omni-tool, Tali momentarily left cover and aimed her hand at an incoming Geth. In an instant, several bolts shot out and struck the synthetic, scorching it's frame. With the attack successful, the Quarian retreated back into cover and deactivated her Omni-tool for the time being to initiate it's ten second cooldown period.</p>
      <p>Popping out for a few moments, Ashley fired her assault rifle as the incendiary rounds were doing their job. While ordinary ones have a hard time going through metal, the ones she carried had an extra <em>kick</em> to them. Once the special rounds pierced through several joints, the synthetic frame started bursting into flame. The Geth started flailing about before collapsing onto the ground and ceased functioning.</p>
      <p>Peeking out from cover, Garrus was taking shots with his sniper rifle. Before he could fire anymore rounds, he saw a larger Geth was charging its way towards their location.</p>
      <p>"Roxas! We got a Destroyer incoming!"</p>
      <p>A second later, Roxas casted Blizarra, freezing the large Geth model in a thick chunk of ice. From there, the Nobody rushed forward and cleaved through the entrapped synthetic as its top half slid back and fell onto the ground.</p>
      <p>"Thanks."</p>
      <p>"No problem."</p>
      <p>The battlefield was in a momentary state of peace, leaving the group to get a small birth of relief.</p>
      <p>"These weapons…" Ashley now shared a similar expression to that of Garrus when he first tested out his upgraded rifle. "My God."</p>
      <p>Roxas suddenly had his head caught by Shepard's arm, her pulling him close while grinding her fist against his head in an affectionate manner.</p>
      <p>"Roxas." She said with a beaming grin as she kept on her noogie, despite his flailing. "You've outdone yourself."</p>
      <p>"Don't thank me." He groaned out, trying and failing to rid himself of Shepard's little assault. "It was the Moogle."</p>
      <p>"Yeah, but you're the reason why we didn't just kill it." Ash said with a large grin, now poking Roxas's side, eliciting a small laugh out of him.</p>
      <p>Eventually, Shepard stopped, yet her wide smile had yet to leave her face.</p>
      <p>Despite the current circumstances of Feros and the Geth attack, Jane was finding it hard to suppress her giddiness after utilizing her newly upgraded weapon.</p>
      <p>A sentiment shared by the others with Ashley grinning from ear to ear as she rested her weapon on her shoulder.</p>
      <p>"The Geth are in for a rude awakening now." Williams stated boisterously. "This is what I call an eye opener."</p>
      <p>"Boo, that pun is lame." Shepard jokingly said, a thumb down.</p>
      <p>Garrus grinned, mandibles turning upwards. "C-Sec's got nothing on these bad boys!" He then muttered to himself as he gazed at his rifle. "Wonder what else I could maybe do on this."</p>
      <p>For a moment, Roxas thought Tali was smiling in response behind her helmet, but he couldn't quite tell as he could only see her eyes.</p>
      <p>Suddenly, a low rumble could be heard. Looking around, Roxas noticed a large mass moving past the opened ceiling.</p>
      <p>"What's that?!" Roxas said, aiming his Keyblade at the moving purple object, which hovered above the opening with light illuminating the bottom.</p>
      <p>Tali gasped in recognition. "That's a Geth dropship!" She exclaimed. "Th-T-They never had anything like this before the war! They've developed so far!"</p>
      <p>Not entirely unfazed by the sight of the dropship, which soon disappeared from their line of sight, Roxas moved over to the far end of the room where he found an odd console. Telling by the color and designs, it had to be something the Geth used.</p>
      <p>"Do you guys know what this is?"</p>
      <p>The group gathered around the Geth designed console with Garrus giving a quick look over. "Don't know if I could get into it. What about you, Tali?"</p>
      <p>The Quarian stepped forward, checking the device. "It looks like a beacon of sorts. Almost like they were searching- Oh no! It's got a self-destruct sequence!"</p>
      <p>"Take cover!"</p>
      <p>The group dove away at the nick of time. Not a moment too soon as the Geth console exploded, sending shrapnel all over.</p>
      <p>As everyone got back onto their feet, Tali growled. "Those Bosh'tets!"</p>
      <p>"Something wrong?" Roxas asked.</p>
      <p>"Most of their technology is rigged to self-destruct if captured." She explained. "Their firewalls and security protocols are too advanced for me to work through."</p>
      <p>"Seems they're getting more out of hand lately if that's what they're doing." Garrus coolly commented.</p>
      <p>Tali said nothing as she somewhat scrunched around to possibly see if there was anything salvageable, only to find nothing.</p>
      <p>"Alright people, we need to head back down." Shepard said, basically ordering the team to head on out.</p>
      <p>The present team compiled as they were making their way down the hallway and towards the staircase not far ahead.</p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>*Taptaptaptaptaptaptaptap*</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>Shepard's ear twitched, making her freeze in her tracks.</p>
      <p>"Did you guys hear that?"</p>
      <p>"Hear what?"</p>
      <p>"I heard something…" Shepard looked around. "It sounded like tapping."</p>
      <p>"Tapping?" Garrus repeated.</p>
      <p>"Yeah, but really fast." Shepard added. "There's got to be another word for it."</p>
      <p>Before anyone else could provide an answer for Shepard, they heard <em>it.</em></p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>*Taptaptaptaptaptaptaptap*</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>The group tensed up, weapons drawn and pointed on all sides. They went back to back to make sure they covered each other's blind spots as they kept their eyes and ears sharp.</p>
      <p>That sound… if they were to choose a proper word to describe it, it sounded like skittering of some kind.</p>
      <p>And it was proving to be a bit difficult in pinpointing just where the source of it was coming from as the sound was bouncing all over them.</p>
      <p>Shepard grasped her weapon tightly, the feel of her comrades on her back assuring her to a slight degree but her form was still stiff.</p>
      <p>The damn tapping and skittering was all over the place and it was setting them on edge. Where was it coming from?</p>
      <p>Better yet, who or <em>what</em> was causing all this noise.</p>
      <p>Geth Crawlers?</p>
      <p>Possibly, but they would have attacked by now.</p>
      <p>A new enemy? A Heartless perhaps?</p>
      <p>"Movement, twelve o'clock!" Ashley sharply called out, four weapons snapping in said direction.</p>
      <p>The team was ready, with their fingers trailing over their triggers.</p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>*TapTapTap*</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>They shifted about at the sound again.</p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>*TapTapTapTap*</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>It was getting closer now.</p>
      <p>Coming right for them.</p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>*Taptaptaptaptaptap*</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>"Keelah." Tali muttered under her breath, her anxiousness beginning to get to her.</p>
      <p>"Steady." Shepard said in a calm voice.</p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>*Taptaptaptaptaptap*</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>*Taptap*</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>*Tap*</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>From behind a large pile of rubble, out came…</p>
      <p>"The hell is that supposed to be?" Ashley asked the question on everyone's mind.</p>
      <p>The newcomer faced them and jumped up on its legs to stand and gaze at them intently.</p>
      <p>The attacker(?) was a small blue creature standing around three feet tall with a small, short stumpy tail. It bears large rabbit-like ears with asymmetrical notches on the outer rims of each ear. It's wide mouth held very small, sharp teeth with a long tongue sticking out as it reached towards it's round nose. There were two pairs of arms with odd spinel's on its back with a pair of antennae on its head. And on its chest and on top of its head -asides from the antennae- were three tufts of fur.</p>
      <p>Presently, it's black eyes looked around the present ground team members, who merely looked on in varying states of surprise.</p>
      <p>"What is that thing?!"</p>
      <p>"It looks like… a dog?" Said the Commander.</p>
      <p>"More like an odd koala." Ashley commented.</p>
      <p>"What the hell is a koala?" Garrus questioned.</p>
      <p>Roxas only stared in silence, analyzing the creature with an unusually intense look.</p>
      <p>"Animal from Ea- ah forget it, not now." Shepard murmured, cautiously lowering her weapon.</p>
      <p>"Shepard?"</p>
      <p>"Easy." Jane gestured her hand down to keep them calm.</p>
      <p>Slowly, they lowered their weapons.</p>
      <p>Seeing this, the blue creature's ears perked up, with it inclining its head up before bringing up its top left arm and seemingly… waved?</p>
      <p>"Ha-Ha-Ha-HIIIII!"</p>
      <p>Basically everyone sputtered before the majority of them spoke as one.</p>
      <p>"IT CAN TALK?!"</p>
      <p>The creature proceeded to laugh excitedly, clapping its four arms together until it retracted its lower pair of arms.</p>
      <p>The gun wielders quickly aimed their weapons at the new arrival, causing the creature to hold up its present arms up in a gestured calming manner.</p>
      <p>"Okay, okay." it said placatingly.</p>
      <p>"Keelah, it can talk!" Tali said aloud in complete astonishment.</p>
      <p>"Spirits." Garrus rubbed the side of his head, trying to make sense of this. "Anybody got any ideas what this thing is?"</p>
      <p>"I don't know what it is."</p>
      <p>"Doubt it's a new breed of Varren."</p>
      <p>"What should we do with it?" Ashley asked, warily staring at the curious new alien.</p>
      <p>It appeared docile and… well, it greeted them in its own strange way.</p>
      <p>So, did that mean it was friendly?</p>
      <p>That remains to be seen.</p>
      <p>"What do you think, Roxas?"</p>
      <p>"He's… good?" The Nobody said in an unsure way, as if it was debating for some reason.</p>
      <p>The group practically raised a respective brow with Shepard voicing their unified thought. "And how can you tell that?"</p>
      <p>"...I can tell…"</p>
      <p>Roxas didn't know what he was feeling now, but there seemed to be something(?) telling him to trust(?) this thing."</p>
      <p>Shepard exhaled a weary sigh. "Only you, Roxas. Only you…"</p>
      <p>In a moment, the little blue furred alien looked past most of the ground team and looked at the black coated teenager.</p>
      <p>It's jaw fell slightly with its ears drooping and eyes widened in astonishment.</p>
      <p>"Ven…?"</p>
      <p>"Huh?"</p>
      <p>The creature scurried right up towards the Nobody and before he knew it, the little alien leaped into the air, landed on him and started licking his face like crazy.</p>
      <p>The action caused Roxas to fall onto his back as the licking kept on going.</p>
      <p>"Ew!" Ashley grimaced. "Why is its slobber green?!"</p>
      <p>Tali quickly backed away as she fiddled with her hands. "I don't want to get slobbered! It would take forever to wash out!"</p>
      <p>Ceasing it's licking, the small blue koala-like alien rubbed its head against Roxas' face in a joyful expression being clear as day to see.</p>
      <p>"Ven! Fren-! Messa foun- you!" it exclaimed in complete happiness, clinging on to the teen with all its might.</p>
      <p>The Nobody seemed to have a hard time trying to pry the creature off of him, yet it's grip was too strong!</p>
      <p>"Roxas?" Shepard was unsure of what to do at the moment.</p>
      <p>The little critter appeared to recognize Roxas with how it was reacting to seeing him.</p>
      <p>But what was it that this thing called him?</p>
      <p>Ven?</p>
      <p>Why did this blue furred creature call him Ven?</p>
      <p>"Fren!" The blue creature said happily. "Fren!"</p>
      <p>"Is it trying to say 'friend'?" Ashley said aloud.</p>
      <p>Without realizing it, a number(?) escaped from the confines of Roxas' mouth.</p>
      <p>"626?"</p>
      <p>This merely made the alien, 626, laugh in utter joy.</p>
      <p>"You know this thing, Roxas?" Tali asked in bewilderment, hesitant to get close.</p>
      <p>"I… don't know."</p>
      <p>
        <strong>AN</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Oh? Would you look at that?</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Surprised I hope.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Yes, we got Stitch on board ladies and gentlemen. Something J and I have been planning from the start.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>The official true start of the melding of the KH ways and ME universe have begun.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Pray that the Milky Way Galaxy is prepared for the crazy things to come.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Jebest4781: So if you guys have already noticed, the poll for the Roxas pairing on this story ended a few days ago. The results were a practical landslide with duh duh duh duh… both Xion and Tali being the winners!</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>So now another poll had taken its place for the Axel/Lea pairing on this story. Presently, both Miranda and femShep are neck and neck. Who knows who'll be the winner, but only one lucky lady will have the chakram wielding redhead all to herself. That means no sharing option, people!</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>FMW: Yes, we shall be giving you all ample time to get your votes in as I intend on having the poll up for a good number of chapters. Possibly five or six, maybe even longer. J and I have thought about the pairings and the circumstances for each one with all of them having their very own unique spin on each.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Jeb: I mean, don't want to end it too soon. Want some more readers to check it out and hopefully some of the other girls on the list get some lovin' with the votes.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>FMW: Yes (sinister fingers tapping together like Mr. Burns). We shall see how things shall play out. And by play out, I mean us writing and you all reading it afterwards. As it goes.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Until then folks, vote, vote, vote.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Rate Read and Review and as Always Have Nice Day.</strong>
      </p>
    </div>
  </div>
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  </div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Freaky Times on Feros</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p></p><div class="xcontrast">
  <p></p>
  <div>
    <p></p>
    <div>
      <p>
        <strong>Well, so, SO glad to see the love that we got from the last chapter.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Yeah, that's right, Stitch is in the story which means mayhem and madness to come on top of what the Normandy had been experiencing already.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Axels polls are interesting as all hell with Female Shepard leading the charge with Miranda far back though still holding strong at second with Aqua barely at third and Jack in fourth. Poor Kasumi and Aria. May as well remove them if no one votes for them after this chapter.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Keep them coming mind you, the poll will be up for some time until the time comes.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Other than that, thanks again for the votes, the excitement for our favorite experiment being a part of the story and all the crazy shit on the horizon.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Rate Read and Review and As Always Have Nice Day.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>I'm Nobody Chapter 7: Freaky Times on Feros</p>
      <p>Liara T'Soni was waiting in anticipation for the return of her fellow companions. Probably the same amount as Kaidan's given utter focus he had towards the tower's entrance.</p>
      <p>Wrex, however, was merely walking back and forth, occasionally muttering of him wanting to get to fighting already.</p>
      <p>Liara didn't want to be biased, but she could understand how her Krogan teammate was feeling. Ordered to be left behind while the others went on ahead to fight, something one truly enjoyed nearly above all else.</p>
      <p>It can be a similar trait many species share, albeit one factor interchanged over the other.</p>
      <p>As she waited, Liara pulled up her Omni-tool and went back into her Prothean logs. Reading up her written information for the umpteenth time, the Asari wanted to at least be prepared for what might be stumbled upon on this planet.</p>
      <p>Of course her thoughts soon drifted onto the latest piece of Prothean artifacts that came into her possession.</p>
      <p>On Shepard's previous assignment to retrieve the data module, her squad came across a Prothean shrine!</p>
      <p>The N7 marine told her of the details as the Normandy was heading here to Feros. Where Roxas apparently set off the artifact, causing a massive flash to occur. And where everyone else was fine, Shepard wasn't… sort of.</p>
      <p>Jane spoke that the metallic Prothean sphere seemed to have acted like a Beacon, sending a vision directly into the Spectre's head. Instead of fragmented flashes and images, the vision was whole; detailing of primitive humans being monitored by the Protheans themselves.</p>
      <p>This was a great discovery for Liara, only for her wishing to witness the event occur firsthand. And what was even better, they brought back the sphere with them aboard for her to study.</p>
      <p>She can already wonder what secrets the artifact held. If it were the experiences of a primitive-state species being recorded, then how much was stored in it? Was there more than just the one or was that it?</p>
      <p>The asari had thanked Roxas for making this happen, not knowing what could've occurred without his part in all of this.</p>
      <p>Her musing came to an end when she heard something coming from the tower. Quickly getting ready, she, Wrex and Kaidan were about to fire when they saw the rest of their team return.</p>
      <p>The Spectre was the first to exit, who was soon questioned by Wrex. "Shepard, how'd it go?"</p>
      <p>"Tower is secure and the colony is safe, for now."</p>
      <p>When the others filed out, they were about to see what needed to be done when something… <em>odd…</em> was seen.</p>
      <p>"Uh Shepard." Kaidan was staring at Roxas.</p>
      <p>More specifically, the blue fluffy ball that sat atop the teen's head with a pair of large black eyes darting in between him, Liara and Wrex.</p>
      <p>It looked upon them with open curiosity before abruptly crawling down from Roxas's head and going right up to Liara.</p>
      <p>"Oh." Liara shifted her leg back in surprise and trepidation.</p>
      <p>The Asari's eyes then registered just what it was she was looking at.</p>
      <p>"Shepard wha-" Liara began in astonishment when the small fur ball <em>climbed</em> up on the Asari, making her jolt at the contact before releasing a small laugh as the little critters movements inadvertently tickled her.</p>
      <p>Once hearing herself, Liara blushed in slight embarrassment though it faded when the small creature was using her shoulders to keep itself propped up on her eye level. She inclined her head back slightly when it began sniffing her suspiciously until it made what appeared to be a happy sound…</p>
      <p>Only for her face then to get promptly slobbered by several large licks from the creatures tongue.</p>
      <p>Liara cried out in surprise, now trying to get the thing to stop with it pulling back and laughing. A moment later it jumped back, landing on Roxas's shoulder.</p>
      <p>"Urgh." Liara whined, whipping some of the green spit off her face. "Shepard? What in the Goddess's name-?"</p>
      <p>"Yeah, he likes you too it seems." Jane said in the driest voice Liara had ever heard.</p>
      <p>The Asari took a moment to finally get a look at the group that had returned.</p>
      <p>Shepard's hair was slightly matted with Ashley being completely ruffled.</p>
      <p>Garrus had a slight sheen to him and Tali's clothing looked a bit moist.</p>
      <p>And then there was Roxas.</p>
      <p>"It didn't-"</p>
      <p>"Yeup~ slobbered each of us good." Garrus muttered out. He then jabbed his thumb to the resident Quarian. "Asides from Roxas, she got it the worst."</p>
      <p>"It's… going… to take hours… to rinse it out." Tali said while glaring daggers at the blue creature.</p>
      <p>"What is it?" Wrex asked, gazing at the little guy who seemed completely content to rest upon the youngest of their groups shoulders.</p>
      <p>"No idea." Shepard deadpanned. "It seems to know Roxas and its name… or <em>number</em> really, is 626."</p>
      <p>"Number?" Kaidan repeated in a wary manner, keeping an eye on the blue creature.</p>
      <p>It was now sniffing the air, looking about in all directions with it becoming a bit of an oddity to look at.</p>
      <p>Scratch that, several nearby colonists of Feros were openly staring at 626, completely unsure as to what exactly it was that they were looking at.</p>
      <p>"What exactly is it?" Liara asked in trepidation.</p>
      <p>"Boy." 626 barked out, causing the three members of the Normandy who had just met him to have their eyes bulged out. "Messa boy."</p>
      <p>"..."</p>
      <p>"..."</p>
      <p>"Did that thing just-"</p>
      <p>"Speak, yes it can." Shepard quickly responded. "Broken speech pattern and rough around the edges, but the little guy can talk. Though in some moments he reverts to whatever native tongue he's got."</p>
      <p>626 began to babble in an incoherent manner with multiple gibberish sounding words and sounds. Well… if the gibberish could be counted as words.</p>
      <p>"We're adopting now, apparently." Ash deadpanned, 626 rounding on her and letting out comical growls with him shaking his fist at her. "Oh shut up."</p>
      <p>"First the Moogle and now <em>this</em>." Kaidan chuckled out. "Man Joker is gonna <em>love</em> this."</p>
      <p>"Do we even know what this thing could do?" Wrex asked in a skeptic manner, eyeballing the creature who soon noticed.</p>
      <p>It bared its considerably large fangs at the Krogan with Wrex growling back.</p>
      <p>626 proceeded to drop to the ground, standing upright with him and practically roaring.</p>
      <p>The rest of the group was rather surprised by the little guy's bravery, not backing down from the Krogan whatsoever.</p>
      <p>After a few moments, Wrex found himself grinning.</p>
      <p>"Heh, looks like you can talk the talk." Wrex remarked. "Maybe you're not just a fluff piece."</p>
      <p>626 only had its eyes narrowed at the larger foe, backing away with his back bumping against Roxas's leg.</p>
      <p>Jane let out a sigh, looking around the area. "Just asking this, but where's Fai Dan?"</p>
      <p>"Went back to the rest of the colonists. He's their leader, after all." Kaidan pointed out.</p>
      <p>"Right, got a few questions I need answers for."</p>
      <p>"What should we do?" Ashley asked.</p>
      <p>"Asides from taking care of the Geth, we're here to help the colonists. See what can be done to lighten their spirits." Jane ordered.</p>
      <p>"You got it."</p>
      <p>When Shepard went off to find and question Fai Dan, Roxas and the others did what they could to help out the locals.</p>
      <p>When questioning a number of people, the squad overall learned the general problems plaguing this colony. Asides from the Geth attacks, there was a food shortage due to an alpha Varren, fresh filtered water was being shut off by the Geth and the power grid was on the fritz.</p>
      <p>Needless to say, the colony was in a bad state, even worse than on first impressions.</p>
      <p>On first glance, the food and water problems could be solved with the Normandy providing the solution. Yet that was shot down as they would have to make return trips periodically. As for the power grid, the present power cells were beyond repair and needed replacements. Once again, the Normandy can spare a few if it meant helping this colony, but the newer models the ship has doesn't match what essential parts are needed with their one generator.</p>
      <p>Seeing as these are practically the top priority to ensure the colony's survival, the team had to solve these problems asap. Luckily for them, their new assignments are all located around the tunnels. At least they were all located within a compacted area instead of spread out all over the place.</p>
      <p>The ground team reentered the tower in order to take the flights of stairs down to the tunnels below. Upon traversing through the corridors, they were met with the occasional Geth here and there with some Heartless now beginning to pop up into the mix.</p>
      <p>When entering one area and investigating the water valves, they learned the one colonist was right as the synthetic beings were intentionally shutting them off. Reason being they were digging towards… something for whatever reason and didn't want the water to hamper their progress. Once taking care of the present Geth patrolling the one underground area, the valves were turned back on for Zhu's Hope to have fresh water again.</p>
      <p>With that taken care of, the squad encountered a man lurking around in the shadows of this underground area. The man wasn't in the best of mental health, because he kept mentioning about "invoking the master's whip" or "trying to fight was like moving through a thorny bush". How the man avoided the Geth was beyond them, but it was clear the man was delusional and needed professional help.</p>
      <p>It was clear Shepard would need to tell Fai Dan about this once this mess was done.</p>
      <p>After speaking with the "loon", they were quickly confronted by a number of Geth trying to perform a sneak attack. Wanting to take care of them from the source, one half of the team entered another area and dealt with a small skirmish of Geth and Heartless. The others went off in another direction to take care of the Varren.</p>
      <p>The confrontation was hectic and out of control, the pandemonium of Geth and Heartless fighting them and each other. Shots were being fired all over the place with the Heartless moving about at an equally rapid pace.</p>
      <p>Currently, dealing with these annoying foes was the team of Roxas, Ashley, Garrus and Wrex.</p>
      <p>Joining them was one 626 who was skittering around the place, causing momentary distractions for the enemy forces.</p>
      <p>Though the Normandy team was effectively winning for the most part, the additions of Krogan under Saren's pay made the battle all the more chaotic.</p>
      <p>With the advent of the Krogan who opted for the running headfirst and gunning while doing it strategy, the Heartless and The Geth scattered about with Ash, Roxas, Garrus and Wrex having to retreat to more secure locations.</p>
      <p>Knowing that his friends may get flanked or overwhelmed, Roxas opted to stay close by them as he struck any Heartless or Geth that drew near to their position.</p>
      <p>The Krogan all the while allowed their bloodlust and rage to consume them, going berserker as they ran about, fighting anything that they considered a challenge.</p>
      <p>Some destroyed the Geth, some ran at them having been stopped by Wrex's Biotics or Roxas own power.</p>
      <p>Those that tried their hand against the Heartless however found a more difficult opponent that needed a certain kind of brute force if you were to defeat them.</p>
      <p>One Krogan who hadn't gone into his blood rage spotted the small critter that had been all over the battlefield.</p>
      <p>"Ah, a snack." The Krogan remarked with a wide grin as he began to approach the unusual alien.</p>
      <p>Hearing this, the blue alien slowly turned its head towards the larger bipedal individual and growled aloud</p>
      <p>Without warning, 626 began to jump about and towards the Krogan that made the snack comment..</p>
      <p>"What is he doing?!" Garrus yelled aloud, ducking behind cover for a moment before popping out to take out a Surveillance Robot.</p>
      <p>They watched as 626 literally <em>tackled</em> the large Krogan down to the ground. He began bashing his hands against the Krogan's armor, with the reptilian alien actually crying out in pain and shock.</p>
      <p>A moment later, 626 hopped down next to the head of the Krogan and grabbed the armor overhead piece of his enemy. He began tightening his hold on the armor and his claws dug in.</p>
      <p>"The hell are you-WAAAARGH"</p>
      <p>There are certain times and moments in life that one would always distinctly remember at any point in their future due to just how vivid the memory would become.</p>
      <p>See, to go along with this statement, after humanity got introduced into the galactic community all their unusual slang terms and quotes began to rapidly gain popularity among the populace.</p>
      <p>And since that time, many of these various quotes and sayings had been adopted and restructured by many species across the stars.</p>
      <p>An elephant never forgets became a Drell never forgets.</p>
      <p>A snail's pace turned into an Elcors pace.</p>
      <p>And there was one that always spoke of the incredulous and the impossible.</p>
      <p>When pigs fly.</p>
      <p>In this instance...</p>
      <p>"Did… did he just-?"</p>
      <p>"Yeah… yeah… I… don't…"</p>
      <p>"I think we shouldn't dwell on it." Wrex said plainly. "Our heads will hurt until tomorrow."</p>
      <p>"Agreed." Ash and Garrus said, the former looking to the completely nonplussed Keybearer.</p>
      <p>Of course he would be the one to be completely unphased by what they just saw.</p>
      <p>An alien life form no bigger than a dog easily tossing around a fully grown Krogan like a ragdoll must be a common thing to see for Roxas. After all, he could run up walls, summon a weapon to his hand instantly and can perform magic.</p>
      <p>Nothing new for this guy.</p>
      <p>They didn't have much time to dwell on it further, the remaining Krogan who saw this began to growl savagely at them before going in for the kill.</p>
      <p>Of course said Krogan were no match for Ashley's team, especially with their new little companion on their side.</p>
      <p>626 even hurled a piece of debris at one of the Krogan, his form flailing about with multiple broken limbs.</p>
      <p>The others broke out of their earlier daze and went back to taking out the rest of the Krogan around them that didn't take much long in defeating.</p>
      <p>Once the battle was over, the ground team entered another room where they found a Geth transmitter. No longer wanting any more Geth to appear here, they were quick in destroying it and heading back to rejoin the others.</p>
      <p>As this was going on, Shepard's team consisting of Liara, Kaidan and Tali came across a wrecked up garage. Upon entering it, they were assaulted and confronted with a very hungry and angry (hangry) pack of Varren; a reptilian-canine species.</p>
      <p>The warren attacked, but they were no match for the squad.</p>
      <p>As Shepard and Liara gathered up the warren corpses, Kaidan went around to inspect the garage in case any more warren were hiding for a surprise attack; only to find none. Tali, meanwhile, came across a damaged Mako situated above an inclined rising of stairs. The Quarian decided to take a ganger and properly retrieve the vehicle's power cells, hoping they could work with the colony's generator.</p>
      <p>With their little assignments done, the entire ground team made the trek back to the main colony and the mood of its residents was getting better. With the water valves back on, the warren were killed with their meat added to the food rations and the mako power cell was successful in powering the generator; it's no wonder the colonists were all the more happier.</p>
      <p>When reporting to Fai Dan on what occurred in the tunnels, the leader of Zhu's Hope was really relieved; especially when hearing the Geth in the tunnels were taken care of.</p>
      <p>Yet when Shepard mentioned the one man in the tunnels, Fai Dan just mentioned he was very troubled. Some of the ground team was able to pick up the subtle eye and facial movements, making them wonder what Fai Dan was actually talking about.</p>
      <p>"How much do you wanna bet he's hiding something?" Wrex murmured.</p>
      <p>Ashley snorted. "That's a sucker's bet."</p>
      <p>Roxas frowned. "What would he be hiding?"</p>
      <p>"Something that he doesn't want us to know." Shepard said, side eyeing Fai Dan.</p>
      <p>"At least we know where the rest of the Geth are holed up."</p>
      <p>"Just need to get across the Sky Highway leading up to the abandoned ExoGeni corporate building."</p>
      <p>"Yeup!"</p>
      <p>When entering the elevator, the entire team could only wait for anticipation to get out once the doors closed.</p>
      <p>"Seriously, this must be with all elevators in this galaxy. Can't they just make them all a little faster?" Ashley groaned aloud.</p>
      <p>626 growled before going off in his gibbering mess of a language.</p>
      <p>The Gunnery Chief gazed intently at the little guy with 626 looking right back up at her expectantly. "Okay, are you agreeing with me or not? Just asking."</p>
      <p>The little blue furred creature merely nodded.</p>
      <p>"Huh, would've thought something else."</p>
      <p>"Why's that?" Tali asked.</p>
      <p>"Cause I momentarily forgot this guy is sentient. Though I don't know if he's smart."</p>
      <p>This earned a bland look from 626.</p>
      <p>"What?"</p>
      <p>Before 626 could give a coherent answer, the elevator doors parted ways with 626 letting out a 'humph' with his head turned away and walking out of the elevator, nose raised.</p>
      <p>It was a rather comical display.</p>
      <p>The moment was interrupted when the sound of a firefight took place.</p>
      <p>The team rushed in, soon assisting the colonist scouts in taking down the dozen Geth drones and soldiers all around the garage.</p>
      <p>As this occurred, 626 was ready for action.</p>
      <p>Once leaping into the air, he dive bombed into a Geth drone and was quick to rip it apart. Landing on the ground, he performed a recovery roll before spotting a few guns lying around. Rushing towards them, each of his four hands snagged them before pulling the triggers.</p>
      <p>Off to the side, Roxas cleaved through a Geth Destroyer when he saw something interesting with 626.</p>
      <p>"Well would you look at that."</p>
      <p>Curious, some of the Normandy team looked over and was astonished seeing the little blue alien wielding the guns and actually using them properly. Some shots didn't reach their mark, given the varied sizes of the weapons, but the rest were made up for with the little creature's assault.</p>
      <p>Shepard huffed in amused astonishment. "I'll be damned."</p>
      <p>"What else does that little thing have up its sleeve?"</p>
      <p>"We can ask it to show and tell later." Shepard said, tossing out a Biotic pull which dragged a Geth drone in with Roxas following up the move by cleaving through the flying bot.</p>
      <p>Once the assault was over, the ground team was able to properly take a look of their surroundings.</p>
      <p>"Oh crap." Garrus muttered.</p>
      <p>"What?" Asked Kaidan.</p>
      <p>The Turian merely pointed, making the marine and the others look. Their relative calm expressions soon turned into one of dread.</p>
      <p>"Hell no." Quickly said the marine lieutenant.</p>
      <p>"What's up with you people?" Shepard said annoyingly. "It's just a Mako."</p>
      <p>"That's the point, Skipper." Ashley began. "It's a <em>Mako</em>."</p>
      <p>"And?"</p>
      <p>"You <em>always</em> call dibs on driving the Mako."</p>
      <p>"So?"</p>
      <p>"Do you want the blunt response?"</p>
      <p>"I think it's better to just go ahead and rip the bandage off." Garrus suggested.</p>
      <p>"What do you mean?"</p>
      <p>"Your driving is horrendous!"</p>
      <p>"It's not!"</p>
      <p>"Yes it is!"</p>
      <p>"Wha- Garrus I-"</p>
      <p>"You drove the Mako off a cliff. To spite me. Yeah, and while I'm at it, you're driving sucks Ash."</p>
      <p>"Well excuse me for having little to no experience driving one." Ashley said, soon glaring at the N7 marine. "The only ones who seem fine with your <em>driving</em>, Shepard, are Roxas and Wrex."</p>
      <p>"Don't their opinions count then?"</p>
      <p>"No, Wrex is 700 years old and has seen some shit. Roxas is just… well it sounds rude to call him weird but we all know that's the case."</p>
      <p>Roxas didn't really take any offense to it, merely shrugging at the end of it. Wrex merely snorted.</p>
      <p>"I doubt all of us can fit in that Mako. Model seems a bit smaller than the one we use." Garrus pointed out.</p>
      <p>Shepard hummed when taking that bit of info to consideration. It wasn't long before speaking up.</p>
      <p>"Wrex."</p>
      <p>"Hmmm?"</p>
      <p>"You're in charge." Jane declared making everyone blink.</p>
      <p>"What now?" the aged Krogan asked.</p>
      <p>"You stay behind here and watch over the colony." Shepard stated. "Liara, Tali and Roxas are gonna stay here to back you up."</p>
      <p>Wrex glanced over to them and then back at Shepard.</p>
      <p>"What about all the action I'm gonna miss." Wrex said with an annoyed tone.</p>
      <p>Jane rolled her eyes good-naturedly. "The action is gonna come straight at you whether you like it or not. That's how everyone is on the team now."</p>
      <p>"And what about 626?"</p>
      <p>At the mention of the little alien, he perked his head up towards the N7 commander. His ears were raised and there was a slightly hopeful look in his eyes.</p>
      <p>"Haven't really considered…" Jane looked at the little critter, remembering the assault earlier. "It's your choice if you want to join me or stay behind."</p>
      <p>"Little guy can surprisingly hold up on his own."</p>
      <p>626 found himself staring back and forth between the commander and Roxas, a look of reluctance appearing on his expression.</p>
      <p>Without even thinking about it…</p>
      <p>"I'll be here." Roxas assured the little koala-like alien.</p>
      <p>Wordlessly, the blue furred alien nodded and walked over to the Mako, clearly giving his message.</p>
      <p>"Alright, people, we have our assignments."</p>
      <p>When the teams separated, the colonist guards had the garage door open for the Mako to proceed onto the Sky Highway.</p>
      <p>Once given the "okay", Shepard gunned it.</p>
      <p>"You seriously need to be cautious this time, Skipper!" Ashley warned as the commander haphazardly drove through the open road. "One false turn could result in us dropping ten thousand stories!"</p>
      <p>"Oh we'll be fine-"</p>
      <p>"Geth dropship!" Garrus called out, spotting the purple plaited ship hovering some distance away. It soon deposited a couple of Geth Armatures before leaving the area.</p>
      <p>"You were saying?"</p>
      <p>"Ash, shut up. And Garrus-"</p>
      <p>"I know."</p>
      <p>Getting onto the guns, Garrus began his work. Firing away at the Geth forces, the one Armature was slowly being shredded apart. It would've been done faster if the shields were down.</p>
      <p>Scrambling to the front of the Mako, 626 saw the slow process it was taking for Garrus to take the Armature down. When it began firing back with its cannons, Shepard quickly swerved out of the way to avoid getting hit.</p>
      <p>The mind of the koala-like alien began to work upon seeing this happen before him.</p>
      <p>When Shepard moved the Mako ever closer, once the previous Armature fell to the ground in a massive heap, 626 went into action.</p>
      <p>"Hey, what are you doing?!" Kaidan yelled out, seeing 626 getting out of the Mako.</p>
      <p>It was too late for Shepard to stop moving as she ended up swerving. This caused 626 to be flung towards one of the standing Geth Armatures. With his claws out, he quickly scraped through the synthetic before digging into it. It spasmed around as a result of the invader penetrating it's frame.</p>
      <p>"What the hell is he doing?" Ashley inquired.</p>
      <p>When driving in as close as she can get, Shepard saw 626 breaking through several wire cords and started reworking them. It wasn't long before the little alien <em>directed</em> the Geth Armature to face the other one present and <em>commanded</em> the Geth to fire onto its ally.</p>
      <p>"I… I think he just hijacked it."</p>
      <p>Both Kaidan and Ashely bore bewildered looks. "You sure?" Asked the lieutenant marine.</p>
      <p>"She's not kidding, Alenko." Said Garrus from the Mako's gun. "It sure looks like it."</p>
      <p>When the opposing Geth Armature collapsed onto the Sky Highway, 626 saw the Geth Dropship coming back towards them, ready to deposit more opponents.</p>
      <p>Not wanting that to happen, 626 jumped off his hijacked Armature, dug his claws into one of its legs and lifted it up with utmost ease. Soon after, he spun in place before throwing the large Geth directly into the Dropship's path. Both pieces of machinery met midair and broke apart from the speed and strength 626 used in the recent throw before they plummeted to the ground… thousands of stories high.</p>
      <p>"..."</p>
      <p>"..."</p>
      <p>"..."</p>
      <p>"..."</p>
      <p>"WHAT THE FUCK!?"</p>
      <p>
        <em>-Meanwhile, back at Zhu's Hope-</em>
      </p>
      <p>"<strong>FIRA!"</strong></p>
      <p>A large fireball shot out from the edge of Roxas's weapon, the flaming sphere striking a cluster of Neoshadows and incinerating them.</p>
      <p>He was currently leading the defenses of Zhu's Hope for the mast part having Tali and Liara back him up primarily.</p>
      <p>Wrex was assisting in his own manner, having picked up on a few new tricks when dealing with the Heartless.</p>
      <p>He may have his strength, but the Heartless were unnatural in how they can take the damage. The Shadows appeared to be the easiest to take out with his bare hands though it took some practice. The emblem Heartless on the other hand provided the greatest challenge.</p>
      <p>The use of Biotics were essential in providing enough of an equalizer and even then the Battlemaster found taking down the Heartless difficult.</p>
      <p>Case in point, the newest Heartless that they currently fought against was with Wyverns and Surveillance Robots in the sky.</p>
      <p>They were large, broad, humanoid and extremely muscular in their mechanical frames. The collective of these newcomers sported grey skin, yellow eyes, and engine-shaped pauldrons on their shoulders with green highlights, and its feet are shaped like goat hooves. The helms have twin horns jutting out of it, resembling engines as well. The Heartless emblem was displayed upon their chest plates.</p>
      <p>They were quickly dubbed Mechanitaurs.</p>
      <p>"What was it you said earlier about 'the action you're about to miss'?" Roxas said towards the Krogan.</p>
      <p>"I know what I said and I take it back."</p>
      <p>After firing off several rounds from her Geth Pulse Rifle, Tali aimed her Omni-tool and fired off several lightning bolts, scorching the dive bombing Wyvern soon after. As her device went into its cooldown period, the Quarian tossed a grenade as it soon detonated and sent several Neoshadows flying away.</p>
      <p>Liara, meanwhile, had to quickly pull up a biotic barrier to protect herself from the assault from a Geth Surveillance Drone, different from a Heartless Surveillance Robot.</p>
      <p>This one had only one 'eye'.</p>
      <p>And it didn't have beams of energy appear around it in a circle before firing them at their targets.</p>
      <p>Also, the Heartless emblem was lacking from this drone.</p>
      <p>With her Barrier up, Tali was quick to rush to her aid, bringing out her Omni-tool for an overload upon the Geth Drone.</p>
      <p>The drone spasmed in the air, Liara bringing down her barrier to shoot down the Geth a moment later.</p>
      <p>Over with Roxas, he was having a slight difficulty in combating these new heavily armored Heartless. They fought more organized than other Heartless, constantly ramming him together.</p>
      <p>It was getting a bit frustrating now.</p>
      <p>When he fought the Heartless, for the most part, many of them felt familiar with every "new" Heartless he encountered giving him a sense of knowledge that allowed him to beat them quite soundly.</p>
      <p>These Heartless, however, were very different from what he was used to.</p>
      <p>But Roxas wasn't to just back down so easily.</p>
      <p>Gritting his teeth, Roxas grasped his Keyblade tightly in front of him as the Mechanitaurs readied themselves for another unified charge.</p>
      <p>Rather than having his Keyblade rest upon his shoulder like he usually would do so, Roxas instead grasped it in a slightly elevated diagonal manner holding the Keyblade with both hands and ran forward.</p>
      <p>The assembled rows of Mechanitaur all lowered their heads and charged at the lone Keyblade wielder.</p>
      <p>Undeterred by the oncoming charge, Roxas called upon the latent power he held within him.</p>
      <p>His affinity.</p>
      <p>Light.</p>
      <p>Feeling the power begin to course through his body, Roxas blurred out of sight, leaving only wisps of light in his wake.</p>
      <p>The Mechanitaur charge was halted right in its tracks.</p>
      <p>Well… halted would be a kind word.</p>
      <p>Instead, the seemingly impenetrable wall of the Heartless was shattered by the glowing form of the Keyblade's chosen.</p>
      <p>Several of them were destroyed instantly, while the rest were all stumbling back.</p>
      <p>Power surging through him, Roxas unleashed one powerful blow after another with pillars of lights exploding around him with every swing.</p>
      <p>The Mechanitaur "battalion" scrambled in an attempt to bring the Keybearer down but his attacks were relentless. All around him, the pillars of light only increased in numbers and size until he finished the attack with one final horizontal swing that led him to his arm up and around his head to embed the Keyblade into the ground.</p>
      <p>Upon impact, light burst from and around him with towers of additional light completely eradicating the Heartless around him.</p>
      <p>Roxas panted, the light around him slowly subsiding until it vanished entirely.</p>
      <p>A moment later, his Keyblade disappeared with him falling on all fours as he tried to steady his breathing.</p>
      <p>"Roxas!" Tali was immediately by his side, assisting him to stand back up.</p>
      <p>He shakily rose to his feet though he wobbled, Tali keeping her hands upon his shoulders to keep him steady.</p>
      <p>"You alright there kid?" Wrex asked, walking over to the daze Keybearer.</p>
      <p>"F-Fine." Roxas stammered, slowly regaining his balance and senses.</p>
      <p>"Goddess, what was that just now?" Liara asked in utter astonishment.</p>
      <p>"It looked like that <em>thing</em> he pulled back on Therum." Noted the Krogan.</p>
      <p>"That thing is called a <em>Limit Break." </em>Roxas rasped out.</p>
      <p>"...It has a <em>name</em>?"</p>
      <p>Ignoring the confused tone coming from Wrex, Roxas looked around and saw the state of the area.</p>
      <p>"That takes care of them, I suppose." Roxas said.</p>
      <p>Wrex only snorted, taking a moment to make sure Roxas' words to be true. "I suppose you're right."</p>
      <p>"Hopefully for a long while." Tali said.</p>
      <p>"We should probably radio this into Shepard." Liara suggested.</p>
      <p>"Good idea."</p>
      <p>Flaring the Omni-tool to life, Roxas attempted to call Shepard, yet there seemed to be no answer.</p>
      <p>"Huh, weird."</p>
      <p>"What's weird?"</p>
      <p>"She's not picking up."</p>
      <p>Worry flashed momentarily across Liara's face "Do you think she and the others are in trouble?"</p>
      <p>Wrex gave his opinion on the matter. "If I know Shepard, she's alright. Alenko, Williams and Garrus can definitely hold their own."</p>
      <p>Roxas nodded as he pulled out some Ethers and consumed them. Having his magical reserves filled back up, he thought he was in the clear to move a bit more. Yet his stumble was a clear give away that he needed help.</p>
      <p>Luckily for him, it came in the form of Tali.</p>
      <p>"I got you."</p>
      <p>Roxas gave her a kind smile. "Thanks, Tali."</p>
      <p>"Go take a breather, you two." Wrex gestured off, back towards the colony. "Liara and I can handle things out here."</p>
      <p>"Are you sure about that?" Tali asked in concern.</p>
      <p>"We will be fine, Tali." Liara assured. "These weapons and our Biotics will hold the defenses."</p>
      <p>Roxas grunted a bit, reaching into his pocket to pull out a few jars and blocks with stars on them. "Take these. They'll help you out with your health and biotics."</p>
      <p>"Thank you, Roxas." Liara graciously accepted with Wrex taking only one of each.</p>
      <p>"Thanks, runt."</p>
      <p>When Tali and Roxas walked off to find somewhere to rest, they saw Fai Dan. He gave them his thanks once more with their present actions before heading off somewhere.</p>
      <p>Seeing his retreating form, Roxas frowned a little. "Tali."</p>
      <p>"Yes, Roxas?"</p>
      <p>"Do you remember the man in the tunnel?"</p>
      <p>"I do, why?"</p>
      <p>"I remember him telling us to ask Fai Dan about something."</p>
      <p>"I do, but his weird headache kept cutting himself off from telling what was on his mind."</p>
      <p>"Yeah, it is strange."</p>
      <p>As the two kept moving onwards, the Nobody started to notice several things going on.</p>
      <p>For one, the colonists acted strange half the time. Some were properly scared and terrified while others were… unusually docile.</p>
      <p>"Speaking of, don't you get the feeling that something's… just not <em>right</em> here."</p>
      <p>Tali paused for a moment, thinking and gave her thoughts.</p>
      <p>"I do." Tali admitted nervously. "I didn't wanna say it but everything about this just feels off the more I think about it."</p>
      <p>Looking around to make sure there was no one nearby, she leaned over to whisper into Roxas's ear.</p>
      <p>"It's as if something's watching me, and it's not the colonists, if you know what I mean."</p>
      <p>Roxas nodded. "I tried asking them a few questions earlier and they all seem to be nervous about something. <em>Something</em> other than the Geth. They kept dodging everything I asked. "</p>
      <p>"But what are we supposed to do about it?" Tali said with an anxious tone. "It's not like we can just interrogate these people. We're supposed to be protecting them."</p>
      <p>"Can't they answer something? Anything?"</p>
      <p>Tali hummed once more. "Maybe we can sick Wrex on them and see what happens."</p>
      <p>Roxas laughed a little, making the Quarian laugh in return.</p>
      <p>
        <em>-Back with Shepard and Co-</em>
      </p>
      <p>After witnessing the <em>event</em> on the Sky Highway, Shepard had to be a bit more careful on the Skyway. Reason being their path to the ExoGeni building was truly becoming extra rough. Potholes and debris littered the area, making their ride <em>extra</em> bumpy.</p>
      <p>More so with the fact they learned the Mako's wheels had a bit more <em>spring</em> to its rolls.</p>
      <p>And boy there were some moments the Mako almost flew off the Skyway due to the unintentional high jumps when they were driving at its edge.</p>
      <p>Whereas everyone didn't enjoy the ride, 626 was laughing through most of it.</p>
      <p>"<em>I'm fearing for my sanity of the growing list of people who aren't affected badly by your driving."</em></p>
      <p>Shepard sniffled a little in a mock hurtful manner. <em>"Hurtful, Garrus. Hurtful."</em></p>
      <p>Drawing closer to the corporate building, they were picking up radio chatter. They didn't know if it was coming from other colonists that Fai Dan forgot to mention, but they decided to investigate.</p>
      <p>It just so happened they came across a small barricaded camp consisting of ExoGeni scientists and security guards who made it out alive when the Geth attacked.</p>
      <p>Soon introducing themselves, Shepard's team got introduced to Juliana and Jeong, a scientist and corporate representative, respectively. They talked to the N7 commander, explaining to her about the Geth situation, the people at Zhu's Hope and soon enough Jeong ranting on and on about the ExoGeni property being wrecked by the Geth.</p>
      <p>Before moving on, Juliana approached Shepard and pleaded for her help.</p>
      <p>"<em>Commander, before you go… my daughter, Lizbeth. She's missing and-"</em></p>
      <p>"<em>They shouldn't waste time poking around."</em> Jeong interrupted the scientist. <em>"We can do a proper accounting of our casualties after the Geth are gone."</em></p>
      <p>Both Shepard, her team and Juliana were no doubt pissed on how insecure the corporate man was acting. Some of the Normandy crew members were quick to realize the man is the type of person who would embrace the ideology of free enterprise: <em>profiting at any cost</em>.</p>
      <p>Jeong was the type of man who would pitch the idea of creating a colony on top of the ruins of the extinct Prothean race with no regards in risking lives and treating others like obstacles to the path of personal greatness.</p>
      <p>Hopefully once leaving Feros, they wouldn't have to deal with this type of person for a long time.</p>
      <p>Getting back on track, Shepard promised Juliana that she'll find her and bring her back as safe as she can manage.</p>
      <p>Upon reaching the building and exiting out of the Mako, the team of four -plus 626- started scavenging for clues and any Geth activity inside of the abandoned corporate building.</p>
      <p>They knew there should at least be some Geth, given the large Geth Dropship attached to the side of the Prothean structure, which was converted into the ExoGeni office building. Knowing that if they want to halt the Geth attacks a whole lot longer, that craft needs to go.</p>
      <p>"This place is a wreck."</p>
      <p>"Was this because of the poor conditions of the building's age or the firefight?"</p>
      <p>"Might be both."</p>
      <p>It wasn't long before they were quickly greeted with a small contingent of Geth consisting of a few snipers, a rocket trooper and several shock troopers.</p>
      <p>"Geth… settle nicely… huh?" 626 said rhetorically as he grabbed a large piece of debris and chucked it to the higher level where the snipers were located and were assumed to be destroyed.</p>
      <p>"Took the words right out of my mouth, little guy." Said Kaidan, firing off his biotic-infused rounds at the shock troopers.</p>
      <p>"What I don't get is what they are up to?" Spoke Garrus, firing his assault rifle at the rest of the Geth. "There's no point in this unless they are looking for something."</p>
      <p>"Could be related with whatever ExoGeni has." Ashley offered as she fired more of her special incendiary rounds.</p>
      <p>When the area was clear, the group traversed a little further in and came across a locked door. Before any of the ground team made the attempt to hack it for investigational purposes, 626 dug his claws into the door and ripped it out of the wall.</p>
      <p>"Thanks little guy." Shepard said, ruffling his head a little.</p>
      <p>626 chuckled a little as he walked on ahead.</p>
      <p>When Shepard was about to enter the space, loud sounds of metal being torn apart with metallic wheezing could be heard. The team quickly ran in and saw the little blue alien was tearing apart a Geth Armature.</p>
      <p>"Damn, now he's holding up the spot of most impressive Geth kills." Garrus commented.</p>
      <p>"First the hijacking and throw and now this." Shepard added in.</p>
      <p>"No doubt Wrex would've wanted to witness this." Said the Gunnery Chief.</p>
      <p>Once the Armature is down, the group exits the one room. As they did, Kaidan quickly spotted a Geth Hopper crawling up the walls. Throwing a Statis field around it, the Geth platform was frozen solid before it's head was assaulted and destroyed with Biotic rounds.</p>
      <p>"Alright, we're clear now."</p>
      <p>"Good eye, Kaidan."</p>
      <p>"Thanks, commander."</p>
      <p>Walking down a slope of rubble, the group came across a large cavern with several fires still going on. Rounding a corner, they were greeted with gunfire as some bullets grazed their kinetic shields.</p>
      <p>In an instant, everyone had their guns trained on the assailant. They momentarily thought it was a Geth, but it wasn't one at all; rather it was a human woman.</p>
      <p>"Oh my god!" Said the woman, placing her hand over her mouth. "I'm so sorry. I thought you were the Geth or the warren!"</p>
      <p>"It's alright, you're safe now." Shepard relieved the woman before ushering her team to lower their weapons. "I'm Commander Shepard of the Normandy. This here is my team."</p>
      <p>"Are you perhaps Lizbeth?" Garrus asked.</p>
      <p>The woman widened her eyes. "H-How did-"</p>
      <p>"We ran into your mother on the way over here. She is with the other ExoGeni employees." Spoke the commander. "She asked us to find you and bring you back while we're here."</p>
      <p>The now identified Lizbeth smiles upon hearing this. She thought she was the only one alive.</p>
      <p>"Don't mind me asking this but why are you here in the first place and not with the others?" Asked the lieutenant marine. "Let alone survived for so long on your own."</p>
      <p>Lizbeth complied and answered Kaidan's question, explaining that it was her fault of being left behind. She wanted to back up and save the company's data when the Geth showed up and attacked. Yet it was a wasted endeavor when the power went out. She tried to get out, but the Geth were blocking her only ways of escaping via energy field and patrols.</p>
      <p>Ever since the Geth took root here, Lizbeth had been hunting the passing warren and hiding from the invading synthetics.</p>
      <p>"Do you perhaps know why the Geth are here in the first place?" Shepard asked the ExoGeni employee.</p>
      <p>"I don't know for certain, but I think they're here for the Thorian." Lizbeth's answer merely confused the bunch, causing her to explain. "It's an indigenous plant based life-form. ExoGeni was studying it after we found it. Aside from that, have no clue what else the Geth are looking for."</p>
      <p>The human members of the Normandy exhaled a tired, frustrated sigh.</p>
      <p>Why is it that everyone trusts corporations or governments that study biological life forms the first chance they get? There were scores of movies and novels each of them read in the past which explored this concept. Didn't anyone ever bother learning about the idea? It never ends well for anyone involved.</p>
      <p>"And <em>where</em> can we find this Thorian?"</p>
      <p>"I'm not certain on its whereabouts, the higher ups never told me. I'm just a research assistant." Said Lizbeth. "But if you can get me back to my mother, she could maybe tell you."</p>
      <p>"We won't be able to leave this place until the barriers are down." Kaidan plainly stated.</p>
      <p>"Any suggestions are helpful right about now." Shepard stressed out.</p>
      <p>"Taking out the ship powering them is the most likely option." Garrus pointed out.</p>
      <p>"Then we should get going."</p>
      <p>Before the group could leave, the research assistant spoke up.</p>
      <p>"Wait, you should take this." Lizbeth then handed them her employee ID card. "This could help you get through any locked doors still operating."</p>
      <p>Shepard nodded, pocketing the ID card before stating the obvious question wafting around them. "You got a place you can hide?"</p>
      <p>"Somewhat with those Geth and warren running around."</p>
      <p>Kaidan then decided to bring up a bit of info. "We have already cleared out some pockets of Geth on our way here."</p>
      <p>"He's right." Jane stated. "Why don't you wait by the Mako by the one entrance and we'll take you back to your mother once we take care of the Geth and find what we're looking for."</p>
      <p>"I'll do that." Lizbeth said as she went to her new destination.</p>
      <p>When she exited the chamber, the group was ready to depart when they noticed something off.</p>
      <p>"Where's 626?" The Spectre asked, her squad realizing he was missing.</p>
      <p>"Now that you mention him, I was wondering why that woman wasn't freaking out." Ashley pointed out, looking around to see if she could spot the little guy.</p>
      <p>"Given that he wasn't here with us."</p>
      <p>"Once again, where is he?"</p>
      <p>Soon enough, they saw the little blue furred alien scampering towards them.</p>
      <p>"And where did you run off to?"</p>
      <p>626 didn't say anything, merely chuckling a little as they walked towards the nearest door.</p>
      <p>"That doesn't sound reassuring."</p>
      <p>Unbeknownst to the Normandy members, their recent companion went off hiding when the others encountered Lizbeth. As he did, he came across half a dozen warren.</p>
      <p>...Suffice to say, said pack wouldn't be leaving anytime soon, due to them becoming outright afraid of the koala-like alien.</p>
      <p>Passing through a locked door, which opened up due to Lizbeth's ID card, they rounded a corner and found a flight of stairs. Climbing to the top, the group soon heard the grumblings of a Krogan.</p>
      <p>"Stupid machine! Access encrypted files!"</p>
      <p>When they moved closer, they heard another voice speak back to the Krogan, which was apparently a VI program. "I am unable to respond. Please contact your supervisor."</p>
      <p>Coming to the top of the stairs, they found themselves standing behind a large Krogan standing in front of a human looking VI. Said Krogan seemed to try accessing information from the VI console with no luck at all.</p>
      <p>Upon seeing this, Ashley had some remark in mind about Krogan and technology, but she couldn't think of the joke being good or not.</p>
      <p>The Krogan was no doubt exasperated and continued to threaten the VI. "Damn it! Tell me what I want or I'll blast your virtual ass into actual dust!"</p>
      <p>The VI program was not compliant enough to the Krogan's liking when it responded back. "Please contact your supervisor for a Level 4 security exemption or make an appointment-"</p>
      <p>"Stupid machine!"</p>
      <p>Then the VI program said something that made the Normandy team want to act up on the Krogan's threat. "If there's nothing else, please step aside. There is a queue forming behind you for the use of this console."</p>
      <p>The Krogan turned around to see Shepard and her team standing right behind him. The Krogan drew out his shotgun and charged right at them.</p>
      <p>Kaidan was quick on the draw and threw out a Stasis field around the charging Krogan. Soon after, the rest of the group opened fire, having their bullets tear through the Krogan's armor and body. As the Statis field wore off, the Krogan's body dropped to the ground, which shook slightly as a result.</p>
      <p>Once thanking Kaidan, Shepard approached the VI console.</p>
      <p>"Welcome back, Research Assistant Elizabeth Baynham. What can I do for you?"</p>
      <p>Hearing this from the VI, the team gave each other looks.</p>
      <p>"Must be reading Lizbeth's ID card."</p>
      <p>Nodding, Shepard requested her information from the VI console. "What information was the last user attempting to access?"</p>
      <p>The VI hesitates for a moment, looking at us coldly. It was oddly creepy when really thinking about it with the eyes and all that.</p>
      <p>"Fetching data," said the VI. "Previous user was attempting to access details on the study of Subject Species 37, the Thorian."</p>
      <p>"What did you tell him?"</p>
      <p>"I was unable to provide relevant data," the VI nonchalantly continued. "Asides from lacking proper access, there has been no new available data on Species 37. All sensors monitoring the observation posts at Zhu's Hope have been inactive for several cycles."</p>
      <p>At the mention of Zhu's Hope, everyone visibly flinched.</p>
      <p>"Zhu's Hope?" Kaidan asked. "What does the Thorian and ExoGeni have to do with the colonists?"</p>
      <p>Shepard shook her head. "Only one way to find out." She turned back to the VI and repeated Kaidan's inquiry.</p>
      <p>The VI then gave the answer. "Species 37 is located within the substructure of Zhu's Hope outpost."</p>
      <p>...Well… shit…</p>
      <p>"Tell me everything you know about the Thorian." Shepard firmly demanded, finally realizing there to be a connection with the Geth and possibly Saren's interest with the place.</p>
      <p>"The Thorian is a simple plant life form that exhibits a sentient behavior uncommon with other flora," said the VI. "Through dispersion and eventual inhalation of spores, it can affect and control other organisms, including humans."</p>
      <p>As the VI continued to answer Shepard's questions, Kaidan, Ashley, Garrus and 626 gave each other knowing looks as they basically overheard the gist of what came next.</p>
      <p>ExoGeni was practically using Zhu's Hope as one huge control experiment with nearly everyone already infected.</p>
      <p>Kaidan piped up. "That would explain the strange behavior."</p>
      <p>"We need to contact Joker, <em>now</em>." Garrus said firmly.</p>
      <p>Shepard nodded and opened a comm link. "Joker. Come in, Joker. Do you read?"</p>
      <p>There was no response.</p>
      <p>"Dammit!"</p>
      <p>"The Geth barrier must be jamming the signal." Stated the Gunnery Chief.</p>
      <p>"All the more reason to take down the Geth ship and hightail it back to Zhu's Hope as fast as possible."</p>
      <p>With their new task being set, the group climbed up the nearby flight of stairs, hoping to find the Geth ship as soon as possible.</p>
      <p>Apparently it didn't take long to find.</p>
      <p>Asides from several claws lodged through, tubes from the ship were pulled in through the wall openings to produce what appeared to be some type of feeding tube from the Geth ship's power generator. And some of them were connected to the ExoGeni computers, no doubt downloading whatever information needed from their files and whatever else from the Prothean ruins.</p>
      <p>What really drew their attention was the Geth's present action.</p>
      <p>"Are they praying?" Kaidan asked.</p>
      <p>"It looks like it." Ashley replied with a grim tone as they saw the Geth kneeling before an orb of light.</p>
      <p>"Remember, the Geth think the Reapers are their gods and Saren is their prophet." Garrus stated. "They'll be willing to fight and do anything to make Saren's 'goals' a reality."</p>
      <p>"Alright. So how should we approach-"</p>
      <p>"ALOHA!"</p>
      <p>Shepard's squad quickly saw 626 was before the Geth as he quickly jumped on top of each of them and ripped to shreds. Whatever else remained standing were shot down by the little creature's armaments.</p>
      <p>"...That was quick."</p>
      <p>Ashley turned to the small blue alien.</p>
      <p>"Was that Hawaiian just now?"</p>
      <p>626 just made a sound of sorts that sort of sounded like his version of yes.</p>
      <p>Stranger and stranger this day went on.</p>
      <p>Getting closer to the machinery around them, the group started to analyze it.</p>
      <p>"Looks like the Geth are using these claws to anchor their ship to the building's side." Said Kaidan.</p>
      <p>"Rather subtle there." Garrus quipped. "Now then, gonna need to find a way to cut off the ship's power from here."</p>
      <p>"Easier said than done." Ashley said, walking around one of the claws.</p>
      <p>"We... try to release… ship." 626 suggested.</p>
      <p>Garrus nodded as he started looking at the claws a little more. "Yeah, perhaps these claws have an exploitable weakness of some kind."</p>
      <p>"We should keep moving and find the other claws." Shepard ordered the group.</p>
      <p>Traversing through the corridors, the team kept running into several Geth nests here and there which proved to be of minimal challenge. Even coming across a few rooms being blocked off by a glowing blue force field.</p>
      <p>Eventually coming onto the next floor up, they found another claw brought through a shutter bay door into what appeared to be a containment lab.</p>
      <p>Yet the matter of removing the remaining Geth in the room that needed to be taken care of first.</p>
      <p>Resolving the Geth issue on the upper area was a bit easy to deal with, given Garrus' special sniper rifle was able to fire a splitting beam, hitting each of them all at once. As for the rest, they were taken care of with the rest of the squad in their own respective manners.</p>
      <p>Once the Geth were cleared out, the group inspected the various computers in order to see what could possibly be done in the room. Aside from reading a report on an offsite ExoGeni facility, something pertaining to a group called Cerberus and a Geth Incursion in the Armstrong Nebula, there was nothing to be said with their current situation. But they did copy the information onto their Omni-tools for later use.</p>
      <p>In the far off area of the containment lab, 626 came across a repair ticket attached to a console. It explained that the shuttle bay doors were fried yet again, saying that the doors would slam shut if the PSI was in between the 31 and 34 zone with enough pressure to cut through metal.</p>
      <p>Humming to himself, 626 quickly got onto the controls and began his work.</p>
      <p>In no time, the little blue furred alien found the right sequence and activated the broken bay door.</p>
      <p>In an instant, the doors quickly clamped onto the claws and cut right through them. Without the claws, there was no proper grip and without said grip, the Geth ship started tumbling off the building and fell thousands of stories to the solid earth below. This resulted in an emphatic crash and boom that rattled the entire tower.</p>
      <p>The three humans and Turian all gaped in utter astonishment as to what the little guy had just accomplished.</p>
      <p>"Holy crap! You did it!"</p>
      <p>626 merely laughed in glee.</p>
      <p>The team's celebration was cut short by the Normandy's pilot blurting through Shepard's comm link.</p>
      <p>"<em>-I repeat, Normandy to shore party. Are you reading? Anyone there? Normandy to shore party. Shepard, Kaidan, Ashley, Garrus, anyone! Talk to me!"</em></p>
      <p>The N7 marine quickly responded. "We're here Joker. What's going on over there?"</p>
      <p>"<em>Finally you answer!"</em> Joker yelled out. <em>"Look, we're currently on lockdown. Something happened to the colonists. They're banging the hull and trying to claw their way into the ship. They're freaking out. It's like the Resident Evil here, commander!"</em></p>
      <p>"Hold your position and keep those people out, Joker." Shepard instructed. "You have to defend the Normandy at all costs."</p>
      <p>"<em>Why?"</em></p>
      <p>"Because we just found out the colonists are infected by a creature ExoGeni has been hiding and they aren't acting and thinking clearly."</p>
      <p>Shepard knew this was a selfish demand towards her disabled pilot, but she wanted to be sure her ship and crew were safe. Despite knowing the Normandy's occupants are trained to handle themselves in the worst case scenario, she was being a responsible, concerned commander on this debacle.</p>
      <p>"<em>Um… Okay."</em> Joker said, clearly showing he wasn't too thrilled. <em>"Maybe I'll fire a few warning shots if that'll work."</em></p>
      <p>"Do what you can. We're on our way back."</p>
      <p>"<em>Then you better hurry cause the others are having an </em>utter<em> blast."</em> Was Joker's sarcastic remark before cutting off.</p>
      <p>
        <em>-Scene Cut-</em>
      </p>
      <p>Some time had passed with no updates from Shepard and the others. This left Roxas, Wrex, Tali and Liara to hang around, patrolling the colony for another Geth or Heartless attack that they were convinced would not happen as time went on. More so on the former than the latter.</p>
      <p>As they waited to hear back from the rest of the ground team, the present group tried to do whatever they could to relieve themselves of boredom.</p>
      <p>Wrex was occasionally checking his gear for any other surprise attacks and Liara was typing information down onto her Omni-tool. As for Roxas and Tali, they were just having some mild conversation.</p>
      <p>"I hope they make it back soon." Said Tali. "Sooner they come back, the sooner we leave this place."</p>
      <p>Roxas nodded, knowing how uncomfortable the Quarian is starting to become recently. The atmosphere in Zhu's Hope was starting to become unbearable. What was once a semi-cheerful area started to shift into something else.</p>
      <p>As Roxas was about to speak, he felt a sharp sting on the back of his arm.</p>
      <p>He clutched his arm, glancing back to his attacker and…</p>
      <p>"What?"</p>
      <p>Hearing the mild grunt, Tali looked over and saw Roxas was hurt!</p>
      <p>"Roxas?!"</p>
      <p>Suddenly, she felt a sharp ping against her helmet and her Kinetic barrier flared dangerously. The Quarian whipped around and saw the colonists were suddenly lining up to shoot at them.</p>
      <p>Eyes widening in disbelief and fear, Tali ducked down to avoid the oncoming fire, moving quickly to escape the line of fire. Getting behind a few crates, Tali was at a momentary loss on what to do with the colonists abruptly attacking her.</p>
      <p>Seeing this happen, Roxas was quick to summon his Keyblade just in time to deflect the incoming fire. The shots sailed in different directions as he rolled over to Tali's position.</p>
      <p>Tali soon got on the Normandy channel and yelled urgently. "Wrex, Liara, colonists just opened fire on Roxas and I! I repeat, colonists just opened fire on us!"</p>
      <p>From where they were at, both Wrex and Liara immediately scrambled into action with their weapons at the ready.</p>
      <p>They ran towards Roxas and Talis position, the sound of gunfire ahead.</p>
      <p>They reached the two, though took cover behind a broken down pillar as the colonists saw the two and a few began firing at them.</p>
      <p>"Are you two alright?!" Liara asked.</p>
      <p>"Yeah, I'm good. So is Tali." Roxas responded. "But you guys should be careful."</p>
      <p>Wrex, who could sense a change in the atmosphere, began to grin sadistically. "Well now, this is gonna get interesting."</p>
      <p>Quickly realizing what Wrex was implying, Liara spoke up. "Wrex, we can't kill the colonists!"</p>
      <p>"You forget I'm in charge here."</p>
      <p>"But-"</p>
      <p>Wrex interrupted the asari doctor, raising a biotic barrier just in time to block the barrage of bullets fired their way by the colonists.</p>
      <p>"Is that the best you Pyjaks got?!" The Krogan Battlemaster challenged defiantly.</p>
      <p>"Wrex, we can't kill them!" Liara said. "What would Shepard think of this?!"</p>
      <p>Hearing this, Wrex hesitated now, knowing the Commander would more than likely chew his eat out. And possibly shoot him.</p>
      <p>"Ugh! Fine! Tali, Roxas retreat to the Normandy if you can." Wrex ordered over the comms. "These worthless colonists get to live another day."</p>
      <p>As he and Liara made their retreat to the Normandy, the two biotics threw several throw fields, knocking a number of colonists back and tumbling all over.</p>
      <p>When nearing the barricade nearing the docking bay, the pair were blocked off by a number of colonists as a large number was rushing towards the Normandy. Before either Wrex and Liara could go forward to possibly disable the attacking colonists, a large ball of blue light crashed near the docking bay entrance. As it died down, a large block of ice was formed and blocked the colonists from entering.</p>
      <p>Whirling around, the two biotics saw Roxas arriving with Tali.</p>
      <p>"Come on, this way!"</p>
      <p>Seeing as the Nobody essentially blocked their only exit at the time, the two biotics were forced to comply and follow him and the Quarian.</p>
      <p>Running through the colony, they eventually reached the tower, which was the entrance to the tunnels below and the elevator to the Sky Highway up above. Once making past it, Roxas whirled around and casted Blizarra, forming a large ice wall and blocking the colonists from entering the tower.</p>
      <p>"Well, great. Now you trapped us, runt."</p>
      <p>"You forget I can break through this easily." Said the Nobody, dismissing his Keyblade soon after.</p>
      <p>"...Whatever."</p>
      <p>"So what now?" Tali asked.</p>
      <p>"Just hunker down before Shepard and the rest come back, I suppose-"</p>
      <p>Suddenly, they heard something… <em>strange</em>.</p>
      <p>There were bizarre squelching and moaning sounds coming from nearby.</p>
      <p>Whirling around, the group saw <em>something</em> walking up the stairs.</p>
      <p>Roxas gazed upon the strange creatures that were coming for them.</p>
      <p>They certainly were not Heartless. Nor were they anything like the usual types of aliens that they had faced before.</p>
      <p>They looked human… decomposing humans.</p>
      <p>Walking, rotting corpses.</p>
      <p>They were ghastly looking creatures with black and grey skin with no eyeballs where the eye sockets should be. There was a permanent grin as if it was meant to smile with elongated fingers that seemed to turn out to be claws.</p>
      <p>"What are those things?" Tali asked, clearly nervous at what she was looking at.</p>
      <p>"They don't look friendly." Wrex growled, priming his gun. "Not human either."</p>
      <p>"Goddess." Liara muttered, her Biotics appearing around her. "Are they… are those the colonists?"</p>
      <p>"Think Shepard would be upset if we kill these bastards?" Wrex asked rhetorically.</p>
      <p>"Pretty sure she'd make an exception for this case." Tali stated, now brandishing her shotgun.</p>
      <p>Roxas only threw his hand out to re-summon his Keyblade as they faced the group of sickly and dead looking enemies that were now coming straight towards them.</p>
      <p>Without another word being spoken, Roxas charged forward with the others beginning to fire upon these unusual and creepy enemies.</p>
      <p>Getting close to one, Roxas reared back and smashed his Keyblade against the midsection of this creepy individual. The force in which it was hit caused it to fly several feet in the air before crashing down a moment later.</p>
      <p>The rest began firing at the shambling bodies, biotics, bullets and enhanced weapons making quick work of these… Creepers.</p>
      <p>Tali quickly activated her Omni-Tool and sent out a bolt of energy that shot through several of the new foes, the wrist device turning off to recharge.</p>
      <p>Liara sent out a Biotic throw, making several of them fall over.</p>
      <p>Wrex shot at the enemies left and right, his explosive ammunition tearing them apart.</p>
      <p>Yet… more just kept on coming.</p>
      <p>They were even coming from a separate hallway now with greater numbers as well as the ones they were fighting near the stares getting reinforcements of their own.</p>
      <p>"We can't stay here." Liara said frantically.</p>
      <p>"Run for the elevator." Roxas shouted, taking out another one of these strange creatures before he began running.</p>
      <p>Upon scrambling inside, the doors finally closed just when one of the creepers was about to reach them. It's limb was quickly severed by the clenching doors before it simply dropped onto the elevator floor. It moved for a quick moment until it ceased to function.</p>
      <p>"Ew." Tali said plainly, shivering at what they were looking at.</p>
      <p>"What in Goddess's name is happening?" Liara asked.</p>
      <p>Before anyone could answer, the arm suddenly twitched about for a moment until it stopped again.</p>
      <p>Without needing any incentive, Wrex held up his shotgun and shot it to smithereens with chunks all over and a prominent viscous stain where the arm once was.</p>
      <p>"...Do you think it was a bad idea to get in here?"</p>
      <p>"Yeup."</p>
      <p>"Most definitely."</p>
      <p>Wrex, Liara and Tali then looked at the sheepish looking Nobody.</p>
      <p>"Sorry, it was the first thing that came to mind."</p>
      <p>Suddenly their comms buzzed to life. <em>"Shepard to ground team. Ground team come in, over."</em></p>
      <p>"Shepard, thank the goddess you and the others are alright!" Said Liara. "We're in a tight situation right now. The colonists have turned on us!"</p>
      <p>"<em>Yeah, Joker filled us in on the details."</em> Said the commander. <em>"Look, we're inbound from the Sky Highway to the garage as we speak."</em></p>
      <p>"Understood. We're already on our way there. We'll wait for your arrival." Said the Krogan.</p>
      <p>Making it to the garage leading to the Sky Highway, the group stepped out and soon saw a large cluster of Creepers walking about the space.</p>
      <p>"...Well… damn."</p>
      <p>The Creepers soon noticed their arrival as nearly all of them screeched loudly. Rushing forward, the zombie-like creatures were coming closer to their position.</p>
      <p>In an instant, the four person team went to work.</p>
      <p>Roxas casted Fira on a number of them while Liara used a biotic throw to keep them away. Whatever else came remotely close was soon met with the shotgun blasts courtesy of Wrex and Tali.</p>
      <p>Before long, the garage door started to open as the Mako rushed into the area. In an instant, the rest of the ground team exited out of the land vehicle and came in to assist their allies.</p>
      <p>Shepard fired rapidly with a surprising ally riding upon her shoulders.</p>
      <p>626 laughed wickedly, firing at every Creeper that he could get his sights on.</p>
      <p>Garrus and Kaidan fought together with Ashely rushing over to help the others.</p>
      <p>With all eight squad members plus the add on of 626, they made quick work of these bizarre Creepers.</p>
      <p>"What were those things?" Kaidan asked aloud.</p>
      <p>"They looked like something from a zombie flick." Shepard remarked, crouching down to examine one of the bodies.. "Must be this Thorian's doing."</p>
      <p>"Thorian? What's a Thorian?" Wrex asked.</p>
      <p>From here, Shepard and her squad told the others of what they had learned since they saw them last. From meeting the ExoGeni scientists to learning the truth of what's really going on at Zhu's Hope.</p>
      <p>By the end of it, Wrex's squad was utterly disgusted.</p>
      <p>"They basically allowed this to happen." Liara said in a revolted manner.</p>
      <p>"Why would they do this?" Roxas asked, completely off put by what he had heard.</p>
      <p>"Stupid reasons." Shepard huffed. "Right now, we have more pressing matters."</p>
      <p>The team gathered around the Commander as she began to explain the game plan in taking out the Thorian.</p>
      <p>"We need to use these." Shepard and the rest of her one team held up grenades. "These are modified gas grenades that will take down the colonists non-lethally. No lethal force is to be used, is that understood?"</p>
      <p>"You got it."</p>
      <p>"We'll have to use some biotics, just in case." Kaidan said, earning nods from his fellow biotic users.</p>
      <p>"And where's this Thorian?" Tali inquired.</p>
      <p>"We were told the entrance to the Thorian's whereabouts is underneath the pre-fab units." Informed their Turian sniper.</p>
      <p>"At least we now know where to head off to." Liara stated. "I remember seeing where those are at."</p>
      <p>"Good. Anything else we should bring up before we move out?" Shepard asked.</p>
      <p>Roxas thought for a moment before speaking his thoughts. "I remember after I set some of the creepers ablaze, a small number of them were running around in confusion."</p>
      <p>"Hmm… then it seems they're susceptible to fire." Shepard mused aloud. "Alright. Ash, you use your incendiary rounds and Roxas your fire spells."</p>
      <p>With this said, the group made it to the elevator and took the ride down. The wait was partially agonizing, but the team was laser focused on what is about to occur.</p>
      <p>The moment the doors parted ways, Roxas quickly casted Fira onto the coming Creepers. Once blasted back, Ashley started firing upon them as the effects of their two burning attacks were giving them a chance. And just when the group were parting from the enclosed space, Liara threw a biotic throw, sending the remainder creepers away.</p>
      <p>Kaidan was quick to do the same and a moment later, Jane helped as well.</p>
      <p>Garrus kept moving about, shooting the Creepers to immobilize them rather than just kill.</p>
      <p>Tali was fighting closely with Wrex and Liara, the trio managing to take down a large swatch of the Creepers.</p>
      <p>Once the tower was cleared, the group came across Roxas' ice wall. Smashing through it with his Keyblade, Roxas walked on out and saw the various colonists soon looking at them.</p>
      <p>"Grenades!"</p>
      <p>Upon Shepard's command, several team members tossed out the modified gas grenades. In mere seconds, the infected colonists started dropping one by one as they entered a state of unconsciousness.</p>
      <p>"Great to see they're working." Garrus plainly stated.</p>
      <p>"Now let's take care of the rest." Said Kaidan.</p>
      <p>When occasionally coming across some stray colonists, they quickly discovered that using melee attacks to knock out the colonists worked just as well as using the gas grenades. The creepers had come out in numbers, causing some problems here and there, but it wasn't too difficult for the ground team to handle.</p>
      <p>Soon enough, the rescue of the colony was successful and they eventually came across the pre-fab labs.</p>
      <p>"Alright, let's see how we can reach the entrance."</p>
      <p>They saw a crane nearby, quickly giving Shepard an idea. But when they were about to reach it, a shot rang out and the control box to the crane system sparked up.</p>
      <p>Whirling around, they saw Fai Dan holding up a gun with a pained expression on his features. Clearly showing he was not doing so well.</p>
      <p>"Fai Dan? What the hell?!" Shepard exclaimed.</p>
      <p>"I… I tried to fight it, but it's in my head!" Fai Dan cried out. "You can't imagine the pain! I… I was supposed to protect these people. They trusted me!"</p>
      <p>Next thing he did was bring up his gun towards them, quickly having the team aim their weapons in return.</p>
      <p>"It… It wants me to stop you all. Hampering you from reaching it." Fai Dan then placed his sidearm to his temple. "But I… won't. I won't!"</p>
      <p>*BANG*</p>
      <p>The bullet went through the man's skull, having grey matter splatter out from the exit wound. After that, he collapsed onto the ground dead.</p>
      <p>The team had their own responses to what they just witnessed. Some merely grimaced while the rest hanged their heads in respect for the man resisting against the Thorian in his last few moments.</p>
      <p>Roxas, however, only bore a blank stare, something which Tali and Jane took notice of.</p>
      <p>Neither didn't know what to really make of it as Roxas should at least have something responsive upon witnessing this.</p>
      <p>"Roxas…"</p>
      <p>Roxas turned and saw Tali's concerned look upon hearing her muttering his name.</p>
      <p>At this point, Garrus turned as well and saw the oddly blank stare the kid bore right before it shifted onto something else.</p>
      <p>"So what now?" Roxas asked plainly.</p>
      <p>Garrus soon snapped out of his mild state of thinking before speaking the obvious question. "Without the controls, how are we gonna enter?"</p>
      <p>The others contemplated, wondering how they can work around this issue.</p>
      <p>Roxas, all the while, watched silently as 626 approached the pre-fabs with him rolling his shoulders. He then spat into his palms, rubbed them together and shoved them down underneath their obstacle.</p>
      <p>"Eh… What's the little runt doing?" Wrex inquired.</p>
      <p>His answer was soon received when 626 <em>lifted</em> the entire pre-fab off of the ground and walked over to the large opened area nearby before dropping it.</p>
      <p>"Oh… yeah… that works… I guess." Tali said blandly, in complete disbelief.</p>
      <p>"That was nothing compared to what he did to that Geth Armature." Ashley muttered out, still wide eyed on what she just saw.</p>
      <p>"I'm sorry, what happened?"</p>
      <p>"We'll tell you later."</p>
      <p>Shaking herself out of her small state of shock, Shepard ushered her team to enter the newly revealed entrance.</p>
      <p>Reaching down the stairs, the ground team soon traversed through a maze-like corridor with the winding pathways here and there. Eventually they reached a large area with an odd looking object at its center.</p>
      <p>Kaidan just kept talking about what to expect. "Okay, by the numbers, we need to find… to find…"</p>
      <p>The lieutenant marine trailed off as he and the others were open mouthed upon seeing the odd thing before them.</p>
      <p>"Keelah… What is… that?"</p>
      <p>"Ok… first off, disgusting." Shepard said blankly. "Second… I think that's the Thorian."</p>
      <p>The Thorian was large, resembling like a bulb of a plant and it was suspending itself using roots attaching itself to the many levels of corridors. It was the color of tanned brown and slightly off with a green tint. It had a triangular face and tentacles coming out where its mouth would be.</p>
      <p>Ashley felt a migraine coming on, rubbing the side of her head.</p>
      <p>"Can we go just one mission without running into something freaky." Ash groaned. "First the Geth, then these Heartless, then those creepy zombies and now this thing."</p>
      <p>They walked forward a little bit towards the Thorian and… it started to breathe? It was infinitely unsettling as plants should not breathe for crying out loud! With it brown and all, it should be associated that it was dying, not like this!</p>
      <p>Soon enough, it started to… cough?</p>
      <p>"Oh it's alive." Garrus dryly said. "Why wouldn't it be?"</p>
      <p>"I think this is just going to add more fuel to my nightmares tonight." Ashley muttered out.</p>
      <p>"It is… disturbing." Liara said slowly.</p>
      <p>Soon enough the coughing increased before it apparently moved its head forward and spat something out.</p>
      <p>"...Eeeeeeeeewwwww." The ladies let out, shivering at the rather disgusting display before them.</p>
      <p>"No amount of therapy will ever make this ok." Kaidan said in a dead voice.</p>
      <p>"Oh please, you lot are just queasy just seeing <em>that</em>?" Wrex asked aloud.</p>
      <p>"What did it just barf?" Shepard inquired.</p>
      <p>The "barf" was in fact a person, a regurgitated asari apparently. Yet there was something clearly different with this asari. Asari ranged from all sorts of blue and purple… this one was green. And she wasn't naked either, given the full body suit that looked like armor of some kind.</p>
      <p>"So… that just happened." Kaidan said.</p>
      <p>"Should we kill it?" Wrex asked. "I feel the sudden urge to do so."</p>
      <p>"I'm right with you." Garrus said as 626 nodded in agreement.</p>
      <p>The green skinned asari stood before the ground team and scowled at them. "Invaders. Your every step is a transgression. A thousand feelers appraise you as meat, good only to dig or decompose."</p>
      <p>"Okay… aside from that insult, who are you?"</p>
      <p>"I speak for the Old Growth, as I did for Saren." Revealed the green asari. "You are within and before the Thorian. It commands that you be in awe."</p>
      <p>"I'm in awe, alright. Awe-ly disgusted." Ash said, face slightly pale as she observed the green skinned Asari.</p>
      <p>Shepard soon responded. "You gave something to Saren. Something I need."</p>
      <p>"Saren sought knowledge of those who are gone. "Said the green asari. "The Old Growth listened to flesh for the first time in the long cycle. Trades were made. Then the cold ones began killing the flesh that would tend to the next cycle. Flesh daily given! The Old Growth sees the air you push as lies. It will listen no more!"</p>
      <p>"You're controlling these people and it's gone far enough. Let them go now!"</p>
      <p>"No more will the Thorian listen to those that scurry." Said the green asari. "Your lives are short but gone on too long. Your blood will feed the ground with a new growth."</p>
      <p>"Then you know how it's going to be." Shepard said, her rifle expanding with the others grabbing their own a moment later.</p>
      <p>The Asari simply ran forward only for 626 to literally jump and punch her away.</p>
      <p>The Thorian roared about and they heard movement from all around them.</p>
      <p>"Oh boy." Garrus remarked, the team now pulling out their weapons once more as the green Asari attacked with multiple Creepers coming in from all sides.</p>
      <p>626 growled, pouncing on one of the Creepers and throwing it into two others that were running at them.</p>
      <p>Jane fired as the Asari only for her, Liara, and Kaidan to be ensnared in a Biotic field and thrown back.</p>
      <p>Wrex however was quick to avenge his teammates, running forward and bashing his head against the Asari's. A moment later, her head was gone courtesy of an explosive shot.</p>
      <p>The Creepers around them were taken care of soon after, ignoring the throbbing Thorian.</p>
      <p>"After hearing all that, I do not want any more Audrey 2's running around." Ashley called out, firing upon the Creepers left and right.</p>
      <p>When the group went up the next level, Kaidan saw something interesting.</p>
      <p>"Here, Commander! There's a… node… or something… worth looking at."</p>
      <p>Shepard looked over and saw what looked like the plant's root and it was firmly attached on the side of the ancient wall. It had a yellow and slight reddish color with it pulsing at every other moment.</p>
      <p>"What's this supposed to be?" Liara asked.</p>
      <p>"It's connected to the Thorian." Garrus pointed out.</p>
      <p>The others surrounded it for a moment, prodding it with their weapons.</p>
      <p>"So… what do we do?" Wrex asked.</p>
      <p>"If it's connected to the Thorian, maybe we take it out." Kaidan suggested.</p>
      <p>"How do we do that then?" Tali asked, looking at the node.</p>
      <p>"We could burn them or have Roxas and you use your electric attacks to take care of the job." Alenko said.</p>
      <p>Shepard took a closer look at the node. "There's one problem with that. Sure the skin can burn, but electric attacks will only slither off its surface. So unless we got a lightning rod shoved up in there."</p>
      <p>Soon enough Kaidan found a pile of pipes, which thankfully was all made of metal, even if some were rusted. Without a word, he grabbed one, coated himself with a biotic field and shoved the pipe right into the node.</p>
      <p>"Here's your lightning rod." Said the lieutenant before using his biotic abilities to throw another pipe into another node some distance away. "If it's thick on the outside, then it must be soft on the inside."</p>
      <p>As a result of the nodes being penetrated, they heard the painful shriek of the Thorian.</p>
      <p>"Good to know." Shepard then gave out an order. "Roxas, you're in one group. Ash and Tali, you're in another."</p>
      <p>The three quickly understood as they went to their separate directions with the other squad mates filling in the gaps.</p>
      <p>Heading towards the first node that was skewered, Ashley and Tali began their work. The Gunnery Chief unloaded her special incendiary rounds upon the node as Tali fired off a stream of lightning from her Omni-tool. In mere moments, the one node exploded before they moved onto the next one with Kaidan, Garrus and 626 not far behind.</p>
      <p>Reaching his one node, Roxas quickly fired off several Fira spells to tenderize the skin. Wrex came charging in and thrusted a metal pipe in and jumped back to avoid being hit by the Nobody's Thundara attack. The attack was excruciating for the node to handle before it burst into a liquidy, fleshy mess. Running on ahead, he was joined with Wrex, Liara and Shepard.</p>
      <p>Soon enough, they were met with a number of Creepers charging their way.</p>
      <p>Roxas knew that simply using fire spells wasn't always enough, so he improvised. Channeling magic into his Keyblade, several parts of it had small flames appear around it before rearing it back in a now familiar pose.</p>
      <p>A moment later, Roxas threw the fiery Keyblade forward, a trail of flames in its wake.</p>
      <p>"<strong>FIRE RAID!"</strong></p>
      <p>The Keyblade plowed through the various Creepers, little flames appearing around every spot that it had struck.</p>
      <p>"Good job, Roxas."</p>
      <p>Coming across another node, Wrex was about to charge in with another pipe when he was suddenly thrown to the side by a biotic warp.</p>
      <p>"What the hell!"</p>
      <p>"Intruders!" The rest of Roxas' squad looked over and saw the green asari… again? "You will die for your transgressions!"</p>
      <p>"Seriously?! I thought Wrex killed her!"</p>
      <p>"I think there were more asari in that Thorian than we would've thought." Kaidan said in a grim tone over the comms as his group soon faced their own green asari.</p>
      <p>"We'll take care of them." Jane said. "Roxas, Tali, Ash, focus on taking out those nodes."</p>
      <p>Before Liara could assist in the fight against the green asari, she used a biotic warp to send a metal pipe into the node. As Roxas went to do his magic, his asari teammate quickly went into action to face off against the enemy one.</p>
      <p>Getting up from the ground, Wrex charged in with his shotgun firing off its explosive rounds once he got close enough. Said rounds were able to quickly break through their enemies shielding as Shepard came in and fired upon the green asari.</p>
      <p>Over with Ashley and Tali, things weren't fairing all that better. The green asari they were facing had Creeper backup. Garrus was doing his best to fend them off, hoping to buy Kaidan enough time to properly skewer the fleshy node. Luckily for the Turian, 626 was laying on some heavy fire on the zombie-like creatures.</p>
      <p>Occasionally, Ashley had to fire her special rounds into the node before switching out to attack the asari. She was thrown back a bit, due to the Thorian acolyte's recent biotic throw, but throwing one of the modified gas grenades was able to help take care of some of their problems.</p>
      <p>With the coast clear, Ashley and Tali went to work on the node once the rod was inserted.</p>
      <p>Before long, the Thorian was beginning to thrash about in agony, trying to think of a way to stop them.</p>
      <p>"It's hurting." Wrex said with a large grin.</p>
      <p>"Good, maybe it can hurry up and die then." Ash said in a dark tone as she unloaded more incendiary rounds into another node.</p>
      <p>Over with Tali, she was being assisted by 626 who had acquired several metallic poles, one in each of his four hands.</p>
      <p>He jumped about, shoving the metal into the limb connected to the wall and jumped away as Tali fired her electric overcharge from her Omni-Tool. The small bolt connected with the four poles, the electric current flowing into the inside of the node and caused it to burst.</p>
      <p>Tali pumped her fist in victory which was short lived due to the growls and sickly moans of more Creepers coming her way. Far more than she was capable of handling.</p>
      <p>Something 626 realized as he jumped next to Tali and quite literally swept her off her feet.</p>
      <p>She yelped in complete and utter surprise, bracing herself to fall only to realize she wasn't falling, she was kind of… bouncing?</p>
      <p>The Quarian looked down to see 626 holding her up with his two arms and was running away from the oncoming creepers.</p>
      <p>Running into a narrow corridor, 626 set Tali down and turned to face the creepers.</p>
      <p>They came into the hallway in a somewhat straight line with the blue fuzzball growling before quite literally, folding himself into a tiny ball that propelled him forward. The small ball smashed into the creepers, taking them out in a matter of seconds.</p>
      <p>Once he landed, 626 rolled back towards Tali who was staring at this in a complete daze.</p>
      <p>Uncurling himself before her Tali, the little alien puffed his chest out with pride and his hands on his hips as if to congratulate himself for a job well done.</p>
      <p>"Keelah." Tali remarked. "I didn't know you could do that."</p>
      <p>From another area within the structure, Ash, Roxas, Shepard and Garrus were all fighting around another node with this one being heavily protected.</p>
      <p>As the foot soldiers of the Thorian were fought off, Ashley unloaded another few incendiary rounds with Roxas finishing it off with a Fira spell.</p>
      <p>The node soon snapped off.</p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>*BRRRMMMM*</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>*GRAAAA*</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>The Normandy squad halted in their tracks, the sound of the Thorian roaring aloud causing them to cringe at the sound as the walls and ceilings around them shook.</p>
      <p>The Thorian was shaking violently. So violently, in fact, that the entire building's foundations were shaking terribly. The ancient being was pulsing an unpredictable manner as its body was starting to burst bit by bit. The other tentacles trying to hold itself up started to break away from the rocky walls, resulting in the plant creature soon falling to the empty void below.</p>
      <p>The group reconvened at the entrance to the Thorians lair, a sense of relief washing over them.</p>
      <p>"Finally, it's over."</p>
      <p>"Hopefully, it's dead." Tali stated.</p>
      <p>"Must be," Garrus responded. "I don't think the Thorian would survive a fall like that of several hundred meters."</p>
      <p>"Or more." Liara pointed out. "Don't forget how high we are from the planet's surface."</p>
      <p>Before they could make their way out of this place, they heard something squelching from nearby. Looking over, they saw another asari coming out of some plant-like sealant that was placed on a far off wall. They shuddered when she showed herself, especially when she looked exactly like the other asari that they had killed earlier.</p>
      <p>Only difference was that instead of green, her skin-tone was violet-blue and she had a whole pleasant appearance instead of the angry one they saw previously.</p>
      <p>"I-I'm free." Said the Asari, hesitant at first before speaking in utter joy. "I'm free!" She then turned to the Normandy team and quickly put too and too together. "I… I suppose I should thank you for releasing me."</p>
      <p>Shepard was now suddenly concerned for the woman. "I'm Commander Shepard and this here is my team. Is everything alright? Are you hurt?"</p>
      <p>The asari gave her reply. "I am fine. Or… I will be, in time." She coughed a little before introducing herself. "My name is Shiala. I serve- sorry, served Matriarch Benezia."</p>
      <p>"Mother…" Liara muttered out, earning some sympathized looks from the others.</p>
      <p>"You're Liara." Shiala whispered in surprise. "Wha-what are you doing here?"</p>
      <p>"I think that's a question we should be asking you." Kaidan stated.</p>
      <p>"Yeah, if you served Benezia, you serve under Saren." Ashley added with an accusatory gaze now.</p>
      <p>"Why?" Liara asked suddenly, making all turn to her. "Why would my mother side with a man like Saren."</p>
      <p>Shiala gave her fellow Asari a sympathetic look before looking away, as if she were ashamed of her actions.</p>
      <p>Even if some were convinced, the others weren't ready to trust her quite yet. For all they know, he could be trying to deceive them and lower their guard.</p>
      <p>"Benezia allied with Saren because she saw the power he held and hoped to guide him down a better path." Shiala then hung her head. "But Saren… his charisma and overwhelming personality was too much. Benezia fell to him and lost her way."</p>
      <p>"Matriarchs are supposed to be some of the influential beings in the galaxy." Garrus said. "How did one like Benezia fall sway to Saren?"</p>
      <p>"It's startling when one thinks about it." Shiala said with a nervous tone. "It happened so fast and so sudden, before we knew it, we were serving Saren."</p>
      <p>"And the Thorian." Jane said, thumbing back to where it once "stood". "What role did it have to play?"</p>
      <p>"I came here in search of it." Shiala said. "The Thorian possessed knowledge that Saren was looking for and with my Biotic abilities, there was a means of gaining that knowledge with communicating."</p>
      <p>"Then how'd you end up in a pimple on the wall?" Ash felt gross just by asking that question.</p>
      <p>"I was traded as a means of establishing an alliance between Saren and the Thorian." Shiala answered.</p>
      <p>"So you're just expendable to Saren then?" Tali muttered softly in sympathy.</p>
      <p>"Looks like he's quick to betray his own allies." Shepard said sourly.</p>
      <p>"He betrayed the Thorian soon after." Shiala stated, only adding to Jane's statement. "After getting what he needed, he ordered the Geth to eradicate all the evidence of its existence. Saren is aware of your goal in seeking the conduit. He knows you are on his trail so he attacked the Thorian to keep the Cipher out of your hands."</p>
      <p>"Cipher? What is this Cipher?" Shepard asked. "And why did Saren need it?"</p>
      <p>Shiala explained. "The beacon on Eden Prime gave you visions. But the visions are unclear, confusing. They were meant for a Prothean mind. To truly comprehend them, you must <em>think</em> like a Prothean. You must <em>understand</em> their culture, their history, their very existence. The Thorian was here long before the Protheans built this city. It watched and studied them. When they died, it consumed them. They became part of it."</p>
      <p>"Well that's morbidly creepy."</p>
      <p>"So the Thorian taught Saren to think like a Prothean? How?" Questioned the commander.</p>
      <p>"The Cipher is the very essence of being a Prothean." Said Shiala. "It cannot be described or explained. It would be like describing color to a creature without eyes. To understand, you must have access to endemic ancestral memory. A viewpoint spanning thousands of Prothean generations. I sensed this ancestral memory -the Cipher- when I melded with the Thorian. Our identities merged; our minds intertwined. Such knowledge cannot be taught; it simply exists."</p>
      <p>'Simply Exists.' Roxas internally repeated to himself.</p>
      <p>Isn't that what he was? An existence.</p>
      <p>One that should not be?</p>
      <p>He didn't really have time to dwell on this as the more currently pressing matters on hand made him refocus on what was going on.</p>
      <p>"We need that knowledge to stop Saren!" Shepard stated.</p>
      <p>"There is a way." The violet-blue asari offered tentatively. "I can transfer the knowledge from my mind to yours, as I did with Saren."</p>
      <p>Both Shepard and Shiala engaged in a unique staring contest as the N7 marine was trying to determined Shiala's motives and if she could trust her.</p>
      <p>This made the rest of her team look at the commander in various worried states.</p>
      <p>"Shepard…"</p>
      <p>"It's alright, Roxas." Jane turned back to Benezia's former acolyte. "Do it."</p>
      <p>Shiala nodded as she placed her hands on each side of Shepard's head. "Try to relax, commander. Slow, deep breaths. Let go of your physical shell. Reach out to grasp the threads that bind us, one to another."</p>
      <p>The Spectre could almost imagine a slight tugging at her mind as Shiala was performing a mind meld with her.</p>
      <p>"Every action ripples across the galaxy. Every idea must touch another mind to live. Each emotion must mark another's spirit. We are all connected. Every living being united in a single, glorious existence. Open yourself to the universe, commander."</p>
      <p>Suddenly, Jane could feel the tug. It was insistent and it was certainly present. She wondered if she was making a mistake.</p>
      <p>It was at this moment did the words her mother once spoke to her when she was just a child.</p>
      <p>"<em>Nothing ventured, nothing gained."</em></p>
      <p>"Embrace eternity!"</p>
      <p>With Shiala's call, Shepard let herself go.</p>
      <p>Suddenly her mind was open and she could feel Shiala's mind with her presence right next to hers. She could sense that she was giving her something, and suddenly, the human Spectre's mind replayed the vision she received from the Beacon. What was once blurred images, and vague impressions, suddenly gained clarity.</p>
      <p>She clearly saw the death before. She clearly saw the destruction. And she clearly saw the darkness as well.</p>
      <p>But then she saw <em><strong>it</strong></em> emerging from the blackened planet. The same ship she saw back on Eden Prime!</p>
      <p>As the connection broke, Shepard was slowly drawn back into the real world. She looked around, unsure if what she was seeing was real for the vision had been so vivid.</p>
      <p>"I have given you the Cipher," Shiala told Shepard. "The ancestral memories of the Protheans are a part of you now."</p>
      <p>In a moment, Shepard started to stumble in her step. Kaidan and Liara came forward and quickly held the commander up for support.</p>
      <p>"Are you alright, Shepard?" Liara asked worriedly. "A knowledge bond can be very traumatic."</p>
      <p>Jane waved her hand. "I'm alright, Liara, but I saw my vision again." She stood up a bit more and silently asked her two squadmates to back off a little. "I did see my vision again. It was much clearer and stronger than before, but it was still confusing and jumbled. Like… Like it was skipping or something. Other than that, I'm not sure <em>what</em> I saw."</p>
      <p>"You have been given a great gift: the experience of an entire people. It will take time for your mind to process the information."</p>
      <p>"Feels more like a headache." Shepard remarked good naturedly with Shiala smiling in understanding.</p>
      <p>"That can happen."</p>
      <p>After all that was said and done, Shepard had asked what Shiala's intentions were now that she was free of both Saren and Benezia.</p>
      <p>In a surprising showing of humility, Shiala offered to remain here on Feros and assist the colonists that had survived this ordeal. She felt a personal level of guilt and remorse for the suffering she had caused for the people of this planet.</p>
      <p>She believed she would do the most good here than anywhere else right now.</p>
      <p>Jane simply accepted her request, knowing that to truly pay for one's sins, death is the easier way out. Those who willingly choose to struggle for the sake of others and one's self showed a level of character that Shiala apparently possessed.</p>
      <p>Before parting ways, Shepard asked Shiala what the Conduit was. Unfortunately, no clear answer was given, only that Saren is desperately trying to locate it's whereabouts.</p>
      <p>Seeing as that was a loss, Shepard had let it go for the time being.</p>
      <p>But overall, at last, after a long and grueling mission, Feros was liberated.</p>
      <p>For the most part. There's always stragglers.</p>
      <p>As the others turned to leave, No. XIII momentarily lingered inside the chamber of the Thorian.</p>
      <p>He stood at the entrance, unmoving from his spot with his eyes set upon the place where the Thorian "hovered" thanks to its attached nodes.</p>
      <p>'It simply exists.' Roxas mused within his mind.</p>
      <p>Does he not exist? How can he be a Nobody if he is standing, right here right now.</p>
      <p>What did it even mean to just "Simply exist"? Was there more to it than that?</p>
      <p>After standing there in deep thought for a few moments, Roxas was about to leave when he saw something quite interesting on the ground.</p>
      <p>It completely stood out from practically everything they had encountered on this planet.</p>
      <p>Save for 626 of course.</p>
      <p>Crouching down, Roxas picked up a large black feather and held it up to examine it.</p>
      <p>'Weird,' he mused. 'I don't remember seeing any birds on this planet.'</p>
      <p>"Roxas?"</p>
      <p>The blond turned to see Jane having returned.</p>
      <p>"You alright?" The Spectre asked in concern. "You weren't following us back. What kept you?"</p>
      <p>He wordlessly held up the feather with Jane blinking at it.</p>
      <p>"What's with the feather?"</p>
      <p>"I dunno." Roxas said, looking back to it. "I found it here."</p>
      <p>"You found it here?" Jane asked, taking a moment to glance around the area. "Was there a bird here we missed?"</p>
      <p>She had seen birds fly into the most random of places before. From warehouses, abandoned buildings and in some cases underground caves. Perhaps this was the latter case, but it had to have been done recently. If not, then it must've come through the hole in the ceiling and barely landed here quite recently.</p>
      <p>Before Roxas was able to provide an answer, the complexion of the long avian feather started to crumble into ash with a small gust of wind dusting it away.</p>
      <p>"...Nevermind then." Shepard asked, really trying hard not to mentally break.</p>
      <p>This was above her paygrade.</p>
      <p>What kind of poetic shit was that supposed to be?</p>
      <p>"Come on Roxas."</p>
      <p>Placing a hand on the boy's shoulder, she guided him out of the chamber to rejoin the others and left this place with a silent hope to never come back here again.</p>
      <p>Once the two were out earshot and eyeshot, the chamber became quiet.</p>
      <p>Almost deathly so.</p>
      <p>The light of the planet's nearby star shines down upon the large hold the Thorian had fallen through.</p>
      <p>Down in the chasm below, where the Thorian crash landed, the ancient being was rasping out its final breaths.</p>
      <p>Its "vision" was fading, slowly turning black.</p>
      <p>It was ready to enter what was on the other side.</p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>*Tip*</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>What was that?</p>
      <p>With the strength that it had remaining, the large creature focused its attention on the lone finger that appeared before it from out of nowhere.</p>
      <p>The being had measured steps, each one barely being above a whisper that the Thorian was having trouble in picking up.</p>
      <p>"Hello there…"</p>
      <p>The voice was male and extremely smooth.</p>
      <p>With its remaining eyes, the Old Growth looked towards the person before it. With the little amount of light present, there can only be so much given on the person's structure.</p>
      <p>All the Thorian could see is the person's shape… and oddly enough their eyes.</p>
      <p>"You were not what I was expecting when I came here." Said the arrival. "<em><strong>She</strong></em> put on such a good word when talking about you… Describing how <em>magnificent</em> you were. How <em>strong</em> you were." The person then clicked his tongue in disappointment. "But now…"</p>
      <p>The Thorian could soon hear metal being drawn from something.</p>
      <p>"You're just <em>pitiful</em>."</p>
      <p>It was at this moment that the Old Growth feel something terrifying from this person.</p>
      <p>"Your <em>mind</em> may serve no purpose." The being held an extremely, <em>extremely</em> long sword with both hands. "But what you possess <em>inside</em> of you is of a greater value."</p>
      <p>Positioning himself with proper footing and sword grasped by both hands, the man exhaled calmly with the air around them going deathly silent.</p>
      <p>In mere moments after the Old Growth was pierced, a green-blue light started to shine from the sword. It traveled down its length and met with the planty-flesh of the newly deceased creature. The light, soon enough, encompassed it's form as it dissolved into smaller whips.</p>
      <p>After that, the light swirled around the sword wielder's form and was absorbed into their body.</p>
      <p>When the last whips were <em>swallowed</em> up, the man looked up towards the hole with a hidden smile growing on his face.</p>
      <p>"<em><strong>Mother</strong></em> will have great use of you."</p>
      <p>The being proceeded to unfurl a singular black wing, levitating up into the air before being enshrouded by his singular wing.</p>
      <p>Moments later, the man was gone with a mixture of a flurry of black feathers and wispy arcs of darkness in his wake. All that remained, all that showed of his presence there were the feathers that all fluttered to the final resting place of the Thorian.</p>
      <p>
        <strong>Jesus, I am so glad I got this out with J so quickly but man, work is a bitch.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>I wasn't at a hundred percent for this one but by god, I was gonna get this out there if it was the last thing I do.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Jebest4781: Same here, my friend, as the two of us really want to get things underway with what other details we have planned for you all.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>FMW: Yeah. While the ME story is always fun, we wanna get to the canon altering parts of the story where we can have the most fun. Introducing Stitch is just the starting point. We're dealing with an ME and KH crossover. So that means, we'll be doing Disney and Final Fantasy elements cause what KH story would that be without them? Like seriously, I've seen people complain about characters in a KH story going to other worlds… I'm like… really? Dude, that's the point. Never made sense to me with that criticism, but that's just me rambling.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Jeb: Agreed, had that happen in ASoFIaH where a number of people making the same criticism. But that's the thing on most KH stories, other worlds need to be explored than what is primarily focused on.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>FMW: Anyway, there's also the polls and things are heating up between Lawson and Shepard as the main front runners for our boy Axel. Seems like all the other girls are left with cold turkey. Currently, as of this moment after me writing this note, our girl Shepard leads with 19 and Lawson is close behind with 16. Still time to vote so to all the newcomers, get on it cause you're literally gonna be influencing the story.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Other than that, thanks again for those supportive reviews.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Rate Read and Review and as Always Have Nice Day.</strong>
      </p>
    </div>
  </div>
</div>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Time with the Crew</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p></p><div class="xcontrast">
  <p></p>
  <div>
    <p></p>
    <div>
      <p>
        <strong>Yes, the fear is palpable.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>The reviews made me laugh with the level of fear I saw and the clever word play is fantastic.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Yeah, </strong>
        <em>
          <strong>he</strong>
        </em>
        <strong> is coming alright. When he arrives it'll be a madhouse. Hope you guys are ready for it.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Poll is still up and Miranda is gaining on Shepard but our favorite Commander is still leading. Still got time folks, so keep on voting while ya can.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Other than that, thanks again to those who have read and support this new story. Jebest and I greatly appreciate it.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Rate Read and Review and as Always Have Nice Day.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>I'm Nobody Chapter 8: Time with the Crew.</p>
      <p>"<em>In your hand, take this key. So long as you have the makings, then through this simple act of taking...its wielder you shall one day be. And you will find me, friend—no ocean will contain you then. No more borders around, or below, or above, so long as you champion the ones you love.</em>"</p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>*Thisshig rrrerrk*</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>Roxas found himself in a world of ghosts, goblins and spooky things.</p>
      <p>In front of him was a tall, skinny boney individual who went by the name of Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King.</p>
      <p>"<em>Sally."</em> Jack bemoaned. <em>"Why didn't I listen to you?"</em></p>
      <p>"<em>Don't worry Jack."</em> Sally, the ragdoll experiment given life assured while taking his hands into her own. She gave him a reassuring smile that seemed to warm the sentient skeleton's very being. <em>"We'll come up with another plan for Halloween. Next time, we'll do it together."</em></p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>*Thisshig rrrerrk*</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>Roxas soon gazed at Riku, who stood next to some sort of wooden boy, as they seemed to be within some being, given the fleshy muscle all around. The surrounding area pulsed left and right as if it were alive.</p>
      <p>"<em>-Or are you too cool to play them now that you have the Keyblade?"</em></p>
      <p>"<em>Riku! W-What are you doing here?"</em> Asked Sora. <em>"Did you find her?"</em></p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>*Thishhig rrrerrk*</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>"<em>POWER!"</em></p>
      <p>Around him, he fought with individuals, creatures some may call them, of extraordinary power.</p>
      <p>One was a small red dragon that rested upon his head named Mushu.</p>
      <p>Another, a large proud lion called Simba.</p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>*Thisshig rrrerrk*</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>Standing upon the deck of a ship, he was gazing up and out at the night sky.</p>
      <p>"<em>I still can't believe it."</em> He said to himself in disbelief. <em>"I actually flew! Wait'll I tell Kairi. I wonder if she'll believe me. Probably not."</em></p>
      <p>Next thing he realized, he was flying around a large clock tower with Sora, Donald and Goofy along with their newest friend and ally Peter Pan.</p>
      <p>They were with another girl… What was her name again? Wendy, yeah, they had rescued her before.</p>
      <p>The small fairy that appeared to accompany Peter everywhere then flew before him with her arms crossed in an expectant manner.</p>
      <p>"<em>Be sure to keep an eye on her for me, will ya?" </em>Peter asked with a mischievous wink.</p>
      <p>Blinking, he turned to Peter with an incredulous look.</p>
      <p>"<em>Whaaat?"</em></p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>*Thisshig rrrerrk*</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>Within a colosseum, Roxas saw a tall blonde man wearing a red cloak around his neck with some sort of golden metal gauntlet on his left arm. Strapped onto his back, there was a large sword that was just as long as his own body.</p>
      <p>Said man was walking past Sora, Donald and Goofy with the brown haired teen speaking up.</p>
      <p>"<em>-I'm searching, too."</em></p>
      <p>"<em>For your light? Don't lose sight of it too."</em></p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>*Thisshig rrrerrk*</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>"<em>Sora, where are you going?"</em></p>
      <p>In an instant, Roxas suddenly saw Sora walking away from what appeared to be sentient plush animal toys. One was a pink piglet, a tiger, an orange-yellow bear wearing a red shirt, a yellow rabbit, a kangaroo wearing a blue shirt, and an owl.</p>
      <p>"<em>I'm gonna go look for my friends."</em> Came Sora's response. <em>"They're waiting for me."</em></p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>*Thisshig rrrerrk*</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>Back on the deck of a ship, Sora questioned Riku. <em>"Where are Donald and Goofy?"</em></p>
      <p>"<em>Instead of worrying about them, you should be asking about her."</em> Riku said, who soon gazed at a comatose Kairi.</p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>*Thisshig rrrerrk*</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>*Thisshig rrrerrk*</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>*Thisshig rrrerrk*</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>*Thisshig rrrerrk*</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>Within a circular white room, thirteen elevated throne-like chairs encircled a single platform.</p>
      <p>Out of the thirteen, only eleven were full.</p>
      <p>The last two were standing far down below all those seated high.</p>
      <p>One was taller than the other, almost by a full head with flaming red hair and two purple teardrop tattoos underneath his eyes.</p>
      <p>The other… well it was one the dreamer knew. Someone she knew very personally.</p>
      <p>It was...</p>
      <p>"<em>Let us all welcome one of the Keyblade's chosen." </em>A deep, bass tone spoke from the highest seat in the circle.</p>
      <p>It was a human male with silver hair, a tan complexion and amber eyes gazing down at the newest member with a wide grin.</p>
      <p>The dreamer felt an unsettling chill run down their spine at the sound of the voice on top of the look they had received.</p>
      <p>Next thing the dreamer knew, the environment around them shifted.</p>
      <p>They were now sitting at the edge of what appeared to be a clock tower. They had ice cream in their hands.</p>
      <p>Wait… this was familiar to the dreamer.</p>
      <p>Yes, that's sea salt ice cream!</p>
      <p>"<em>This is sea-salt Ice cream. Come on Roxas, get it memorized."</em></p>
      <p>What was all this?</p>
      <p>Where were they sitting- the sunset.</p>
      <p>It was… breathtaking!</p>
      <p>Yet it was short lived as the dreamer observed Roxas laying on the ground in a completely different set of clothes.</p>
      <p>Then, a moment later, an ominous dark pillar appeared from out of nowhere right before the boy with a tall figure walking forward in the same black cloak as Roxas wore. He strode straight over to Roxas, the boy having lifeless eyes.</p>
      <p>"<em>You seek answers."</em></p>
      <p>Wait… that voice… the dreamer heard this voice just moments ago.</p>
      <p>"<em>I can give you purpose."</em></p>
      <p>Before Roxas was a different name.</p>
      <p>Sora.</p>
      <p>The letters then began spinning around the young teen rapidly until the hooded man threw his hand forward and an X appeared between the R and O and the A and S.</p>
      <p>"<em>Roxas.</em>" The teen read aloud; tone utterly devoid of emotion.</p>
      <p>"<em>That is right, the new </em>you<em>."</em></p>
      <p>Before they could stay any longer, they had been thrown forward by an unforeseen force being hurtled through an endless void until…</p>
      <p>…</p>
      <p>…</p>
      <p>…</p>
      <p>Inhaling an intake of air, Tali woke up with an uneasy start.</p>
      <p>The Quarian sat up with her muscles popping and groaning.</p>
      <p>She was unsure as to what that dream was but…</p>
      <p>She shook her head.</p>
      <p>Probably was just a dream.</p>
      <p>Yeah… that's what it was. Just a dream. Nothing more and nothing less.</p>
      <p>She proceeded to prop her knees up slightly, curling her arms around them.</p>
      <p>If it was a dream, why was it bothering her so much?</p>
      <p>Shaking her head once again, she left her sleeping pod and went towards the cafeteria. She spotted both Ashley and Wrex eating breakfast with another squadmate.</p>
      <p>Roxas.</p>
      <p>It appeared that he was in discussion with Wrex and Ashley, the three of them exchanging words at a casual pace.</p>
      <p>It was an unusual experience where Tali momentarily hesitated in approaching the one she was most familiar with on the ship.</p>
      <p>Hell, if she were being honest with herself, she trusts Roxas a great deal.</p>
      <p>And with that, Tali scoffed at her momentary lapse of trepidation, walking right over to the trio.</p>
      <p>"Morning everyone." Tali said cheerfully, seating herself right next to Roxas.</p>
      <p>"Hey Tali." Ash and Roxas greeted her at the same time.</p>
      <p>Wrex simply grunted in greeting though there was a glimmer in his eye where she simply smiled beneath her helmet.</p>
      <p>"Not gonna eat anything, Tali?" Ashley inquired, taking a bit out of her meal.</p>
      <p>Tali waved her hand. "Not right now. A bit later probably."</p>
      <p>They only shrugged in acceptance, going back to their own food.</p>
      <p>"So what were you guys talking about?" Tali asked, propping her arms on the table. "Hope I didn't interrupt too much."</p>
      <p>"Don't worry about it." Ashley said, fiddling around with what was left in her bowl. "It was nothing much. Just the past few missions."</p>
      <p>"Oh. What about them?"</p>
      <p>"Nothing too crazy." Wrex remarked, taking a large bite out of… whatever it was he ate. "Just been getting a lot more of them recently."</p>
      <p>"Yeah." Ashley grumbled. "Feels like we're having less down time and more time getting shot at or whatever it is the Heartless can do."</p>
      <p>"I'm totally fine with it." Wrex said, once swallowing his meal. "Gave me more stuff to kill then my usual crap."</p>
      <p>Nodding in acceptance, Tali's thoughts drifted onto what exactly they went through.</p>
      <p>Right after leaving Feros, the Normandy went off to the Caspian system in the neighboring Maroon Sea cluster. There they were checking out several planets to acquire materials to trade to the Alliance and the Moogle for later projects. During this time, they came across the MSV Cornucopia, a derelict ship that has been drifting for quite some time.</p>
      <p>There was no distress call being broadcasted, making them curious on what was going on.</p>
      <p>Once boarding the ship, they came across something that Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley had only seen once back on Eden Prime: Dragon's Teeth and Husks.</p>
      <p>Those who haven't seen them before had their own reactions upon seeing them. For Tali, it was honestly disturbing as they reminded her of the Thorian Creepers back on Feros.</p>
      <p>Once clearing out the ship, they learned from the ship's logs that the MSV Cornucopia was exploring near the Perseus Veil and found some kind of alien artifact. They brought in on board and sometime later, the crew felt <em>compelled</em> in going straight through the Perseus Veil!</p>
      <p>The entries didn't make a whole lot of sense afterwards as if the captain's mind was degrading. The logs never once said anything on their return.</p>
      <p>Then again, why would there be after the Geth turned the ship's crew into Husks. The reason? A warning for any organics to stay out of their territory.</p>
      <p>It made Tali and the rest wonder how the Geth acquired such horrific means of creating Husks.</p>
      <p>After reporting to the System's Alliance on the derelict ship, the Normandy headed off to the Vostok system in the Maroon Sea to check out the ExoGeni facility located there. And sure enough, upon arriving there, they received a distress signal from one of its planets.</p>
      <p>Landing on Nodacrux, the Normandy team eventually located the ExoGeni facility… after traversing through the most stupid mountain terrain they had to ride through.</p>
      <p>It was as if Shepard's driving made things much more worse, with the bouncing, the falling and rolling!</p>
      <p>...Once arriving at the facility, they ended up running into Thorian Creepers!</p>
      <p>It was insane for them to come across the plant-like zombies once more. And they learned the reason why their presence was on that planet.</p>
      <p>Apparently, a bunch of ExoGeni scientists brought over the Creepers to this facility for study. But when the Thorian died, the Creepers went nuts and broke out of their contaminants, causing the scientists to lock themselves up for days for their own safety.</p>
      <p>When asking if there were any other survivors, the scientist there stated that one of their own was unaccounted for, having disappeared when the Creepers escaped. When asking for his name, the scientist there only knew him as <em>The Professor</em> and nothing else. A man from the head office who personally came by the facility to check up on progress before up and leaving before shit went down.</p>
      <p>After that, the Normandy went off to the Matano system in the Maroon Sea to investigate the Cerberus facility on Chasca, something they picked up from the abandoned ExoGeni building back on Feros.</p>
      <p>There was not much to know about Cerberus, only thing they seemed to learn about it was that it was originally a black ops branch of the Alliance before relations turned sour and they broke away. After that, everything about them was a complete mystery, other than the underhand dealings and illegal research out in the Terminus systems.</p>
      <p>Along the way of finding the facility, they found some Prothean ruins. Liara was ecstatic and took a whole bunch of pictures and notes on the place before they continued on with their search.</p>
      <p>Whatever pleasant mood there was after visiting the ruins started to decline drastically.</p>
      <p>The various colony outposts stationed on the planet were practically barren, ghost towns as the humans call it. It was utterly dreary. Everyone wondered where the colonists went off to as their space crafts were still there and everything seemed left untouched.</p>
      <p>Their answers were given when coming to the Cerberus facility. Upon entering the place, they learned a drastic truth: every colonist on Chasca was brought there and turned into Husks!</p>
      <p>It was not a pleasant sight to see when killing off every Husk they could find.</p>
      <p>Once clearing out the base, the group combed through the servers, hoping to find answers, only to find the systems were wiped clean.</p>
      <p>After leaving Chasca, Shepard had to report on their findings to the Alliance in hopes they can figure out what to do from there.</p>
      <p>During said call to the Alliance, Shepard and her crew were tasked with going to the Armstrong Nebula in order to help take care of the massive increase of Geth activity.</p>
      <p>Alliance surveillance drones caught four Geth outposts spread throughout the system and needed to be taken care of. The reason for their presence was unknown. They could be gathering intel or maybe setting up staging grounds for hit and run attacks on human colonies.</p>
      <p>Stopping Saren is a lot more important than wiping out some Geth outposts. Even though Shepard is currently a Spectre, she is still part of the Alliance, so she had to comply in helping out.</p>
      <p>Everyone admitted that this last assignment was very challenging. Not only having to clear out the outposts of the synthetic race, but also the many Heartless that were popping up in droves.</p>
      <p>Once taking care of the four reported bases, they found out there was a fifth base, the main one located on Solcrum. From there, they rushed in and cleared the place out.</p>
      <p>...Yet something odd occurred once the last Geth fell. There was a transmission which suddenly played an old recording of a Quarian singing a mournful a Capella of worlds and innocence lost. And the destination of the transmission was towards the Geth worlds behind the Perseus Veil.</p>
      <p>While Tali was very moved upon hearing it, Roxas was able to get a recording of the transmission, knowing it was a part of her people's history and was very valuable to her. She was very touched by his action.</p>
      <p>When combing through the base, they discovered a number of encrypted Geth data files. And upon decoding them, they were revealed to be a data cache pertaining about the evolution of the Geth since the Quarian's exile from Rannoch.</p>
      <p>Before Shepard sent the data cache back to the Alliance, Tali asked her for a copy of the data in order to bring it back as a Pilgrimage gift. And miraculously enough, the human Spectre happily complied as she deserved it.</p>
      <p>The Geth files would take years for her people to study. But for now it will give them new insight into how the synthetic race developed over the past centuries. One detail for instance were the possible plans on the Geth setting up outposts on planets that are inhabitable by any other race out there, due to the harsh climates.</p>
      <p>Tali was soon brought out of her thoughts when she heard Ashley scream following a savage sound of food being eaten.</p>
      <p>"Stitch!" Ashley cried out in annoyance at the little fuzzball jumping down to eat the rest of her meal.</p>
      <p>Stitch laughed hysterically, giving the Gunnery Chief a slobbering lick before promptly running away as Ashley slammed her hands down on the table and chased after the small alien.</p>
      <p>Wrex chortled aloud with Tali smothering a small giggle.</p>
      <p>Roxas' lips twitched upwards as he watched Ashley run after Stitch who was crawling along the walls and ceilings to keep out of reach from the marine.</p>
      <p>Since departing Feros, the Normandy had gained yet another crew member, this one in the form of 626 or as he is now called, Stitch.</p>
      <p>With Stitch, the little guy had bought <em>a lot</em> of luggage of his own.</p>
      <p>Mainly, a strange red jumpsuit that was meant for him when he had all four of his arms out.</p>
      <p>A collection of weapons that some they were familiar with. The others, not so much.</p>
      <p>Particularly, a set of yellow pistols that blasted a green explosive projectile of some kind that proved to be very effective against the Geth and many other enemies; clearly shown during their past few missions.</p>
      <p>Some food (mostly cake) and water.</p>
      <p>Yet, the one thing that stood out to them all more than anything was the large collections of vinyl records, an old vinyl player, a guitar and the plethora of Hawaii memorabilia back from Earth.</p>
      <p>The human members of the crew, save for Roxas, were openly bewildered and thrown off by this collection.</p>
      <p>How in the world did this little guy attain such rare items from many centuries ago that were rare antiques now?</p>
      <p>626 appeared to worship one record in particular, this one being all Elvis Pressley hits.</p>
      <p>When he had settled himself on the Normandy, a majority of the time was spent exploring the ship for the most part, freaking out the crew mates that had yet to meet the little guy, to learn about the functions of the ship.</p>
      <p>Joker was having quite the hard time in dealing with the small fuzzball, having had a few rather comedic arguments. The short fur ball argued against the Normandy pilot half the time with Joker holding nothing back whenever he denied the little guy a chance at the helm.</p>
      <p>He kept pointing out the wrecked red spaceship that they had also brought on from 626's little cave of Feros and how banged up it was, proving to Joker how inept of a pilot he was. 626 only roared aloud childishly in disapproval, making for quite the entertaining act.</p>
      <p>Frankly, some of the crew believed that Joker may have the magic touch in knowing how to communicate with their newest member. Aside from Roxas, Tali and surprisingly Garrus, Stitch has spent the majority of his time on the ship with Joker.</p>
      <p>It seemed the little guy was hellbent on flying the ship and would not back down.</p>
      <p>While this was what dominated most of Stitch's time, there was one other matter that came up that quite honestly… well, it couldn't be described.</p>
      <p>Only shown.</p>
      <p>It was to be a simple lunch between the squad, a rare time where the whole squad was eating together.</p>
      <p>All save for two.</p>
      <p>Those two being Roxas and 626.</p>
      <p>Who had come up to the table of the Normandy ground squad, Stitch's vinyl record player being brought in by Roxas.</p>
      <p>"Roxas?" Shepard said in confusion, looking between the boy and the little alien as the former set the record player down on the table.</p>
      <p>The rest of the squad looked to him and Stitch with the shorter of the two standing up on the table with them trying to figure out what the two were up to.</p>
      <p>Placing a record in, Roxas gently took one of Stitch's clawed fingers and placed it against the rotating vinyl.</p>
      <p>"Watch this."</p>
      <p>Roxas then opened 626's mouth and much to the complete shock of the crew, the music of Elvis began to play out from the jaws of Stitch.</p>
      <p>"<em>We can't go on together, with suspicious minds~</em></p>
      <p>The Nobody closed the mouth, the music stopping only for it to play once again when Roxas opened Stitch's mouth.</p>
      <p>"<em>And we can't build our dreams, on suspicious minds~"</em></p>
      <p>He repeated the process several more times until at long last, Shepard placed her hand over his giving him a weak smile.</p>
      <p>"Alright Roxas." Jane said, voice strained. "I think that's enough crazy for one day."</p>
      <p>When they had walked away, there was an awkward laugh that the group shared.</p>
      <p>"Geez, can this place get any stranger?" Ash asked jokingly.</p>
      <p>"I don't know." Garrus dryly remarked, gazing out at the Moogle that was jovially floating about. "Can it?"</p>
      <p>Seeing what he was staring at, Jane snorted. "Who knows. That seems to be the trajectory for the ship."</p>
      <p>"Think we should give that little guy a name?" Kaidan abruptly asked.</p>
      <p>"Huh?"</p>
      <p>"A name." Kaidan repeated. "Like how Tali gave Stitch his own."</p>
      <p>"That was more of a happy accident." Tali stated. "He just liked the word and ran with it."</p>
      <p>If one may ask what Tali was inferring, to put it plainly, her suit had been damaged from all the fighting that had occurred down on Feros.</p>
      <p>She had to make sure her suit was patched up properly and during her process of fixing it up, 626 walked in.</p>
      <p>When the little guy asked in his own specific manner, she responded by saying she was "stitching" her suit back together.</p>
      <p>Upon hearing that word, 626 had a few moments inside his own head until he declared.</p>
      <p>"<em>Stitch!"</em></p>
      <p>"<em>What now?"</em></p>
      <p>"<em>Stitch. Messa name Stitch."</em></p>
      <p>And that was that.</p>
      <p>Frankly, a much easier name than 626.</p>
      <p>"We'll just have to politely ask the guy." Said Jane. "After all, did anyone bother to ask him?"</p>
      <p>No one said anything after that, enjoying their current state of peace.</p>
      <p>
        <em>-Scene Cut-</em>
      </p>
      <p>Within a room composed of white stone and marble, a young girl in her teens sat at a table, multiple crayons and pencils around a sketch board she was currently drawing in.</p>
      <p>Namine hummed to herself, dusting off some of the left over graphite near one of the lines she had just drawn.</p>
      <p>In front of her, a girl around her age was sitting adjacent watching her draw while eating some sea-salt ice-cream.</p>
      <p>Namine finished her little drawing and held it up for her friend to see with the girl smiling approvingly.</p>
      <p>Xion had been coming back here to Castle Oblivion after her missions for some time now. Since Axel couldn't leave this place until further notice and Roxas still missing, No. XIV felt as if going to the clocktower by herself would be extremely lonely and not just right.</p>
      <p>Axel and Namine had been able to join her on occasion but that was just it. It was only every once in a while.</p>
      <p>So, rather than just mope about alone atop the tower, Xion has been opting to hang out with the wayward Nobody and doing whatever she wants to pass the time.</p>
      <p>Mostly being her model for her drawings.</p>
      <p>Like the one she just showed her of her, Namine and Axel all spending time together.</p>
      <p>Honestly, her crude, childish drawings were starting to get better. Namine was beginning to add better details and more accentuated parts of her drawing that gave a more clearer image as to who and what it was.</p>
      <p>"Where do you think Axel is now?" Xion asked, idly swinging her legs a bit beneath her seat.</p>
      <p>"Wandering this place from top to bottom and spending time in the library."</p>
      <p>"Hope he doesn't get lost."</p>
      <p>Both girls turned to the other person in the room and saw Demyx casually situated on a couch with Sitar in hand, casually strumming his instrument.</p>
      <p>"What are you doing here?" Xion asked in surprise.</p>
      <p>"Bored back at the Grey Room on my off time so decided to check this place out." Demyx admitted. "That, and I want some away time from Saix and stay away from Larxene."</p>
      <p>Xion gave Demyx an expectant look.</p>
      <p>"Any reason why?"</p>
      <p>"Larxene? Eh~" The Melodious Nocturne was tightening up his sitar strings as he continued. "She's been getting rather moody lately and I hightailed outta there."</p>
      <p>On that part, Xion could understand. To say that Larxene had a bit of a volatile temperament would be putting it mildly.</p>
      <p>She never really did or said anything bad to her specifically but the way she acted around most other people save for Marluxia and Axel just put Xion off.</p>
      <p>"But shouldn't you be reporting back to Saix?" No. XIV asked.</p>
      <p>"Already have." Demyx waved off.</p>
      <p>"And?"</p>
      <p>"Same as yesterday and the day before and the day before that."</p>
      <p>Suddenly, the door to the room opened and in walked a rather irritated Axel.</p>
      <p>He groaned aloud, immediately walking over to Xion and Namine and promptly seated himself down next to Xion.</p>
      <p>"That was pointless." He said aloud. "They sent the wrong guy for reading books and computer screens."</p>
      <p>"Sup~"</p>
      <p>No. VIII raised his head and turned to No. IX who waved at him.</p>
      <p>Axel was about to ask the obvious question when Xion interrupted. "He grew bored after his mission today and came here."</p>
      <p>The red head looked at the Melodic Nocturne.</p>
      <p>"Larxene."</p>
      <p>"Ah~"</p>
      <p>That was a more believable excuse. The redhead can't stand her most of the time. He wondered why she even hung out with him.</p>
      <p>"No luck again, Axel?" Namine asked.</p>
      <p>He shook his head. "I don't even know what I'm researching or looking for half the time."</p>
      <p>After hearing the vague answers from Zexion, Axel was forced to explore the Castle all the more deeper. Which meant he had to search through each and every floor of this place.</p>
      <p>Even if he had to comb through his <em><strong>memories</strong></em> to do so.</p>
      <p>"Are you alright Axel?" Xion asked in concern, placing a hand upon his back.</p>
      <p>"Just fantastic." Came the sarcastic remark. "I need an ice cream bar, stat."</p>
      <p>Xion produced one with him thanking her and got up out of his seat.</p>
      <p>Walking over to the nearby fridge, he pulled out some beer and cracked a can open before chugging its contents.</p>
      <p>"What's that?" Xion and Namine asked at the same time.</p>
      <p>Parting his lips from the can, Axel simply said 'beer' before drinking more of it.</p>
      <p>"What's beer?"</p>
      <p>"Something you two kids should not have until you're older."</p>
      <p>"Hey Axel, can ya-Oop." Demyx fumbled slightly with the can tossed in his direction. He laughed embarrassingly, popping his can open with his ability of water manipulation managing to keep the liquids inside from bubbling out.</p>
      <p>Axel plopped back down again with a groan of relief. "I need a break. A day off or something."</p>
      <p>"Day off?" Xion repeated inquisitively.</p>
      <p>"Yeah, it's a day where we have no work and just relax." Axel explained.</p>
      <p>"Oh~" Xion said in absolute wonder.</p>
      <p>An entire day off? That sounds amazing. She could spend the whole day with Axel, Namine and…</p>
      <p>Xion slumped slightly as she hung her head with a small frown appearing on her face. Something Axel noticed right away.</p>
      <p>"What's eating ya, Xion?" Axel asked.</p>
      <p>"I… I wonder where Roxas is." Xion said aloud. "The Organization hasn't found him yet."</p>
      <p>"Tell me about it." Demyx remarked with an annoyed look. "I've been looking for him <em>everywhere."</em></p>
      <p>"Oh please Demyx, you and I both not that's not even remotely true."</p>
      <p>"It is." No. IX jabbed a thumb at Xion. "She's my witness. Had to oversee her on some of these past days while we were not only searching for Roxas but taking care of the Heartless."</p>
      <p>"Demyx, you were standing five feet away from the fighting half the time." Xion grumped with Axel snorting.</p>
      <p>The water user cringed before grumbling to himself.</p>
      <p>"Traitor…"</p>
      <p>The somewhat relaxed atmosphere came to an end when a dark corridor appeared for a few seconds, receding back into the ground a moment later to reveal No. VII.</p>
      <p>Instantly, Namine tilted her head down, Demyx groaned with only Axel and Xion regarding him with any sense of normalcy.</p>
      <p>"Saix." Axel greeted. "What brings you all the way out here?"</p>
      <p>"I am here to retrieve our two wayward members who need to return to the castle at once." Saix stated, looking between No. XIV and IX.</p>
      <p>"Ain't they already done with work as is?" Axel asked, nonplussed by the Luna Diviner's cold attitude.</p>
      <p>"With him, don't think so." Demyx groaned, chugging the last of the can's contents.</p>
      <p>"And I must speak with you in private, Axel." Saix said in a tone that brokered no argument. "I have direct orders from the Superior."</p>
      <p>"Oh boy." Axel said, knowing he wouldn't be able to argue on this one. "You heard 'im Xion, head on back. Namine and I will be waiting on ya tomorrow."</p>
      <p>"Ok." Xion said dejectedly, Namine giving her a small smile of goodbye.</p>
      <p>"Aurgh, way to ruin the mood." Demyx bemoaned.</p>
      <p>In mere moments, both Xion and Demyx disappeared via the Dark Corridor.</p>
      <p>"Come on." Axel gestured to Saix to follow after him. "Let's talk in the hallway."</p>
      <p>No. VII nodded, momentarily looking over to Namine who was currently working on a new drawing.</p>
      <p>Walking after Axel, the two were standing outside the room with the red head opting to lean comfortably on the wall.</p>
      <p>"So, what does the big boss man have to say?"</p>
      <p>"This has nothing to do with him." Saix responded, making Axel blink.</p>
      <p>"Say what now?"</p>
      <p>"I came here of my own volition."</p>
      <p>"...Then what was up with the excuse?"</p>
      <p>"I wished to see you."</p>
      <p>Axel stared for a brief moment.</p>
      <p>"Okay… <em>missed</em> you too bud."</p>
      <p>"Not that way." Saix snapped.</p>
      <p>Axel tilted his head in a patient manner. "Well, out with it then. Why come all the way out here for me?"</p>
      <p>"Have you been able to find it?" Saix asked straight away.</p>
      <p>The flat look No. VII received was all he needed to see.</p>
      <p>"Are you kidding me with that, Saix? Have you seen the <em>size</em> of this place?" Axel asked rhetorically. "Looked high and low, far and wide through these blasted floors. Even with Zexion's help, we found squat. This place is <em>way</em> bigger on the inside. And it's very much alive."</p>
      <p>Saix knew this to be true but he was not to be deterred. "That may be but the Castle's secrets might hold clues to what we seek."</p>
      <p>Axel crossed his arms, a more stoic look appearing.</p>
      <p>"Saix… Unless we can find the <em>architect</em> of this place or their blueprints, then we might as well start breaking through walls." Axel stated. "We got no blueprints, no nothing other than a few research facilities and a kooky system where our memories are <em>literally</em> brought to life."</p>
      <p>"Almost like a defense mechanism." Saix added.</p>
      <p>"Most likely."</p>
      <p>The two were silent for a brief moment.</p>
      <p>"You really think we'll find her here?" Axel asked after a few seconds.</p>
      <p>"Perhaps a clue to her whereabouts."</p>
      <p>"Yeah, the boss seems too interested in finding this <em>Chamber</em>." Axel snorted a moment later. "I'm surprised that you're still so determined to find <em>her</em> after all this time."</p>
      <p>"And you're not?" Saix shot back, the grin falling from Axel's face.</p>
      <p>"Hey." Axel's tone was sharp. "Just cause I don't show it, doesn't mean I have forgotten all about her."</p>
      <p>"Truly?" Saix's tone was rather condescending.</p>
      <p>"Blame one of the floors for the hard reminder."</p>
      <p>"Or maybe we should talk about Roxas and Xion then."</p>
      <p>Axel looked bewildered by this proclamation. "The hell is that supposed to mean? You got a problem with who I hang out with?"</p>
      <p>"I have a problem with you shirking from our original intended goal." Saix shot back.</p>
      <p>"Who's here in the castle working his ass off to find the <em>room</em>?" Axel countered.</p>
      <p>Saix had no response to that.</p>
      <p>Axel sighed, pushing himself off against the wall. "Look, we'll have no better chance of finding her separate then we are like this. We're still on the same page, are we not? So what I hang out with the new kids. I've always done that. But don't think for a second I've forgotten about our promise to her and each other."</p>
      <p>His friend from their previous lifetime regarded him for a few moments.</p>
      <p>"What can you remember about her going missing?"</p>
      <p>"This again?"</p>
      <p>"Indulge me."</p>
      <p>Axel sighed, rubbing his forehead.</p>
      <p>"Amnesiac with nothing at all in her head, not even her name. The old Wise man dubbed her "X". Axel recounted. "She became our friend and we became apprentices in order to keep a closer eye on her. Soon after, the old man went batshit, the other apprentices disappeared, us too and now we wake up as Nobodies waiting for our existence to wither away into nothingness. Is that it? Did I miss anything?"</p>
      <p>"Hardly." Saix said, turning to gaze away from Axel in deep contemplation. "The Apprentices… the original six… the ones that made up the first six members of the Organization."</p>
      <p>"What about them?"</p>
      <p>"Do you not see it Axel? They may hold clues to what we are looking for."</p>
      <p>Axel opened his mouth only to close it a second later, conceding to Saix's reason. He had a point there.</p>
      <p>"I thought you wanted me to get rid of them." Axel said coolly.</p>
      <p>"Plans change, as we have seen." Saix pointed out. "If we eliminate Zexion now without a justifiable reason, we would be no better than Marluxia and Larxene."</p>
      <p>"How is the flower peddler doing?"</p>
      <p>"What we need now is a more subtle approach." Saix went on. "And he has been put under Xemnas's watch for the foreseeable future."</p>
      <p>"And the Nymph?"</p>
      <p>"The same, only not so much as Marluxia's case."</p>
      <p>"Alright, so what should we do then?"</p>
      <p>"Zexion was the youngest of the apprentices. The most impressionable if my memory serves me correctly." Saix said. "Though I am unsure of how much he <em>knows</em> of her, there is a possibility he may have an inkling of an idea on where to start."</p>
      <p>"You sure about this?"</p>
      <p>"Only for what I am able to surmise."</p>
      <p>Axel exhaled a tired sigh, rubbing his eyes.</p>
      <p>"Alright, <em>fine,</em> I'll turn on the old charm." Axel said, bending his back with the sound of satisfying pops loosening his body. "See if I can get anything out of No. VI."</p>
      <p>"See that you do."</p>
      <p>"And lay off Xion, alright?" Axel added in just before Saix was to depart. "She's trying, you know? She's new to all this. She's not like you and me."</p>
      <p>The Luna Diviner gazed upon his old friend.</p>
      <p>"I shall make no promises over her."</p>
      <p>Once No. VII traveled through the Dark Corridor, Axel scoffed and walked back to watch over Namine.</p>
      <p>"Whatever you say, Isa."</p>
      <p>
        <em>-Scene Cut-</em>
      </p>
      <p>The shore leave on the Citadel was energetic at best. With the number of missions the team went through since their last time being here, they wanted to enjoy it as much as possible before it's end.</p>
      <p>Since their arrival, the ground team went around in order to take care of a number of things. Business before pleasure, for obvious reasons.</p>
      <p>First thing Shepard did was confront Nessana on her lies pertaining to her sister. The asari diplomate hid the truth due to blackmail and it would've ruined her credibility if her family relations came out.</p>
      <p>Jane's ire was clear as day for all to see, not exactly enjoying the fact that she was essentially used. And Nessana was ready to pay for Shepard's services, yet the human Spectre told her to keep her "blood money" and whatever reward the diplomat had in mind for her before leaving her sight.</p>
      <p>Shepard swore if she stayed any longer, she would've punched the asari in the face, much less than putting a bullet in her head.</p>
      <p>Once that was taken care of, Jane ran into an Alliance Admiral by the name of Kahoku. Said man was far better than Admiral Mikhailovich in the personality department.</p>
      <p>Anyways, the man requested her to hopefully find his missing squad of marines and he's been searching high and low for them, only to run into so many dead ends. He exhausted his personal resources, forcing him to seek through outside ones.</p>
      <p>From what Jane learned, Kahoku got in contact with the Shadow Broker and found the location of their last known whereabouts on the planet Edolus, in the Sparta system of the Artemis Tau cluster. He would go after them, but his hands are tied and can't get to the location right away.</p>
      <p>Feeling pity for the admiral, Shepard accepted the mission and would take care of the issue first thing once leaving the Citadel.</p>
      <p>Seeing the distressed admiral off, Shepard decided to finally relax and find one or more of her crewmates.</p>
      <p>And the first one on the list, the unresolved wardrobe issue with the youngest of her squadmates.</p>
      <p>This time, Shepard would be accompanying Roxas in getting clothes and she promised by the day's end he'd have some proper attire.</p>
      <p>Ashley and Tali had informed her of what had transpired from before so she would watch over the boy like a hawk as he gathered the clothing that interested him.</p>
      <p>Eventually, they had settled upon a look and Jane was quite surprised at how he turned out.</p>
      <p>Roxas chose to wear a black, high-collared jacket with a zipper with an odd symbol of some kind. Over this, he wore another jacket, this one unzipped and white, with several black block designs and a gray hem on the end of each sleeve. The jacket's collar was red and pleated and folded back.</p>
      <p>He also wore two-colored pants; the legs of his pants were beige with several of what looked like buttons on the hem that appeared to attach the legs to the rest of the cloth, which were dark-colored. Roxas's shoes were colored in shades of gray and black and had red straps in place of laces. Finally, he wore a wristband with a black-and-white checkerboard pattern on his left wrist as well as a plain black ring on his left index finger and a plain white ring on his left middle finger.</p>
      <p>When asked about why Roxas chose such clothing, he said he was surprised that they had something like this and that he wanted to wear something familiar.</p>
      <p>"Thanks again for your help, Ms. Mode." Shepard said to the owner of the newly best clothing store on the Citadel. "Are you sure you don't want me to pay? A lot of this material looks really expensive."</p>
      <p>"Don't worry, darling." Said the midget of a woman.</p>
      <p>"Is there anything I could possibly do to pay you back? I mean you just opened up for business recently." Shepard urged. "Would you perhaps like a favor from me?"</p>
      <p>"Shepard, darling, darling." Edna Mode said in an extravagant manner. "You are the first Human Spectre. A hero to us all in your own right. Simply you being here will boost my publicity to the stratosphere."</p>
      <p>"We're on the Citadel."</p>
      <p>"Figure of speech darling, come now." Edna said. "With you at the helm, my business will explode."</p>
      <p>"But I haven't really done anything yet other than just being the first human Spectre." Jane pointed out.</p>
      <p>"Only a matter of time, Shepard darling." Edna waved off. "Soon, word will spread of your frequent shopping at this store and I shall have my name known across the galaxy."</p>
      <p>"So… you want an endorsement deal?"</p>
      <p>"I wish for two." Edna said, walking over to the young Nobody. She somehow managed to "reach" up to him and pulled him down to her level.</p>
      <p>"Why two?"</p>
      <p>"Because I have one with this lovely young specimen." Edna cooed like she was talking to a baby as she pulled on his cheeks.</p>
      <p>"Eeeeehh…"</p>
      <p>"What do you have in mind with him?" Shepard asked sternly.</p>
      <p>"Nothing too bad, I ensure you." Said the fashion designer. "Just some modeling."</p>
      <p>"Modeling?"</p>
      <p>"She basically means doing some poses in an array of clothing."</p>
      <p>"Poses?" Roxas crossed his arms in thought with Shepard chuckling slightly.</p>
      <p>"Just…" She paused for a moment, unsure if she should be going along with this.</p>
      <p>But, she did not want to leave a favor unfulfilled and Roxas seems like the type of person who would share that sentiment.</p>
      <p>"Just listen to what Edna tells you to the best of your ability." Shepard encouraged with a small thumbs up.</p>
      <p>"And from you, darling…"</p>
      <p>Jane sighed when she saw the nearby computer having a recorder set up. Knowing what she needed to do, she composed herself and spoke in a pleasant tone into it. "This is Commander Shepard and this is my favorite clothing store on the Citadel."</p>
      <p>With the recording made, Edna played it back to see if it worked well, which in fact it did.</p>
      <p>"Right, so when do you want Roxas to do some modeling sessions?"</p>
      <p>"If you're asking about today, I'm booked solid with reservations and appointments. Perhaps the next time you two come back to the Citadel."</p>
      <p>And by "perhaps" was more like "you will", judging by the short woman's tone of voice.</p>
      <p>Jane let out a defeated sigh, slightly regretting this choice of action.</p>
      <p>"Alright, a deal's a deal then."</p>
      <p>"Wonderful." Edna Mode exclaimed, grabbing Shepard's hand and shaking it vigorously. "Let me know when you'll be back. And tell your associates of my product."</p>
      <p>Once leaving the store, Shepard and Roxas were making their way to meet up with the others somewhere.</p>
      <p>Soon enough, the Spectre and Nobody found the two human soldiers accompanying the blue furred alien some distance away.</p>
      <p>"Stitch? Where've ya been all day?" Asked the commander.</p>
      <p>"Busy stocking up on vinyl's." Kaidan remarked in slight amusement. "Found him carrying an entire stack of them. Sure attracted a lot of attention."</p>
      <p>"Yeah, we're dealing with a first contact alien that we're passing off as a dog that clearly <em>isn't one." </em>Ashley reiterated.</p>
      <p>Stitch then jumped up and down excitedly, holding up a strange object in his hand while babbling happily.</p>
      <p>"What's that you got there, Stitch?" Shepard asked, squinting her eyes to try to get a better look at whatever it was Stitch had.</p>
      <p>It was slightly disproportionate symmetrically but the shape was clear.</p>
      <p>It was a metallic star of some kind that looked as though it was taped, hammered and welded together multiple times until it reached a satisfying look for Stitch.</p>
      <p>The others were curious about this strange object that Stitch held…</p>
      <p>But for Roxas, it was familiar to the point where he spoke without thinking.</p>
      <p>"Wayfinder…"</p>
      <p>Stitch laughed and nodded happily.</p>
      <p>Wherein the others…</p>
      <p>"Huh?"</p>
      <p>"What was that?"</p>
      <p>"What was what?"</p>
      <p>"What you just said." Jane emphasized. "You said something just now."</p>
      <p>"... I did?"</p>
      <p>Jane only shook her head.</p>
      <p>"You're a mystery Roxas, you know that?"</p>
      <p>Roxas frowned, eyes gazing downward. "Sorry."</p>
      <p>The three humans gazed at the young teen with Stitch simply hugging his "Wayfinder" to himself with a happy hum.</p>
      <p>Jane reached out and ruffled the kids hair with a small smile.</p>
      <p>"Not such a bad thing Roxas." Shepard remarked. "Least that makes you interesting."</p>
      <p>Roxas couldn't help but feel a small smile appear on his face after hearing that.</p>
      <p>Ashley, in the meantime, took the chance to look Roxas over as he was finally wearing something else.</p>
      <p>"So by the looks of his new outfit, you finally got him proper clothes." Ashley stated.</p>
      <p>"Yes I did." Jane said with a proud smile.</p>
      <p>"Hopefully, it wasn't at that store we went to last time."</p>
      <p>"Didn't go there." Roxas said. "Shepard said that if we did go there again and if she saw those two asari employee's she was gonna-"</p>
      <p>He was interrupted when Jane covered up his mouth with her hand.</p>
      <p>"You don't need to explain <em>all</em> of the details, Roxas." Jane sweetly said.</p>
      <p>But there was an undertone to it that said otherwise.</p>
      <p>Stop talking.</p>
      <p>He looked at her in confusion, the look he was receiving conveying him to remain silent.</p>
      <p>"Where did you two go, then?" Kaidan asked, watching in slight amusement at the interaction between Roxas and Shepard.</p>
      <p>"This one store that just opened up. Must've happened since we were here last."</p>
      <p>"I do find it strange his clothing looks a little… retro." Said Ashley.</p>
      <p>"Right? Like back a century ago." Kaidan imputed.</p>
      <p>"The owner designed the clothes herself, among other lines. But she doesn't just design regular clothing but durable ones and armors as well."</p>
      <p>"Really?" Said the lieutenant. "Might check it out later."</p>
      <p>"Hopefully, the armor isn't just for show, like one set I got a few years ago." Said the Gunnery Chief.</p>
      <p>"That bad?"</p>
      <p>"I won't get into the details."</p>
      <p>"Fair enough." Kaidan said simply. "Where to now?"</p>
      <p>Once getting in contact with the rest of their squad, the five Normandy members eventually made their way to the Zakara Wards. They met up and had some lunch from the local food stands.</p>
      <p>After some time chatting and relaxing, Roxas suggested they go to this one place for some refreshing treats. Seeing nothing else to do until heading off, they complied.</p>
      <p>Sitting at their nearby tables, the Normandy team were enjoying their tasty treats. Whereas Liara and Kaidan were having several ice-cream cones and popsicles, the others were having milkshakes.</p>
      <p>And for Stitch… a lot of cake.</p>
      <p>"This is becoming addictive now." Kaidan remarked. "Like <em>way</em> too addictive."</p>
      <p>"I am finding myself longing for these more and more." Liara admitted, taking a bit out of her Sea-Salt ice cream bar.</p>
      <p>"How do you eat this all the time Roxas?" Ashley asked, sipping on her own milkshake.</p>
      <p>Roxas just shrugged as he finished off his second bar.</p>
      <p>"Better yet, how do you do that without gaining any weight." The Gunnery Chief added.</p>
      <p>"Have you forgotten our occupation?" Wrex brought up, making Ashley pause.</p>
      <p>"Good point." she conceded.</p>
      <p>With Garrus, he had been convinced by Tali to get himself a particularly pricy sea-salt milkshake since she was having the same one.</p>
      <p>"I don't know Tali, that seems a bit much for one milkshake." Garrus said hesitantly. "How do I know it will be any good?"</p>
      <p>"I like it."</p>
      <p>"And that's supposed to be enough of a reason?" Garrus asked dryly.</p>
      <p>"It's mostly a dextro treat after the owner made it, so yeah."</p>
      <p>The C-Sec officer stared at his particular milkshake in the metal cup. Releasing a sigh, he swirled the straw a few times before taking a good sip. After a few moments, he reeled back.</p>
      <p>"Damn!" Garrus mildly hissed. "That's one hell of a fucking good milkshake. Costs a lot but <em>damn…</em> worth it."</p>
      <p>"What do you expect? It's a "dirty" shake for a reason, Garrus."</p>
      <p>"Yeah, with your expensive Turian liqueur added into the mix."</p>
      <p>Taking another sip, their Turian teammate hummed. "Okay, I admit… I'm starting to find it rather tasty, thank you very much."</p>
      <p>"That's nothing." Wrex said, drinking his "dirty" shake from what's practically a bucket. "Mine's got ryncol in it."</p>
      <p>"Hey, you know, I noticed something." Kaidan spoke up, gaining everyone's attention. "Has anyone noticed that these are not made for any species specifically?"</p>
      <p>"What now?"</p>
      <p>"I noticed that any vendor that serves these," Kaidan held up his sea salt ice cream. "They don't seem to make any alterations to it at all."</p>
      <p>"They don't?" Tali inquired, looking down at her own sea-salt smoothie. "Then… wait, I've been eating them for a while now."</p>
      <p>"I mean the only little difference I've seen are the "dirty" milkshakes of yours having specific alcohols added in. But that's just about it."</p>
      <p>They were about to get more into their discussion when their Gunnery Chief spoke up.</p>
      <p>"Uh guys, Stitch isn't moving." Ashley spoke aloud, causing everyone to look to the currently unconscious fuzzball laying on the table with his face flat against the metal.</p>
      <p>"Stitch?" Shepard reached out and shook him gently.</p>
      <p>He didn't respond.</p>
      <p>"Stitch?" Shepard repeated the process, moving him about just a bit more than last time.</p>
      <p>This time, they heard a pained groan.</p>
      <p>Wordlessly, Roxas went over to the little guy and pushed him over onto his back to see 626's face covered in frosting and his belly being particularly swollen.</p>
      <p>"The hell?" Ashley said in bemusement. "How many cakes did he eat?"</p>
      <p>"Is he in a sugar-coma?" Jane asked, poking Stitchs' face which only twitched in response.</p>
      <p>"Isn't the correct term a diabetic shock?"</p>
      <p>"I don't know if that term really applies for him." Garrus quipped, gazing at the unmoving furball whose tongue was hanging out the side of his jaw.</p>
      <p>"...Who's gonna give him mouth to mouth?"</p>
      <p>"Not it!"</p>
      <p>"Out of my way." Wrex walked straight up to Stitch and pounded his fist against his stomach.</p>
      <p>The reaction was instant with Stitch jolting up right with his arms raised in a ready position when…</p>
      <p>"Oh no~"</p>
      <p>He plopped down again, ears twitching.</p>
      <p>"Huh… was about to suggest tossing him into the nearby fountain."</p>
      <p>"Why would you think that?"</p>
      <p>"I think it's best we just have him ride it out." Tali suggested. "He just needs some rest."</p>
      <p>"Agreed."</p>
      <p>"Strange to think we found him on Feros." Garrus commented. "How'd a guy like him get here?"</p>
      <p>"Better yet, <em>where</em> is he even from?" Liara added with open intrigue despite the rather comical position the little guy was in right now.</p>
      <p>"You remember <em>seeing</em> his ship on the Normandy?" Said the Quarian. "When I was helping out a little, I saw a whole number of things I wasn't familiar with."</p>
      <p>"Same here." Garrus piped in. "The tech in there ain't like anything I've ever seen before."</p>
      <p>"Nothing he owns is anything like we've ever seen." Ashley said dramatically.</p>
      <p>"Except for the memorabilia."</p>
      <p>"Could've swiped it off from poor sod of a Pyjak." Wrex added in his few credits.</p>
      <p>"But stuff being in mint condition, supposedly being hundreds of years old?"</p>
      <p>"A rich sod, then."</p>
      <p>"So he crashed his ship on Feros." Kaidan murmured. "There's a story."</p>
      <p>"Yeah, if only we could understand half his gibberish."</p>
      <p>"True, but I also gotta wonder how many laws we are breaking for actual first contact."</p>
      <p>None of the Normandy team wanted to address that problem out in the open.</p>
      <p>Thankfully the Turian quickly changed subjects.</p>
      <p>"By the way, how is Feros?" Garrus asked, looking to Shepard. "Any word from the colonists or news that everything is alright over there?"</p>
      <p>"The colonists of Feros are well enough despite what happened to their home." Jane stated. "They'll be back on their feet soon enough."</p>
      <p>"As long as ExoGeni doesn't screw them over again."</p>
      <p>"Agreed."</p>
      <p>...When thinking about the colonists, the Quarian wondered about having a proper home her people could have if the Council allowed them to colonize a planet.</p>
      <p>It would've been a nice to have, letting them take root after drifting the stars for 300 years. Yet that couldn't really happen for two reasons.</p>
      <p>For one, the Council is still biased and punishing her people for the actions of her ancestors. It wasn't fair at all, something many non-Quarians could sympathize with.</p>
      <p>Many of her fellow Normandy crew members were among those who she knows.</p>
      <p>The other problem was that if given the chance to colonize, the planet needs to be nearly identical to Rannoch due to several factors.</p>
      <p>Quarian immune systems have always been relatively weak, even before their forced exile, as pathogenic microbes were comparatively rare in their home world's biosphere. One instance was the lack of insects, which was a contributing factor to many other details. Furthermore, what few viruses and other microbes were native to their homeworld were often at least partly beneficial to them, giving them a symbiotic relationship with the environment.</p>
      <p>After years of being in their suits, it would take years for them to properly integrate with a planet's environment. Even if they can't take back Rannoch anytime soon, finding a proper home would be truly hard.</p>
      <p>"Fancy running into you two again."</p>
      <p>Tali came out of her thoughts, looking over and saw Septimus Oraka again with an asari by his side.</p>
      <p>"Hello again." Roxas greeted.</p>
      <p>When Garrus saw the Turian general, he sat up straighter before giving a firm nod to the man. Septimus saw this and gave one back in return.</p>
      <p>"What are you and Sha'ira doing here?"</p>
      <p>"A little outing before I get deployed again." Said Septimus.</p>
      <p>The asari consort beside the general soon addressed the Nobody.</p>
      <p>"Roxas." Sha'ira greeted him kindly. "It appears that once again, I owe you a great debt."</p>
      <p>"What for?" Roxas asked in confusion.</p>
      <p>The Consort only smiled with a small shake of her head. "Be he ever so modest and humble in the future as you are now."</p>
      <p>This of course only proved to further befuddle the Nobody who wasn't really that well versed in word play as of yet.</p>
      <p>"You rescued a dear student of mine." Sha'ira said patiently. "It may have been a brief moment for you but saving someone dear to me is far more important than my reputation."</p>
      <p>Thinking it over for a moment, Roxas recalled the last time he was here on the Citadel and…</p>
      <p>"Nelyna." Roxas remembered the name of the Acolyte at last.</p>
      <p>"Glad that you remember her." The Consort stated. "For she remembers you quite well. Your dashing heroics and noble deeds in saving her and many other lives that day."</p>
      <p>Roxas didn't really know how to respond to such praise. All he did was what he had to.</p>
      <p>He wasn't just about to allow for her to get consumed by the Heartless. That would be a cruel fate for anyone to endure.</p>
      <p>"I wish there was time for me to repay you for what you have done." Sha'ira said, looking back to the Turian general. "But I have prior obligations and promises to attend to."</p>
      <p>She placed a hand upon Roxas' cheek with an affectionate smile.</p>
      <p>"The next time we see each other, I will reward you properly Roxas." The Consort said. "I can assure you of that much."</p>
      <p>With those final words, she departed with Septimus who nodded at Roxas and Garrus, leaving them with his arm linked with Sha'ira.</p>
      <p>"Well that was… nice I suppose." Garrus quipped. "It seems you have many admirers on the Citadel."</p>
      <p>Roxas only scratched his head with some of the others chuckling at the boy.</p>
      <p>"Anyone else got suggestions on what to do for shore leave?" Kaidan asked, his ice cream stick dangling from the corner of his mouth.</p>
      <p>"Well… I heard of this place that just opened up over at the Silversun Strip."</p>
      <p>
        <em>-Scene Cut-</em>
      </p>
      <p>The place where they ended up no was certainly busy with all of the commotion going around. Lights flashed left and right, different music blaring in the background. And many people were enjoying themselves to the fullest with whatever activity they were participating in.</p>
      <p>This place, the Silversun Strip, was certainly different from the Zakara Wards and the Presidium by a long shot.</p>
      <p>"Never heard of this place before." Tali muttered aloud.</p>
      <p>"Not many people do apparently." Liara stated. "It's more inclined to the more well-off individuals."</p>
      <p>"You would not believe the amount of times I had to come here when I was a freshly minted detective." Said Garrus.</p>
      <p>"Really? How so?"</p>
      <p>The Turian jabbed a thumb over at the Silver Coast Casino. "Had a few cases over at the casino nearby."</p>
      <p>"Oh? Like what?"</p>
      <p>Garrus adopted a thinking pose for a moment. "Let's see… there was an illegal Varren fighting pit one time. A racketeering deal I had to help bust. And the more challenging one I had dealt with involved a hacker messing around with the gambling machines while funneling credits in the process."</p>
      <p>"That sounded fun."</p>
      <p>"Yeah… it was… running around most of the Citadel to back trace the source at various areas was not very enjoyable."</p>
      <p>"And did you catch the guy?"</p>
      <p>"Well… here's the thing about the perp, he wasn't actually a person, but an AI."</p>
      <p>"Are you serious?"</p>
      <p>"I am."</p>
      <p>"But… why would an AI want to funnel credits? It doesn't make sense."</p>
      <p>"I asked the same thing, only to get the vague response that it wanted to get off the Citadel." Garrus informed. "I assumed afterwards it was to just make a new body for itself or move it's closed circuited platform out of this station and move elsewhere."</p>
      <p>"So what happened?"</p>
      <p>"When I found the platform, the AI threatened to blow up with a blast radius of 12 meters. Was able to disable the AI and shut it down for good before the timer went off."</p>
      <p>"Tell me, did your superiors at least believe the report?"</p>
      <p>"A few didn't, thinking I was lying when I didn't come back with the perp. Others were a little open minded as they helped me funnel the credits back to the casino."</p>
      <p>Satisfied on hearing the tale, they soon passed by another establishment on the strip.</p>
      <p>"Played a few games of Keresh-Yakshi over at the Castle Arcade when I was last there." Said their asari teammate.</p>
      <p>"Keresh-Yakshi? What's that?" Roxas asked.</p>
      <p>"It translates to 'blade of the night winds'." Liara translated before explaining. "It requires strategic and incisive thinking in order to win with its own system of moves, tactics, diversions and gambits.</p>
      <p>"In the more simplest of terms, Roxas, it's space-chess." Said the commander.</p>
      <p>"Be careful with some of the arcade games there, runt. They are extremely addictive and you'd be burning through credits like no tomorrow." Wrex informed.</p>
      <p>"And how would you know?"</p>
      <p>"The stupid claw game is bloody rigged." The Krogan soon growled. "I swear the person who made that machine was a Salarian."</p>
      <p>"I bet you're just a sore loser who can't get the timing and patience right."</p>
      <p>"What were you trying to win anyways?"</p>
      <p>"This one weapons mod on display." Wrex then explained the reason. "Specs were convincing in making me want one. Should've just bought the damn thing upfront rather than wasting just the same amount of credits in hopes of winning."</p>
      <p>"And what did you win anyways?"</p>
      <p>"Too many fucking plushies. Used them for target practice though. And the music I got was a little mixed."</p>
      <p>As the group kept walking by, Roxas took a glance to a nearby restaurant.</p>
      <p>"Hmm… Noodle House. Wonder if that place is any good."</p>
      <p>"Stand is still my favorite ramen." Said the Quarian.</p>
      <p>"You're just saying that cause you haven't eaten at any other ramen shop."</p>
      <p>"You too, Roxas."</p>
      <p>"Same applies with your ice cream, kid. You don't bother eating any other flavor."</p>
      <p>The group laughed a little in the process.</p>
      <p>"Where's this Arena place you guys are talking about?" Asked the Nobody.</p>
      <p>"Just up ahead, Roxas."</p>
      <p>It wasn't long before Roxas gazed upon the large establishment on the Silversun Strip, one of the more popular areas this place had.</p>
      <p>The Armax Arsenal Arena.</p>
      <p>From what he was told on the way over here, it was in all intents and purposes a battle simulator. An individual or a group of people can go in and sign up for a number of rounds in the fully-immersive holographic environment and chosen scenarios.</p>
      <p>While it's mostly a good rigorous activity for the participants, it's often a public spectacle depending on who is playing the simulator. Said people can watch the event from either the upper areas or the bar nearby.</p>
      <p>And while playing the simulator is fun and all, most players go in it for other reasons. Some are just for mundane recognition, others go in it for the prizes at the company store, which has all sorts of stuff from armors, weapons and mods for the more battle hardened individuals.</p>
      <p>Coming towards the front desk, the female Turian receptionist spoke to the Normandy crew. "Welcome to Armax Arsenal Arena. What can I do for you today?"</p>
      <p>"Hello, I would like to reserve a game session please." Shepard requested.</p>
      <p>"Certainly." The female Turian typed on her console. "Name?"</p>
      <p>"Commander Jane Shepard, Council Spectre."</p>
      <p>The receptionist hummed upon hearing the name. "Ah~ Commander Shepard, glad to see you grace our establishment today. Since you're new here <em>and</em> as a Council Spectre, your first session is for free. After that, you'll have to pay; with a discount of course." She kept typing away and pulled up the designated information. "So would you perhaps like a solo match or with a team?"</p>
      <p>"Team match please."</p>
      <p>"Of course. And who would be participating with you today?"</p>
      <p>Looking behind her, she saw her squad with some leaning on nearby walls and seats and some standing straight and awaiting her choice with anticipation.</p>
      <p>Glancing over to Roxas, he was seated at a bench with Stitch having apparently fallen asleep while leaning on him. Next to him sat Tali who was going through something on her Omni-tool with her chatting with Kaidan.</p>
      <p>She thought of having Roxas take part in this but chose against it. The blue eyed blonde was a fighter, no doubt, but he barely has any experience in firearms.</p>
      <p>Shortly after recruiting Liara from Therum, Jane had requested Ashley to help teach him how to use some guns. She thought he shouldn't rely on his Keyblade all the time while thinking there might be a time when he won't have access to it.</p>
      <p>Precautious she might be, but she wanted her team prepared.</p>
      <p>From what Ash had told him he was average at best. Even with the basic requirement, Shepard won't allow Roxas to participate on this "training simulator" until he has more firearm experience.</p>
      <p>More so on the fact that she doesn't know how many people would react in seeing him whip out his Keyblade from out of nowhere.</p>
      <p>Her thoughts then drifted onto Stitch.</p>
      <p>The little rascal of an alien has been interesting to fight with since Feros. The assignments he took part in had changed things up considerably and would make an interesting sight when in the simulator.</p>
      <p>But then came a problem, Stitch's identity had to remain a secret and if he participated, his cover would be blown. He is in all intents and purposes a first contact alien of unknown origin. And Jane fears what might happen if he is exposed.</p>
      <p>After the small thought process, Shepard thought on the others and eventually came to a decision.</p>
      <p>Once giving the names of her teammates to the receptionist, Shepard was soon greeted with a screen for whatever else she wanted to possibly do for their upcoming game.</p>
      <p>There were a number of categories to choose from with specific opponents. There were the Geth, several mercenary groups, and representatives of each of the Council race's very own militaries and many more. There were even options for ground vehicles, flyers, biotics, techs, etc. etc.</p>
      <p>Giving a glance over, she promptly selected her desired matchups for the several rounds she and her team will face.</p>
      <p>"Alright, that seems to be everything." Said the female Turian. "If you'll wait by your team, we'll inform you when the stage is set."</p>
      <p>Shepard gave her 'thanks' before walking over to the others.</p>
      <p>Garrus was the first to spot the commander coming towards them.</p>
      <p>"So?"</p>
      <p>"Got a game set up for us."</p>
      <p>"Right, but who's tagging along with you?"</p>
      <p>The question drew in the attention of the other team members.</p>
      <p>"You, Garrus, Ashley and Liara."</p>
      <p>When hearing the given names, the team members varied on their reaction.</p>
      <p>For those chosen… Ashley merely gave a firm nod with a smile on her face. Garrus merely chuckled. And Liara was a little hesitant before mustering herself in confirmation.</p>
      <p>The others however… Kaidan merely shrugged in acceptance. Tali was a little silent. Roxas didn't give much of a reaction. And as for Stitch and Wrex… they grumbled.</p>
      <p>"Don't worry, big guy, next time we come here you'll definitely tag along."</p>
      <p>"I'll hold you to that, Shepard."</p>
      <p>"<em>Commander Shepard,"</em> spoke the receptionist from the intercom. <em>"Commander Shepard please report to the arena."</em></p>
      <p>"That was fast." Jane muttered before addressing her chosen squad. "Alright, let's go in and have some fun."</p>
      <p>Ashley, Garrus and Liara soon followed Shepard as they made their way down to the lower level to access the arena.</p>
      <p>Seeing them off, Kaidan spoke up. "Since we'll be lounging back and all, does anyone want anything from the stands nearby? I'm paying."</p>
      <p>"I thought you'd be still full of the meal and ice cream earlier." Tali pointed out.</p>
      <p>"I know, but just want a little something to drink is all." Said the lieutenant. "So…?"</p>
      <p>Seeing the offer being made, Tali and Wrex gave their small request whereas Roxas was a little indecisive. As for Stitch… well he was still out.</p>
      <p>"I'll be back, hopefully before the match starts. If not, well, there's plenty of monitors around..."</p>
      <p>The others didn't pay the lieutenant not much mind as they waited patiently for the match to start for their fellow squadmates.</p>
      <p>After a number of minutes, the monitors around the establishment blared to life with the announcement being made.</p>
      <p>"<em>Ladies and gentlemen, it's combat time in the Armax Arsenal Arena!"</em> Blared the voice of an automated feminine VI.</p>
      <p>When overlooking the space through the monitors, the present squadmates saw it was rather big. More so with four of the Normandy team being present in the huge rectangular room.</p>
      <p>It wasn't long before more light appeared in the arena, revealing that the Normandy members were standing in a circular arena. It was divided into two sections: the inner and outer rings. The inner was more confined than the outer one.</p>
      <p>As the fanfare music was playing, the Armax VI resumed speaking.</p>
      <p>"<em>For the first time here, human Spectre Commander Shepard and her team will face several rounds of skirmishes: starting in 5…"</em></p>
      <p>Over in the arena, Shepard quickly orders her squadmates to spread themselves out behind some pieces of terrain for a defensive formation.</p>
      <p>"<em>4…"</em></p>
      <p>The human Spectre and her companions were quickly checking their armaments one final go around.</p>
      <p>"<em>3…"</em></p>
      <p>In an instant, various areas of the fighting arena flared to life with orange digitized light forming the opponents on this round.</p>
      <p>"<em>2…"</em></p>
      <p>The holographic enemies started solidifying as the Normandy squad quickly aimed their weapons at their opposition.</p>
      <p>"<em>1… Round One!"</em></p>
      <p>The moment the light died down; the Normandy squad was now facing up against digitized representations of the Geth.</p>
      <p>"Interesting choice you made, Skipper." Stated the Gunnery Chief, quickly unloading a volley of bullets at some Shock Troopers.</p>
      <p>Jane gave her excuse, tossing a grenade at a small pack of the synthetic race. "We have been fighting them quite a lot lately. Would be good to use them as a warmup."</p>
      <p>"I most certainly agree, Shepard." Said the asari, throwing a biotic warp at a few Geth drones.</p>
      <p>"Hopefully, the next few rounds will give us more of a challenge." Said Garrus, aiming down on his scope and firing at Geth from a distance.</p>
      <p>Shepard soon rolled out of cover before barreling into a group of Geth. The sound of her shotgun barked out repeatedly, causing several synthetics to disappear in a spray of orange holographic lights.</p>
      <p>In several moments, other Geth opened fire on her armored form, her kinetic shields took the impact of many holographic mass accelerated rounds. Swinging her head to face the offending Geth, a biotic field encompassed her hand as she punched a Geth across the head. As it staggered, she delivered a spartan kick at its midsection to send it tripping back onto the neighboring ring. Once on its back, she fired several pistol rounds into its flashlight head as it disbursed into digitized light.</p>
      <p>"<em>Kill streak!"</em></p>
      <p>Ashley was occasionally rushing in between cover as her pulse rifle rapidly fired onto a couple of Geth drones. With them fading away, the Gunnery Chief tossed a grenade onto a few troopers. When it went off, their shields went down, giving her the opening to fire down on them with her shotgun once she got in close. The incendiary rounds she carried did wonders in taking them down in a second or two later.</p>
      <p>"<em>Fantastic!"</em></p>
      <p>Liara quickly threw up a biotic shield just in time when several rockets were soaring towards her position. When they detonated, the asari skidded back from the combined blast. A few more came her way but were blasted from out of the air by Garrus' well timed shots. The archaeologist gave the detective a thankful nod before turning back to fire a few pistol rounds into a Geth drone. Once it was down, she flung a few warps here and there to allow Garrus to shoot those synthetics while they were airborne.</p>
      <p>"Williams!" Liara called out the Gunnery Chief, flinging a Geth Shock Trooper in her direction via biotic throw.</p>
      <p>Whirling around, Ashley saw the oncoming Geth and instinctively shot the synthetic being down with her incendiary rounds causing it to burst then to just burn. Giving her Asari teammate a roguish grin, she went over to join Shepard in taking down a Geth Juggernaut.</p>
      <p>As Roxas continued to watch the match go on, beside him, he failed to notice the somewhat inconspicuous looks that Tali kept giving him.</p>
      <p>Several times now, by this point, Tali had been finding herself shifting in her seat every few minutes or so. To some, it may look as though she was just adjusting herself to be comfortable.</p>
      <p>But to others who were experts at reading body language, it was clear to see that something was truly bothering her.</p>
      <p>The more she got a good look at Roxas' new attire, the more she knew that whatever that dream she had last night wasn't no coincidence.</p>
      <p>How is it that she had a dream where she literally saw Roxas wearing the same thing he has on <em>right now?</em></p>
      <p>'Keelah.' Tali internally thought to herself, recalling the dream once again.</p>
      <p>It was so vivid and clear.</p>
      <p>Every time she thought about it, it came to her so clearly and distinctly. The sights, the sounds, environment around her.</p>
      <p>What were those places?</p>
      <p>That strange mansion, the circular white room with the thirteen elevated chairs.</p>
      <p>What did this all mean?</p>
      <p>Once again, she slightly tilted her head in a manner where she wasn't looking at Roxas but was able to get a clear look at him.</p>
      <p>Studying his eyes, Tali compared them to that of the ones he had in her dreams. Brief as they were when seeing them, they were so… empty.</p>
      <p>Beyond blank.</p>
      <p>Just an endless void within that held nothing.</p>
      <p>It was genuinely unsettling for her to see the boy she had grown to view as a close friend have such lifeless eyes.</p>
      <p>When comparing them both, the Roxas before her, while his eyes held a certain blankness to him there was also a great deal of curiosity of just about… well, everything.</p>
      <p>He had always asked her and the others in so many situations and scenarios that it was hard to keep track of them all. He always seemed bent on learning about anything and everything he can, regardless of circumstance save for the time to fight.</p>
      <p>Thinking on this matter and calling it strange was becoming redundant by this point.</p>
      <p>Tali thought about how Roxas had Amnesia; she truly wondered if this was to be true? How is it that his Amnesia was so bad that he forgot basically <em>everything</em>?!</p>
      <p>From the way he expressed and conveyed himself, this didn't seem to be a falsehood. Nothing about his tone inflection, body language or eye movement showed that he was being deceitful.</p>
      <p>He was being honest.</p>
      <p>Or he was just a really good liar.</p>
      <p>The Quarian though soon scoffed at the idea.</p>
      <p>Roxas lying?</p>
      <p>He was too straightforward to lie.</p>
      <p>She looked back ahead to the screen displaying Commander Shepard with the rest of her squadmates finishing off the last of their opponents in the first round. Wrex and Kaidan had apparently moved to get a closer look with Stitch having appeared to have awoken and was standing atop Wrex's armor to observe with them both.</p>
      <p>Kaidan had brought back the drinks he spoke of, Tali noticing hers and Roxas' were placed beside her.</p>
      <p>Stitch was enjoying a snack Alenko had bought as well, the trio now observing the match intently with Tali and Roxas sitting comfortably behind them on their bench.</p>
      <p>That was until they were joined by an unexpected individual.</p>
      <p>"Excuse me? Is this seat taken?" asked a smooth, accented feminine tone.</p>
      <p>Roxas and Tali looked up from the match to a woman in her mid to late twenties possibly with porcelain white skin, jet black hair and a form fitting red dress that accentuated every single curve on her body.</p>
      <p>To say that she was beautiful(?)… well, Roxas had never seen anyone like her before.</p>
      <p>Still, he had much to learn so he simply nodded down to the empty seat next to him and turned back to the match at hand.</p>
      <p>The woman arched a brow at the lackluster response but took it in stride, seating herself by the young teen. Out of the corner of her eye, she immediately took note of the Quarian seated on the teens other side with the glowing eyes beneath the helmet being firmly directed at her.</p>
      <p>Ignoring the look of suspicion, the older woman settled into watching the match before her with her eyes gazing over the strange blue creature that was atop the Krogan.</p>
      <p>'What in the world?' the ravenette thought internally in confusion.</p>
      <p><em>What</em> was that thing supposed to be?</p>
      <p>Shaking her head, she returned her focus on the firefight going on right now but she made a subtle shift with her hips that would move slightly closer to the teenage boy beside her.</p>
      <p>He showed no response or reaction, simply continuing to watch his teammates prepare for the next round.</p>
      <p>Leaning back into her seat, she crossed her legs and folded her arms underneath her rather well-endowed bust.</p>
      <p>"Are you enjoying the match?" the woman asked, making the blond teen finally look to her.</p>
      <p>She took a moment to get a proper look at his face, noting how youthful he appeared at face value with his lean face, crystal blue eyes and sandy blond hair. Yet… when she took a moment to gaze into the boy's eyes, the brunette-haired woman found herself rather unsettled at what gazed back at her.</p>
      <p>They were unusually… lifeless if that's how she would describe them.</p>
      <p>Yes, there was a spark of some kind, something that showed more than the empty blue she saw. But still, it was as if she was gazing upon a blank canvas.</p>
      <p>The boy merely shrugged, turning back to the match.</p>
      <p>On Roxas's other side, Tali couldn't help but feel a slightly amused sense of satisfaction with her friend appearing to disregard the incredibly gorgeous woman seated next to him.</p>
      <p>With the first round complete, the automated feminine voice spoke up. <em>"Round One complete! Get ready for the next round!"</em></p>
      <p>Shepard and co took a moment to collect themselves.</p>
      <p>"Well, that wasn't so bad." Ashley remarked with a shrug. "Thought they'd be a bigger pain in the ass like they usually are."</p>
      <p>"I think we're getting used to them." Garrus commented, adjusting his scope.</p>
      <p>"Strange." Liara had her Biotics around her. "I find this quite invigorating."</p>
      <p>"Get ready to use that energy then." Shepard said with a roguish grin as the VI began counting down to the next round.</p>
      <p>"<em>5…"</em></p>
      <p>Over in the arena, Shepard quickly orders her squadmates to ready themselves once again.</p>
      <p>"<em>4…"</em></p>
      <p>The human Spectre and her companions were quickly checking their armaments once more.</p>
      <p>"<em>3…"</em></p>
      <p>More orange digitized light appeared as the next round's opponents were forming up.</p>
      <p>"<em>2…"</em></p>
      <p>The holographic enemies started solidifying as the Normandy squad quickly aimed their weapons at their opposition.</p>
      <p>"<em>1… Round Two!"</em></p>
      <p>Up ahead, the appearance of Turians, Humans, Batarians being accompanied by bipedal mechs that were identified as YMIR's and their quadrupedal counterparts, FENRIS.</p>
      <p>"The Blue Suns?" Garrus said in surprise, recognizing the unifying armor that they all wore.</p>
      <p>"Yes. Got a problem with that, Garrus?"</p>
      <p>"No, just surprised is all."</p>
      <p>"Why's that?"</p>
      <p>Garrus quickly made a headshot on a human Blue Sun member before scoping down a Turian member. "We haven't come across any well-known mercenary groups in our past missions up till now."</p>
      <p>"True. The only mercenaries we came across have been small time and up and coming." Ashley said, rolling a frag grenade to a few mercenaries. It soon exploded as she rolled out of cover to fire her pulse rifle.</p>
      <p>"Stay in formation." Shepard instructed, Biotics flaring. "Liara, you and I are crowd control. They'll likely try flanking us. Garrus, cover us. Ashley, you're our heavy duty fire power, prep those inferno rounds."</p>
      <p>"Inferno rounds?"</p>
      <p>"What? Incendiary has too many syllables." Jane said defensively.</p>
      <p>Their little exchange was cut short as the Blue Suns began firing upon them, having both Liara and Shepard threw up Biotic barriers to absorb the oncoming first wave of fire.</p>
      <p>Over with the other Normandy members, the ravenette occasionally broke her concentration away from the monitors. Reason being, she was examining the rest of Shepard's crew.</p>
      <p>More so on the blue furred alien.</p>
      <p>"Don't mind me asking this, but what is <em>that</em>?"</p>
      <p>The others visibly tensed in varying degrees, in Wrex's case none at all.</p>
      <p>"That's Stitch." Roxas replied.</p>
      <p>"Stitch? And <em>what</em> is he?"</p>
      <p>"Our… dog." Roxas recalled the excuse that was given to him.</p>
      <p>"Your dog?" Questioned the ravenette.</p>
      <p>"Bark! Bark!"</p>
      <p>The ravenette stared, trying to make sense of what she just watched this "Stitch" do.</p>
      <p>"Doesn't look like any breed I've ever seen."</p>
      <p>"Found him in a lab." Wrex said quickly. "Genetically modified."</p>
      <p>She looked at the Krogan Battle master and then at the blue alien… who was picking his nose with his tongue.</p>
      <p>'Bloody hell.' The ravenette internally said in disgust.</p>
      <p>"Curious…" Was the woman's muttered response, not wanting to sound rude at all.</p>
      <p>Stitch then jumped from Wrex to Roxas, plopping himself atop his head and looking back at the ongoing match within the arena.</p>
      <p>"Very curious…"</p>
      <p>Back in the arena, Shepard had caught a FENRIS mech with her Biotics before flinging it into a group of Blue Suns.</p>
      <p>Ashley had quickly followed up on the opportunity Shepard created by tossing several grenades that completely destroyed the cluster of enemies.</p>
      <p>"<em>Kill-tacular!"</em></p>
      <p>Garrus was forced to break away from his cover when a FENRIS mech came to his position. Rolling out of the way, he swapped his sniper rifle for his assault rifle, quickly unloading a volley of rounds into the charging dog-like mech. Once collapsing onto the ground, the orange digitized mist filled the air as it gave way to a Turian Blue Sun member to charge right through.</p>
      <p>With the close quarters combat, Garrus was forced to momentarily go into hand-to-hand combat. Weaving through the incoming punches before snagging an offending arm. Twisting around, the detective quickly drew his pistol and shot the digitized Turian at the back of his head.</p>
      <p>As the digitized body was barely decomposing, Garrus kicked the body into a Batarian member. With the Batarian down, the detective fired his pistol a few more times right before tossing a grenade at an incoming group of LOKI mechs, reducing them to digitized scrap.</p>
      <p>Another Turian attempted to get the jump on him but gave away his position when he ran forward and alerted the C-sec detective to his presence. Whirling around in time to see the Turian brandish an Omni-blade, Garrus managed to sidestep him in time and grabbed the merc's wrist.</p>
      <p>Using the momentum of the Blue Sun against him, he spun the Turian around until he managed to angle the arm of the Omni-blade with the tip being directed right under the Turians jaw.</p>
      <p>The Turian couldn't help but pause to himself after watching the body turn into digital bits and pieces.</p>
      <p>A moment later, he rolled his shoulders with a smug, pretending to have a suit to give himself an imaginary flicker.</p>
      <p>"Heh… badass."</p>
      <p>Liara was handling several of the blue suns on her own, using a crate as cover as they kept firing on her.</p>
      <p>She knew that if she were to stay here any longer, they would just outflank due to them having the numbers to do so.</p>
      <p>So she had to take a page out of Shepard's book.</p>
      <p>Bring the fight to them.</p>
      <p>The asari erected a barrier in order to protect herself from the incoming fire. Walking as close as she could, she tossed a few grenades in and let them set off. On the initial explosion, the archaeologist rushed forward and performed a diving roll. The act momentarily surprised the digitized mercenaries as they tried to act quickly. Yet their runtimes weren't fast enough for the biotic warp Liara brought out.</p>
      <p>With them held off, Liara drew her pistol and fired as fast as she could onto her digitized opponents before they started becoming orange motes of light.</p>
      <p>With the second round complete, the automated feminine voice spoke up. <em>"Round Two complete! Get ready for the next round!"</em></p>
      <p>"Not bad." Wrex murmured approvingly.</p>
      <p>"Not bad?" Kaidan repeated in amusement. "That was pretty hardcore if you ask me."</p>
      <p>"That last one with Garrus was a tad bit gruesome." Tali admitted, grimacing at the means in which the digital Blue Sun perished.</p>
      <p>Stitch jabbered out a few of his alien words, making <em>pew pew</em> sounds all the while.</p>
      <p>"I most certainly agree."</p>
      <p>The present Normandy team, plus the ravenette, looked over and saw the recent arrival.</p>
      <p>Kaidan snapped to a salute with Wrex merely grunting in acknowledgement.</p>
      <p>"At ease, Alenko."</p>
      <p>"Captain Anderson, sir." Kaidan said with the utmost respect. "I don't mean to come across as rude but what brought you here today?"</p>
      <p>Anderson shrugged, head turning to the ongoing match in the arena.</p>
      <p>"I actually have an apartment not far from here and it's my day off. Wanted to get some fresh air and go for a walk. And to my surprise I come across here and see the commander taking up a match."</p>
      <p>Kaidan nodded as he tried to get comfortable again from the unexpected arrival of the captain.</p>
      <p>Said man looked over and greeted the other members of Shepard's team. Each of them gave one in return.</p>
      <p>When Anderson gazed on Stitch, he was quite curious as to what this being was.</p>
      <p>"Ah yes, Miss Tali'Zorah, correct?"</p>
      <p>Tali was surprised by the attention she had just received. "Yes, Captain Anderson?"</p>
      <p>"No need for formalities." Anderson waved off. "You're not part of our military so no need for it."</p>
      <p>"I know that, but you rightfully deserve it."</p>
      <p>"I appreciate the thought, Ms. Zorah."</p>
      <p>"Then what was it that you wanted?"</p>
      <p>"Why to properly thank you of course."</p>
      <p>"Thank me? For what?"</p>
      <p>"Ms. Zorah, if it was not for your timely arrival on the Citadel and the beginning of your pilgrimage, we wouldn't have been able to get the damning evidence to get Saren removed as a Spectre and have Shepard instated as one."</p>
      <p>"Oh, of course." Tali was a bit bashful now at the praise. "You're welcome."</p>
      <p>"And I've been hearing reports from Admiral Hackett on your recent contributions. Very well done on the recent Geth incursion." Anderson said with a kind smile.</p>
      <p>Well if the previous compliment wouldn't make her blush with embarrassment at such high praise, this most certainly would.</p>
      <p>When Anderson was waiting for the next round to commence, he gazed at the sandy blonde teen amongst the group.</p>
      <p>He had read Shepard's reports and tried to focus on Roxas' contribution to them. Some of the details seemed rather vague, redacted in a manner of speaking. The Alliance Captain could tell there were definitely bits of information not really connecting and adding up.</p>
      <p>After all, Anderson practically raised Jane as her foster father ever since Mindoir. Give him some bits of time and he can see through his foster daughter's little secrets.</p>
      <p>"<em>5…"</em></p>
      <p>Over in the arena, Shepard quickly orders her squadmates to ready themselves once more.</p>
      <p>"<em>4…"</em></p>
      <p>The human Spectre and her companions were quickly checking their armaments.</p>
      <p>"<em>3…"</em></p>
      <p>More orange digitized light appeared as the next round's opponents were forming up.</p>
      <p>"<em>2…"</em></p>
      <p>The holographic enemies started solidifying as the Normandy squad quickly aimed their weapons at their opposition.</p>
      <p>"<em>1… Round Three!"</em></p>
      <p>From the outside of the arena, Wrex quickly grew more interested.</p>
      <p>"Huh, interesting that Shepard decided to bring in the Blood Pack."</p>
      <p>Roxas and Tali briefly looked at their Krogan teammate before gazing back at the monitors. There they saw the assembly of Krogan, Vorcha and Varren all appear before Shepard's team.</p>
      <p>"What's so special about them?"</p>
      <p>"They are really ruthless, for one. And they often work on raids and piracy." Anderson commented. "You would not imagine the amount of trouble my men deal with the likes of them."</p>
      <p>Back in the arena, Shepard was practically chuckling at the expressions her squadmates currently wore.</p>
      <p>"Oh crap." Garrus said aloud with his eyes widening.</p>
      <p>"Shepard." Liara said worriedly.</p>
      <p>"What? You guys wanted a challenge, right?"</p>
      <p>"God dammit Skipper."</p>
      <p>Shepard only prepped her gun, a mischievous smile appearing as the Blood Pack data Mercs charged forward.</p>
      <p>"God <em>dammit </em>Skipper." Ashley yelled once more, stumbling slightly as she unloaded her Inferno Rounds on two Krogan and a Varren that made a beeline for her.</p>
      <p>The Vorcha of the Pack ran after Liara and Shepard, the latter firing out a stasis field that caught several of them with the former utilizing a Biotic throw.</p>
      <p>Switching to her new weapon, Liara targeted the Vorcha that were recovering from her throw and fired at their limbs.</p>
      <p>While she may not have the accuracy that Garrus is able to pull off, her gun compensates with the range that it covers. The shots hit their joints causing them to stagger and be unable to move until they were finished off.</p>
      <p>"Well, glad they work." Liara remarked.</p>
      <p>But internally, she was wondering what genuinely practical use she would have for this weapon. It seemed a bit unnecessary and underpowered in comparison to those that her friends and companions held.</p>
      <p>Regardless, she was given this weapon for a reason. She would make use of it and not let her team down.</p>
      <p>Over with Ashley, her Krogan problem had now been replaced with a Varren problem.</p>
      <p>A small litter of Varren came rushing in, mouths snarling towards their coming prey. Acting quickly, Ashley jumped up and leaped off the nearest arena wall to give her some additional height. Briefly airborne, the Gunnery Chief fired off several shotgun rounds. Her barks soon overcame the opposing ones as they dispersed into orange moats.</p>
      <p>Landing on the ground, Ashley spat. "Bad boys! Stay down!"</p>
      <p>Before she got the chance to move elsewhere, her kinetic shields were quickly broken down. Ducking for cover, she peaked over slightly and saw the one responsible was a Vorcha sniper. She was about to try to find another vantage point when she soon noticed a number of additional Vorcha proceeding to her position.</p>
      <p>Seeing as she might get overrun, temporarily, she pulled out her pistol. Using two firearms at once isn't her usual style as it's often sloppy. But for the time being, she'll need the extra damage.</p>
      <p>Pulling the pistol's trigger, Ashley saw the first bullet graze against a Vorcha while another shot the same one as it tumbled over slightly. She then fired off her shotgun when another Blood Pack member came in close. The recoil was not that great while doing it one handed, but it served her purpose. Using the recoil, she spun her arm to bat another Vorcha across the head before firing off a few pistol rounds.</p>
      <p>Ashley's shields flared to life just as it reformed and it didn't take much guesswork for her to know it came from the same sniper.</p>
      <p>She was now starting to get overwhelmed, forcing the Gunnery Chief to retreat to a better position. As she fled, Ashley could feel her kinetic barrier getting hit a lot more often by the opposing Vorcha. When her shield broke, Ashley didn't know what would come next.</p>
      <p>Suddenly an explosion went off behind her, sending the incoming Vorcha up into the air. And one by one, they were shot down.</p>
      <p>"Hey! That's no way in treating a lady!" Garrus roared, firing a number of rounds into the airborne Blood Pack members. Knowing that these required a bit more firepower, he switched to its more upgraded form and fired a single shot that burst and struck down the multiple Varren that pursued Ashley.</p>
      <p>"Thanks for the assist."</p>
      <p>"Anytime."</p>
      <p>On the other side of the arena, Shepard unfortunately had to deal with a pair of angry Krogan. These two bastards appeared hell bent on taking her out directly.</p>
      <p>One got a little close to her.</p>
      <p>So, her natural reaction was to rear her head back and bash her head against the data Krogan.</p>
      <p>Immediately, she winced and began rubbing her head to stem the pain.</p>
      <p>Of the observers, one Battlemaster guffawed aloud at the sight of the Commander attempting such a matter.</p>
      <p>With her distracted from her headache, one of the Krogan snatched her by the neck and hoisted her up into the air.</p>
      <p>Taking a page from Tali's book, Shepard activated her Omni-tool and had it form the Omni-blade. She drove the hard light weapon into the Krogan's head a number of times before she was let go. As the heavyset alien staggered about, Jane quickly whipped out her shotgun and fired at its wounded head.</p>
      <p>With the orange moats filling the air, the final Krogan came in to fight Shepard one by one. It charged right at her, causing the Spectre to use a Biotic throw to throw the holographic enemy off balance. Before it recovered, Shepard momentarily used a Statis on it to keep the Krogan in place. Once close, she punched the Blood Pack member several times across the face before the Omni-blade flared to life. The hard light construct pierced through its head, soon dismantling the digitized enemy.</p>
      <p>With the third round complete, the automated feminine voice spoke up. <em>"Round Three complete! Get ready for the final round!"</em></p>
      <p>"Phew." Shepard panted slightly. "That wasn't so bad, was it?"</p>
      <p>"If you say so."</p>
      <p>"Would be worse if they were the real deal."</p>
      <p>"Thank god the safety was on or else we might've gotten seriously hurt."</p>
      <p>"Next time, give a heads up when you wanna throw the damn Blood Pack on our ass's Skipper." Ashley deadpanned.</p>
      <p>"No promises."</p>
      <p>"<em>5…"</em></p>
      <p>Shepard quickly ordered her squadmates to ready themselves one more time.</p>
      <p>"<em>4…"</em></p>
      <p>The human Spectre and her companions were quickly checking their armaments.</p>
      <p>"<em>3…"</em></p>
      <p>More orange digitized light appeared as the next round's opponents were forming up.</p>
      <p>"<em>2…"</em></p>
      <p>The holographic enemies started solidifying as the Normandy squad quickly aimed their weapons at their opposition.</p>
      <p>"<em>1… Round ERROR! ERROR! ERROR!"</em></p>
      <p>The four-man squad momentarily paused, their forms relaxing slightly as alarms began to blare.</p>
      <p>"What's going on?" Liara asked aloud.</p>
      <p>Ashley was tense now looking around nervously with Shepard looking upwards.</p>
      <p>"Hey, the hell you mean by "error"?"</p>
      <p>Garrus all the while kept his gaze on the data moats that were erratic and unable to form properly.</p>
      <p>The mass of swirling holographic moats started changing color. In mere moments, dark vapors swirled around the moats before encompassing them all into darkened cocoons.</p>
      <p>"Oh hell."</p>
      <p>"What?"</p>
      <p>"Take a look."</p>
      <p>The three females looked on, paling on realizing what was happening.</p>
      <p>"<em>RoUNd foUR! SaFEty ofF!"</em></p>
      <p>Both the combatants and observers quickly grew worried upon hearing this.</p>
      <p>For safety concerns in the Armax Arena, the holographic enemies participants go up against have a pacifying level of threat per say. No one is supposed to die in these events as the enemies are merely designed to take out the players. The only extensive harm that can be done are some bruises and rarely some broken bones.</p>
      <p>Nothing more.</p>
      <p>Yet whatever is happening is making it occur.</p>
      <p>Something that was different from what they usually saw, but the feeling was all too familiar.</p>
      <p>"Oh shit!"</p>
      <p>"Yeah." Garrus grimly said, raising his sniper rifle.</p>
      <p>"Get ready." Shepard's tone was sharp and expression fierce.</p>
      <p>"roUnd FOur! StARt!"</p>
      <p>The dark cocoons disbursed, revealing the new enemies being present instead of the ones Shepard had planned for her squad.</p>
      <p>Each and every one of them appeared relatively similar in design of the cubical forms with circuit-like surfaces. The box-like enemies mainly had a few differences between the bunch being the color scheme varying from bright to dark colors. The other pertained to that while the land enemies all had spider legs, the airborne ones had little wings flapping about.</p>
      <p>"Oh these Heartless don't seem too bad."</p>
      <p>Just after this came out of Garrus' mouth, more dark pools formed on the floor with dark spheres opening up around the area. Coming out of them were a wide array of Heartless that joined the Box-Bugs and Flappy Bugs.</p>
      <p>Several had worn what appeared to be pointy wizard hats and even staffs while literal shields with growling faces materialized and dropped down with their wielders appearing behind them.</p>
      <p>On top of that, Surveillance Robots had also appeared and with them were several pallet variations with several distinctly larger versions of their smaller counterparts.</p>
      <p>The three girls gave the Turian blank looks with him feeling his mandibles twitch at having his words being thrown in his face in such a manner.</p>
      <p>"Yeah… I know, I should've kept my mouth shut."</p>
      <p>Up with the observers, many were murmuring in fear and shock.</p>
      <p>What in the Citadel's name was going on right now?</p>
      <p>"What the hell are those things?" Anderson asked in grave concern, having already seen the reaction of Shepard and her squadmates that were both in the arena and observing with him.</p>
      <p>"Bad news." Kaidan said, face conveying trepidation and concern.</p>
      <p>"We gotta get down there!" Wrex declared.</p>
      <p>In an instant, Roxas was on his feet and rushed towards the downstairs area. The rest of the Normandy team followed suit but were not as quick as the sandy blonde Keybearer. The only one who was quick enough was Stitch, due to his unique physiology.</p>
      <p>By the time Roxas made it downstairs, he had somehow managed to throw on his black coat and had quickly formed a Dark Corridor before him and rushed right through. And in his haste, he didn't realize Stitch followed right in just before the Corridor closed itself off.</p>
      <p>When the others arrived downstairs, they were in a state of utter confusion.</p>
      <p>"Where did Roxas and Stitch go?"</p>
      <p>Back in the arena, the squad had been separated into either a pair or soloing the Heartless.</p>
      <p>Shepard had run forward, Biotics surrounding her as she charged and hit one of the Danger bugs with her shoulder. The blocky Heartless stumbled back into a cluster of others with Shepard rapidly unloading her rifles upon them to kill them off.</p>
      <p>Behind her, Garrus and Liara were conducting a defensive strategy against the Defenders and Wizards who were proving to be a greater set of adversaries than they had anticipated. The Defenders mix of physical force with its pinch of fire magic was complemented by the Wizards exclusive use of Magic entirely.</p>
      <p>Ashley was also having a bit of a difficult time, having constantly moved from cover to cover as the Surveillance Robots, Guardians and Destroyers were chasing after her specifically.</p>
      <p>"Fucking hell! <em>Leave me alone God Dammit!" </em>Ashley bellowed out in pure frustration.</p>
      <p>Shepard was running towards her Gunnery Chief to assist, firing at the Heartless in hopes of gaining their attention, unaware of the aid she was about to receive.</p>
      <p>From behind, a Dark Corridor quickly formed with Roxas soaring out with Keyblade in hand. Cleaving through the Heartless, he landed before his teammates, earning surprised looks from them all.</p>
      <p>"What the-! Roxas? How the hell did you-"</p>
      <p>"No time!"</p>
      <p>In an instant, Roxas and the others heard the familiar cackle nearby. Looking over, they saw Stitch blasting through a number of Heartless left and right. That was prior to grasping onto a Surveillance Drone and hurling it around once it's laser blast went off, eradicating a number of its allies in one fall stroke before tossing it aside and blowing it up.</p>
      <p>"Wait? How did he-"</p>
      <p>"You wanna play twenty questions now or later?!" Garrus barked out, firing at several Flappy Bugs coming their way.</p>
      <p>Roxas saw Garrus and Liara struggling with the Defenders and Wizards, vision momentarily changing into an environment where he was in a castle of contraptions and platforms.</p>
      <p>As quickly as did he see the vision did it disappear, making him throw his Keyblade at a Wizard floating above Liara.</p>
      <p>Rather than having the Keyblade be recalled to him, Roxas blurred and then appeared right above his Keyblade.</p>
      <p>Grabbing it in the air, he thrusted downward with light appearing around him and forming into a Mach Cone as he slammed into a Defender and destroyed it.</p>
      <p>However, just as one enemy was taken care of, another took its place with another Defender being nearby managing to land a solid hit on him.</p>
      <p>"Roxas!" Liara cried out in concern, seeing the boy sail through the air.</p>
      <p>Yet this was short lived, No. XIII finding himself instinctively recovering in the air.</p>
      <p>While airborne, Roxas' vision momentarily shifted into another setting.</p>
      <p>His(?) Keyblade was out and pointed to a horde of surrounding Heartless. At its tip, streams of light encompassed it and condensed into a ball. When it's wielder focused on the enemies, they seemed to 'lock on'. After that, the ball of light exploded, sending energy projectiles all around.</p>
      <p>However, with that vision was one that was different and interlaced with the first one. This one was from a Keyblade clearly not his own but oh so familiar as well. In front of him were enemies he had never encountered before. From this new perspective, everything changed as his eyes rapidly moved around the area as if targeting the strange enemies.</p>
      <p>When his vision shifted back, Roxas seemed to follow the action the vision gave him.</p>
      <p>Aiming his Keyblade at the masses, his vision slowed down as nearly dozens upon dozens of Heartless seemed to be targeted. His Keyblade soon gathered motes of bright light from all around and appeared to be swallowed at his weapon's tip. Once his focus was completed, he fired off the ball of light as it shattered, soared and struck many Heartless from around the nearby area.</p>
      <p>'Shotlock… Ragnarok.'</p>
      <p>The words echoed in his head on what he just performed for the first time.</p>
      <p>"That was quite interesting." Garrus muttered aloud. "I wonder if you took inspiration from my sniper rifle, Roxas."</p>
      <p>Roxas frowned, thinking about this for a moment. "Don't think so."</p>
      <p>"<em>Really?"</em></p>
      <p>The stressed out remark was quickly ignored as Roxas was on the move once more.</p>
      <p>He ran forward, grinding his Keyblade against the ground with sparks flying. Drawing near a Defender, he swung upward, the force behind his attack stunning the Heartless.</p>
      <p>Garrus's eyes sharpened, quickly raising his sniper rifle and firing at the Heartless' head.</p>
      <p>The shot went clean through, dispersing the Defender.</p>
      <p>Roxas looked back and found himself throwing a thumbs up at the Turian with Garrus being unable to repress the chuckle that came out.</p>
      <p>In the meantime, Stitch was firing off with his small yellow blasters. The green explosive arsenal was proving effective against the Heartless as they packed quite the punch. He jumped about, using certain Heartless as small platforms to better move around the area and deal widespread damage to the Heartless.</p>
      <p>Ashley was quick to fight alongside him, allowing herself to be used as a "landing pad" or "Launch pad" of sorts for Stitch to help him move about the area.</p>
      <p>Roxas, having taken down several Cy, Metal and Blox bugs turned over to see the Commander struggling.</p>
      <p>Recalling a spell he had witnessed during one of his dreams, Roxas thrusted his Keyblade forward pointing at the closest group of Heartless to Jane.</p>
      <p>Shepard grunted, feeling overwhelmed by the excessive amount of Heartless that were attacking her Biotic Barrier. She knew she would need to get creative in order to beat back these annoying bastards.</p>
      <p>As she was formulating a plan, she saw something quite… well, <em>astonishing</em> was as good of a word as she was able to think of.</p>
      <p>A small series of clocks and roman numbers with unusual prisms appeared around several of the Heartless.</p>
      <p>She must be getting tired as she must be seeing things. For the Heartless were no longer moving, as if someone pressed 'pause' on them.</p>
      <p>Not wanting to look a gift horse in the mouth, Jane fired upon the halted Heartless before driving her Omni-blade into a Surveillance Drone and delivering a biotic warp onto a Defender. With the shield-wielder floating and defenseless, she tossed a few grenades on it, which exploded and disbursed the dark being.</p>
      <p>Whirling about to face several more Surveillance Robots, she paused when she heard Roxas shout.</p>
      <p>"Gravity!"</p>
      <p>Suddenly, a large purplish black dome of some kind appeared over the Heartless, expanding, encompassing and descending upon them.</p>
      <p>To any other observer witnessing this, they would've thought Roxas suddenly performing some sort of biotic move, a powerful one at that.</p>
      <p>However, this was quickly thrown by the wayside when the Heartless quite literally came crashing down to the ground… the point where they were <em>flattened into what could be described as 2D images of themselves…</em> before snapping back to normal with several being destroyed.</p>
      <p>…</p>
      <p>"So… what the hell were those supposed to be?" Shepard asked after a few moments of silence.</p>
      <p>"Gravity and Stop magic." Roxas quickly explained.</p>
      <p>"Stop magic? You mean like <em>time</em>?"</p>
      <p>"Yeah… er, sort of. I can pause enemies for a short period."</p>
      <p>"... I can't think of a proper response to that." Shepard openly admitted, feeling her brain short circuit before rewiring itself since there were still Heartless to defeat.</p>
      <p>Before he could head off, Roxas soon felt his magic reserves greatly decrease after using his new spells of Gravity and Stop so excessively in such a short amount of time.</p>
      <p>He was breathing heavily slightly having used such magic.</p>
      <p>Before he had the attempt to pull out some Ethers, he felt something slimy hitting his head. He then felt a jolt on his shoulder, the Normandy's newest crewmate landing on his shoulder moments prior.</p>
      <p>"Sti-?"</p>
      <p>The little blue aliens gave the blond a large lick that slobbered his face</p>
      <p>"Stitch! Now's not the time for-"</p>
      <p>He halted in mid-sentence, feeling the mucus evaporate off of him with his magic reserves suddenly returning in full force.</p>
      <p>"How in the-"</p>
      <p>Stitch soon leapt off him, using the Nobody as a springboard to gain significant height before diving down and delivering a volley of spiraling exploding projectiles from his blasters.</p>
      <p>Momentarily stunned by this revelation, Roxas found a small grin forming upon his lips at the fact that Stitch had such a power.</p>
      <p>In a manner of seconds, the arena became a storm in several manners. From the storm of ammunition striking the Heartless left and right to the literal onslaught of Thundaga spells being casted left and right that temporarily dampened out any other sounds.</p>
      <p>Eventually, with their combined efforts, the arena was cleared of all the Heartless.</p>
      <p>"Is that the last of them?" Ash asked, looking around cautiously.</p>
      <p>The team checked their surroundings when Roxas took note of the black wisps that were permeating the air. The leftover residue from the slain Heartless.</p>
      <p>The hairs on the back of his neck stood with Roxas returning to his battle stance.</p>
      <p>"This isn't over." Roxas yelled aloud.</p>
      <p>Rather than disputing him, the team had pointed their weapons in the direction that Roxas was facing.</p>
      <p>Just in time to as the dark wisps that were floating about suddenly converged together into a large dark blob that morphed into a particularly large Heartless.</p>
      <p>This one had a spherical body with a curved head and gear piece for a 'crown'. As a matter of fact, gears appeared to be the primary theme of this Heartless as it had Gears for hands, shoulder pads and a rotating Gear underneath its main body with a steady stream of fire to keep it "afloat".</p>
      <p>The Normandy crew save for Roxas and Stitch, momentarily faltered.</p>
      <p>"Oh…" Garrus muttered, eyes widening.</p>
      <p>"That's… a lot bigger than the last one on Therum." Jane stated.</p>
      <p>"Bigger?!" Ashley exclaimed.</p>
      <p>"Get ready." Roxas called out, making them refocus just as the Heartless smashed its gear hands on the ground as if calling out for a challenge.</p>
      <p>When they got a proper look at this Heartless, it looked like a mixture of Gears and the mythical creatures known as Golems.</p>
      <p>Gear Golem was a rather apt name for this specific Heartless.</p>
      <p>The Gear Golem quickly tossed its hands up, multiple spinning gears coming out of its hands.</p>
      <p>The center of the gears glowed red and a moment later, fired off red beams with the team having to scatter.</p>
      <p>"Oh… Oh! Of course this thing can do <em>that."</em> Shepard snarked. "Why wouldn't it? It's not like it's supposed to make sense or anything."</p>
      <p>"It's annoying and insane how much what you just said makes more sense to me than what we're fighting." Garrus drawled, now switching to use his enhanced weapon mode exclusively.</p>
      <p>The Gear Golem went on the offensive, floating towards them with its laser gears flying all around it.</p>
      <p>Roxas and Stitch were the only two out of the six of the team that was unperturbed by the size of the Heartless, already running straight at it.</p>
      <p>"Roxas, wait!" Jane called out to him which was ignored as he tossed Stitch forward with him jumping after a moment later.</p>
      <p>The team could only watch as Roxas destroyed one of the floating gears with Stitch doing the same with the Gear Golem flying up into the air to dodge the oncoming attack from the Keybearer.</p>
      <p>"Come on." Jane said, moving to join the two that were fighting. "We can't let them take that Heartless on their own."</p>
      <p>Garrus quickly turned the knob back on his sniper rifle to activate its special features. Ashley was already equipping an extra dosage of flame rounds onto her other firearms. And Liara's biotics flared as she channeled power into her limbs.</p>
      <p>Roxas was whacking away at the gears while trying to get to the main Gear Golem that had many other gear floating around it in a defensive shield.</p>
      <p>Suddenly, the smaller gears cleared out of the way with the Golem slamming its hands down on the ground, gear hands rotating rapidly.</p>
      <p>It then burst forward, with the entire group hastily getting out of the way.</p>
      <p>Ashley and Garrus were unfortunately caught up in a passing shockwave, the two sent crashing down to the ground.</p>
      <p>"Ash! Garrus!" Jane yelled out, screeching to a halt in her sprint and turning to sprint towards them.</p>
      <p>However, it was for naught as the Gear Golem loomed over her downed comrades with its arms raised.</p>
      <p>Both looked up in terror at the sight of the giant enemy bearing down upon them.</p>
      <p>It swung down both arms with a large metal clang being heard echoing across the arena.</p>
      <p>Garrus and Ashley, who were shielding themselves in a futile manner, realized that they hadn't been crushed by the Golem.</p>
      <p>Peeking their eyes open, the duo were greeted to the astonishing sight of Roxas and Stitch holding back the two gear hands with the former glowing his ethereal white aura and the latter utilizing his own brute strength.</p>
      <p>Though it was clear to see that they were struggling and wouldn't be able to hold the arms back any longer.</p>
      <p>Much as they would love to exclaim their awe of yet another insane feat pulled off by Roxas, Garrus and Ashley knew they needed to move.</p>
      <p>Scrambling to their feet, they cleared their two saviors giving Roxas the chance to move out of the way in a burst of speed.</p>
      <p>Stitch on the other hand allowed for the giant hand to crush him.</p>
      <p>"STITCH!" Roxas yelled out in shock and terror at the sight of his friend getting crushed.</p>
      <p>The rest were equally as horrified with them being completely frozen for the briefest of moments until Jane snarled loudly and began blasting away at the Heartless when it's arm shifted upwards and stumbled back slightly.</p>
      <p>From the crater that was formed by its gear hand, Stitch crawled out seemingly completely unharmed and unfazed save for his ruffled fur.</p>
      <p>Stitch growled aloud, baring his fangs at the Heartless with all four of his arms being displayed.</p>
      <p>"Stitch." Roxas said in relief. "Are you alright?"</p>
      <p>Stitch looked at him and then smiled. "Cute and fluffy."</p>
      <p>Ashley's brow twitched. "What the hell is that supposed to-"</p>
      <p>"Not the time for that." Jane exclaimed, firing at the Heartless.</p>
      <p>The Gear Golem, having recovered from its stumble, was now back on the offensive unleashing yet another wave of gears from its hands.</p>
      <p>"We need to find a way to disable its arms from sending out more of those Gears." Jane said aloud, halting Liara in her tracks.</p>
      <p>"Of course!" The Asari declared, switching to her gun's newest mode.</p>
      <p>Turning it up to its highest level, Liara unloaded a volley of shots that struck the left arm of the Gear Golem, slowly trailing up until some began hitting its chest.</p>
      <p>The Gear Golem began to stagger and jolt about with the shots beginning to connect with one another, paralyzing its movement.</p>
      <p>Roxas took the chance Liara had made, swinging down hard at the head of the Heartless. At the last second, due to its body being immobilized by Liara's shots, it had inadvertently jolted out of the way in time to avoid Roxas' oncoming attack.</p>
      <p>However, the Keyblade still struck its target, a piece of its circular chest being smashed off.</p>
      <p>The Golem staggered back with the damage clearly affecting it.</p>
      <p>"We've got an opening!" Jane shouted, raising her rifle. "Fire! <em>Fire!"</em></p>
      <p>The five teammates with guns began firing away with everything they had, the Gear Golem taking the attack and openly trembling at the damage.</p>
      <p>This would only last so long until it swept both arms and smashed them down on the ground to create large shockwaves that sent the team flying back.</p>
      <p>"Spirits sake." Garrus groused out. "This is becoming damn near unbearable."</p>
      <p>"Liara's weapon seemed to work." Ashley pointed out.</p>
      <p>"Guess we'll try that out for now."</p>
      <p>The team sprang into action once more, the gunners running around the Heartless, firing at it from all sides to inflict as much damage upon the large adversary as they can.</p>
      <p>All the while, the smaller gears moved about the arena, firing upon the squad who realized they needed to multitask in shooting and dodging.</p>
      <p>Ducking into cover, Garrus used his sniper rifle's special function to shoot down several gears at once from out of the sky. Liara and Shepard would occasionally throw up some biotic barriers to help provide additional cover for everyone else. Ashley kept peppering the exposed area of its center body with her inferno shots though there was a constant stream of darkness emanating from the opening. As if it was shielding the body. And as for Roxas and Stitch, they occasionally leaped into the air to smack the gears away.</p>
      <p>Eventually, the Gear Golem slammed one of its arms onto the damaged arena, Roxas leaped and landed onto its mechanical limb. He soon ran up its length and came up to the Heartless' upper body. Once there, he casted a volley of Thundaras and Blizzaras at the exposed areas near the neck.</p>
      <p>The attacks seem to be working as the Heartless thrashed about.</p>
      <p>In this act, Roxas was thrown off before he was smacked into the air by the Golem's arms. Yet Roxas didn't falter as he recovered quickly and concocted an idea right away.</p>
      <p>To add more damage onto the Heartless, Roxas channeled a lot of magic into his Keyblade, coating it with a dark energy. Plummeting down, a large gravity sphere was formed at its tip. Once striking the Gear Golem with the sphere, it pushed the giant Heartless down considerably as if it was truly being crushed; more so once hearing the loud sound of metal straining and groaning. It wasn't long before an explosion occurred, blasting the caster's adversary down to the arena floor.</p>
      <p>Roughly landing back onto the ground, Roxas gritted his teeth as he felt his arms ache as his Keyblade dug deep into the arena floor.</p>
      <p>'I think my arms are gonna be numb with that Gravity… Break(?) I pulled.'</p>
      <p>Using up several Ethers and Potions to replenish his reserves and health, Roxas saw his comrades attacking the Gear Golem with whatever else they had on them.</p>
      <p>Not wanting to be left out, Roxas rushed towards his Keyblade, grabbed it and pried it out before jumping in to strike the Heartless' battered form.</p>
      <p>With his weapon glowing a bright blue light, Roxas started slashing and bashing against the large Heartless. Even teleporting as he spun and flipped all around the fallen form to be sure nearly every inch of surface was struck.</p>
      <p>"This is it!"</p>
      <p>His assault sped up a whole lot more once a bright aura encompassed his very being. Soon enough, he performed the Sonic Blade attack in rapid succession, resulting in it practically becoming a raid variant or more towards a rave.</p>
      <p>The Gear Golem jolted violently, it's massive form moving back and forth in a wild fashion with its arms flailing.</p>
      <p>It fell to the ground after Roxas' attack had ended, the Keybearer breathing slightly heavier now.</p>
      <p>"You alright, Roxas?" Shepard asked, immediately by his side placing a steadying hand upon his shoulder.</p>
      <p>"Just gotta catch my breath." Roxas exhaled, standing up straight before returning to his offensive stance.</p>
      <p>The team looked forward as the Gear Golem's body groaned, shifting back up to hover in front of them…</p>
      <p>Menacingly.</p>
      <p>"Spirits sake, what more can we possibly do?!" Garrus bellowed out frustratedly.</p>
      <p>"Goddess." Liara murmured, slightly backing away.</p>
      <p>Stitch simply growled, undeterred by the enemies endurance.</p>
      <p>"We gotta find a way to end this <em>now.</em>" Shepard declared determinedly.</p>
      <p>Biotics flaring, both the commander and asari had to move out of the way before pulling a Biotic Throw to push the Heartless back. In retaliation, the Gear Golem quickly swung it's arms down and performed an arena wide sweep. More areas in the battleground were broken up because of it, causing much of the team to get harmed in the process.</p>
      <p>Everyone flailed as they were sent flying into the air with Garrus, Liara and Ashley having no means to properly recover because of it. The three crashed onto the ground, groaning from utter pain from the attack.</p>
      <p>Stitch was faring much better due to his unique physiology, landing on a broken piece of rubble. From this bit of recovery, he used some Potions to heal up before rushing over towards his fallen comrades to help speed up their healing process.</p>
      <p>As for Roxas and Shepard, with their past training and unique abilities, they recovered in their own respective manners. They administered Potions and Medi-gel to regain their lost health.</p>
      <p>Before either of the two could proceed to help their fellow comrades, the Gear Golem slammed their arms down to their respective positions. The pair did their best to dodge the powered blows, more so with Shepard using her Biotics to give herself a boost.</p>
      <p>As the two fighters drew near each other… something… truly <em>strange</em> and <em>astonishing</em> happened.</p>
      <p>There was an unusual swelling of what Shepard could only describe as literal power as her Biotics began to burst from her body.</p>
      <p>Nearby, Roxas' Light encompassed his entire form.</p>
      <p>"SHEPARD!" Roxas yelled out, the two jumping back to back with their auras of Light and Biotics fusing together, unleashing a large shockwave a moment later which greatly damaged the Gear Golem.</p>
      <p>Shepard had no idea as to what was happening right now but she simply allowed her body to completely control her actions, following Roxas' lead entirely.</p>
      <p>Roxas dashed in the air holding out his Keyblade horizontally.</p>
      <p>Shepard's Biotics flared up more, the bluish-purple wisps drifting off her body and entering her gun. A sphere of energized Biotics formed at the tip of her weapon and fired a moment later.</p>
      <p>Roxas began moving, going into a spin with the tip of his Keyblade catching the Biotic sphere and flinging it at the Gear Golem.</p>
      <p>The Biotic Sphere struck it, a large shockwave appearing on the area it hit, staggering the Heartless.</p>
      <p>The duo two pronged attack didn't let up with Shepard then proceeding to somehow slam her gun into the ground.</p>
      <p>In front of Roxas, a half dozen smaller Biotic spheres appeared before him.</p>
      <p>Instantly, Roxas hit all six at once having the orbs pelt the Gear Golem.</p>
      <p>Once more, Shepard conjured another large Biotic sphere for Roxas to use which he caught and tossed.</p>
      <p>The two continued this pattern of dual attacking with the Heartless' exterior beginning to show clear signs of cracks upon the hard shell.</p>
      <p>A flash of light burst off from Shepard and Roxas, the two going in for their final attack.</p>
      <p>Raising his Keyblade over his head, Roxas channeled his light at the tip with Shepard doing the same for enhanced Biotics.</p>
      <p>After accumulating the right amount of energy, the duo unleashed their attack with the two spheres becoming beams, fusing together.</p>
      <p>Though they were combined into one, the Light and Biotics were visibly distinct from one another as the two began spinning together into a spiraling sphere that gained speed until at last…</p>
      <p>The beam spear of Light and Biotics speared right through the chest of the Gear Golem, the Heartless recoiling back until it froze in the air.</p>
      <p>It began trembling violently, pieces of gears and pebbles falling from its body when the body began disintegrating. Moments later, a large glowing Heart flew out from where the center was which disappeared a moment later.</p>
      <p>The entire arena was silent, nobody daring to make a sound or move.</p>
      <p>All except for Roxas who exhaled, calling the Keyblade back.</p>
      <p>Seconds later, the automated female VI voice spoke up for everyone to hear. <em>"Safety on. Matches over."</em></p>
      <p>After that, the victory fanfare was quickly played in the arena, making everyone in there finally relax.</p>
      <p>A moment later, the team slumped over, feeling the effects of the battle begin to creep in.</p>
      <p>"I'm taking a nap after all that." Garrus stated.</p>
      <p>"Shooting anyone else who interrupts mine." Came Ashley's response.</p>
      <p>"I believe I would like to extend our time to relax here." Liara said.</p>
      <p>Stitch only pattered over to Roxas, climbing up his body and onto his shoulder to flop dramatically onto his head.</p>
      <p>Roxas chuckled slightly.</p>
      <p>Gazing where the Heartless was defeated, No. XIII saw a familiar looking Gummi Block laying on top of the rubble. He soon went off to retrieve it as the others conversed.</p>
      <p>"Before we do that…" Ash looked over to Jane. "So… Skipper. Anything you want to tell us?"</p>
      <p>"I have just as much of an idea as you do, Gunnery Williams." Shepard retorted.</p>
      <p>"So no clue then?"</p>
      <p>"Exactly. Come on, guys. We should get outta here and get back to the Normandy." Shepard ordered/suggested.</p>
      <p>The team compiled and made themselves out of the wrecked holographic arena.</p>
      <p>When they made it back into the main lobby, Shepard and her squad were met with the rest of their team.</p>
      <p>Kaidan, Wrex and Tali surrounded them with the latter of the trio fretting over them all.</p>
      <p>"Keelah! Are you all alright?!" Tali suddenly said, hugging them in a dramatic manner.</p>
      <p>"Glad to know you care so much." Garrus joked with a grunt at the strength in which he was hugged, the Quarian going over to Roxas next.</p>
      <p>"You lot sure have quads on what you pulled there." Wrex chortled, smacking some of their backs. "A fight for the ages."</p>
      <p>"I wouldn't put it that far, Wrex." Kaidan stated.</p>
      <p>"Most people would say otherwise." A familiar voice sounded out. "Isn't that right, Jane?</p>
      <p>Whipping her head over, the human Spectre saw Captain Anderson standing not far away with his arms crossed.</p>
      <p>"Eh… hi, Anderson." Jane said meekly.</p>
      <p>"If you and your team can come with me, I believe we need to talk."</p>
      <p>"...About what?"</p>
      <p>The look she received from the Captain was one similar to that of a daughter being caught doing something her father would disapprove of.</p>
      <p>"These Heartless you and some of your squad just faced."</p>
      <p>It was at this point that Shepard somewhat wished the Heartless killed her as she would rather face them now rather than her former commanding officer and foster father.</p>
      <p>As the Normandy crew followed after Captain Anderson out of the establishment, some distance away, the ravenette who had joined the Normandy team in viewing the recent arena fight, pulled up her Omni-tool.</p>
      <p>She could barely contain herself as she sent in the command and visual logs that she had recorded during the debacle that had occurred at the arena.</p>
      <p>None of it made any sense to her.</p>
      <p>But none of that mattered. What did was getting this to her boss immediately.</p>
      <p>After some moments of tense silence, a connection was answered.</p>
      <p>"<em>Hello, Miranda. What can I do for you?" </em>Came the slightly raspy voice of her employer.</p>
      <p>"Illusive Man, I need to make a report."</p>
      <p>The sound of a man taking a long swig of a cigar was heard on the other end briefly. <em>"About what?"</em></p>
      <p>"Something that just happened at the Armax Arsenal Arena." Miranda's voice was slightly jittery, something The Illusive Man picked up on.'</p>
      <p>"<em>And what pray tell happened?"</em></p>
      <p>"Take a look for yourself."</p>
      <p>The ravenette soon sent a copy of the recent stream.</p>
      <p>Miranda could tell by the long period of silence on the other end meant the man was either drinking from his glass of scotch or dragging a smoke in order to collect himself while thinking of so many things.</p>
      <p>"<em>Interesting…"</em> Said the Illusive Man as he watched the arena fight. <em>"Very interesting…"</em></p>
      <p>"Interesting? More like extraordinary."</p>
      <p>The Illusive Man hmphed in amusement and agreement. On that, he could seldom deny such a statement. What he had just witnessed was unlike anything he had ever seen in his life.</p>
      <p>"<em>And what are those things Commander Shepard and the boy..."</em></p>
      <p>"His name is Roxas."</p>
      <p>"<em>Thank you… Roxas fought?"</em></p>
      <p>"I overheard the Normandy team identifying them as Heartless."</p>
      <p>"<em>Hmm… seems we finally got a name to these creatures."</em></p>
      <p>Judging by the tone of the man's voice, Miranda can tell he seems to know of something.</p>
      <p>"And how do you seem familiar with them?"</p>
      <p>"<em>There were reports of a small skirmish on the Citadel with this Roxas fellow and the rest of the Normandy ground team fighting against them. Many people were skeptical as no real footage was captured, only the aftermath."</em> TIM grew silent as Miranda could hear the faint sound of the cigarette being dragged. <em>"But now there is one, broadcasted even."</em></p>
      <p>Miranda nodded and waited for the man to continue.</p>
      <p>"<em>And what of this other creature that was with them?"</em></p>
      <p>"They said his name was Stitch, a genetically modified dog if you can believe that."</p>
      <p>"<em>Doubtful, especially with what I'm seeing right now. And those attacks Roxas used, amps, biotics?"</em></p>
      <p>"I haven't the foggiest idea. They seem to derive from that odd skeleton-key looking weapon of his."</p>
      <p>"<em>Very unlike any weapon ever seen and created."</em> TIM said. <em>"Do you have any hypothesis as to what it is?"</em></p>
      <p>"Apologies, Illusive Man, but no." Miranda admitted. "Whatever it was that I had just witnessed, nothing short of magic would be the most logical conclusion."</p>
      <p>At first, TIM considered disregarding such a notion when he reviewed the visual recording once again. Everything that had transpired, everything that this Roxas boy had performed is not something one could just chalk up to genetic alterations of any kind.</p>
      <p>This…</p>
      <p>This was something else.</p>
      <p>The Illusive Man hummed in agreement. <em>"As long as we keep an open mind, unlike most people."</em></p>
      <p>Miranda snorted, clearly knowing what he meant.</p>
      <p>The Citadel Council have been dismissing the Reapers and remaining ignorant of the bigger picture. And she doesn't know what might occur in their thoughts on what happened in the Armax Arena earlier. Would probably state them being hologram malfunctions and glitches, results of someone tampering with the system.</p>
      <p>Miranda could've chalked up the same idea if she didn't see the actual genuine, knowing reactions the Normandy team bore.</p>
      <p>"<em>Be sure to send more reports when possible Agent Lawson. I'll be sure to assign some agents to assist you on this new addition to the galactic board."</em></p>
      <p>"Of course, sir." She said, ending the call.</p>
      <p>
        <em>-Scene Cut-</em>
      </p>
      <p>Within the darkened room of one of the basement floors of Castle Oblivion, the Cloaked Schemer resided as he was reading yet another research book while having tea on the side.</p>
      <p>Zexion had rather enjoyed spending time to himself here in the castle.</p>
      <p>His orders were simple and ones he enjoyed greatly.</p>
      <p>Research, study and learn anything and everything he was able to about this strange place.</p>
      <p>Peaceful and quiet, for the most part.</p>
      <p>That was until the Dark Corridor appeared before him, fading away to reveal the Flurry of Dancing Flames.</p>
      <p>"Axel." Zexion greeted cordially. "To what do I owe the pleasure once more? Is something amiss?"</p>
      <p>Axel waved him off.</p>
      <p>"Just checkin' up on ya." Axel replied, taking a seat on the adjacent couch with his form slumping into his chair. "Running and patrolling this castle is a pain."</p>
      <p>Zexion arched a brow.</p>
      <p>"Still patrolling the castle?"</p>
      <p>"I got no choice." Axel threw his hands up in exasperation. "There's literally <em>nothing </em>to do here."</p>
      <p>"Is that just your excuse of not being able to occupy yourself effectively in your own duties?" the silver haired Nobody questioned, flipping the page of his book.</p>
      <p>"I'm not like you, in case you haven't noticed." Axel dryly stated. "In my past life, I could barely sit still at all. What makes you think me becoming a Nobody would be any different?"</p>
      <p>"I figured you would be more subdued." Zexion responded pointedly.</p>
      <p>Axel scoffed good naturedly. "Couldn't be even if I tried."</p>
      <p>Zexion 'hmphed' in slight amusement, returning to his reading when he recalled something of importance.</p>
      <p>"I had picked up on several scents in the upper levels of the castle earlier today." No. VI noted.</p>
      <p>"Hmmm? Oh, yeah that was Xion and Demyx." Axel said offhandedly.</p>
      <p>"Ah yes, Xion." Zexion nodded. "She has been coming here frequently."</p>
      <p>"Yeah, she doesn't wanna eat ice cream alone." Axel remarked. "Sure makes Namine happy enough."</p>
      <p>Zexion hummed in thought of the puppet and the unique Nobody that had apparently struck up a "friendship". How they both are spending time with each other quite often now with Axel always by their side.</p>
      <p>"And you mentioned Demyx came here as well?"</p>
      <p>"Yeah, wanted to get away from the castle apparently." Axel stated. "Larxene and Saix were grinding on him."</p>
      <p>"Ah."</p>
      <p>Not much needed to be said when dealing with the Savage Nymph of the Organization.</p>
      <p>"And the other?"</p>
      <p>"Hmmm?"</p>
      <p>"There was one other scent I picked up on."</p>
      <p>"Oh yeah, Saix too."</p>
      <p>Zexion looked up from his book with interest.</p>
      <p>"No. VII was here?"</p>
      <p>"Yeah, orders from Xemnas." Axel said casually.</p>
      <p>"And they are?"</p>
      <p>"Finding a room in this castle." Axel said vaguely, noticing the subtle shift Zexion did in his seat. "You know about it, don't you?"</p>
      <p>Rather than deny it, Zexion closed his book.</p>
      <p>"I have spoken about this matter before." No. VI revealed. "Once with you, albeit briefly. And with Xigbar a bit more extensively before we established this Castle as our second base of operations. The Chambers of Waking and Repose. Two sides of the same coin that we have been meaning to investigate."</p>
      <p>"Right… but how could you have one without the other." Axel said with No. VI nodding in agreement. "Think it's here?"</p>
      <p>"Lord Xemnas believes so." Zexion said. "Who is to say it is not?"</p>
      <p>Axel shrugged. "I dunno. Not as smart as you and Vexen."</p>
      <p>"Not in the way we are no." Zexion shook his head.</p>
      <p>"Appreciate the compliment." Axel said with a small smirk.</p>
      <p>Silence befell the two, Zexion reopening his book whilst Axel inclined his head back and rested it against the support.</p>
      <p>"Hey Zexion." Axel spoke up suddenly, noticing the tilt in the man's head to indicate he was listening. "What do you remember from before?"</p>
      <p>Zexion paused, looking over to the redhead whose expression was unreadable.</p>
      <p>"What now?"</p>
      <p>"What do you remember from before?" Axel asked once more, tone gaining a slight edge.</p>
      <p>"Before?"</p>
      <p>"Come on Zexion, you're one of the smarter ones." Axel said in a deadpan.</p>
      <p>Zexion didn't respond at first. He wasn't really sure how to.</p>
      <p>What kind of question was that to just drop on someone so suddenly?</p>
      <p>"What brought this about?" Zexion inquired, setting his book aside.</p>
      <p>"Something that's been on my mind." Axel answered. "Actually… since I first woke up like <em>this</em>."</p>
      <p>"Why?"</p>
      <p>Axel tilted his head in a silent question of 'why what?'.</p>
      <p>"Why ask this now? After so long?"</p>
      <p>"Did you not just hear what I said?" Axel asked rhetorically. "This has been on mind since I first woke up like this."</p>
      <p>Zexion was unsure of how to respond to this rather… intense question.</p>
      <p>"What… led you to this question?" Zexion inquired after a few seconds of not responding.</p>
      <p>"That's for me and my own reasoning." Axel said enigmatically. "But… depending on how you answer, I think I can provide you with my own."</p>
      <p>Well that was an interesting proposition to say the least.</p>
      <p>He leaned back into his seat, crossing his arms with a contemplative look to him.</p>
      <p>"It was within the laboratory." Zexion said in a far off voice. "I was with Even and Braig. Something… or rather someone perhaps struck me from behind with Even suffering the same fate. Alarms were going off with Braig shouting to Lord Xemnas. Then… I awakened with the others and I got my new name."</p>
      <p>"Nothing else?" Axel leaned forward.</p>
      <p>"At the moment." Zexion said coolly. "I'd rather not speak of it."</p>
      <p>Axel hummed, moving back into a more comfortable position.</p>
      <p>"And you?" The Cloaked Schemer gazed at the Flurry of Dancing Flames intently. "What do you remember? Or has your <em>memory</em> failed you?"</p>
      <p>"Hey." A small tick mark appeared on Axel's forehead when Zexion hit his pet peeve. "I'll have you know my memory is perfect."</p>
      <p>"Is it? Losing your heart and becoming a Nobody would indeed leave many blanks in one's mind."</p>
      <p>Axel crossed his arms with a frown.</p>
      <p>"Did you not join us?" Zexion asked. "Because I am certain I recall two new members having joined under the previous master of Radiant Garden before we had gotten to where we are now."</p>
      <p>No. VIII felt his lip and brow twitch.</p>
      <p>"Well?"</p>
      <p>Grumbling to himself, Axel relented.</p>
      <p>"It was just as sudden with us as it was with you." Axel said, his face conveying conflict. "Isa and I… we became apprentices. Next thing we know, a few days later the Master apparently becomes insane. Our world was overrun by Heartless and next thing we knew, we woke up as Nobodies, found by Xemnas and given our names and numbers just like you."</p>
      <p>At the mention of his former master, Zexion felt a momentary stir within him. Something he couldn't quite fathom as it was gone quickly as it came.</p>
      <p>"And? What do you make of it?" Zexion asked.</p>
      <p>Axel had his elbows now propped up against his knees with his hands interlaced.</p>
      <p>"I don't know…" Axel admitted. "It all happened so suddenly, I never really thought about it properly."</p>
      <p>Neither spoke for a few moments until…</p>
      <p>"But… There is <em>one </em>thing that has always bugged me." Axel locked eyes with Zexion, having his full attention by this point. "Something I feel I may not be alone in feeling."</p>
      <p>Zexion saw a glint in the redhead's eyes that slightly unsettled him.</p>
      <p>"When everything went to hell in a handbasket, we were told that the Master, Ansem the Wise, went crazy and turned on us." Axel said slowly with Zexion freezing up. "The same Ansem the Wise that took me and Saix as apprentices after already having six others. When I heard that, I kept asking myself this one question for a number of days afterwards. Did he really go crazy? Or are we missing something?"</p>
      <p>"He turned on us." Zexion's tone was harsh. "He got what he deserved in the end."</p>
      <p>"Did he?" Axel questioned. "Did he <em>really</em> turn on us in the end?"</p>
      <p>He didn't answer him, only glaring slightly at No. VIII.</p>
      <p>Zexion was unsure of what brought about this line of questioning but he can comfortably (or uncomfortably really) say he wasn't really in the mood to answer such a question.</p>
      <p>Seeing that the Cloaked Schemer would fail to answer, Axel stood from his chair and only gave Zexion a momentary look of indifference before disappearing in a Corridor of Darkness.</p>
      <p>No. VI remained seated, in deep contemplation and… a "feeling" of rage.</p>
      <p>His hands were clenched tightly as thousands of thoughts swirled within his mind.</p>
      <p>Why? Why did he have to speak on such matters?</p>
      <p>Snarling to himself, Zexion lashed out his hand, his cup of tea falling and crashing to the ground with its contents spreading on the floor.</p>
      <p>He was breathing heavily, erratically even.</p>
      <p>Without another word, he stormed out of his room with the doors nearly being thrown off their hinges.</p>
      <p>
        <strong>AN</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>So, this one took a slight bit longer but J and i have been feeling the effects of our jobs and all.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>STILL, I do say that this is one of our best chapters for this story thus far and the upcoming ones we have planned are gonna be just as good.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>I guarantee it.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Lots of crazy things to come with many more pivotal moments that will alter the course of ME and KH as a whole overall.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>It starts out small, as all things usually do.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>But overtime, the greater changes at large will become more prominent and crazier.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Jebest4781: More of this will be prevalent very soon, we assure you with what we have concocted. Won't give out spoilers until they actually come up.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>FMW: So stay tuned for more crazy madness. Also, either one or two more chapters left for the Axel pairing vote. So come on people, get your votes in before it's too late. Will Shepard win the "heart" of our favorite pyromaniac? Or will it be the cold and calculating Miranda Lawson that's trailing behind. Or, who knows, one of the other three come in for a surprise victory (Likely not gonna happen).</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Other than that, until next time.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Rate Read and Review and as Always Have Nice Day.</strong>
      </p>
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<a name="section0009"><h2>9. We're a Busy Crew</h2></a>
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      <p>
        <strong>Thanks for the love guys, thank you for those discovering this new story.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>We are on FIRE with this one right now.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Feels damn good.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Rate Read and Review and as Always Have Nice Day.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>I'm Nobody Chapter 9: We're a busy Crew</p>
      <p>Leading them along, Anderson unlocked the door to his personal apartment here on the Citadel. He strolled on in with the Normandy ground team following right behind him before the door closed and locked itself up after the last member came through.</p>
      <p>Garrus practically whistled as he gazed at what he was seeing. "Nice place you got here, Captain."</p>
      <p>"Thank you, Mr. Vakarian." David said as he briefly looked back what he can presently see in his home.</p>
      <p>It was a two floor, three bedroom and bathroom loft. There were two bar counters, a living room with a desk, a gallery, a kitchen and several seating areas. And filling up the space were all sorts of decorative plants and art works to spruce up the place.</p>
      <p>In the front living room, there was a large piano placed right next to the large windows with the blaring sign of the Armax Arsenal Arena shining through the open blinds. A pair of sofas were placed around the piano as they were somewhat facing an isolated wall with a fireplace. Above said fireplace was a shelf with books on it. Behind that wall is another sofa in front of a large screen where the main bar was located. And the kitchen was nearby with a low ceiling as a cooking island was placed in the middle of it.</p>
      <p>There was presently more to the place, only able to be seen if granted permission to explore the place.</p>
      <p>Roxas gazed around, finding the lavish apartment a farcy from the small Spartan-esque bedroom he has back in The World That Never Was. In size alone, it was quite something.</p>
      <p>He looked around the area, spotting Kaidan, Tali and Ashley seating themselves at the two couches nearby.</p>
      <p>Opting to join them, he sat himself next to Tali, gazing over at the roaring fireplace finding it quite the sight. It reminded him of Axel.</p>
      <p>Of course, Shepard ended up sitting in the lone incline chair situated in the living room as David Anderson looked at her while he stood before her.</p>
      <p>Looking up at him, The Commander slumped with her face halfway between amusement and exasperation.</p>
      <p>"Why does this feel like an interrogating intervention all of a sudden?"</p>
      <p>Anderson's lip twitched upwards yet he managed to remain stoic. "You tell me, Jane, because <em>clearly</em>, there's a lot I'm missing here."</p>
      <p>The red haired woman exhaled a sigh. "Where would you like to start?"</p>
      <p>"The beginning sounds more appropriate. And don't bother leaving out any details."</p>
      <p>"That's a complicated beginning then."</p>
      <p>"I have time." Anderson stated, gazing over to the rest of the crew. "You are on shore leave with nowhere else to be."</p>
      <p>Jane bit back a grimace.</p>
      <p>"Okay… so our complications began when we were searching for Tali."</p>
      <p>"Ah, this would mean there was definitely more to what happened to Fist's men."</p>
      <p>"We were telling the truth on that one." Tali interjected. "It was just that… Shepard and the others showed up in the aftermath."</p>
      <p>Anderson held up his hands. "Alright, begin with how <em>you," </em>he then looked at the youngest member of the squad. "Met Roxas here. I have a feeling this all started with him."</p>
      <p>"I met Roxas just the same as I told the others, him helping me from Saren's assassin hurting me and taking me to Dr. Michel. For the time afterwards, he stayed by my side the entire time. Everything was relatively normal… until the Heartless appeared at the handoff."</p>
      <p>Anderson was silent as he heard Tali recount the experience on her first encounter with the Heartless. How they acted, how Fist's men were practically killed by them and seeing Roxas effortlessly combating them like a veteran.</p>
      <p>At its end, Anderson gave his thoughts. "I can probably understand how things could seem… <em>unbelievable</em> if you were to tell Udina and I of this upfront when you were presenting the recording."</p>
      <p>"To be fair, neither of you would actually consider it to be true." Ashley stated.</p>
      <p>Anderson nodded. "Sadly, but true. But after seeing the match earlier, I would be more inclined to believe. So… these "Heartless", what are they?"</p>
      <p>The crew turned to Roxas who had shifted uncomfortably at all the sudden attention.</p>
      <p>He briefly thought back to the previous times he told the Normandy crew about the Heartless, so he simply went from there.</p>
      <p>Roxas touched on the "origin" of Heartless, so to speak, how they come from the darkness of people's hearts. How it festers, grows and eventually consumes their very being. How nothing was to be left behind other than the Heart that was to be consumed by the Darkness and Heartless.</p>
      <p>This made Anderson think back to several distinctly unusual reports he had read up on the last time Shepard and co were here.</p>
      <p>About how there were several people that had gone missing.</p>
      <p>How there was literally <em>nothing </em>that anybody could use to find these missing individuals.</p>
      <p>He wanted to ask more, but he knew now is the time to listen.</p>
      <p>And listen he did.</p>
      <p>David was silent throughout the whole debriefing as he heard each of the Normandy ground team speaking on their encounters with the Heartless up till today. Only nodding here and there as if acknowledging it all.</p>
      <p>"Seems you lot have truly gotten your hands full while searching for Saren." David finally said. "Not only have you been encountering the Geth, but also these Heartless as well."</p>
      <p>"To sum it up yes."</p>
      <p>The Alliance captain rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Boy this is gonna be complicated. When I read through many of your reports, Jane, there was just a lot that didn't seem to fit as there was redacted information."</p>
      <p>"I didn't mean to, sir." Shepard said her excuse. "Just didn't know how to properly address them without the Council and Alliance to make heads or tails on them."</p>
      <p>"I understand that, but now things are gonna get worse with you lying in your reports." Anderson said with a stern voice. "No doubt the Council will be wanting a proper debriefing with you since they still have the chance to do so."</p>
      <p>Jane only hung her head with half the crew grumbling negative comments in regard to the Council snooping on business that isn't their own.</p>
      <p>Not yet anyway.</p>
      <p>"Be lucky that Hackett will be more understanding as he shares my same mindset… once you talk to him personally." Anderson added.</p>
      <p>"Can't you tell him everything yourself?"</p>
      <p>Anderson only gave her a pointed look, with Shepard leaning back in defeat.</p>
      <p>"That's gonna be fun." Kaidan muttered out as Ashley snorted in agreement.</p>
      <p>The Captain gave the Alliance marines sympathetic looks, turning back to the Nobody.</p>
      <p>He gave the boy an analytical look, trying to discern anything he could out of the boy. Aside from the unusual choice in clothing and the fact that he could perform feats that he couldn't even begin to describe, he couldn't really find anything truly notable.</p>
      <p>That was safe for the boy's eyes.</p>
      <p>There was something inherently strange about them. They were so… empty. Devoid, hollow, many other synonyms that correlate to a blankness in the boys gaze that was deeply unsettling.</p>
      <p>"There is one question I do wish to ask."</p>
      <p>"<em>Only</em> one?" Wrex asked.</p>
      <p>Anderson snorted. "Alright, more than one. But right now, this one is important. There is one thing that I still want to ask about. Roxas…"</p>
      <p>"Yes?"</p>
      <p>"How was it that you..." David then pointed to Stitch, who came waddling in from the kitchen with a soda pack in hand and plopped himself on the sofa before cracking open a can to guzzle its contents. "...and <em>him</em> was able to get into the arena all of a sudden."</p>
      <p>This quickly earned the same results as everyone else had the same question in mind.</p>
      <p>No. XIII briefly contemplated on this, not sure how exactly he should reveal this little tidbit about himself.</p>
      <p>Wouldn't that mean going against what he had been taught? About meddling?</p>
      <p>Keeping the World Order?</p>
      <p>Was he not supposed to keep this a secret?</p>
      <p>Then again, he had been jumping from world to world really with Normandy and that's the norm here for the most part.</p>
      <p>He wasn't sure if it was the same as the way <em>he </em>did it but it should count for something.</p>
      <p>… he thinks.</p>
      <p>Roxas wasn't entirely sure but after a few moments, he decided it was best to show them. He trusted them after all.</p>
      <p>Standing up from his seat on the couch, Roxas walked over to where the piano was placed. With a wave of his arm, a Dark Corridor quickly formed, startling everyone present, except for Stitch. The group look on, greatly put off by the large oval shaped blob of literal darkness before them.</p>
      <p>It <em>felt</em> as though they were dealing with the Heartless but… no, it was something different.</p>
      <p>Still made them uncomfortable though.</p>
      <p>"What the fuck is that?" Wrex barked out.</p>
      <p>"This is the Corridor of Darkness, a means where I can travel to anywhere I have in mind." Roxas elaborated.</p>
      <p>"Travel anywhere… you can teleport?!" Ashley surmised in shock.</p>
      <p>To prove his point, he walked through it and shortly after, it disappeared, startling everyone once again.</p>
      <p>"Up here."</p>
      <p>The loft's occupants whipped their heads towards the upper floor, where Roxas was leaning against the guard rails. He leaped over and landed on his feet before walking back to where everyone was at.</p>
      <p>"What in the…"</p>
      <p>"Since when did you-"</p>
      <p>"How long-"</p>
      <p>"Alright, let the kid breath." Jane said aloud, lightly pushing some of her crewmates away. "So, Roxas. Mind telling us what that was exactly."</p>
      <p>"The Corridor of Darkness." Roxas reiterated. "It's what allows us to traverse across different worlds."</p>
      <p>"You mean to tell me you can travel <em>anywhere</em> through this thing?" Ashley asked in bewilderment.</p>
      <p>"Basically."</p>
      <p>"Wha-Why didn't you tell us about this before?" Tali stammered out.</p>
      <p>Roxas only shrugged. "Didn't seem important."</p>
      <p>The whole group, save Anderson and Stitch, practically fell over at his answer. Something they had already heard before.</p>
      <p>Of course he would say that.</p>
      <p>"Roxas." Jane rubbed the sides of her head. "I'm pretty sure this could be a really useful tool that could be used for us if you told us about it sooner."</p>
      <p>"Yeah, we could've gone through this Corridor and quickly found Saren and Benezia and taken them down right away."</p>
      <p>The idea could prove rather beneficial to their mission as a whole and save days' worth of travel on their search for whatever the rogue Spectre was planning with the Conduit.</p>
      <p>"That wouldn't work." Roxas said, quickly dispelling such a notion.</p>
      <p>"What?" Garrus said. "Why not."</p>
      <p>"Honestly, I have no idea how it fully works and if I can do <em>that</em> just yet. I wasn't fully taught how to make that happen. All I know is that you need to wear this cloak," gesturing to his present attire, "to protect yourself from traversing through it or else you'll be lost in the Realm of Darkness."</p>
      <p>Those present could only nod a little on that bit of detail with the Normandy team understanding a little more on how more unique his battle clothes were.</p>
      <p>Yet one thing quickly popped into Anderson's and Shepard's mind with the latter voicing it.</p>
      <p>"You were taught?"</p>
      <p>Roxas nodded.</p>
      <p>"Who taught you?" Jane asked.</p>
      <p>"Wait… you mentioned this "Us" earlier." Liara brought up. "Who are these other individuals you speak of?"</p>
      <p>"The Organization."</p>
      <p>Everyone looked at Roxas with a more quizzical look.</p>
      <p>"...That seems rather… odd of a name, Roxas." Kaidan commented.</p>
      <p>"Why does it sound like a secret group or whatever like Cerberus?" Ashley said offhandedly.</p>
      <p>"It… sort of is…" Roxas admitted. "I'm not entirely sure myself."</p>
      <p>"Oh my god I was just joking."</p>
      <p>"Then what is this group?" Anderson inquired. "What can you tell us of this… Organization, son."</p>
      <p>Roxas recalled everything he had learned from the Organization in the short month he had been with them. They didn't appear to reveal much, only telling Roxas what he needed to know.</p>
      <p>"I'm a member of Organization XIII as I'm it's thirteenth member."</p>
      <p>"So you're like a part of what, a mercenary group?"</p>
      <p>Roxas shook his head. "No, we operate separately from anyone."</p>
      <p>"You mentioned Saix before and called him No. VII." Garrus stated. "So you guys have… numbers?"</p>
      <p>"Labeling us on each member who joined. And there are fourteen of us right now."</p>
      <p>"Wait, Fourteen?" Jane said. "I thought you said your group's name was Organization XIII."</p>
      <p>"We have another member."</p>
      <p>"Then why not call yourselves Organization XIV?" Wrex suggested.</p>
      <p>Roxas frowned, trying to think on why the name had yet to change.</p>
      <p>"Xion joined shortly after me and I remember them labeling her as a reserve."</p>
      <p>"And how long have you been with them."</p>
      <p>"For as long as I can remember."</p>
      <p>A rather intense silence permeated the air after Roxas' answer, Shepard gaining a slightly conflicted expression.</p>
      <p>"...You mean to tell us that you have known them for over a month, nearly two now?"</p>
      <p>"They're all I've ever known." Roxas said truthfully. "Everything except all of you."</p>
      <p>Shepard chuckled slightly, several of the others doing the same.</p>
      <p>"I would find that rather sweet… cute even, if I didn't feel unsettled on knowing this."</p>
      <p>Anderson cleared his throat, making everyone look to him.</p>
      <p>"Roxas." David began slowly. "What exactly can you tell us about this Organiza-"</p>
      <p>Unfortunately, before Anderson was able to finish his question, his Omni-tool chimed in a notification of a message he had just received.</p>
      <p>"Oh… that's not good."</p>
      <p>"What's wrong, Anderson?"</p>
      <p>"The Council has requested a meeting with Shepard."</p>
      <p>"That doesn't sound too bad."</p>
      <p>David then turned to the sandy haired blond Nobody. "And Roxas."</p>
      <p>"That sounds bad." Tali said a moment later, a sentiment shared with the rest.</p>
      <p>"And why do they want to see him?" Jane asked tersely.</p>
      <p>"Cause they saw your recent fight in the Arena."</p>
      <p>"...How?"</p>
      <p>"You only thought the matches were broadcasted <em>just</em> there, right?"</p>
      <p>"...Crap."</p>
      <p>Jane sighed in defeat, clenching her teeth in aggravation. She hated dealing with the Council and their bullshit half the time as is.</p>
      <p>The last thing she wanted to do was to drag Roxas into it.</p>
      <p>Hopefully, things won't be too bad. Fingers crossed.</p>
      <p>
        <em>-Scene Cut-</em>
      </p>
      <p>Shepard led Roxas toward the Council chambers, keeping a calm face on in order to convey nothing.</p>
      <p>If the Council wanted to speak with Roxas, they'd have to go through her, Spectre and Council status be damned.</p>
      <p>Momentarily glancing back to the boy, Shepard found herself a bit envious of his nonplussed expression.</p>
      <p>He really didn't give a rats ass about this meeting at all.</p>
      <p>Nor did she for the most part. That was until they decided to involve one of her crewmates. Now that was treading on a fine line with the N7 Commander.</p>
      <p>In the far off area of the chamber, the Councilors were standing behind their podiums as they stared down at the individuals called in for this meeting.</p>
      <p>"What is this about?" Udina questioned, sounding irritated.</p>
      <p>"You'll find out soon enough." Anderson responded to the human ambassador.</p>
      <p>Shepard soon stood before the Council flanked by Anderson and Roxas with Udina standing in between them and the three that had called them here today.</p>
      <p>"Commander Shepard." Tevos greeted them first, demeanor cordial. "We are glad you are able to come to us on such short notice."</p>
      <p>'Not like I had much of a choice.' Shepard internally said in annoyance.</p>
      <p>"Councilors." She said respectfully. "I was told that you three saw what happened at the Arena."</p>
      <p>"We did." Tevos, the Asari councilor stated.</p>
      <p>"Came across it by chance during the off time." Spartacus, the Turian councilor informed. "After seeing it, I contacted my fellow councilors on what was broadcasted."</p>
      <p>"There's a lot to discuss, Shepard." The Salarian Councilor Valern stated. "Did you- ah, there he is."</p>
      <p>"So that's him I take it?" Sparatus said while eyeing Roxas suspiciously.</p>
      <p>Shepard took a step towards Roxas in a defensive manner, slightly obscuring him from the Council.</p>
      <p>"What do you wish to discuss, Councilors?" Shepard asked in a terse manner.</p>
      <p>"We do not wish to cause a stir, Commander." Tevos said placatingly though Sparatus snorted derisively.</p>
      <p>"Clearly not as you have seemed to have done that yourselves in a spectacular fashion."</p>
      <p>"We just want to discuss what exactly happened." Valern quickly added.</p>
      <p>"And here I was thinking you would be dismissing <em>them</em> as tampered holograms." Shepard couldn't help but snark out.</p>
      <p>"We… <em>would've</em> if it weren't for some people coming forward to verify what they've seen when you and your crew were last here." Tevos admitted with as much humility as she can muster.</p>
      <p>"Dismissed them as we did," Sparatus added in. "But after seeing the footage, we contacted these people again to see the match and they confirmed it all."</p>
      <p>"So this is alright, but the Reapers is a fantasy then?" Shepard challenged, making the Turian Councilor bristle slightly.</p>
      <p>"We are not talking about these Reapers as you have claimed, Commander." Sparatus said sternly. "We are here about those <em>things</em>."</p>
      <p>"What are these things?" Valern asked straight away. "Where did they come from?"</p>
      <p>"That's… a difficult question to answer." Shepard stated.</p>
      <p>"And why is that?" Sparatus asked/demanded.</p>
      <p>"We don't know what we're dealing with ourselves." Shepard stated, being honest for the most part. "They're a new enemy we've fought a handful of times."</p>
      <p>"So they have a name?"</p>
      <p>"Heartless." Roxas answered, speaking for the first time since coming here.</p>
      <p>"Heartless…" Sparatus repeated, giving the Nobody a flat look. "And pray tell, what exactly are these "Heartless" supposed to be?"</p>
      <p>"Creatures born from the darkness in one's Heart." Roxas answered.</p>
      <p>…</p>
      <p>…</p>
      <p>…</p>
      <p>"Is this some sort of joke to you?" Sparatus asked angrily, not exactly liking the answer he got.</p>
      <p>"Sparatus, please." Tevos implored. "We are here for a debriefing with Shepard, not an interrogation."</p>
      <p>The Turian backed off while Valern hummed aloud, deep in thought.</p>
      <p>"To me, it sounds like something spiritual, religious even." the Salarian mused aloud.</p>
      <p>"That's what some of my crew thought as well when we heard it the first time." Shepard commented.</p>
      <p>"But that doesn't seem to be the case now, does it?" Tevos correctly assumed.</p>
      <p>"Yes, Councilor." Shepard nodded. "We only know what Roxas knows and he doesn't know much to begin with on them. Just what they are in a manner of speaking."</p>
      <p>"And how is it that he knows about them so well?"</p>
      <p>"Because…"</p>
      <p>"Because I was trained to fight them."</p>
      <p>The three Councilors gazed upon the boy in bewilderment and surprise.</p>
      <p>"Really? With what? I see no weapon on you." Sparatus said, gazing at the sandy blonde human.</p>
      <p>"Wait…" Valern's eyes narrowed. "I recall seeing something you carried. A weapon of some kind. That which you used in the Arena."</p>
      <p>Holding up his hand, he summoned his Keyblade with a flick of his wrist.</p>
      <p>"What the devil?" Udina muttered out. He had been silent for the most part, knowing he would need to step in when necessary. Thus far, it didn't seem like he was needed here just yet.</p>
      <p>But still, what he along with the Councilors just saw…</p>
      <p>"That's not the least of it." Anderson said to the ambassador, recalling him seeing the Dark Corridor back in his home.</p>
      <p>"This is a Keyblade, a weapon that can effectively take care of the Heartless." Roxas explained.</p>
      <p>"Anything else merely 'sends them away' as it were." Shepard added in.</p>
      <p>"What do you mean by that?"</p>
      <p>"They come back."</p>
      <p>"...Are there any more of this 'Keyblade'?"</p>
      <p>Roxas only shook his head, his own Keyblade vanishing from his hand.</p>
      <p>"Then how can your team handle them so easily?" Sparatus questioned the human Spectre.</p>
      <p>"We have our own upgrades we've been working on." Shepard said vaguely. "It's taken us some time but we have our own means of fighting the Heartless."</p>
      <p>"I see…"</p>
      <p>"Could they be working for Saren then?" Valern inquired the Nobody. "Like the Geth?"</p>
      <p>"Not that we know of, Counselor." Roxas said formally. "They pretty much operate on their own."</p>
      <p>"Are you certain of that?"</p>
      <p>"Positive."</p>
      <p>This seemed to somewhat satisfy the Salarian and Asari councilors, but not the Turian.</p>
      <p>"How can you be sure?" He questioned harshly. "What if they are operating for Saren?"</p>
      <p>"And is he supposed to know that?" Udina countered, finally joining into the conversation. "He's been with Commander Shepard for the majority of his time. Do you not read her reports?"</p>
      <p>"All we know is what is in the reports." Tevos said diplomatically.</p>
      <p>"Which is apparent now has been edited if they've had the experience facing these Heartless so far." Sparatus firmly said, displeased at his self-revelation.</p>
      <p>"If Saren controlled them, then we'd encounter them without the Geth shooting at them as well." Shepard remarked with her arms crossed. "They're not with Saren. They've attacked the Geth, Saren's mercs… just about anybody really."</p>
      <p>"Why?" Valern asked, tapping his chin in thought.</p>
      <p>"The Heartless act only on instinct." Roxas answered. "They go after Hearts to harvest and collect."</p>
      <p>"For what purpose?" Tevos questioned, clearly disturbed by the idea of severing a vital organ of all things.</p>
      <p>"Just so you know, counselor, it's not the organ, but one's essence as it were." Shepard said. "You could call it… their soul."</p>
      <p>"That doesn't make it sound better." Valern commented. "But I must reiterate Tevos' question. Why are the… Heartless… doing this?"</p>
      <p>Roxas opened his mouth for a moment but closed it a moment later, unsure of whether or not he should tell them about the Heartless' purpose. About <em>their </em>purpose.</p>
      <p>Though Roxas was still a novice in terms of reading the room and situation, he was quick on the uptake. This may be one of those instances where not giving them the full story would be a better option.</p>
      <p>"I… I don't know." Roxas stated after a few seconds of silence.</p>
      <p>Rather than be met with disbelief and disregard for his answer, it appears Roxas's moment in mulling over his answer was enough of a convincing "act" that the Council believed he came to that conclusion himself.</p>
      <p>And they weren't necessarily wrong per say.</p>
      <p>He truly did not know or understand the purpose of the Heartless collecting Hearts. He remembered in the Organization about other members mentioning that he is the key to unlock Kingdom Hearts and achieve their goal.</p>
      <p>Roxas didn't even understand what that meant.</p>
      <p>Shepard merely exhaled a quiet sigh, thinking it would probably be best for her youngest team member to not inform the Council everything her crew already knows.</p>
      <p>If they were to know about their infinite numbers… things would become far more drastic.</p>
      <p>"I see…" Tevos said simply.</p>
      <p>"Seeing as there's nothing else to hopefully discuss." Shepard said to the council members.</p>
      <p>Valern was the one to add one last thing. "For now on, please inform us of these Heartless in your reports for now on, Commander."</p>
      <p>"Yes, and we would like a more detailed, complete report on the past ones you submitted to us." Sparatus stated as he peered down at the human Spectre."</p>
      <p>"...Of course."</p>
      <p>Great, more paperwork.</p>
      <p>Thank god Stitch wasn't brought into this meeting or else things would've gotten <em>worse</em>.</p>
      <p>Exiting the Citadel tower, Shepard, Anderson and Roxas saw the rest of the Normandy team awaiting their return.</p>
      <p>Upon spotting them, both groups converged on another, small pleasantries being exchanged.</p>
      <p>"So, how'd it go?" Garrus asked. "Annoying?"</p>
      <p>"Just about." Shepard said.</p>
      <p>"And how much do they know?" Wrex questioned.</p>
      <p>"What we could really tell them."</p>
      <p>"Is there something else you would like to tell us, Commander?" Udina asked the N7 marine.</p>
      <p>Shepard merely sighed. "Can we discuss this back in your office, Udina?"</p>
      <p>"Most certainly."</p>
      <p>Unbeknownst to the Normandy team, the Council members and the two humans, a wayward Cerberus operative was watching the meeting as she had her Omni-tool out to record everything possible.</p>
      <p>Feeling satisfied, Miranda left before any of them were able to catch her presence.</p>
      <p>
        <em>-Scene Cut-</em>
      </p>
      <p>Roxas sat alone in the Cafeteria, his mind in a bit of a haze.</p>
      <p>He had long since stopped eating his now cold lunch, mind in a literal swirl.</p>
      <p>'Again…' Roxas internally said to himself. 'What is going on?'</p>
      <p>He glanced down at his cold lunch, idly poking at it with his fork.</p>
      <p>Roxas was back on the Normandy along with the rest of the crew with the ship having departed from the Citadel a few days ago.</p>
      <p>Right now, the ship was on route to another assignment, a colony world from what Roxas was able to recall.</p>
      <p>But that wasn't what occupied a majority of Roxas's mind right about now.</p>
      <p>No, what was in his head was what he had been having for the growing part of the last few weeks.</p>
      <p>Those… visions.</p>
      <p>Were they memories? Another life? Another person?</p>
      <p>Other people?</p>
      <p>What? What was it?</p>
      <p>Concentrating for the moment, Roxas flinched slightly as he began recalling the dreams he had the other night before.</p>
      <p>It was dark at first…</p>
      <p>Until he saw a light. A light that he had to get to.</p>
      <p>He found himself gliding across the endless void right towards the light.</p>
      <p>He was then floating in a library of some kind, watching as a girl disappeared.</p>
      <p>Then, Roxas stood on an elevated platform where it was surrounded by water that seemed to be flowing upwards somehow.</p>
      <p>"<em>It's up to me."</em></p>
      <p>That voice…</p>
      <p>"<em>Only the Keyblade Master can open the secret door and change the world."</em></p>
      <p>He knows that voice.</p>
      <p>That was… who was it again?</p>
      <p>It began with an R… Riku!</p>
      <p>Next thing he realized, he was facing Riku in a foyer of some kind, the boy he grew up to be best friends within the garb of the Heartless.</p>
      <p>It was in a form-fitting bodysuit that appeared to be made of black muscle tissue. The black fades to red around the wrists and comes with purple gloves that are tucked under the suit. The purple-blue color on the chest has the Heartless emblem on the chest, but without the spiked bars crossing it for some reason. More purple was shown on the suit's boots till it fades around the shins. There was a dark purple belt with a torn white battle cloth round the waist, opening in the front.</p>
      <p>He had fired a sphere of fiery darkness straight at him when Goofy stood before him, his shield easily deflecting the attack.</p>
      <p>"<em>Well I'm not gonna betray Sora, either."</em> Goofy declared, Donald running up to join them.</p>
      <p>"<em>All for one and one for all."</em> Donald declared.</p>
      <p>"<em>My friends are my power!"</em></p>
      <p>Rather than thinking of Donald and Goofy as he had before, Roxas immediately saw Axel grinning down at him, Xion sitting alongside him at the clock tower, Shepard ruffling his hair, Tali happily chatting with him, Garrus constantly making jokes.</p>
      <p>"<em>So, your heart won this battle."</em></p>
      <p>A beast of an individual declared with him nodding.</p>
      <p>Suddenly, Roxas then saw a man wearing the black coat phase right through him. Through Sora.</p>
      <p>Who was that supposed to be? He looks familiar…</p>
      <p>Was that…?</p>
      <p>The memory had shifted again by that point, facing Riku again.</p>
      <p>Though this time… there was clearly something <em>very </em>different about him. He was again in his Heartless garb though the air around him… it wasn't his own.</p>
      <p>What had happened for Riku to get to this point?</p>
      <p>And… was that a Keyblade?</p>
      <p>"<em>It is I…" </em>Riku's voice was even different. <em>"</em>Ansem.<em> The Seeker of Darkness."</em></p>
      <p>"<em>Lead me into everlasting </em><em><strong>Darkness.</strong></em><em>" </em>Riku, possessed by Ansem, had his Keyblade poised to strike Sora down.</p>
      <p>"<em>SORA!"</em></p>
      <p>In an instant, Sora had his Keyblade out, blocking Riku/Ansem's own.</p>
      <p>"<em>Forget it." </em>Sora declared in fierce determination.<em> "There's no way you're taking Kairi's Heart."</em></p>
      <p>He then stood at the center of what was the battlefield with Riku, holding the silver-haired teens Keyblade. Sora looked over to Donald and Goofy who were looking at him in shock and fear, reaching out to stop him from what he was about to do.</p>
      <p>He only smiled before jamming the Keyblade into his chest.</p>
      <p>Kairi came back.</p>
      <p>And he faded away.</p>
      <p>Yet…</p>
      <p>She brought him back.</p>
      <p>"<em>Kairi."</em></p>
      <p>Roxas was gazing at three extremely familiar individuals. He knows them too.</p>
      <p>Leon, Yuffie and Aerith.</p>
      <p>"<em>We may never meet again,"</em> Leon began. <em>"But we'll never forget each other."</em></p>
      <p>"<em>No matter where we are, our hearts will bring us together again." </em>Aerith assured.</p>
      <p>Roxas stood in a cave, Kairi placing something in his hand.</p>
      <p>"<em>Take this."</em></p>
      <p>It was a star shaped charm. Something Stitch had. But instead of metal, it was made from sea-shells.</p>
      <p>A Wayfinder!</p>
      <p>"<em>It's my lucky charm, be sure to bring it back to me, ok?" </em>Kairi said, hands on her hips and leaning forward with an expectant manner.</p>
      <p>"<em>Don't worry, I will." </em>Sora assured, clenching the charm tightly.</p>
      <p>"<em>Promise?"</em></p>
      <p>He was now standing before the Keyhole of Hollow Bastion, locking it away. In the background, he heard Kairi's voice.</p>
      <p>"<em>Don't ever forget, wherever you go, I'm always with you."</em></p>
      <p>…</p>
      <p>…</p>
      <p>…</p>
      <p>Roxas' eyes slowly cracked open, hand immediately going up to his face.</p>
      <p>"What is happening to me?"</p>
      <p>His whole head was becoming a jumbled mess.</p>
      <p>These visions… these dreams…</p>
      <p>Who is Sora? And why does he have the same Keyblade that he has?</p>
      <p><em>Who</em> were those two with him? Donald and Goofy. But what were they outside of their names?</p>
      <p>What did this all mean?</p>
      <p>Looking at his hand, he stared at it for several moments until the familiar flash of light appeared followed by his Keyblade.</p>
      <p>This weapon… This was with him from the beginning.</p>
      <p>This was all he had. He just didn't know it until the Organization made him bring it out.</p>
      <p>So why is it that both he and this Sora person had the same Keyblade?</p>
      <p>"So many questions…"</p>
      <p>He dismissed his weapon as he tried eating his meal as he didn't want it to go to waste.</p>
      <p>
        <em>-Scene Cut-</em>
      </p>
      <p>Shepard's squad was currently riding through the landscape of Edolus in the Sparta system.</p>
      <p>The reason for their presence here was to find the last known location of Admiral Kahoku's missing marines. The human Spectre was keeping up in her promise of taking care of this first thing she got after leaving the Citadel.</p>
      <p>Asides from Shepard herself, Roxas, Kaidan, Tali and Wrex were presently riding the Mako as they were heading towards a broadcasted emergency beacon.</p>
      <p>Besides Roxas, Jane felt the rest of her squad needed some more rest after what happened at the Armax Arena. And she saw no point in having Stitch come along on this little endeavor.</p>
      <p>Rolling over and down a sandy hill, the Mako came to a stop as its occupants climbed out of the vehicle. Said occupants were presently wearing their respective breathing apparatuses since the atmosphere of Edolus was rich in carbon dioxide and nitrogen. The surface was nothing more than a desert with only a few areas of igneous rock plateaus to break the abrasive, dust-choked wind which seemed to blanket the planet's entire exterior.</p>
      <p>While everyone wore helmets to protect themselves from the elements, Roxas did not wear one.</p>
      <p>When he took part in several past missions on some unbreathable planets, he didn't wear a helmet at all. It was a little concerning as he needed one in order to breath. Any other helmet they had on the ship wouldn't have worked due to them either not fitting or needed a suit to help connect and seal off the air supply.</p>
      <p>A solution was made when they procured a dense fiberglass breathing mask.</p>
      <p>It was normally worn for some crew members if they were needing to do quick repairs on the ship if a breach were to occur. Depending on the situation and environment, the apparatus could be able to help filter breathable oxygen for the wearer, though not as much as a standard helmet.</p>
      <p>It suited Roxas just fine as he kept his hood drawn up.</p>
      <p>Gazing upon the landscape, Wrex commented as they had to walk towards the emergency beacon now. "Place reminds me a bit of Tuchanka."</p>
      <p>"What's Tuchanka like?" Roxas asked.</p>
      <p>"It's a huge desert rock filled with sand and ruins." Answered the Krogan. "In fact, Feros was just the same. Only there we could actually breath instead of this place."</p>
      <p>"That and if I remember correctly, your homeworld is heavily radiated." Kaidan added in as they were walking towards the emergency beacon with varying objects surrounding. One of which was a Grizzly tank.</p>
      <p>"Yeup."</p>
      <p>Eventually the group approached the site where the Alliance distress beacon was placed and searched the area.</p>
      <p>"Well this is strange." Tali spoke aloud as she came out of the Grizzly tank. "There's no sign of the admiral's men."</p>
      <p>"Yeah, we should've at least found them by now." Said the lieutenant marine.</p>
      <p>"They're probably dead." Wrex commented.</p>
      <p>"How could you say that?"</p>
      <p>The Krogan listed off the details. "For one, they ain't here to greet us in this open valley. And if I'm really sure they're dead, we could've found their bodies."</p>
      <p>"And if they aren't here?"</p>
      <p>"Deserters most likely. They usually don't last long on their own unless they have the right connections and end up on Omega of all places. It's the only logical thing that comes to mind."</p>
      <p>"Kahoku's men wouldn't desert him." Shepard argued. "He's been nothing but fair to them."</p>
      <p>"Or so you think, Shepard. Take for example with what happened with that Asari diplomat. She lied to you, filling you up with sweet words with how much she missed her sister." Wrex spat out. "Bah! She kept things from you to do her dirty work."</p>
      <p>Shepard grumbled as they kept going on in their search.</p>
      <p>Roxas soon spoke up. "Then do you suggest we go to this Omega you spoke of and search there, Wrex?"</p>
      <p>"If we can't find any evidence here, then yeah."</p>
      <p>Seeing as there were no bodies present, Shepard gazed at the emergency beacon. "Tali, can you look into this and see what you can find?"</p>
      <p>"Give me a moment, Shepard." Tali said, Omni-tool out as she began working on the Beacon.</p>
      <p>The team waited patiently for a few seconds when the Mako's systems made a small sound of an alert with Shepard gazing over it.</p>
      <p>"We just lost another signal." Jane informed the team in a sharp tone.</p>
      <p>"There could still be survivors."</p>
      <p>Soon enough the ground began to pulse, causing the group to go into high alert. The movement of the terrain instantly stopped when a large amount of dirt opened up and a worm of giant proportions shot out of the hole that just formed.</p>
      <p>"What is that thing?!"</p>
      <p>"Thresher Maw!" Wrex bellowed. "Get away from flat ground."</p>
      <p>The newly identified Thresher Maw towered over the area where the beacon was broadcasting. The long insectoid-like beast opened up its mandibles to reveal it's blue mouth with its brightly lit neon blue tongue. And it's tongue matched the color of its four large eyes. The rest of its body flowed into the ground with spindly legs attached to the sides of its length.</p>
      <p>It soon gave out a loud shrieking noise as it dove right towards them.</p>
      <p>The team made a break for it back to the Mako. Luckily, it wasn't far, but they needed some assistance.</p>
      <p>Whipping out his Keyblade, Roxas casted several Fira spells directly at the giant insect. It shrieked from the burns it received. As it shook off the pain, the Thresher Maw saw the Normandy squad had gotten to their land vehicle.</p>
      <p>Driving off, Shepard had to maneuver around the sandy area as the large insectoid-monster was chasing after them. Before long, it slammed down into the ground in the attempt of halting their movement.</p>
      <p>Though it missed its prey, the Maw simply burrowed down into the ground.</p>
      <p>"Crap, what the hell do we do?!" Kaidan asked aloud in a panic</p>
      <p>"Kill it, what else!" Wrex bellowed out.</p>
      <p>"Oh real original, Wrex." Tali said snippily.</p>
      <p>"Kaidan, get to the gun now!"</p>
      <p>"On it commander!"</p>
      <p>The lieutenant marine got into position and started firing onto the chasing Thresher Maw. Some of the shots were missing while the rest had landed their mark. At some point, the large insectoid buried back underground in order to avoid any more fire upon itself.</p>
      <p>After several seconds, it popped out of the ground some distance away from where the Mako was driving towards.</p>
      <p>The entire team nearly fell out of their seats from the sharp ninety degree turn Shepard pulled off in order to avoid the body slam it delivered. Though it missed once more, the Thresher Maw reared its head up with its head aimed at them.</p>
      <p>A moment later, a stream of yellowy-green liquid shot out from its mouth in their direction.</p>
      <p>"Look out for its acid!"</p>
      <p>Though Shepard successfully avoided the acid lobbed at them for the most part, the Mako didn't go unscathed unfortunately.</p>
      <p>"Shit!" Kaidan hissed aloud. " The gun won't work!"</p>
      <p>Checking the system, Shepard was able to get a reading that the gun was malfunctioning.</p>
      <p>Either Garrus didn't do a good job on his maintenance or the Thresher Maw's acid ended up wrecking it.</p>
      <p>"Garrus is not gonna be happy about that." Roxas plainly stated. "Keeps calibrating this thing quite a lot."</p>
      <p>"What are we gonna do?" Tali asked, panicking now.</p>
      <p>"Should we call in Joker?"</p>
      <p>They were in a bind. A serious one at that.</p>
      <p>One that would need to get remedied soon lest they suffer a painful death.</p>
      <p>Holding a determined face, Roxas moved forward to the top hatch of the Mako and pushed the door open.</p>
      <p>"Roxas? What are you doing?!" Shepard roared out in alarm.</p>
      <p>No. XIII simply called out his Keyblade. "Taking care of it."</p>
      <p>"What the hell is that-"</p>
      <p>Roxas didn't hear the last part of that shout/question, getting on top of the Mako with the wind whipping through his hair and cloak billowing as the vehicle was driving at full speed.</p>
      <p>Staring right at the Thresher Maw, Roxas pointed his weapon right at it and focused. Magic gathered at its tip as he kept his concentration. At its peak, he unleashed his Ragnarok Shotlock attack, delivering the volley of light particles directly at the mad monster.</p>
      <p>"That seems to be working." Shepard stated as she swerved the Mako around. "You doing alright out there!"</p>
      <p>Roxas kept himself steady as much as possible, occasionally firing off several Blizzard and Fire spells at the Thresher Maw.</p>
      <p>"Just keep driving, Shepard!" Roxas shouted, the Mako making another circle of the Maw. They had driven near the Maw's body, with Roxas striking the body with his weapon.</p>
      <p>With Shepard doing her best to stay close, she was forced to move away once Roxas delivered a number of blows onto its body. Blue blood spilled out of its length as its owner shrieked into the sandy skies above.</p>
      <p>From his seat in the back, Kaidan tried not to get queasy. "Don't know if I should actually admit this, but Shepard's driving might prove useful this time."</p>
      <p>"...I'm ignoring that this one time, lieutenant."</p>
      <p>"Oh I quite like it."</p>
      <p>"Of course you would, Wrex."</p>
      <p>The Thresher Maw was growing tired of the assault on its person. It dove right back into the ground, hoping it could cut off the Mako once more.</p>
      <p>Seeing this happen, Roxas prepared himself for what will happen next.</p>
      <p>In mere moments, the sandy ground exploded as the Thresher Maw roared. It reared its head back and spat out another round of acid.</p>
      <p>Shepard was able to swerve out of the way, yet in the process, it's resident Nobody didn't hang on this time.</p>
      <p>For he was sent flying.</p>
      <p>Channeling magic into his Keyblade, blue-white light encompassed the blade. As he drew close, he reared his weapon back before whipping it forward.</p>
      <p>From within the Mako, it's occupants saw a streak of light run right through the sandy environment. When they focused a bit more, they saw Roxas landing some distance away with the Thresher Maw shrieking once more.</p>
      <p>To their surprise, it's head soon collapsed as it slid off its long body. The ground shook slightly from the impact as it's blue blood started staining the surrounding sand.</p>
      <p>Eventually, the Mako skidded to a halt before driving back to where Roxas had landed, which was nearby the planted distress beacon. After some moments, the land vehicle finally approached the black cloaked teen.</p>
      <p>The group quickly piled out with relieved and happy looks underneath their helmets.</p>
      <p>It was Wrex who approached Roxas first, releasing a loud bellow of a laugh. "Ha! That was amazing, runt! Do you realize what you just did?!"</p>
      <p>Roxas perplexedly looked at the Krogan. "I just helped kill a Thresher Maw, Wrex."</p>
      <p>Wrex was practically smiling widely underneath his helmet. "That you did! The last time I did that was during my rite of passage."</p>
      <p>"Rite of passage?" Tali said quizzically.</p>
      <p>"The transition and trial of a Krogan becoming a full adult." Wrex elaborated.</p>
      <p>"Like my pilgrimage?"</p>
      <p>"More or less."</p>
      <p>Kaidan then jumped in. "You mean to tell us that killing a thresher maw is how Krogan are accepted by others?"</p>
      <p>Wrex merely laughed. "<em>Surviving</em> the rite is gaining acceptance. Killing the maw on foot gives a Krogan respect among its people." He then placed his hand on Roxas' shoulder. "You would've been revered among our people despite not being one of us."</p>
      <p>Roxas had to steady himself from the force his Krogan teammate placed on him. Soon a question rolled out of his mouth. "Is there something more to your rite of passage, Wrex?" The Krogan let go of the Nobody as the sandy blonde elaborated. "I mean Tali's people do it to show they can contribute to the Migrant Fleet. What is yours?"</p>
      <p>Wrex nodded in understanding and explained. "I did say it dealt with acceptance in my people, but the general gist of it dealt with expecting the unexpected and improvising when conventional combat is thrown out of the airlock. Survival has been the backbone of my race for generations."</p>
      <p>"Hey, don't forget that each of us survived this, Wrex."</p>
      <p>"Not to mention they dealt with that giant Heartless back on the Citadel. That's gotta count for something."</p>
      <p>"In a manner of speaking."</p>
      <p>"Guy's." Shepard called out, drawing in their attention. "I think I found them."</p>
      <p>The others walked over to where the commander knelt and saw her whipping away the sand. Upon drawing closer, they started seeing a number of dead bodies sprawled about.</p>
      <p>"Where were they?"</p>
      <p>"Buried here, obviously."</p>
      <p>"Should've taken to account the sand burying them."</p>
      <p>"Look at their bodies." Shepard ordered.</p>
      <p>Upon closer inspection, they saw the bodies were burnt beyond recognition. Even their armors were melted.</p>
      <p>"Keelah… what happened to them?"</p>
      <p>"Since seeing the Thresher Maw, it doesn't take much guess work." Wrex informed.</p>
      <p>"You mean… my god..." Kaidan muttered out.</p>
      <p>"Maw's acid is so strong; it can burn right through most armor and kill a person."</p>
      <p>Standing by the Alliance distress beacon, Tali went through the system and was able to discover something.</p>
      <p>"I might've found something wrong with the beacon." Tali brought up her Omni-tool and reported her findings. "There was a program placed in the distress beacon, sending out an extra signal when it's being looked into."</p>
      <p>"Which is what exactly?"</p>
      <p>"A frequency in luring a Thresher Maw here."</p>
      <p>Kaidan then spoke a question. "Are you saying this beacon was planted and activated deliberately? But why?"</p>
      <p>"I'm guessing it's designed to lure any of you Alliance folks here to end up coming across some Thresher Maw nest nearby." Wrex informed. "By who, no clue."</p>
      <p>"I'm the foggiest, Wrex." Said the Quarian, looking more into her findings. "But one thing's for sure, I was able to find that there were activation logs on the beacon and it was done once before. Even registered who did it last."</p>
      <p>Shepard nodded in understanding. "Send those readings to me, Tali. I'll inform Admiral Kahoku and ask him if he might know some details once he sees that." She then activates her comms. "Joker, we're done here. We're ready for pick-up."</p>
      <p>"Copy that, Commander." Joker responded.</p>
      <p>"What should we do with the beacon?" Kaidan questioned.</p>
      <p>Shepard soon looked at the device nearby. "Not going to let anyone else deal with this." She then looked at Roxas. "Would you do the honors?"</p>
      <p>Understanding what she meant, Roxas summoned his Keyblade and with a quick swipe, he cleaved the planted beacon in half.</p>
      <p>
        <em>-Scene Cut-</em>
      </p>
      <p>The Normandy had already exited the Mass Relay heading straight towards the Horsehead Nebula as they were now heading towards the Pax System.</p>
      <p>Their destination: Noveria.</p>
      <p>From what they had learned from Council Intelligence, Matriarch Benezia supposedly showed up on Noveria recently, thus they had to quickly make their way there pronto.</p>
      <p>If they were able to corner or even capture Benezia, there would be a chance that they could learn more as to what Saren's endgame is as a whole. They knew it would be a difficult task no less.</p>
      <p>A Matriarch is no laughing matter.</p>
      <p>They represent the pinnacle of the Asari race, the culmination of a thousand years of knowledge and experiences.</p>
      <p>And this was someone they were targeting.</p>
      <p>Right now, however, that wasn't what was on Roxas's mind.</p>
      <p>Presently in the cockpit, Roxas was chatting with Joker in order to pass the time until their arrival.</p>
      <p>"-Yeah, my sister was always a pain in the ass." Joker said in a fond manner.</p>
      <p>"She can't be that bad, right?"</p>
      <p>"Just yanking you around, Roxas." Jeff remarked. "If it wasn't for her, I don't think I'd get to where I am today. Helped me out of bed the minute she was able to. Always pushed me forward."</p>
      <p>"That's good to hear, Joker. And what's she doing now?"</p>
      <p>"School, obviously. Hilary wants to become a doctor one day."</p>
      <p>"Really? What for?"</p>
      <p>"I think me being her older brother became the excuse. Her helping me out all the time somewhat clicked with her." Joker said, bringing up an image of her for Roxas to see. "See that little angel? She's gonna be the greatest doctor one day. Has to be with her brother being the best pilot in the galaxy."</p>
      <p>Roxas gazed upon the young girl with intrigue.</p>
      <p>So this was Joker's sister.</p>
      <p>He wondered what it was like to have a sibling. What did that mean to have a brother and a sister?</p>
      <p>Joker sighed aloud, a reminiscent look in his eyes. "Wish I was home right about now. Could go for a night on the haystack, looking up at the stars."</p>
      <p>"And where's that?"</p>
      <p>"Our home back on Tiptree, a colony world in the ass end of nowhere." He said with a small smile. "Our family have been farmers for some generations and my family were happy to see me making a name for myself as a pilot. And when hearing my sister wants to be a doctor, we were proud and encouraged her."</p>
      <p>Roxas only nodded, his mind deep in thought on the small conversation he and Joker exchanged.</p>
      <p>It's something he had noticed about everyone here on the Normandy, whenever he spoke to them and they got more personal with them.</p>
      <p>How they always spoke of their families in one way shape or form.</p>
      <p>He wondered what that meant. To have a family.</p>
      <p>Shepard had spoken of her mother to him at one point and Tali talked of her father.</p>
      <p>Garrus brought up his strict and by-the-books father whom he always clashed with and Ashley mentioned her sisters. Kaidan even talked about his parents, who still live on Earth.</p>
      <p>Everyone in this team had someone to call family.</p>
      <p>Even Wrex.</p>
      <p>Everyone…</p>
      <p>But him.</p>
      <p>He had no one...</p>
      <p>Seeing Noveria through the window, Joker soon turned on the comms. "Attention to all hands, we are now approaching Noveria." Joker then turned to the sandy blonde teen. "Best get going, Roxas."</p>
      <p>Snapping out of his thoughts, Roxas gave a slight nod. "Right."</p>
      <p>Walking out of the cockpit, the Nobody stood nearby in order to wait for the others.</p>
      <p>As he waited, he thought over a few things.</p>
      <p>From what he had learned on their way over to Noveria, Shepard contacted Admiral Kahoku and reported on what happened. When sending the data over, the Alliance admiral quickly recognized the name on the activation log. It didn't take long for the two to figure out what happened.</p>
      <p>Kahoku's men were lured into a trap and were killed.</p>
      <p>The Alliance admiral was in a bit of distress when he soon thought of who planted the emergency beacon. Kahoku theorized it had to be Cerberus due to how similar the situation was on Akuze. The colonists disappeared and then a group of marines followed suit. There was a pattern behind it and it all pointed to Cerberus as before they severed ties with the Alliance, they were last reported on studying Thresher Maws.</p>
      <p>After that, Kahoku said he will have to go into hiding once informing the families of his deceased men for his own safety before ending the transmission.</p>
      <p>Coming out of his thoughts, he saw the whole ground team were assembled and double checking their gear and weapons.</p>
      <p>Looks like Shepard wasn't taking any chances on this mission.</p>
      <p>Just like what she did on Feros.</p>
      <p>Garrus and Kaidan were comparing weapons with each other, Tali was busy working on her Omni-Tool and Ash was conversing with Wrex with him proudly resting a brand new toy that he had gotten from the Moogle aboard the ship.</p>
      <p>The team is still trying to come up with a proper name for the little fella.</p>
      <p>No. XIII realized a moment later that someone was missing from the group.</p>
      <p>Looking around, he knew Shepard was getting ready in her own manner, so that left only…</p>
      <p>'Liara' Roxas internally thought, spotting the lone Asari seated on a crate nearby in a slightly prim and proper pose with her head inclined down and left foot tapping about a bit jittery.</p>
      <p>Seeing Liara there with her present state, Roxas came up to her.</p>
      <p>"Are you alright, Liara?" He asked.</p>
      <p>The Asari looked over at Roxas, giving him a slightly strained smile.</p>
      <p>"I'm fine, Roxas. Just nervous, that's all."</p>
      <p>"About what?"</p>
      <p>"About what we will find on Noveria."</p>
      <p>At first, Roxas didn't understand what Liara was talking about when…</p>
      <p>"It's more about your mother, isn't it?"</p>
      <p>"Yes." Confirmed the asari doctor. She looked down at the ground, her eyes downcast and her shoulders slumping a little. "Despite hearing from Shiala on my mother's intentions, I still don't know why she's still with Saren."</p>
      <p>Overhearing this, Shepard came up to her. "You know, you don't have to come with us, Liara. If you're worried about-"</p>
      <p>"No, it's alright." Liara looked at both Shepard and Roxas. "If nothing else, I can at least get some answers. I haven't spoken to her in years, and I guess that… well…" The asari swallowed a lump of air. "Even if it's not the best of circumstances, I'll at least be able to see her again."</p>
      <p>"Hopefully, you could find some closure."</p>
      <p>Ashley soon joined in on the conversation. "Don't know if she's still on Noveria. But if she's still there… you do realize we might have to take her down if she resists being apprehended, right?"</p>
      <p>Instead of the floor, Liara gazed at the ceiling with an uncertain look gracing her features. "I know." She exhaled with her voice straining. "I know that she may be a threat to the galaxy, but… if it comes down to that…"</p>
      <p>"I'll try everything I can to not kill her, Liara." Shepard then tried to make things lighthearted. "As a possibility, we could use Roxas' Keyblade to knock her out. I mean, no matter how much it cuts, it still looks really blunted."</p>
      <p>Liara chuckled slightly, but only so much.</p>
      <p>Shepard smiled slightly. "I should go. Just be ready for docking."</p>
      <p>The others nodded as the commander headed towards the cockpit.</p>
      <p>When she got there, Joker acknowledged her before he made the connection to Noveria.</p>
      <p>"Approach Control, this is the SSV Normandy. Requesting a vector and a berth." Joker said over the comms.</p>
      <p>Soon enough he got a response back. <em>"Normandy, this is Noveria Approach Control. Your arrival was not scheduled. Our defense grid is armed and tracking you. State your business."</em></p>
      <p>"Citadel business." Joker said in an 'as-a-matter-of-fact' tone. "We've got a council Spectre aboard."</p>
      <p>The approach control knew they couldn't argue much after that.</p>
      <p>"<em>Landing access granted, Normandy."</em></p>
      <p>Joker was about to end the connection when he heard them speak up once more.</p>
      <p>"<em>Be advised, we will be confirming identification on arrival. If confirmation cannot be established, your vessel will be impounded."</em></p>
      <p>"What a fun bunch." Joker said sarcastically. "I think I'll take my next leave here."</p>
      <p>Jane could only smirk at her pilot in agreement, the Commander leaving to rejoin the others who were waiting for her.</p>
      <p>"So we all know what we need to do, right people?" Jane asked rhetorically. "Go in, find and apprehend Benezia and get out."</p>
      <p>"And deal with whatever else shows up on the way." Garrus added with the red-head nodding at him.</p>
      <p>The Normandy was now docked, the ships VI announced the shore teams departure from the ship and XO Pressley being in command now.</p>
      <p>Stepping out of the airlock, the cold was quickly noticeable for Roxas.</p>
      <p>He was glad that his coat was able to ward off most of the cold, all except for his head. This made him draw it up so only his lower face could feel the slight chill in the air.</p>
      <p>Roxas didn't know if the rest of the team were doing fine with their heads exposed to the elements. It's probably with their suits that is able to keep them warm in the first place.</p>
      <p>They had wanted Stitch to join but… he was sleeping.</p>
      <p>And he slept like a rock.</p>
      <p>So that left him out of the mission.</p>
      <p>Might be for the best.</p>
      <p>He might as well do something else to preoccupy his time while still on the ship, like finishing up repairs on his red cruiser or something.</p>
      <p>Rounding about the corner of the port the group of eight saw a trio of guards awaiting their arrival.</p>
      <p>Two female humans and one Turian.</p>
      <p>"That's far enough." Said the woman with short black hair.</p>
      <p>The others with her soon held their weapons at the ready in case of anything going south.</p>
      <p>"Hey now." Jane said calmly. "Let's not do anything either of us will regret."</p>
      <p>The woman was unmoved by Shepard, getting straight to business. "This is an unscheduled arrival. I need to see credentials."</p>
      <p>Shepard was the complying type but wasn't a pushover. "You first." She said.</p>
      <p>Suddenly the blonde woman jumped in with a bulldozing attitude. "We're the law here. Show some respect."</p>
      <p>"Stand down." Said short black haired woman. "I'm Captain Maeko Matsuo, Elanus Risk Control Services."</p>
      <p>"My name is Jane Shepard. I'm a council Spectre." Jane stated. "You know what that means?"</p>
      <p>"Impossible, there's no human Spectre." Spoke the Turian security guard.</p>
      <p>"Unless you've been out of the loop for a while, there is." Garrus remarked.</p>
      <p>"We will need to confirm that. Also, I must advise you that firearms are not permitted in Noveria." The Captain declared before turning to the blonde woman beside her. "Sergeant Stirling, secure their weapons."</p>
      <p>In an instant, the Normandy had their weapons up at the guards with the trio before them having their attention taken by the flash of light and appearance of a large key-shaped weapon in the hand of the one wearing a black hood that completely obscured his face.</p>
      <p>"You do realize you're outnumbered right now." Shepard stated.</p>
      <p>"Don't test us." Wrex said, reaching for his new weapon on his back.</p>
      <p>"We don't have to do this." Liara implored though she kept her rifle leveled on them.</p>
      <p>Soon enough a woman's voice echoed across the docking bay. <em>"Captain Matsuo! Stand down. We confirmed her identity. Spectres are authorized to carry weapons here, Captain."</em></p>
      <p>Matsuo didn't look pleased, but she complied with the order. "You may proceed, Spectre. I hope that you and your people will enjoy your time here."</p>
      <p>"Thank you."</p>
      <p>"But I believe Parasini-san will want to meet with you upstairs."</p>
      <p>"Okay then."</p>
      <p>The captain, Turian and sergeant soon left the ground team, but not after Stirling spoke up one last time. "Behave yourselves or else we will be forced to apprehend you all."</p>
      <p>The team didn't respond save for Wrex who snorted, giving her a challenging look that conveyed 'try something, I dare you'.</p>
      <p>"That was quite lovely." Ashley said sarcastically as they moved on ahead to meet with this Parasini person.</p>
      <p>"So Wrex, what do you think of this place?" Roxas asked. "Heard it was mostly inhabited by scoundrels or something."</p>
      <p>In preparation for coming here, Roxas looked up the Codex entries about this place. It was privately charged by the Noveria Development Corporation, who leased out labs to other companies out in the galaxy in order to perform research on anything too dangerous and controversial to be performed elsewhere. And said labs are scattered throughout most of the planet's surface.</p>
      <p>Yet with Noveria's unique situation, there have been many theories that blossomed as a result.</p>
      <p>"You wouldn't be wrong on that, runt. Used to do some work here as a guard for a few weeks. Couldn't really stand the place. Whole lotta greedy bastards."</p>
      <p>"Wouldn't surprise me." Kaidan added in with a shake of his head. "Heard all sorts of things about this place."</p>
      <p>"Oh like what?" Garrus interjected. "Skirting the law for profit?"</p>
      <p>"Among other things."</p>
      <p>Upon climbing up some stairs, they arrived at the front desk. This time, the team was greeted much more cordially by the lady behind the counter.</p>
      <p>"Parasini-san, I presume?" Shepard asked.</p>
      <p>"Just Gianna Parasini." The lady introduced herself with a polite smile. "That's just Captain Mastuo's way of calling me; honorifics and all that." She then went onto business. "And do forgive the captain, she was just doing her job so please forgive her on that."</p>
      <p>"I understand. But I do have some questions."</p>
      <p>"Of course and I'll be happy to help out on what I can."</p>
      <p>"What's up with the heavy security at the port?"</p>
      <p>"The Executive Board does everything in its power to protect the privacy of our client corporations."</p>
      <p>"Right… So mind telling me if anyone unusual passed here recently?" Asked the commander.</p>
      <p>"Unusual?" Gianna briefly pondered. "An Asari Matriarch passed through a few days ago. Lady Benezia, I believe."</p>
      <p>"Mother." Liara whispered below her breath, something the crewmates closest to her heard. "She's here?"</p>
      <p>Liara was silent, eyes staring at the ground. She felt a hand upon her shoulder and she looked up to see that it was Tali.</p>
      <p>Though her face was obscured for the most part, Liara could still see the understanding eyes that she was giving her.</p>
      <p>Returning the gesture with a small appreciative smile of her own, Liara turned back to Parasini who was still speaking with Shepard.</p>
      <p>"Can I perhaps speak with her?"</p>
      <p>"Sorry, but Benezia left for the Peak 15 research complex shortly after her arrival." Parasini informed. "To the best of my knowledge, she's still there."</p>
      <p>"Then could you tell me how to get there?"</p>
      <p>"You'll need to ask Administrator Anoleis for clearance to leave this port." Gianna explained.</p>
      <p>"And where can we find him?"</p>
      <p>"His office is on the main level." Gianna then gave the directions. "Left at the top of the elevator."</p>
      <p>"Understood." Said Shepard. "Can we go now?"</p>
      <p>Giana reciprocated. "Of course. If you need any further help, you can find me at the Administrator desk upstairs."</p>
      <p>"Thank you." Shepard said in response with Parasini nodding back before she walked into the back area.</p>
      <p>The large group soon entered an elevator with a message being heard over the intercom.</p>
      <p>"<em>Welcome to Port Hanshan, the galaxy's most respected site for independent scientific research and development. For your own safety, and to protect the privacy of others, you are required to obey any directions given by our security personnel."</em></p>
      <p>"Sure… Sure… We'll do that." Wrex said sarcastically.</p>
      <p>"Don't go breaking anything." Shepard warned jokingly. "...yet."</p>
      <p>Wrex huffed in amusement, a sentiment shared by several other members of the crew.</p>
      <p>It wasn't long before they exited the elevator and began spreading out into a large open area with multiple levels that lead to higher and lower floors.</p>
      <p>"Yeesh." Kaidan remarked. "Place is a lot bigger than I thought it'd be."</p>
      <p>"What now, Skipper?" Ashley asked.</p>
      <p>"Would be a bit much if everyone were to come with me to see the Administrator." Shepard mused. "Liara, Kaidan, you two are with me. The rest of you, spread out and see what you can learn about Benezia being here."</p>
      <p>"Will do, Shepard." Garrus simply said as Jane, Liara and Kaidan moved on out.</p>
      <p>With the five of them left to themselves, they decided to split up once more in order to cover more ground.</p>
      <p>With the odd number between them, Roxas and Tali went on their own while Ashley, Garrus and Wrex moved elsewhere.</p>
      <p>As Roxas and Tali were walking around, the latter of the two began to notice the many looks she was receiving.</p>
      <p>At first, she believed that they were directed at her when she noticed that several Turian guards were eyeing Roxas specifically.</p>
      <p>Looking at him, she realized that Roxas was still wearing his hood that completely hid his face which in turn made him a suspicious character.</p>
      <p>"Roxas." Tali nudged him, the hood shifting in her direction. She could barely make out his eyes.</p>
      <p>She silently made the gesture of her hand going over where her ear was and down to the back of her neck.</p>
      <p>At first he didn't understand it but realized what she meant when she tapped on her own hood.</p>
      <p>He pulled his hood back in time for a large jellyfish to float over to them both.</p>
      <p>"Honored newcomers, a moment of your time."</p>
      <p>The two gazed up slightly at the floating Hanar with Tali looking at him in suspicion.</p>
      <p>"How did you know we just got here?" Tali questioned.</p>
      <p>"News travels fast." Roxas murmured.</p>
      <p>"Indeed it does, young ones." The Hanar said. "Your arrival with the Spectre was not greeted with joy by the other companies. This one's name is Opold. This one believes you may be able to ease a burden that must be dealt with. If arrangements can be made, compensation can be arranged."</p>
      <p>"Why should we help you with anything?" Tali questioned. "We're not Spectres, you know."</p>
      <p>"Be that as it may but your association with the Spectre may help you in this endeavor." The Hanar went on. "This one has procured a special item for a customer that is not permitted in the station. But this one believes you may have a better chance of getting it through customs."</p>
      <p>"So you basically want us to smuggle something in for you?" Tali asked, a bit peeved at such a request.</p>
      <p>"That is not inaccurate." Opold admitted.</p>
      <p>"Wouldn't that be considered illegal?" Roxas asked, having heard only negative things about smuggling.</p>
      <p>"What are you even asking us to smuggle?" Tali interrogated. "For all we know, it could be a dangerous weapon or tool."</p>
      <p>"This one must be discreet." Opold answered. "Rest assured, the contents within the package holds no danger to anyone in this port."</p>
      <p>"Who is this package for?" Asked Roxas.</p>
      <p>"This one's customer prefers to remain anonymous."</p>
      <p>"How are we supposed to deliver this "package" if we don't even know who it is?" Tali shot back. "For all we know, we can be assisting an enemy that we have yet to deal with. We've been meeting a lot of those since going with our Spectre."</p>
      <p>"The customer is not known for his patience."</p>
      <p>Tali then took charge of the situation. "And this one's client would probably want to have his package delivered immediately. Tell us who it's for or else we're leaving. It would save you the trouble on not getting caught and be sent to jail for a long time."</p>
      <p>"...Your words are not unreasonable. This one's customer is a Krogan named Inamorda, a bounty hunter of some repute and quick to anger."</p>
      <p>"Thank you for letting us know, Opold." Roxas said.</p>
      <p>"This one requires you to haste. Inamorda is rather impatient." Opold said. "You can find him over in Port Hanshan Mezzanine, the next port over."</p>
      <p>The pair soon left the hanar before seemingly making their way to the elevator.</p>
      <p>"Are you sure about helping him Roxas?" Tali asked.</p>
      <p>He shrugged in response. "So long as no one gets hurt."</p>
      <p>"I guess." Tali said, still unsure as she thought about the many conditions they'd have to take into account if they were going to deliver this.</p>
      <p>There were a lot of options to consider.</p>
      <p>It was unfortunate that they couldn't just…</p>
      <p>…</p>
      <p>…</p>
      <p>Wait a minute.</p>
      <p>"Roxas."</p>
      <p>"Yes, Tali?"</p>
      <p>"Perhaps you could use that Corridor of yours to help speed things up along."</p>
      <p>"You sure?"</p>
      <p>"Positive."</p>
      <p>"If you say so."</p>
      <p>Leaving his Quarian friend behind, Roxas found a nearby restroom and opened up a Dark Corridor. Stepping through, he made it back to the docking area and searched the area for the Krogan's package.</p>
      <p>Sure enough, he found it near the Normandy for some reason as he clearly saw it wasn't there earlier. Not bothering to question it, he went through the Corridor once more to end back up into the main area.</p>
      <p>Following the directions given to him, he traversed through the other side of the space before entering another elevator. Upon reaching the next area, Roxas searched for the Krogan the package is for.</p>
      <p>It didn't take long to find him as he was sitting at a lone table on the next level up.</p>
      <p>"Inamorda?"</p>
      <p>"What do you want?" The Krogan growled out.</p>
      <p>"I heard Opold has something for you."</p>
      <p>"Like I care what you know? You his courier or something?"</p>
      <p>"In a way." Roxas answered. "I have it right here for you."</p>
      <p>Inamorda hummed a little. "Sit down a minute. I have a business proposal."</p>
      <p>Roxas complied with the request and heard the Krogan out.</p>
      <p>"I'm paying the hanar more than I want. I'll bet he's paying you less than you want. Sell it to me directly."</p>
      <p>"Why?"</p>
      <p>"Cause you can get some credits for yourself and I get what I want."</p>
      <p>"And how much of it does this worth anyways?"</p>
      <p>"500 credits."</p>
      <p>Roxas looked at the Krogan and then back at the package. The package that apparently wasn't put through customs. One that he had to deliver via the Corridor.</p>
      <p>"...I'm getting the feeling this package is worth a whole lot more than that."</p>
      <p>Inamorda growled lowly under his breath. "Kids these days, they don't know what a good weapon is worth. Fine, I'll give you 750."</p>
      <p>"Sounds good." Roxas pulled out the package and handed it over as the Krogan handed over a credit chit worth the amount. "Pleasure doing business with you."</p>
      <p>"Likewise. Now go away. The guards wonder about people who trade packages for cash."</p>
      <p>Nodding, Roxas went to the nearby room and opened up a Corridor. Passing on through, he ended up back in the same restroom he entered earlier. Exiting it, he greeted Tali who was waiting for him outside.</p>
      <p>"You got it taken care of?"</p>
      <p>Roxas nodded before handing her the credit chit.</p>
      <p>"You don't have to give it to me, Roxas."</p>
      <p>"I know but thought you should have it."</p>
      <p>Tali smiled underneath her helmet.</p>
      <p>"You're sweet Roxas, you know that?"</p>
      <p>It was strange to hear such a compliment and it was clear to Tali that it affected Roxas with the boy gaining a small tint on his cheeks. She blinked, having never seen such a response from him.</p>
      <p>It was rather endearing.</p>
      <p>And extremely vindicating.</p>
      <p>"Thanks." Roxas said in a soft voice that made Tali now gain a much more prominent hue.</p>
      <p>Thank God that she had a helmet on.</p>
      <p>"Where do you want to go now?" Tali asked after a moment of silence.</p>
      <p>"Probably somewhere to rest and perhaps get something to drink."</p>
      <p>Roxas hummed a little. "I remember there's a bar over at the next port over. We can head over there."</p>
      <p>"Hmmm, I am feeling a bit peckish right now." Tali stated, the two going off in the direction of said bar.</p>
      <p>With the others, Garrus, Ashley and Wrex were having a light conversation while they did this one little task for an asari named Mallene Calis.</p>
      <p>"Been noticing Roxas and Tali were getting chummy lately." Wrex brought up.</p>
      <p>"It's a bit obvious but I fear Roxas isn't exactly responsive to whatever it is Tali does to get his attention." Garrus commented.</p>
      <p>"Oh come off it." Ashley said. "They're doing none of that. Whatever they have, it's happening naturally. It'll come in due time."</p>
      <p>"Though I do wonder if Liara might get the chance to go after him."</p>
      <p>"Why bring that up?"</p>
      <p>"Just thought she considered him rather interesting."</p>
      <p>"And?"</p>
      <p>"Tali could have some competition with her."</p>
      <p>"Doubt it. From what I've seen, Liara is more interested in Shepard."</p>
      <p>"Who knows." Garrus shrugged. "I remember hearing about this urban legend that the asari use their biotics to make themselves look more similar and attractive to other species. Even Salarians claim that asari look like them, which is definitely not true."</p>
      <p>Wrex laughed a little. "I definitely don't think any of them looks like a Krogan, if that's what you might imply." He then hummed for a bit. "Though if we're going on the looks department, Tali might have Liara beat."</p>
      <p>This drew some confusing looks from the human and Turian, respectively.</p>
      <p>"Really? How?"</p>
      <p>"I still remember what Quarians look like underneath their suits. And I remember they were considered very attractive, rivaling the asari by a long margin."</p>
      <p>This drew astonished looks from Garrus and Ashley until they remembered a particularly important detail.</p>
      <p>Wrex was seven hundred years old.</p>
      <p>The Geth had been unleashed on the Galaxy 300 years ago. Meaning Wrex was alive and well at the time of the Quarians becoming the nomadic people they are today.</p>
      <p>"Do you think Roxas has seen underneath Tali's mask?" Garrus asked curiously, causing Ashely to wonder the same thing.</p>
      <p>"From what I remember Tali telling me, it's a huge sign of respect for her people to show someone else their face. And if that happens, a Quarian gets really sick afterwards, even on the simplest of things. We would've realized if she were sick sooner than later."</p>
      <p>"Hmm, guess she doesn't fully respect him yet." Wrex quipped.</p>
      <p>"Oh come of it, Wrex." Ashley griped. "It's not that simple and you know it. Roxas barley understands most things and he asks us about everything. Just give him some time."</p>
      <p>"Or a push." Wrex suggested.</p>
      <p>"I'm staying out of this one." Garrus stated. "Romance isn't my forte."</p>
      <p>"And here I thought with all your smooth talking that you have the ladies all over you."</p>
      <p>"Oh, ha ha, Ashley. I have you know I suck at picking up women. Stumble almost all the time when I'm at a bar for a possible hook up."</p>
      <p>"That's something I'd like to see."</p>
      <p>Garrus rolled his eyes. "Come on. Let's finish things up for that asari and find more info on Benezia."</p>
      <p>Eventually coming across the Hotel Bar to find this Vargas person, they briefly saw Tali and Roxas were sitting at a far off table as they seemed to enjoy themselves.</p>
      <p>Paying them no mind, they eventually found the man they were looking for some tables away from their two squadmates.</p>
      <p>"Rafael Vargas?"</p>
      <p>The human was startled when he saw the group approach him. "Er… Can I help you?"</p>
      <p>Ashley spoke up. "Hello, I'm Gunnery Chief Williams. These are my compatriots Detective Vakarian and Wrex. We work alongside Commander Shepard. We understand you work for Binary Helix?"</p>
      <p>"Yes, you're correct." Rafael confirmed. "I work in sales. Were you interested in our services?"</p>
      <p>"Actually we're here to warn you." Garrus jumped in. "An agent of the Aramali Council named Mallene Calis hired us to break into your network." He then pulled out a device from his person and handed it over. "She gave us this."</p>
      <p>The Helix sales rep looked it over and recognized what it was. "A cracking device. I appreciate your forthrightness." He pocketed the device into his jacket. "Now that we know what to look for, our IT people can have a little fun with the asari. We'll isolate their viruses and feed them false data." Rafael got up from his seat. "Thank you for your time. I best take care of this immediately."</p>
      <p>Seeing the man left, the squad of three looked over at each other.</p>
      <p>"Alright… that was quick." Garrus stated.</p>
      <p>"So who wants to lie to the asari?"</p>
      <p>Garrus only chortled, raising his hand.</p>
      <p>"I thought you Turians were all about abiding by the rules." Wrex commented.</p>
      <p>Vakarian only snorted. "Do I act like most Turians to you?"</p>
      <p>"Yes."</p>
      <p>"That's not what I-"</p>
      <p>"I know, Vakarian."</p>
      <p>"We'll leave ya to it, Garrus." Ash said, patting the C-sec detective on the shoulder.</p>
      <p>The Normandy member went off while the rest walked over to join Roxas and Tali nearby.</p>
      <p>Once Garrus returned with the payment he received for their little task, the group chatted things up as they waited for Shepard, Kaidan and Liara to meet up with them.</p>
      <p>It honestly wasn't long before they saw them walk up to them.</p>
      <p>"Seems you guys are having a nice time." Shepard plainly stated.</p>
      <p>"Well we've been busy doing our own things." Ashley said with a shrug, taking a sip of her drink. "We're a busy bunch, Skipper."</p>
      <p>"Clearly." Shepard said in an amused tone.</p>
      <p>"So what'd you find, Shepard?" Wrex inquired. "Anything to shoot at, I hope."</p>
      <p>"Just a whole lot of mess on our end. But to sum it up, we got our pass to get to Peak 15."</p>
      <p>"And suffice to say, glad some corruption's been cleaned up." Kaidan informed the others.</p>
      <p>"It was better to resolve the source of the problem." Liara added in.</p>
      <p>"We've all been busy it seems." Garrus commented.</p>
      <p>"This whole place feels dirty." Tali said with a slight shudder. "There's so much corruption wafting in the air here my filters can't keep up with it."</p>
      <p>"At least you got some protection." Kaidan joked. "We have to breath it in raw."</p>
      <p>"It's best we get going. Sooner we get to Peak 15, the better." Shepard declared, earning no arguments from the team.</p>
      <p>The large team left the bar, heading straight for the garage they now had access to.</p>
      <p>Coming up to an ERCS guard guarding the garage, she spoke up. "Access to the garage is restricted." Shepard soon produced the pass she acquired to the guard. "Ah, yes that's genuine. Drive safely. The weather is supposed to be pretty bad out in the Aleutsk Valley."</p>
      <p>"Appreciate the warning." Jane said, everyone walking past the guard and into the garage.</p>
      <p>Soon as they walked in, their senses went on high alert.</p>
      <p>They heard movement and a familiar set of sounds correlated to one specific enemy they had been facing since this whole ordeal in chasing Saren began.</p>
      <p>Instantly, Roxas had his Keyblade out with the others pulling out their weapons as a horde of Geth descended upon them.</p>
      <p>The team began firing upon them with Roxas jumping forward to bash a Geth Trooper and Stalker that had gotten close.</p>
      <p>No sooner did Roxas take out those two Geth did a new enemy join in the fray.</p>
      <p>"Heartless." Roxas said aloud, cleaving through an icy themed Heartless.</p>
      <p>They appeared by the dozens, instantly moving to engage both them and the Geth.</p>
      <p>It was now a three-way fight.</p>
      <p>"Would it be too much to ask for us to at least have ONE hour at least where we're not getting attacked by anyone on a mission?" Tali asked aloud, firing her Geth Pulse rifle at some incoming Hoppers.</p>
      <p>"I have to agree with Tali on this one." Kaidan responded, throwing a Biotic Warp at several Geth and Heartless. "The consistency is starting to get annoying."</p>
      <p>"We have to deal with these kinds of things, Kaidan." Garrus shouted out, firing his sniper rifle at the floating Geth drones and Heartless.</p>
      <p>"Are you kidding me?" Wrex pulled out his newest weapon with a large grin. "I was hoping for this."</p>
      <p>Roxas' eyes darted about the area, taking note of three variants of the Heartless.</p>
      <p>There were Blue Rhapsody's floating about, casting their own versions of Blizzard.</p>
      <p>Blizzard Plants also appeared to have sprouted on the ground and walls.</p>
      <p>Rounding out the trio were Winterhorns that were headbutting several of the Geth that were using Rocket Troopers to effectively take down the Heartless.</p>
      <p>It was pandemonium with three separate factions and so many enemies fighting one another.</p>
      <p>Thankfully, the Normandy crew had the wherewithal to work together rather than the erratic, uncoordinated mess that the Geth and the Heartless found themselves in.</p>
      <p>Wrex had charged forward, brandishing his large new hammer that their resident Moogle had crafted for him.</p>
      <p>It was only a "prototype" but it utilized some of the more high end types of synthesis items such as several Lucid gems, Power shards and a wellspring crystal. Even requiring some pure Element Zero from some asteroids.</p>
      <p>At least the Moogle was a good sport in providing some other items, due to them being rarely found in this galaxy. One of which was something along the lines of being called Forerunner metal or some shit. They really didn't know. Half the stuff… ok, 80 percent of the stuff the Moogle talked about went over their heads.</p>
      <p>Also, at long last, they had settled on a name for the Moogle.</p>
      <p>After much deliberation, they had settled on Mosh the Moogle.</p>
      <p>Don't ask why they had settled upon Mosh. Just that it flows well with the name of said species.</p>
      <p>Mosh the Moogle.</p>
      <p>And currently, one Krogan Battlemaster was using Mosh's newest creation to the best of his abilities.</p>
      <p>Wrex smashed his hammer over a Geth's head, the force in which crumpled and caved it in.</p>
      <p>And he wasn't even using its advanced function.</p>
      <p>Turning the hammer on, the insides glowed a faint blue light. Swinging the hammer, his weapon struck a Geth Shock trooper right at its chest.</p>
      <p>What happened next almost ceased the fighting within the garage.</p>
      <p>Almost...</p>
      <p>"HOLY SHIT!"</p>
      <p>In a mere second, the Geth soared right across the room and impacted the concrete wall, shattering upon impact.</p>
      <p>"...I think I love this now."</p>
      <p>To think, this... gravity hammer of his can get upgraded a whole lot more than its present condition.</p>
      <p>"Course he gets something like that." Ashley murmured though there was a large grin present on her face.</p>
      <p>"Hey, at least I got a really cool sniper rifle and you don't see me complaining about your stuff."</p>
      <p>"It's because yours fits you extremely well, Garrus."</p>
      <p>"Less talking, more shooting." Shepard barked, managing to bash a Winterhorn in the face with the butt of her rifle. She unloaded her enhanced gun on its head, destroying it a moment later.</p>
      <p>Tali, Liara and Kaidan fought together, the trio interchanging the means in which they disposed of the Geth and Heartless.</p>
      <p>It was either Liara who disabled the movement of Geth and Heartless alike that gave Kaidan and Tali the chance to take them out.</p>
      <p>Or Kaidan and Liara utilizing their Biotics to ensnare the two enemy types, Tali taking them out with what she now called Omni-bolts.</p>
      <p>Wrex for the most part was by Roxas's side, the two practically brute forcing their way across the garage, taking out any and all that got in their way.</p>
      <p>Eventually, the garage was cleared of enemies, Roxas slaying one last Winterhorn.</p>
      <p>The group however didn't have long in catching their breath.</p>
      <p>"What the- What are these things?" Spoke the familiar voice of Captain Matsuo. "Fan out and secure the area! No one gets in or out!" She then looked over and demanded an explanation. "What the hell happened here, Commander?"</p>
      <p>"The Geth ambushed us. We fought back. That's it."</p>
      <p>"Geth? You expect me to-"</p>
      <p>"Captain!" The Turian security guard called out. "You won't believe this!"</p>
      <p>"There's fucking Geth corpses here!" Called out the human sergeant.</p>
      <p>Matsuo paled a little as she looked over and saw her fellow security team members were right. "W-Where'd they come from?"</p>
      <p>"There were crates here, ma'am." Ashley pointed out, as if the answer was quite obvious.</p>
      <p>"But… But those are Benezia-Sama's crates."</p>
      <p>Tali picked it up from there. "If I were to guess, the Matriarch packed the Geth in the shipping containers she arrived with."</p>
      <p>"I don't believe that. We did thorough scans of those. There were no power sources, no element zero masses…" Matsuo tried to rationalize things but saw there was no point now. "If Benezia-Sama's containers were packed with these things, there are many more out there."</p>
      <p>Shepard didn't like hearing that, making her voice the obvious question. "How many are we talking, a dozen? A hundred?</p>
      <p>"Dozens, no doubt." Matsuo said grimly. "But… Commander. What were those other things in here? Those creatures with the yellow eyes."</p>
      <p>"That's a bit more complicated in explaining." Shepard said. "For now, all I can tell you is that it's classified for the time being, ma'am."</p>
      <p>Matsuo exhaled a sigh. "I must report to the Executive Board. If word gets out about loose get… there may be an investor panic."</p>
      <p>Once Matsuo and her security team left, Shepard spoke up to her team.</p>
      <p>"Is there anyone hurt?"</p>
      <p>"We're good." Kaidan stated with the others all nodding or voicing their agreement.</p>
      <p>"Alright then." Shepard looked over and saw the Mako parked nearby. And by the model, it was much larger than the one back on the Normandy, allowing everyone on her team to perfectly sit in nicely. "Okay, people, pile in. Time to head over to Peak 15."</p>
      <p>Once the Normandy ground team drove out of the garage, the ERCS guard stationed outside of the garage made sure nobody else was present in the area. Pulling up her Omni-tool, she dialed a number. It was answered, but the line was silent.</p>
      <p>"This is Agent Karen, calling Cerberus command. Requesting a secured line."</p>
      <p>Soon a voice was spoken on the other end. <em>"This line is secured. Go ahead, agent. What do you need to report."</em></p>
      <p>"Commander Shepard and her team are on their way to Peak 15 as we speak." She said. "They had recently fought against the Geth and some dark creatures in the one garage I'm stationed by. I'll be sending footage I pulled from the security system very soon."</p>
      <p>The voice on the other end acknowledged her little report. <em>"Thank you for your time, agent. We will await the footage when possible. Cerberus command, out."</em></p>
      <p>
        <strong>Well this was a fucking walk through the park.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Jebest4781: Boy we breezed through this rather quickly.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>FMW: Yup, love it when a plan is laid out so clearly and easily written out. And we're gonna get to crazy stuff really damn soon people. So batten down the hatches. And it's official, closing the poll.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Commander Shepard has won the vote, people, Axel's in for a ride.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Jeb: So far there won't be any other polls for this story until further notice. Reason being we already thought of other details to be used in the story. But there might be one other pairing vote later on, depending on the flow of this story.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>FMW: Yes and they are to be determined as of right now however J and I have several ideas in mind that we believe would work well with the trajectory of the story overall. I think many of you will be </strong>
        <em>
          <strong>very </strong>
        </em>
        <strong>surprised with what he and I have in mind.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>So for quick reminders of the poll results from the last 9 chapters overall</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Roxas with Xion and Tali.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Axel with Commander Shepard.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>It has been decided.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Rate Read and Review and as Always Have Nice Day.</strong>
      </p>
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<a name="section0010"><h2>10. Meeting with The Matriarch</h2></a>
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      <p>
        <strong>Keep those reviews coming people, we love to see 'em.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Don't wanna time here so let's get to it.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Rate Read and Review and as Always Have Nice Day.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>I'm Nobody Chapter 10: Meeting with the Matriarch</p>
      <p>Nothing like a lovely drive to get someone up in the morning.</p>
      <p>Or was it night?</p>
      <p>It's quite hard to tell when one is driving atop a mountainside where a blizzard is hammering down like a hurricane.</p>
      <p>That, and the fact that right now the Mako that was driving up the mountainous slopes of Noveria to their intended destination of Peak 15 was currently being harassed by Geth that stood before their path.</p>
      <p>"Am I the only one who thinks it's really cold out there?" Tali asked from within the Mako.</p>
      <p>Even though their acquired vehicle had heaters, it hardly made a difference with the walls having a cold touch to them.</p>
      <p>"Tali, of course it's cold out there. And it's worse with how damn windy it is."</p>
      <p>"Hell, we felt how bad it was out there when Roxas opened the hatch to get on the roof."</p>
      <p>Earlier, their sandy blonde teammate went out to help take care of some Heartless along the way while Garrus fired the Mako's guns to destroy the Geth. And he has been staying outside ever since.</p>
      <p>But in all honesty when Roxas exited the vehicle and didn't close the hatch quick enough, it felt like torturous hours when the cold air rushed through, chilling them all.</p>
      <p>"I swear if he didn't have that damn coat of his, he would probably be dead by now by frostbite."</p>
      <p>"<em>This coat is useful."</em> Roxas said from their comms. From outside, he was patting his chest with a satisfactory smile. His hood up right now, cloak billowing in the icy winds.</p>
      <p>"Rub it in later." Shepard barked out, veering around a Geth Armature with Garrus shooting at its legs.</p>
      <p>Roxas cast a quick Thundara, taking out its shielding leaving it open for Vakarian to take the killshot.</p>
      <p>With the head being blown off, the Armature keeled over and fell upon the snowy ground, unmoving.</p>
      <p>Eventually, the Mako jostled around all suddenly, rattling everyone inside.</p>
      <p>"What the hell was that?" Ashley demanded.</p>
      <p>"Snowbank." Shepard answered, still focused on her driving.</p>
      <p>"Why didn't you use the micro-thrusters?"</p>
      <p>"In case you forgot, we're right next to a damn cliff. I don't plan on sending us flying over the edge."</p>
      <p>"Unlike the few times you did in the past." Garrus snidely remarked, glaring at the commander from his position in the Mako.</p>
      <p>"What's that? You want gun privileges revoked?"</p>
      <p>Garrus only grumbled underneath his breath, refocusing his attention on blasting Geth out of the way.</p>
      <p>The others inside the Mako could only hold on to their seats as Shepard drove like a madwoman, actually bashing the Mako into a Geth once or twice. Even rolling over them back and forth for good measure before proceeding onwards.</p>
      <p>All the while, snoring was heard coming from the oldest of the group.</p>
      <p>Ash's brow twitched as the snoring was rattling the Mako interior just as much as Shepard's driving was. "Okay, I gotta ask."</p>
      <p>"Ask what?" Said Liara.</p>
      <p>"How the hell does Wrex keep sleeping in here whenever Shepard drives?"</p>
      <p>"Haven't we asked this before?" Came Kaidan's response.</p>
      <p>"Yes." Ash groused.</p>
      <p>"Then why-?"</p>
      <p>"Because I'm still waiting for an <em>actual</em> answer, dammit!"</p>
      <p>"How much longer until we reach Peak 15?" Tali asked, looking to Shepard.</p>
      <p>"Hopefully not much longer. Just need to get across this one bridge and-"</p>
      <p>"Oh fucking hell." Garrus said aloud from the gunner seat.</p>
      <p>"...Oh fucking hell?" Kaidan repeated, straining himself forward to hopefully look through the window. But with the blizzard outside, it was hard to tell. "Usually when you say that Garrus, it's not good."</p>
      <p>"Why are we 'oh fucking' anything?"</p>
      <p>"I'm not saying that, I'm just saying…"</p>
      <p>"Then why are you saying that? Give me a damn straight answer, Garrus."</p>
      <p>It was Roxas who answered over the comms. <em>"He's saying 'Oh fucking hell' because he was the first to spot a giant Heartless right in front of us."</em></p>
      <p>"Oh…" the crew said in unison. "Oooooh…"</p>
      <p>"...Oh fucking hell."</p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>"RRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAA!"</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>"...Shit."</p>
      <p>Wrex soon woke up, startled by the sound. "What was that?"</p>
      <p>"A giant Heartless."</p>
      <p>"Oh fuck."</p>
      <p>"Can we stop saying 'Oh fuck' or any variants of it for a while?" Liara pleaded. "I feel we hit a quota or something on this ride so far."</p>
      <p>Roxas, all the while, looked on ahead with a fierce expression, taking a moment to analyze the Heartless.</p>
      <p>It appears to come from the Wyvern variation of the Heartless, though clearly more suited for this icy environment.</p>
      <p>It was a large, draconian creature with predominantly white and light steel blue skin, save for its belly, which is pale green. Its body is rather thin, while its feet are quite large and somewhat resemble clogs with tips that curve upward. The wings seemed rather short and had a rough, jagged appearance. They also seem to be segmented, each segment alternating from white to steel blue.</p>
      <p>The tail is long, wide, flat and sports a few short spikes on its sides, as well as a dark grey, zig-zagging stripe near its tip. The forehead sported a large horn that curves upward slightly and like all Heartless, has beady yellow eyes on either side of its head, and the Heartless emblem is on its chest.</p>
      <p>An Avalanche.</p>
      <p>"How big is it, Roxas?" Shepard asked, driving around the flying Heartless that had spotted them.</p>
      <p>"<em>Really big."</em> Roxas stated. <em>"Bigger than the Mako at least."</em></p>
      <p>"Wonderful." Shepard grumbled beneath her breath. "Hold on tightly now, everyone. It's gonna get worse."</p>
      <p>"Great." Kaidan said, feeling his body tense up.</p>
      <p>The Mako rattled once more, only this time due to the Avalanche's challenging roar.</p>
      <p>Roxas gazed upon the Heartless unflinchingly, preparing himself for the battle as the Heartless dive bombed the Mako.</p>
      <p>"Shit!" Shepard made a sharp turn with everyone nearly falling out of their seats.</p>
      <p>Roxas had to grab onto the Mako Cannon himself as he nearly got thrown off by both the shockwave the Heartless sent out upon impact on the ground and Shepard's driving.</p>
      <p>Pointing his Keyblade at the large plume of snow, Roxas readied a fire spell when icicles shot out from the snow. Eyes widening, he narrowly ducked under several, looking up in time to instinctively swat one aside with his Keyblade.</p>
      <p>The Avalanche then rose up from the ground, flapping its wings up that sent out gales of wind with icy shards peppering the Mako.</p>
      <p>"Are we… slowing down?" Ashley asked in alarm.</p>
      <p>"Dammit." Shepard snarled. "Roxas, what's happening out there?"</p>
      <p>"<em>The Heartless is practically throwing a blizzard at us."</em></p>
      <p>"Like the spell or-"</p>
      <p>"<em>An actual blizzard."</em></p>
      <p>"Great, a blizzard on top of a blizzard."</p>
      <p>"Blizzard-ception?"</p>
      <p>"Stow it with the jokes, Vakarian. Leave the bad ones with Joker."</p>
      <p>Garrus shook his head as he peered down the cannon scope. "Well Roxas ain't lying about the blizzard. From what I can tell, it's flapping so hard it's adding more velocity to the storm outside." More icicles pelted the Mako, sounding more like a really hard hailstorm now. "All the while shooting large ice chunks at us."</p>
      <p>Shepard soon swerved a bit more as she saw what was happening to the surrounding pathway through the Mako's window. "And it's forming iceberg-like rocks around us, making my driving much more difficult."</p>
      <p>"Well that's just perfect." Ashley groaned out.</p>
      <p>Roxas was kneeling atop the Mako, left arm in front of his face to offer some form of protection against the cold, needle-like winds that the Avalanche kept sending out.</p>
      <p>The Heartless was constantly attempting to skewer, crush or ice them with large ice hills forming around the Mako.</p>
      <p>"Damn bastard." Shepard said, the Mako shaking about violently from every mound of ice it drove over to every turn she had to do in order to save her and the team's hides. "Garrus, will you please-"</p>
      <p>"Easier said than done." Garrus shot back, firing at the Avalanche with the Heartless absorbing the shots like a sponge.</p>
      <p>"Shepard." Roxas yelled over the harrowing winds. "Get me in close."</p>
      <p>Rather than arguing with him, Shepard simply acquiesced with his request, turning the wheel of the Mako and gunning it straight for the large Heartless.</p>
      <p>She hoped he had a plan. He was their Heartless expert after all.</p>
      <p>Getting in close, Roxas raised his Keyblade, channeling his magic.</p>
      <p>"<strong>Firaga!"</strong></p>
      <p>A giant flaming sphere shot out from the tip of his blade, hurtling straight towards the Avalanche.</p>
      <p>Just in time as the Heartless was preparing for a downpour of ice, living up to its namesake.</p>
      <p>The fireball struck the Avalanche dead on, stunning and damaging it greatly.</p>
      <p>Seeing an opportunity, Roxas crouched upon the Mako and jumped forward.</p>
      <p>"Roxas!"</p>
      <p>"Let him have at it." Wrex said with a wide grin. "I wanna see him bring this bastard down."</p>
      <p>Getting in close, Roxas reared his Keyblade back and struck the Avalanche with a mighty blow that caused its head to whip around…</p>
      <p>Followed by the rest of its body with its tail moving around to smack Roxas down.</p>
      <p>No. XIII crashed down into the snowy ground, snow and dirt kicking up into the air.</p>
      <p>"Oh shit." Garrus said, whirling the cannon around. "Hey ya bastard, chew on this."</p>
      <p>He fired a shot that managed to strike the Avalanche's eye which made it flinch and turn its head in the Mako's direction.</p>
      <p>The Heartless made a full back spin in the air, descending to the ground and gliding over the snow going straight for the Mako.</p>
      <p>"Fuck, fuck, fuck." Garrus kept firing at the Heartless, trying to slow it down as best as he could.</p>
      <p>Seeing that it wasn't working, Garrus decided to change up tactics. Getting down from the cannon he simply told Kaidan to hop up to it and went up the top hatch of the Mako.</p>
      <p>"Garrus, the hell are you doing?!" Shepard called out to him.</p>
      <p>"Doing things the hard way, unfortunately." the Turian detective answered, reaching for his Sniper Rifle.</p>
      <p>It had a recent enhancement from Mosh the Moogle aboard the Normandy, the barrel of the rifle already glowing.</p>
      <p>Poking out of the top hatch, Garrus trailed his scope against the oncoming Avalanche that drew closer and closer.</p>
      <p>Though the driving was erratic and all over the place, Garrus managed to steel himself and focus. He just needed the right moment.</p>
      <p>The Avalanche was now no less than a few dozen yards away with its massive frame making up for a great distance.</p>
      <p>"Hold, Shepard." Garrus said aloud. "Wait for my mark."</p>
      <p>"What?!"</p>
      <p>"Just trust me."</p>
      <p>Gritting her teeth, Shepard corrected the Mako's course, now driving in a straight line with the Heartless right on their tail.</p>
      <p>Once it was a hair's end away from the Mako…</p>
      <p>"NOW!" Garrus screamed out.</p>
      <p>Shepard made another sharp turn with the Avalanche sailing by them.</p>
      <p>Garrus, having charged up a shot, fired a large beam that struck the Avalanche's head. It flinched violently at being hit though it had no time to recover as the beam that struck it burst into a dozen more smaller ones, all of which hit various points of its body.</p>
      <p>The Heartless flailed in pain from the assault it recently received, momentarily collapsing onto the ground soon after.</p>
      <p>As much as she'd want to gun it and plow through the Heartless, Shepard thought it would be a bad idea at this time. Geth were one thing, but this Heartless before them was more durable than they thought. More so as it rose back up from the ground.</p>
      <p>"Damn bastard." Shepard snarled. "Where's Roxas?"</p>
      <p>Soon enough from the snow pile a bit away from the Mako, an ethereal green glow could be seen. Wasn't long before Roxas shot out of it and went back to combat the Avalanche once more.</p>
      <p>"Wonder if we can get across the bridge all in one piece." Shepard muttered aloud, swerving left and right.</p>
      <p>"I figure if we don't take care of that Heartless we could… and still get killed." Garrus remarked, firing his sniper rifle to assist the quickly recovered Roxas. "All we have to do is probably set this Mako on fire and-"</p>
      <p>"Oh just shut up with the jokes and shoot!" Liara barked out in cold, utter anger before whirling right at Shepard. "And you! Drive better!"</p>
      <p>The others within the vehicle looked at the asari like they were meeting her for the first time. In all honesty they never heard such a tone coming from the sweet, calm and timid asari.</p>
      <p>Now… well…</p>
      <p>"What she said." Tali added on, quickly overcoming her shock in the process.</p>
      <p>Both gunner and driver were silent as the battle ensued outside of their vehicle.</p>
      <p>"Uh… yeah, sure okay."</p>
      <p>"Whatever you say, doc."</p>
      <p>The asari crossed her arms across her chest. "Good."</p>
      <p>"...Damn… where the hell did this come from?" Kaidan muttered, still wide eyed.</p>
      <p>"I don't know and don't want to find out." Ashley responded.</p>
      <p>Wrex merely chuckled.</p>
      <p>"Kaidan…"</p>
      <p>"Oh, right. Sorry, Liara."</p>
      <p>Shaking himself out of his shock, the lieutenant marine fired the Mako's cannon as he continued to assist Roxas and Garrus in taking down the Avalanche.</p>
      <p>Spinning and maneuvering through his strikes, Roxas became more and more focused all the while swerving away from the Heartless' assault and the ammunition fired from the Mako's occupants.</p>
      <p>It was at this point that an aura of light encompassed Roxas, signifying him reaching his Limit Break.</p>
      <p>"This is it!"</p>
      <p>In a flurry of swipes, he started cleaving all over the Heartless in rapid succession. Before long, he started spinning in the air as he soon appeared to look like a Buzzsaw of light within the blizzard, carving up the Avalanche's hide in the process.</p>
      <p>"It's over!"</p>
      <p>And in a manner of moments, the light around him exploded, sending projectiles straight at the Avalanche, colliding and exploding upon impact.</p>
      <p>When the last one met its mark, the Avalanche shrieked aloud as it collapsed onto the ground once more. And this time it stayed down for good as it dissolved into wisps of darkness with the captured glowing Heart was released into the stormy skies above.</p>
      <p>Roxas felt the light dissipate and he found himself falling down to the ground below when the Mako drove by, with him cleanly landing inside.</p>
      <p>He immediately collapsed into an empty seat near Tali with him sighing aloud.</p>
      <p>"Nice landing."</p>
      <p>He held up a weak thumbs up. "Thanks."</p>
      <p>Everyone else chuckled as Shepard drove on ahead before they finally reached Peak 15.</p>
      <p>The only problems they had left to take care of were the Geth turrets stationed outside of the garage they were approaching. With Kaidan's well placed shots, the synthetic opposition was taken care of.</p>
      <p>Once rolling into the garage, it's occupants couldn't have climbed out of it fast enough.</p>
      <p>"Land! Solid, unmoving land!" Tali exclaimed, hugging the metal floor and rubbing her helmet on its surface. "Oh I never knew how much I love you."</p>
      <p>"Don't be so over dramatic." Shepard drolled out. "Remember, we <em>will</em> have to go back the same way we came from."</p>
      <p>"...Don't make me shoot you with my shotgun." Tali threatened. "I will do it."</p>
      <p>Shepard rolled her eyes in response.</p>
      <p>She momentarily glanced back to the entrance, recalling the destroyed vehicle that was getting slowly buried by the snowy landscape of the mountain.</p>
      <p>Narrowing her eyes, she looked on ahead, pulling out her gun.</p>
      <p>"Stay alert people." Jane warned. "We're in enemy territory now."</p>
      <p>The group looked at Shepard, seeing how serious she was with them following suit with their own guns drawn.</p>
      <p>When the metal door slid open, the team were greeted with the sight of a small contingent of Geth and Krogan present. And they were quickly noticed, soon earning a hail of bullets right at them.</p>
      <p>"Of course." Kaidan couldn't help but state aloud, the team moving for cover while firing at their enemies.</p>
      <p>The team split off, firing at the Geth and Krogan that appeared to charge in a foolhardy attempt at the squad.</p>
      <p>It wasn't much of a challenge, compared to what was faced outside not long ago. Some biotic throws were needed towards the Krogan situated on the balconies above, resulting in them falling down from the large drop with some landing on their heads. With some well-placed shots, said Krogan opposition were quickly killed off.</p>
      <p>As for the Geth, Tali's Omni-tool helped out a lot in overloading their systems with the electrical shocks as they were combined with Roxas' Thunder spells.</p>
      <p>With the remaining foes in the far off areas, Shepard, Liara and Kaidan used a combined Singularity to pull them off the ground and have them float in the air. From there, Garrus was quick to fire at them with his sniper rifle. Nearly all of them stood no chance with the one-two shots.</p>
      <p>When the space was cleared out, the ground team searched for a means to progress further, Ashley soon noticed something.</p>
      <p>"Hey Roxas."</p>
      <p>"Yeah?"</p>
      <p>"You got icicles in your hair."</p>
      <p>"Really? Huh…" He muttered, brushing and combing his hair to rid himself of the frozen particles clinging onto his blonde locks.</p>
      <p>They no doubt formed as he had no proper head protection from the snow entering his hood.</p>
      <p>"Just…. How are you not <em>freezing?!"</em> Ashley exclaimed aloud. "Seriously?!"</p>
      <p>"Er…" Roxas rubbed the back of his head. "I said before, the coat… and in the Organization, there was someone named Vexen who used ice powers. I got used to it."</p>
      <p>All he got was a flat look from the Gunnery Chief who pulled him in for a noogie, grinding her fist against his head. The young teen could only flail his arms about in an attempt to free himself.</p>
      <p>"Ash! C'mon!"</p>
      <p>"That's what you get, Roxas."</p>
      <p>"But I don't-"</p>
      <p>"Alright, knock it off Williams." Jane said with a chortle. "We got a job to do."</p>
      <p>No sooner did Shepard say this did they hear and automated voice over the intercoms.</p>
      <p>"<em>User alert. All Peak 15 facilities have suffered a great deal of damage. Biohazard materials present throughout the facility. Virtual intelligence user interface, offline."</em></p>
      <p>Shepard glanced over at Kaidan. "That doesn't sound promising."</p>
      <p>"We'll probably have to take care of the problem if we want to progress further." Said the lieutenant.</p>
      <p>They eventually found the door out of the garage, soon passing the control booth that guarded the entrance to the labs. It was only after did they find quite a surprise.</p>
      <p>"Uh… why are the turrets facing the wrong way?" Kaidan asked aloud.</p>
      <p>"Looks like they wanna keep whoever is here much as they wanna keep everyone else out." Wrex rumbled</p>
      <p>"Quite the bit of a motivation there, don't you think?" Garrus chimed in.</p>
      <p>Shepard, though, wasn't so sure. "I don't know." She said. "I get the feeling that they're trying to keep more than just their people in."</p>
      <p>"Then what is exactly going on here?"</p>
      <p>Kaidan shrugged his shoulders before taking point once they walked past the turrets. And they were thankful they didn't go off when the group was in front of them.</p>
      <p>"Who knows for sure, guys."</p>
      <p>The team investigated the nearby rooms and upon Roxas' assistance, they pilfered a number of safes and weapons lockers before storing the contents away for when they see Mosh after this mission.</p>
      <p>Exiting the last room, they piled into a waiting elevator. Once the door closed, the group subconsciously huddled together to get some warmth from each other.</p>
      <p>"Sooner we get off this frozen world, the better." Tali said with a slight shiver, hugging Roxas up close.</p>
      <p>"I hear that." Said the Turian.</p>
      <p>The elevator stopped with the doors opened to reveal a snowy hallway that had another door at the end. They all stepped out and made their way towards it.</p>
      <p>Roxas frowned, as he gazed ahead with the others noticing him not moving.</p>
      <p>"You alright, Roxas?" Garrus asked, being the closest to him.</p>
      <p>He didn't respond at first, instead keeping his eyes straight ahead before closing them and tilting his head down.</p>
      <p>"I feel… Darkness here."</p>
      <p>The team at first didn't respond straight away from Roxas's declaration before Shepard grunted.</p>
      <p>"Be ready for anything."</p>
      <p>The rest silently agreed, holding their weapons just a bit more tightly now.</p>
      <p>Stepping forward, the door opened up to reveal Geth awaiting their arrival…</p>
      <p>And with them were the Heartless… that weren't fighting them.</p>
      <p>Instead, their two most common enemies all turned in their direction.</p>
      <p>"Uh oh." Was all Ash managed out until they began firing at the enemies that charged at them.</p>
      <p>The Geth and Heartless consisted of Troopers, Shock Troopers, Neo-Shadows, Winterhorns and Wyverns.</p>
      <p>Running forward, Roxas immediately went for the flyers as he knew how much of a pain they can be with how they utilized their entire body as a weapon.</p>
      <p>"<em>RRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"</em></p>
      <p>…</p>
      <p>…</p>
      <p>…</p>
      <p>"What the hell is that?"</p>
      <p>They heard the raw, animalistic shriek coming from the pipes overhead, scurrying about.</p>
      <p>"Was that an animal? Or perhaps the wind?" Kaidan asked aloud.</p>
      <p>"This place is in bad shape with all this snow being present." Ashley pointed out.</p>
      <p>"I think that would be putting it lightly."</p>
      <p>The shriek then appeared once more.</p>
      <p>"Hey, Wrex."</p>
      <p>"Yeah?"</p>
      <p>"You've seen so much crazy and strange shit in the galaxy, right?" Garrus asked the Krogan beside him. "Any idea what that noise is?"</p>
      <p>"No, but I would love to know what the sound of a quiet Turian would be like."</p>
      <p>"...You hear that every time you shoot one dead."</p>
      <p>"That's dying, Vakarian, there's a difference."</p>
      <p>Before either the Krogan or Turian could continue bickering, they heard the shriek once more.</p>
      <p>This time it was followed with something else as the Geth and Heartless now diverted their attention elsewhere.</p>
      <p>It was then the team saw what the shriek's origin came from.</p>
      <p>It was a giant bug that resembled a chimera mixture of a shrimp, an arachnid and some sort of roach. And it's pair of menacing claws were quick to tear apart the synthetics like they were made of paper.</p>
      <p>The Heartless proved to be a greater challenge yet the bug seemed unperturbed by the difficulty. If anything, it only increased its ferocity as it tried to literally rip the Heartless apart.</p>
      <p>As the team watched the skirmish transpire, the familiar screeching sound was heard to their side, turning to see two more of those bug-like creatures charging straight for them.</p>
      <p>Without any prompt, Wrex barreled forward with a roar of his own, colliding headfirst into the closest of the chimera ants. Both combatants fell back with Wrex managing to get on top and with his new hammer, bashed its head in.</p>
      <p>"Ew." Tali plainly said, turning to the other insectoid that rounded about on Wrex with its two tendril-like arms up.</p>
      <p>The rest of the team gunned it down rather quickly and brutally.</p>
      <p>They had to clear out the area a moment afterwards, taking out all the three enemy types with the Krogan of the crew standing over another one of those insectoids.</p>
      <p>The Battlemaster was breathing, no, seething heavily with his lower lip twitching erratically.</p>
      <p>"Wrex, is something wrong?"</p>
      <p>"Yeah, you look… extra angry all of a sudden." Roxas commented the best he could.</p>
      <p>"Angry is putting it mildly, runt. I'm furious." Wrex kicked the insectoid's carcass with a snarl. "It's a fucking Rachni!"</p>
      <p>Those who knew what that word meant instantly went into denial.</p>
      <p>"That's impossible." Garrus declared.</p>
      <p>"The Rachni were declared extinct nearly two thousand years ago in the Rachni Wars." Liara added in, agreeing with Garrus' statement. "There's no way that's a Rachni."</p>
      <p>"I know what I'm looking at and I'm definitely looking at a Rachni." Said the Krogan. "And now I'm gonna have my answers as to why the hell this is here in the first place!"</p>
      <p>"The Rachni." Shepard frowned in intrigue.</p>
      <p>"And the Geth and the Heartless." Ashley listed off with a grimace. "We're gonna have our hands full up here, Skipper."</p>
      <p>It wasn't long before they heard more shrieks filling the air, making everyone on edge. And right after, more Rachni came out of the surrounding air ducts.</p>
      <p>"Shoot them!" Kaidan yelled out, raising his assault rifle and opened fire.</p>
      <p>The team didn't have to be told twice as those with firearms complied with the request.</p>
      <p>Wrex and Roxas, however, used a more physical approach; swinging their melee weapons around to cleave and bash through the Rachni each and every turn.</p>
      <p>As they fought, Wrex spotted one of the Rachni spat something from one of its appendages. It was green and when it stuck his armor, it hissed and melted through.</p>
      <p>"Bastards." Wrex growled, hissing as he looked at his hand with a small trail of acid dripping off his armor and soon graced his flesh. Something Roxas saw.</p>
      <p>He was about to heal his friend when the Krogan held his hand up to stop him.</p>
      <p>"Leave it, kid." Wrex said, voice low while flicking his arm.</p>
      <p>"Is that acid?"</p>
      <p>"Did you really want to ask that?"</p>
      <p>Roxas clamped his mouth shut, Wrex chuckling a moment later which ended rather quickly with him looking again at the Rachni.</p>
      <p>Again, he felt his entire body twitch at the sight of them.</p>
      <p>The old enemy.</p>
      <p>The enemy that threatened the Citadel Council at one point that led to his people's uprising to the galactic stage.</p>
      <p>Which eventually led to the near sterilization of his entire race.</p>
      <p>Shaking his head, Wrex turned back to the fight that was still ongoing.</p>
      <p>Shepard needed some breathing room for her team. "Biotics start throwing! Roxas, spells!" She ordered.</p>
      <p>"Which one?" Roxas asked.</p>
      <p>"Strongest fire one you got!"</p>
      <p>Those called out complied and did their thing in clearing out the space of what remained of the Rachni, Geth and Heartless.</p>
      <p>At the end, the snow in the room started to melt away as the smell of cooked gooey innards and synthetic metal wafted in the air.</p>
      <p>"Well that's gonna be a pleasant smell." Kaidan huffed out, covering his nose.</p>
      <p>"Roxas, would you mind?" Ashley asked politely.</p>
      <p>The Nobody casted Aero, summoning a gust of wind to somewhat help disperse the smell, only by little.</p>
      <p>Hopefully the same could be said of Wrex's present mood.</p>
      <p>"What the fuck are the Rachni doing here?" He demanded.</p>
      <p>"Does it look like we know the answer to that?" Garrus asked back.</p>
      <p>"Not the time." Said Shepard. Let's focus on moving forward."</p>
      <p>Everyone but Wrex agreed. "My question still remains: what the fuck are the Rachni doing here?"</p>
      <p>"I don't know, Wrex. But I've got a feeling we'll find the answers very soon."</p>
      <p>"I'm afraid to know the exact answers to those questions." Tali muttered out.</p>
      <p>"Come on." Shepard waved her arm for them to follow after her. "Let's not dwell here any longer."</p>
      <p>The group had to make their way up the stairs while stepping over the burnt Geth and Rachni corpses. Soon enough, they found the next elevator rather quickly and rode it up. Exiting out of it, they walked through the corridor to the next junction.</p>
      <p>Looking around to the different points of entry, Garrus grunted. "Well this is annoying."</p>
      <p>"Nope." Wrex simply said.</p>
      <p>"Nope?"</p>
      <p>"Nope." Repeated the Krogan, who raised his shotgun. "What's <em>really</em> annoying is what's coming straight towards us."</p>
      <p>The group whirled around to where Wrex was aiming and saw small Rachni creatures scurried straight towards them with Liara letting out a small yelp whilst the others slightly scrambled up with their guns.</p>
      <p>Wrex simply stepped forward and literally began stepping on the small Rachni, the others shooting them dead a moment later.</p>
      <p>"The hell were those things?"</p>
      <p>"Those were Rachni."</p>
      <p>"Are you serious? Those were smaller than the ones we just saw!" Kaidan said, gesturing to pulpy mush that was leftover.</p>
      <p>"Those looked like insect workers or something." Shepard commented.</p>
      <p>"Is there an entire colony of Rachni here?" Garrus asked anxiously.</p>
      <p>"Do you really wanna tempt that question like that?" Wrex rhetorically countered, Garrus' mouth clamping shut.</p>
      <p>"Oh what next, are we dealing with a Xenomorph scenario?" Ashely joked out.</p>
      <p>"Xenomorph?" Roxas asked, with Tali nodding as she thought of the same question.</p>
      <p>"Alien." Ashley waved off. "Movie we'll show ya later."</p>
      <p>"And what could you describe these Xenomorphs?" Tali inquired.</p>
      <p>"To sum it up, the little ones were like the workers we just killed. And the bigger ones went through the vents. And in one of the films, Xenomorph eggs were found frozen with some stupid shmucks unthawing them, making the film problems from the start."</p>
      <p>"Uh… what?"</p>
      <p>"We'll show you later." Shepard assured her. "Let's keep moving, people. We can't be sitting ducks here."</p>
      <p>They went on ahead, checking over the floor they had just arrived at.</p>
      <p>Tali was quick to notice what was up ahead. "Hey, Commander." She called out. "Do you see this?"</p>
      <p>Jane looked over to see a machine. "I'm seeing but have no idea what it's supposed to be."</p>
      <p>"It's a backup power system. Must be for the station mainframe."</p>
      <p>Garrus came up to it for a closer inspection. "Damage is not extensive, could be repaired."</p>
      <p>"I can help speed things up, Garrus." Tali offered, to which the Turian complied.</p>
      <p>"Alright." Shepard nodded before giving out an order. "While they're fixing this, everyone check where these doors go."</p>
      <p>Tali's Omni-tool lit up as she examined the system while Garrus started to move the inner workings around. When he felt as things were enough, he gave the Quarian the go ahead to activate it.</p>
      <p>Soon enough, they heard an automated voice. "Critical startup error. Intelligence user interface offline. Manual boot required."</p>
      <p>"Keelah." Tali swore softly, deactivating her omni-tool.</p>
      <p>"Well this is gonna be fun." Garrus muttered out.</p>
      <p>"Something wrong?" Shepard asked.</p>
      <p>The Quarian/Turian pair stood up with Garrus speaking. "You heard it, commander. We need to manually restart the VI."</p>
      <p>"And where can we do that?"</p>
      <p>Looking around, Tali spotted a structure at the far end. "I believe the VI core is that way. Will need to get that patched up before we can proceed."</p>
      <p>When the group moved over to the VI core, they were soon met with the rest of the team.</p>
      <p>"Well, doors won't open. They're offline." Ashley stated.</p>
      <p>"The automated voice told us to 'consult the VI'." Said Roxas.</p>
      <p>"...Can't you use that Keyblade of yours to open up the doors?" Shepard said slowly.</p>
      <p>Roxas opened his mouth before shutting it.</p>
      <p>In a second, he turned around and went over to where the offline doors were in order to help take care of their problem.</p>
      <p>Shepard chuckled as she looked at an elevator pad within the VI core structure. Seeing as there was only enough for one, she stepped forward and hit the control to descend into the mainframe.</p>
      <p>Seeing this, Ashley smirked. "Are you sure you wanna boot up the VI, Skipper?"</p>
      <p>Kaidan then joined in on the fun. "I think you and tech don't have the best relationship out there."</p>
      <p>As she descended, Shepard glanced back at them. "I can boot up the VI just fine, guys. Just as well as you can clean the dishes after meals."</p>
      <p>Ashley groaned. "Are you kidding me? That was a joke."</p>
      <p>All she got was Jane's insidious, wicked smirk as she disappeared from their view.</p>
      <p>"...I don't think that was a joke, Ashley."</p>
      <p>"No shit, Kaidan." Growled the Gunnery Chief before yelling down the hole. "That's an abuse of power, you bitch!"</p>
      <p>Garrus and Wrex chuckled while Liara and Tali merely facepalmed.</p>
      <p>"At least she didn't write you up for insubordination." Garrus noted. "Only giving you your punishment."</p>
      <p>Ashley merely leered at the Turian. "Don't make me shove that sniper rifle up your ass."</p>
      <p>"Sorry, but there's already a stick up there."</p>
      <p>"Really? And how far up is it?"</p>
      <p>Liara merely exhaled a sigh as Ashely and Garrus bantered against each other.</p>
      <p>"This is quite the interesting relationship we have here." Tali plainly stated.</p>
      <p>Wrex snorted. "Yeup. Just a ragtag team of misfits."</p>
      <p>"Why's that?"</p>
      <p>The Krogan listed it off. "We got yours truly, a semi-renegade C-Sec detective, a Quarian, a hidden tempered asari, a music star looking marine-"</p>
      <p>"What's that about me?" Kaidan inquired.</p>
      <p>"Stitch called you an Elvis impersonator."</p>
      <p>"...Why?"</p>
      <p>"Because of the hair."</p>
      <p>Kaidan rolled his eyes before pointing to his combed back hair. "This is because of a biotic discharge."</p>
      <p>"Yeah, sure. Whatever helps you sleep well at night, Alenko." Wrex waved off before he continued. "Then we got gun-hoe Williams."</p>
      <p>"She doesn't seem that way." Liara pointed out.</p>
      <p>"Right… And we got an amnesiac runt and the maverick Spectre."</p>
      <p>It was at this point the elevator powered back up, soon raising the commander back up with her head quickly seen. Jane then noticed that everyone seemed to look right at her.</p>
      <p>"...What?"</p>
      <p>"Oh, nothing." Garrus waved off as he took a moment to crack a joke. "We're just surprised you finished the boot-up so quickly."</p>
      <p>"And?"</p>
      <p>"You didn't use omni-gel, right?" Kaidan jabbed in.</p>
      <p>Shepard looked hurt, affronted even. "You doubt me that much? I'm hurt."</p>
      <p>Garrus suddenly laughed. "You just evaded his question, which you answered with another question. Those are classic traits of a lie." The C-Sec detective deduced before pointing an accusing finger right at her. "You used omni-gel, didn't you?!"</p>
      <p>The N7 marine rolled her eyes before exhaling an exasperated sigh. "Okay, fine, you're right. I got impatient on the stupid puzzle or whatever down there and threw a whole buttload of omni-gel to get it up and running."</p>
      <p>"At least you're admitting it." Ashley said with a smirk.</p>
      <p>"And who is the 'bitch' who is giving you <em>double</em> clean up duty?"</p>
      <p>The Gunnery Chief shut her mouth with a twitch of her eye while the men present snickered.</p>
      <p>Liara gave Ashely a comforting pat on the shoulder with Tali following suit. "There, there."</p>
      <p>Shepard chuckled before she went to activate the VI, which soon booted up before them.</p>
      <p>"It looks like you wish to restore this facility." The VI spoke, appearance being that of a woman. "Would you like some help?"</p>
      <p>"That'd be greatly appreciated." Jane stated. "Who are you, anyway?"</p>
      <p>"This system is monitored to respond to the name "Mira". May I ask your name?"</p>
      <p>"Commander Shepard." Jane responded. "I work for the Citadel's Special Tactics and Reconnaissance."</p>
      <p>"One moment please." Mira said. "Council authority confirmed. You are entitled secure access to all systems."</p>
      <p>"Useful." Shepard commented.</p>
      <p>"Please note that queries to corporate secrets require privileged access."</p>
      <p>"Less useful." Shepard deadpanned. "Shouldn't my Spectre status give me access?"</p>
      <p>"Most certainly. You may access me at any holographic interface within Peak 15"</p>
      <p>"Good." Shepard nodded. "Then why the privilege access?"</p>
      <p>"Privileged access is only available to Binary Helix Exclusives."</p>
      <p>"Well, this is probably gonna get us nowhere." Ashley stated, arms crossed in annoyance.</p>
      <p>Shepard only nodded, opting to focus on the more serious matter at hand. Mainly, why they came up here to begin with.</p>
      <p>"Could you perhaps tell me where Matriarch Benezia is at?"</p>
      <p>"Lady Benezia departed on the passenger tramway to the Rift Station subsidiary labs." The VI paused like it was done talking right before it abruptly spoke. "User alert! The tramway system is currently inoperable."</p>
      <p>Shepard had a feeling that wasn't the only problem this place had, on top of the opposition presently here.</p>
      <p>"What's the damage in this facility?"</p>
      <p>"One moment, please. Diagnostics in progress… Critical Failure: Main reactor shut down in accordance with emergency containment procedure. Manual restart required. Critical Failure: Landline connections are disabled. Passenger tram systems are offline. Report complete. Do you have any additional systems status queries?"</p>
      <p>"I do actually. Why the hell was the reactor shut down?"</p>
      <p>"I'm sorry, but I was offline at the time. Shutdown could occur if reactor breach seems likely, or in the case of catastrophic laboratory containment failure. Emergency guidelines suggest the frigid environment will kill biological contagions. It may also damage mechanical ones."</p>
      <p>"Let me guess, we have to fix everything ourselves basically." Wrex's voice was dry, knowing that was more than likely the case.</p>
      <p>"Right." Shepard drolled out before addressing Mira once more. "What do I need to get the power back?"</p>
      <p>"The valves to the helium-3 fuel line must be opened. This can be done at the controls on the reactor assembly proper."</p>
      <p>"And how were the landlines disabled?"</p>
      <p>"When emergency protocols were implemented within the Hot Labs, the cabling was automatically ejected."</p>
      <p>Not wanting to really know the importance of the landlines, Jane got to the gist of it. "What do we need to do to fix these landlines?"</p>
      <p>"The landlines were designed for easy reconnection. The router for the landlines is on the roof of Operations. Simply activate the controls and the hardware will reconnect and reboot automatically."</p>
      <p>After that, the VI shut itself off.</p>
      <p>"Whoa! What just happened?" Jane asked, holding her hands up. "I didn't touch anything."</p>
      <p>Tali had the answer to that. "It looks like Mira is rebooting herself. It's not your fault, Commander."</p>
      <p>"Seems your relationship with tech still stands."</p>
      <p>Shepard was about to refute Kaidan's statement when Roxas returned.</p>
      <p>"Okay, all the doors are unlocked and opened." Reported the Nobody.</p>
      <p>"So did they at least open up for you?"</p>
      <p>"Some did."</p>
      <p>"Some?"</p>
      <p>"The others I had to break through while taking care of some Heartless soon after."</p>
      <p>Wrex released a bellow of a laugh when hearing that.</p>
      <p>"Heh, this is why I love having you around, Roxas." Wrex patted the kids back with enough force to make the boy jolt forward. "You always choose to kick ass first and ask questions later."</p>
      <p>Before the others could make a comment on Wrex's "compliment", a set of screeches and skittering was heard.</p>
      <p>"Rachni!" Garrus shouted, two large Rachni… soldiers, if they could be given a name, came out from a nearby hallway.</p>
      <p>In an instant, rather than wasting time fighting them with their base weapons, the crew unleashed their more upgraded attacks completely annihilating the two Rachni.</p>
      <p>"Huh…" Shepard noted. "We should do that more often."</p>
      <p>"Where'd these guys even come from?" Tali asked, looking over to the doorway where the Rachni had run out from.</p>
      <p>"Mira." Shepard said aloud. "Where's that hallway lead down to?"</p>
      <p>"The Main reactor, Commander Shepard." the VI responded.</p>
      <p>"Huh, right where we need to go." Shepard stated. "Let's move."</p>
      <p>Going down the hallway, they found another elevator waiting for them that took them down to the Main Reactor room.</p>
      <p>And naturally, there were Geth and Heartless waiting for them because things can't be simple.</p>
      <p>The Normandy crew tore through them with a burning vigor, their coordination showing how far they have come as a team.</p>
      <p>As Shepard, Tali and Kaidan went about getting the main reactor back up from the rooftop, the others were waiting for them to finish their task.</p>
      <p>Roxas, all the while, nudged one of the Geth with his foot with a small frown adorning his face.</p>
      <p>"Something on your mind, Kid?" Wrex asked from a railing he was leaning on.</p>
      <p>"Nothing just…" Roxas crossed his arms in thought. "Why are the Geth and the Heartless working together? Haven't we seen them fight each other most of the time?"</p>
      <p>"He does have a point." Garrus murmured. "Since when did they become so chummy with each other all of a sudden?"</p>
      <p>"Something's up." Ashley stated, feeling a bit nervous now. She hadn't actually taken the time to consider this sudden change in these two adversaries.</p>
      <p>For the most part, whenever they encountered the Geth and the Heartless at the same time, the two sides would always clash with each other as much as when they fought the team.</p>
      <p>But now they were working together.</p>
      <p>What in the world happened?</p>
      <p>Eventually, the fuel lines that would help in restarting the trams were fixed.</p>
      <p>After dealing with some more Geth, Heartless and Rachni, at long last, the team had access to the trams that would lead them one step closer to Benezia.</p>
      <p>They soon found themselves standing in a room with several bodies of Salarians, humans and Asari with a glass panel that held two Rachni waiting for them.</p>
      <p>"They look like they're trapped." Garrus noted, keeping a wary eye upon the Rachni in the other room.</p>
      <p>Wrex simply stared at them intently, hoping he could just get to them and tear them apart.</p>
      <p>"Should we take care of them?" Liara asked tentatively.</p>
      <p>"Not really a need to." Shepard said. "This door here leads straight to the tram we need to go to. It's locked but…" She looked over to Roxas. "We have an expert Locksmith on our team."</p>
      <p>Hearing his cue, Roxas summoned his Keyblade and pointed it at the locked door, their pathway opening a moment later.</p>
      <p>"What about them?" Kaidan asked, gesturing to the two Rachni that were still trapped in the other room.</p>
      <p>"Should we leave them?" Tali inquired, looking at the others for answers.</p>
      <p>"Honestly…" Ashley grimaced. "I'm not too comfortable about leaving a bunch of bugs that nearly brought down an entire galaxy to its knees."</p>
      <p>"Then what should we do?" Liara asked. "They're not doing anything."</p>
      <p>"Not yet." Wrex darkly said, eyeing the Rachni with a menacing gaze.</p>
      <p>"Do we have to fight them?" Roxas asked, looking up to Shepard who had a slightly conflicted gaze.</p>
      <p>They were not attacking nor were they moving at all for the most part. But these Rachni have proven resourceful, using the vents to get around the area. Maybe even use their acid to burn through the door.</p>
      <p>"Wrex." Shepard spoke up, not looking to the Krogan. She only saw a slight shift from the corner of her eyes to indicate he was listening. "Take 'em out."</p>
      <p>The Battlemaster growled in approval, walking in front of the door that led to them in the direction where the tram would be. Grinding his foot against the ground in a fashion similar to a bull prepping to charge, Wrex barreled forward, using his gravity hammer to smash his way inside.</p>
      <p>The Rachni inside whirled about and hissed at him challengingly though it proved futile with how he simply smashed his hammer upon the first one's head, crushing it to a pulp. The other Rachni that remained attempted a charge of its own but was met with the hammer bashing into its neck, the force in which decapitated it.</p>
      <p>Once that was taken care of, the team entered the tram that would take them to Benezia.</p>
      <p>They soon arrived at the main Binary Helix Facility, finding no enemies awaiting them though they stayed on guard.</p>
      <p>The Geth, Heartless and Rachni tended to just pop up wherever by this point.</p>
      <p>Better safe than sorry by this point.</p>
      <p>Eventually, they found a working elevator that took them further up into the facility with the doors opening to reveal…</p>
      <p>"Hold your fire."</p>
      <p>A human male behind a series of fortified crates said aloud, multiple rifles lowering upon seeing the crew of the Normandy.</p>
      <p>The team walked forward, the human male stepping up to greet them.</p>
      <p>"Sorry about that." The man stated. "We couldn't be too sure what was on the tram. I'm Captain Ventralis."</p>
      <p>"I'd only be upset if they fired." Jane said good naturedly which got a small smirk out of the captain.</p>
      <p>"Glad to hear it." the Captain said. "My men may be hopped up on stims right now but they can tell friend from foe."</p>
      <p>"And how would they do that?" Ash asked dryly.</p>
      <p>"Two legs good, more than two, bad." Ventralis said plainly. "Or if their eyes are freakishly yellow."</p>
      <p>"Heartless." Roxas said aloud, the Captain looking at him.</p>
      <p>"... Ok. Is that what they're called?" Ventralis asked before shaking his head. "Wait, who even are you people? Where'd you all come from?"</p>
      <p>"I'm Commander Shepard. Spectre." Jane answered.</p>
      <p>"Huh, never thought I'd see the day." The Captain said with intrigue. "Well, I ain't gonna turn away from a walking army. Those bug things overran the Hot Labs last week. Only Han Olar got out and he ain't all there anymore. The first we knew, the bastards were clawing into my command post. We had a lot more crew back then."</p>
      <p>"You held out." Jane assured. "That's what counts. We're packing fire and steel. If they wanna attack us, it's their funeral."</p>
      <p>Ventralis chortled. "Well, you got my support."</p>
      <p>"So what are you guys doing down here?" Garrus asked.</p>
      <p>"Holding down the fort for the most part till some help arrives." The captain admitted. "The board sent an Asari to take care of the mess but we haven't heard from her since she went up there."</p>
      <p>"An asari…" Liara turned to Shepard. "You don't think it's…?"</p>
      <p>"Maybe," Said Shepard to the asari doctor before turning back to Ventralis. "We'll get you out of here." Jane assured.</p>
      <p>"Appreciate it greatly, Commander." Ventralis said. "We can only keep the civilians safe for so long. There's an emergency elevator out by the trams." He then pulled out a card and held it out for Shepard to take. "This here will help activate it. It'll take you straight down to the Hot Labs. Any first aid? Doctor Cohen's downstairs in the med bay."</p>
      <p>"Anything else we should-"</p>
      <p>"<em>RRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"</em></p>
      <p>All present in the room jolted, Ventralis looking around rapidly.</p>
      <p>"Oh hell." The Captain bit out. "Man the perimeter!"</p>
      <p>Behind the Normandy team, the vents burst open with Rachni swarming out.</p>
      <p>The entire crew threw their weapons up and fired.</p>
      <p>Of course, against quite a large number of people with weapons, the Rachni stood no chance.</p>
      <p>Liara and Kaidan were quick to throw biotic attacks on their respective sides. As Roxas and Wrex separated to bash away the large insectoids, the others pumped their fair share of enemies full of holes.</p>
      <p>Once the situation was over, Roxas decided to check over at the vents as Captain Ventralis spoke aloud.</p>
      <p>"Well… that was something." Velantris couldn't help but say upon seeing just how the team effectively steam rolled the Rachni.</p>
      <p>"You ain't seen nothing yet." Ashley said with a wide grin, resting her gun on her shoulder.</p>
      <p>"Vents should be good for a while." Roxas reported.</p>
      <p>Ventralis blinked at the boy. "Really, how?"</p>
      <p>The others looked over and saw large blocks of ice forming at where the Rachni exited from earlier.</p>
      <p>"...How-?"</p>
      <p>"Do you really wanna ask that now?"</p>
      <p>Ventralis quickly shook his head. "No, you're right. Just glad that's resolved for the time being."</p>
      <p>"Let's move people." Jane said. "Got a lot more work ahead of us, it seems."</p>
      <p>The crew wordlessly followed after the Commander, leaving the floor they were just in to travel back down.</p>
      <p>Reaching the main hub where the survivors resided took a bit of walking, but it was worth it as they saw a good number of people were still alive. A few security guards were posted at the entrances into the space, otherwise the area was occupied with lab employees. Some, like the Salarian in the far off corner, seemed almost hopeful, but the ground team could still sense the grim atmosphere that hung over them.</p>
      <p>These people were survivors of the sporadic attacks by Rachni and even Heartless. And the state of mostly everyone there didn't allow anyone in the team to forget that.</p>
      <p>It was from here did Shepard order the team to split up into smaller teams to help find out more information and help those in need.</p>
      <p>Heading off down a random corridor, the small team consisting of Roxas, Liara and Tali came into a smaller chamber where they saw a Volus that was standing utterly still.</p>
      <p>"Is he even alive?" Liara inquired.</p>
      <p>"I think so." Tali responded. "I can hear him breathing, just barely mind you."</p>
      <p>"How can you tell?"</p>
      <p>"You forget what I'm wearing, right Liara?"</p>
      <p>"Oh, right, sorry."</p>
      <p>Approaching slowly, Roxas gently spoke to the Volus. "Han Olar?"</p>
      <p>The Volus remained quiet. However, he turned his head to the Nobody.</p>
      <p>"You came to find out… about them… didn't you?" The Volus said quietly.</p>
      <p>"You mean what's going on out there?"</p>
      <p>"...Yes. I'm the only… survivor of the Hot Labs… you know."</p>
      <p>"We do."</p>
      <p>"How did you make it out anyways?" Asked Roxas.</p>
      <p>The Volus paused for a few seconds, seemingly gaining the thousand yard stare as his arms drooped.</p>
      <p>"I killed her." The Volus said, his voice sounding a bit hollow.</p>
      <p>Roxas tilted his head to the side. "Who?" He asked.</p>
      <p>"Dr. Zhonmua… we… we were going to lunch… when the alarms went off. I ran to the tram… and I closed the doors. She… She banged on the windows once. Then they… sliced her to pieces." The Volus took a long breath, the breathing apparatus on his hard suit amplified the sound. "Her head came apart like a melon."</p>
      <p>Roxas glanced at his two present companions and saw their reactions. Liara's jaw was left hanging with her eyes partially widened. Tali's was a little hard to read, obviously, but he could see the wide eyed look behind the glass panel of her helmet to show her shocked expression.</p>
      <p>"I closed the door." Continued the Volus. "I… I killed her."</p>
      <p>Roxas soon knelt down to the Volus' level. "I see… I'm… sorry on what happened." He said, placing a hand on the Volus' shoulder, earning a bewildered look in return before Han Olar hung his head as far as his hard suit could allow. "I know I can't make things better with what you went through but-"</p>
      <p>The Volus then slapped Roxas' hand away. "You think I want absolution?" He said in one full breath. "There is none for me!"</p>
      <p>Roxas didn't react all that much on the act as he continued in stride. "Maybe not, but what you may know could help save others."</p>
      <p>"Perhaps."</p>
      <p>"Then can you tell us a few things?"</p>
      <p>"As best as I could."</p>
      <p>"You were in the Hot Labs before things went bad, right?" Roxas saw the Volus nod. "Then did you perhaps see Matriarch Benezia there?"</p>
      <p>"I did."</p>
      <p>Liara stiffened a little more upon hearing the mention of her mother.</p>
      <p>"Could she possibly survive in the Hot Labs?"</p>
      <p>"Of course… the specimens there are sensitive to biotics."</p>
      <p>Useful information, even if Roxas and the others haven't already figured that one out a while ago.</p>
      <p>"Take care of yourself."</p>
      <p>"I'll… try…"</p>
      <p>Departing from the small chamber, Roxas, Liara and Tali made it back to the main hub where they soon ran into Wrex and Kaidan.</p>
      <p>"Any luck on your end?" Kaidan asked.</p>
      <p>"Not much, just found the survivor of the Hot Labs and learned what we already knew beforehand. Asides from that, now know where Benezia is at." Came Roxas' response. "You?"</p>
      <p>"Met this one doctor in the medical labs." Wrex stated before jabbing a thumb at Kaidan. "Alenko here decided to help him out."</p>
      <p>"There were survivors down there suffering from a toxin they were exposed to. I wanted to help Dr. Cohen get the cure for it."</p>
      <p>"A bio-weapon, Alenko." Wrex corrected.</p>
      <p>"A bio-weapon?" Liara inquired with Tali and Roxas nodding in response. "Whatever for?"</p>
      <p>Kaidan then explained the details that the "bio-weapon" is highly infectious but can't pass from one person to another. The example the doctor they spoke to give was "like a bio war attack without a pandemic spread".</p>
      <p>"That distinction is unethical." Liara blurted out.</p>
      <p>"Most militaries and governments would look the other way if it gives results." Wrex jabbed in.</p>
      <p>"At least tell us Dr. Cohen made a cure for this weapon." Said Tali.</p>
      <p>"The doc said they were in the final stages of synthesizing an antidote when the quarantine failed when Mira was disconnected." Kaidan informed.</p>
      <p>Wrex continued on from there. "And so he offered up our services to go into the Quarantine Labs to get the data needed to finish the cure."</p>
      <p>"Can we come?" Roxas inquired.</p>
      <p>Wrex shrugged. "If you want, we got the clearance to get into the lab."</p>
      <p>"We might not know what we'll find down there."</p>
      <p>The others nodded as they joined Kaidan and Wrex on their present goal.</p>
      <p>In another area, a squad consisting of Shepard, Ashley and Garrus soon met with another survivor. One who was rattled and guilt ridden beyond despair.</p>
      <p>He kept rambling about how it was their fault. How Binary Helix found an egg on a derelict ship that had been adrift for thousands of years.</p>
      <p>"My god… did you want the Xenomorphs to fuck you over? Or were you all just that stupid? Did none of you watch Alien? Like, at all?"</p>
      <p>Upon hearing these details, almost everyone slowly turned to Ashley.</p>
      <p>"What? This is straight up Alien. These idiots walked right into it."</p>
      <p>"And didn't we discuss this earlier, Ash?"</p>
      <p>"...Yeah..."</p>
      <p>The lone man only chuckled with a strained tone. "Looking at it now… you're right."</p>
      <p>"Ok…" Jane drawled, giving her Gunnery Chief a flat look before turning back to the survivor. "Mind telling us what happened? You clearly found a Rachni ship."</p>
      <p>"Yes." the man leaned forward, clearly distraught over what had happened. "Binary Helix planned on cloning the Rachni. Mass produce and army. But, when they got here, they found out the egg wasn't what they thought it was. It was a queen egg."</p>
      <p>Ashley paled upon hearing that. "... Honestly, I was joking earlier and all but Fuck."</p>
      <p>"We thought if we separated the eggs from mother, she would be easier to control." The Man rambled on. "But these Rachni… they're completely out of control. Erratic. Dangerous."</p>
      <p>"Well that's what ya get when messing with a bunch of savages." Ash commented.</p>
      <p>"Savages?" The man repeated, shaking his head. "No, not savages. Rachni are more intelligent. They achieved interspace travel, FTL. They are not animals."</p>
      <p>"No, that only makes them even more dangerous." Garrus remarked.</p>
      <p>The man only went on. "I am thinking without Rachni Queen, they will not develop properly. She shapes their minds. Without that, these Rachni are uncontrollable."</p>
      <p>"Alright." Jane raised her hands to silence him. "I get that you guys messed up and all but what can we do about it?"</p>
      <p>"The Neutron Purge." The man stated. "It's the only way to-GAK!"</p>
      <p>The group jumped back at the tendril that protruded out from the man's chest and from behind, underneath a vent, a Rachni burst out with several more following after it.</p>
      <p>The group reacted instantly, taking the Rachni out with brutal efficiency.</p>
      <p>"Shit." Jane murmured, looking over to the dead body of the civilian.</p>
      <p>"Hope the others are having a better time than us." Garrus commented, earning nods from both of his human companions.</p>
      <p>Inside of the Quarantine Labs, the newly formed group was standing around the large lab as they were inspecting the place. Over on the far end, Kaidan and Tali were presently going through Dr. Cohen's terminal and conversing with the good doctor over an Omni-tool frequency.</p>
      <p>It turned out the data they found was partially corrupted due to the abrupt system failure. When reporting this to Dr. Cohen, he was in a state of distraught. Yet Tali pipped in, quickly coming in to help aid in their current situation in order to work through the notes to compose a cure.</p>
      <p>After several minutes of discussion, it seemed they finally resolved the issue at hand.</p>
      <p>"I think we've got ourselves a match, doctor." Kaidan said as he and Tali looked at the terminal, seeing the results of several small tests with the actual cure finally being made.</p>
      <p>"<em>Excellent!"</em> Cheered Dr. Cohen over the comms. <em>"I can finally cure these patients! Thank you both!"</em></p>
      <p>"Thank us once we give you the cure personally." Tali informed him.</p>
      <p>Ending the call, the group was about to leave the lab with the cure in hand-</p>
      <p>"Your mission ends here."</p>
      <p>-when the ground team saw a combined half dozen of Asari and Geth present in the room.</p>
      <p>In an instant, the Normandy team whipped out their weapons and quickly aimed at the new arrivals.</p>
      <p>"You must be working for Benezia, huh?" Wrex stated in a-matter-of-fact tone.</p>
      <p>"Yes." One of the asari replied. "We were ordered to kill Shepard and her team when we got the chance. And that seems a whole lot easier since it's been split up."</p>
      <p>"What happened to the guard outside?" Liara asked aloud.</p>
      <p>"What do you think?" Wrex plainly said. "They no doubt killed him."</p>
      <p>"And you all will die as well."</p>
      <p>The Asari and Geth charged right at the group, making them aim their weapons to fight them-</p>
      <p>*SWISH*</p>
      <p>*SWISH*</p>
      <p>*STAB*</p>
      <p>*RIP*</p>
      <p>-until <em>something</em> beat them to it.</p>
      <p>"...Well ain't that just lovely." Kaidan muttered out, seeing the Geth crumble into pieces and the Asari turned into dark wisps with their Hearts being taken.</p>
      <p>Before them, a new Heartless appeared and it was rather intimidating.</p>
      <p>It was a large, humanoid being covered from head to toe in silver/grey armor. It's legging sport white spikes and steel blue highlights. It's helmet sports two short, white spikes on a long, twisted black antenna. The small opening in the helmet barely exposed it's shadowy face and bright yellow eyes. It's Heartless emblem was shown on each of its shoulder pauldrons. And it's most notable feature are the jagged, light blue, ice blades in place of each of its hands.</p>
      <p>A Chill Ripper.</p>
      <p>"Oh." Kaidan said aloud. "He's new."</p>
      <p>"Yup." Wrex held his gravity hammer tightly in anticipation.</p>
      <p>Liara had her Biotics up with Tali's Omni-tool at the ready.</p>
      <p>Roxas stood before them, Keyblade ready with the large new Heartless crouching down.</p>
      <p>In a surprising burst of speed, the Chill Ripper rocketed forward with Roxas's eyes widening. Gritting his teeth, Roxas swung his Keyblade in time to clash with the Rippers jagged blades.</p>
      <p>The two entered into a brief standoff which ended when Kaidan threw a Biotic throw and sent it hurtling back.</p>
      <p>The Ripper however dug its hands into the ground and stood strong. It proceeds to rear one of its hands back and swings it horizontally, a wave of ice headed straight for them.</p>
      <p>The group dives out of the way, Roxas getting up to his feet and pointing his Keyblade at the Ripper.</p>
      <p>"<strong>FIRA!"</strong></p>
      <p>A large fireball shot out towards the Chill Ripper yet it saw the oncoming attack, crossing its arms in an X shape with its blades glowing.</p>
      <p>An ice wall shot up, taking the fireball which melted the ice.</p>
      <p>Kaidan and Liara sent out a Biotic warp with the Ripper quite literally spinning out of the way.</p>
      <p>Wrex ran forward, brandishing his hammer. Stomping on the ground, he swung his hammer forward which was met by the Chill Rippers bladed hand.</p>
      <p>It swatted aside the hammer, the force in which staggered the Krogan.</p>
      <p>Wrex's eyes widened, knowing he was wide open. The Heartless proceeded to headbutt Wrex, sending him crashing down on the ground, his body aching with pain.</p>
      <p>"Wrex!" Liara called out to him in worry.</p>
      <p>"I got him." Tali dashed over to him, pulling out a potion.</p>
      <p>Roxas and Kaidan moved forward to keep the attention of the Chill Ripper, the latter utilizing his upgraded weapon.</p>
      <p>Charging up his Biotics, he saw as his gun absorbed the blue aura and he fired what was basically a Biotic bomb.</p>
      <p>The Biotic sphere that struck the Ripper created a miniature explosion that stumbled their opponent.</p>
      <p>Roxas leapt forward, striking the Heartless in the chest which damaged it greatly.</p>
      <p>The Chill Ripper, however, still had a lot left to dish out.</p>
      <p>Backflipping away, it swung both arms up before striking the ground.</p>
      <p>Ice needles began sprouting around it, expanding outwards towards the group.</p>
      <p>Liara and Kaidan threw up a dual Biotic barrier that absorbed the impact of the ice needles, the glassy ice shattering when hitting the barrier.</p>
      <p>Bringing the barrier down, Tali, having already helped Wrex recover, stepped forward and threw her Omni-Tool arm forward with a string of bolts shooting out and struck the Heartless. It stumbled yet remained standing, still ready to fight.</p>
      <p>Roxas dashed forward, jumping up to get momentum in his downward strike.</p>
      <p>The Chill Ripper jumped away, the Keyblade striking the ground with Roxas looking up in time to get hit by a retaliatory slash from the Heartless.</p>
      <p>"Roxas!" Tali cried out, running to him.</p>
      <p>"Bastard." Kaidan gritted out, Biotics flaring up. Throwing out a stasis, he had his weapon absorb his Biotics and fired a scattershot.</p>
      <p>The sphere burst in front of the Ripper, the fragments morphing into needles that converged on the Heartless.</p>
      <p>It took the damage, staggering slightly yet it cocked its hands back to attack.</p>
      <p>Liara reacted quickly, shooting her own weapon, her shots striking the arms and causing it to seize up.</p>
      <p>Wrex, having now gotten back to his feet, ran forward and bashed his hammer across the face of the Ripper.</p>
      <p>It fell to the ground, slightly struggling to get back up when it was trapped within a stasis sent out by Kaidan.</p>
      <p>A moment later, Roxas' Keyblade jabbed itself into its back causing the Ripper to freeze up before slumping down.</p>
      <p>Its body faded away with the heart contained inside floating up into the air, fading a moment later.</p>
      <p>The team slouched a bit, feeling a feeling of slight exhaustion having dealt with yet another powerful Heartless in the span of a few hours.</p>
      <p>Kaidan fell to his bum, breathing heavily as he rubbed his aching head.</p>
      <p>"You know… I know we're probably… gonna fight more Heartless…" Alenko said in between breaths. "But can they just… not for a while? Is that… too much… to ask for?"</p>
      <p>"Don't worry, we're in the same ship as you are." Tali said, stretching her back.</p>
      <p>Reaching into his pocket, Roxas pulled out a few High Ethers and handed them to the three biotics in the room.</p>
      <p>"Thank you, Roxas." Liara said with a kind smile.</p>
      <p>"Swear these are better than some of the electrolyte drinks for my biotics." Kaidan said, chewing on his as a green glow surrounded him. Even if it didn't exactly help heal his wounds, he felt his biotics go back to normal.</p>
      <p>"Least they keep my scars intact." Wrex remarked.</p>
      <p>"And that's <em>so</em> important to you, Wrex." Tali quipped, getting a snort out of the Krogan.</p>
      <p>"Let's get moving guys." Kaidan said, getting back to his feet. "Unless we want to get our ass's caught off guard again by more Heartless."</p>
      <p>The others compiled and made their way out.</p>
      <p>Yet before exiting the room, Kaidan's omni-tool went off.</p>
      <p>Checking it, he saw it was coming from Dr. Cohen, to which the lieutenant answered.</p>
      <p>"Yes?"</p>
      <p>"<em>Are you perhaps lost or busy?"</em></p>
      <p>"Not exactly… why?"</p>
      <p>"<em>Because I would've expected the cure to come back by now."</em></p>
      <p>"Oh right… about that…"</p>
      <p>"<em>Don't tell me it broke."</em></p>
      <p>"No, it's still good, doc. It's just…" Kaidan exhaled a sigh. "Dr. Cohen… about Alesia… did you notice anything odd about her?"</p>
      <p>The others present in the room, minus Wrex, looked at Kaidan with a bewildered look on who he was talking about.</p>
      <p>"<em>Not that I would think of, why?"</em></p>
      <p>"Because she and several other asari tried to kill us. She worked for Benezia."</p>
      <p>"<em>What?"</em> Dr. Cohen asked out of shock. <em>"But that… No… That can't be…"</em></p>
      <p>"You're really surprised on hearing this, huh?" Wrex muttered loud enough for the doctor to hear from the other end.</p>
      <p>"<em>Of course I am! She was stationed here a month ago and a lot of us got to know her."</em></p>
      <p>"And do you perhaps know why she was stationed here?"</p>
      <p>"<em>All we knew was that it was by the request of a large donor to the labs."</em></p>
      <p>The present ground team members blinked at that.</p>
      <p>"Let me guess," Wrex began, clearly not amused. "Saren Arterius."</p>
      <p>"<em>I think that was him."</em> Replied Dr. Cohen. <em>"I don't really dwell deep into the work environment gossip, but I… I do remember the donor's name being Turian in nature."</em></p>
      <p>"Right." Kaidan said sharply. "Anyways, the cure's still fine. We'll deliver it to you right away."</p>
      <p>"<em>Yes, of course. I await your arrival."</em></p>
      <p>With that the line went dead.</p>
      <p>"I hope Shepard is still alive." Liara muttered out as they exited the quarantine labs.</p>
      <p>Roxas shook his head. "She's got Garrus and Ashley. If they're being ambushed, they'll live."</p>
      <p>"He's right." Wrex grunted out. "We all know she's made of tougher stuff. Her redundant system can help take care of that."</p>
      <p>"...Wrex."</p>
      <p>"Yeah?"</p>
      <p>"Humans don't have redundant systems." Liara informed the Krogan Battlemaster.</p>
      <p>"Huh… the more you know."</p>
      <p>After dropping off the cure to Dr. Cohen, the group made their way back to the tram station and hopefully figure things out from there.</p>
      <p>Once reaching their destination, Roxas, Tali, Wrex, Kaidan and Liara were met with dead guards lying all around with Shepard's team standing over them all.</p>
      <p>It was… quite the sight to stumble upon.</p>
      <p>"Ok…" Kaidan looked around, unsure of what to make of it all. "Here's a story."</p>
      <p>"What happened?" Tali asked in bewilderment.</p>
      <p>"Captain was on Benezia's payroll." Ashley started.</p>
      <p>"He had orders." Garrus added.</p>
      <p>"Shoot to kill. We killed them first." Shepard concluded with the rest of the team simply staring at them.</p>
      <p>"Well… I'd like to say we missed the action but we already had our hands full with Heartless." Wrex remarked.</p>
      <p>"Big one at that." Liara chipped in.</p>
      <p>"So it was an even split?" Garrus asked rhetorically, most of the team nodding in agreement.</p>
      <p>"Oh really? And what pray tell made it an even split? I mean we got our asses handed to us by a Heartless just as tall as Wrex."</p>
      <p>"We had to take care of a large section filled with nothing but Rachni and initiate a neutron purge all the while running for our lives."</p>
      <p>"...Okay I think that sounds fair."</p>
      <p>"Alright, now that our measuring contest is done, let's move on." Jane said with an amused smirk. "Do you guys at least have any idea where Benezia is at?"</p>
      <p>Roxas was the one to answer. "Yeah, she's currently in the Hot Labs."</p>
      <p>"Then that's where we're heading to next."</p>
      <p>"Can't wait to have a nice <em>long chat</em> with her."</p>
      <p>And with this, nothing else needed to be discussed as they moved through the maintenance area of the station to reach the Hot Labs.</p>
      <p>They encountered a small sprinkling of resistance here and there that was quickly brushed aside with the team at long last arriving at their destination.</p>
      <p>Upon entry, it was quite easy to spot the lone Asari Matriarch that stood at the top of the staircase, standing before a large containment tube with a particularly gargantuan Rachni.</p>
      <p>This must be the queen.</p>
      <p>As the team entered the lab, the Asari awaiting their arrival began speaking without turning to them.</p>
      <p>As this happened, Liara quickly had her nerves bundled up upon seeing her mother after so many years.</p>
      <p>"You do not know the privilege of being a mother." The Matriarch spoke haughtily. Condescendingly even. "There is power in creation. To shape a life. Turn to happiness or despair."</p>
      <p>She finally looked to the team. "Her children were to be ours. Raised to hunt and slay Saren's enemies." After a few more seconds of abrupt silence, she shook her head. "I won't be moved by sympathy. No matter who you bring into this." Benezia then gazed at her daughter. "What have you told them of me, Liara?"</p>
      <p>"What could I say, mother?" Asked Liara. "That you're insane? Evil? Should I explain how to kill you? What could I say?"</p>
      <p>Her last question was practically a plea, but Benezia looked like she didn't hear it at all.</p>
      <p>Ashley and Tali could see that Liara's nerves were all bundled up the wrong way. They placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, earning a thankful nod in return.</p>
      <p>Shepard saw this and smiled a little in seeing them help their comrade right before readdressing the Matriarch.</p>
      <p>"Liara's here because she chose this path." Jane defended her teammate and friend. "We didn't force her into this situation."</p>
      <p>"Did you now?" Benezia asked mockingly, acknowledging her daughter. "And what have you told them of me, Liara?"</p>
      <p>"What could I say mother?" Liara snapped, feeling her emotions begin to overwhelm her. "That you went insane? That you're evil? How to kill you? Take you down? What can I possibly say to them about you?"</p>
      <p>"Have you faced an Asari Commando unit before?" Benezia taunted. "Few humans have."</p>
      <p>"I think even fewer have faced the things we've been encountering." Jane snarked back.</p>
      <p>"Your Commandos didn't seem to last that long against what <em>we </em>have faced." Tali stressed out.</p>
      <p>"Ah yes." Benezia said dismissively. "These dark creatures that have been popping up all over the place. And at the center of it all…" The Matriarch gazed upon Roxas with curious eyes. "A human boy with abilities unlike anything this galaxy had ever seen."</p>
      <p>Roxas stared back at her, unflinching.</p>
      <p>"Such a young fool." Benezia chided. "To get himself wrapped up in a fight that's beyond him."</p>
      <p>In an instant, Roxas' Keyblade appeared with him raising it up towards the Matriarch.</p>
      <p>"I'm doing this on my own accord, my choice Benezia." Roxas' expression turned fierce. "These are my friends. And I won't let you walk all over them."</p>
      <p>This certainly got the attention of the team with them looking at the boy with bewildered flattery.</p>
      <p>"But let me ask you a question." Roxas challenged. "Have you really faced someone like <em>me</em>? Not so many have."</p>
      <p>Calling upon his affinity, Light began seeping off Roxas' form with the team realizing the time for talk was over.</p>
      <p>A sentiment the Matriarch shared.</p>
      <p>Benezia's Biotics flared, the familiar aura having a noticeable change that greatly put off the team. There was the typical purplish-blue glow of the biotics, yet something else overlaid it.</p>
      <p>It was as if dark vapors were sizzling off her body as it started to merge with her biotics.</p>
      <p>The biotics of the Matriarch were quickly charged, which was released at the group below her.</p>
      <p>"Scatter!"</p>
      <p>The group dispersed immediately, only feeling the aftershock of the powered biotic blast hitting where they once stood.</p>
      <p>A moment later, Asari Commandos followed by Geth entered the room with the team pairing off to take them out.</p>
      <p>Shepard with Garrus, Liara with Ash, Kaidan with Wrex and Roxas with Tali.</p>
      <p>"Looks like we have our work cut out for us, huh?" Ashley remarked as she tossed an incendiary grenade at the nearby Geth. They tried to move aside, but she opened fire on a few in keeping some in place. Soon after, the explosion went off as the synthetics flailed with the overcharged explosive setting them ablaze.</p>
      <p>"Isn't it always?" Liara asked rhetorically, disabling several Geth with Ashley taking them out a moment later.</p>
      <p>Roxas was jumping about from Geth to Geth and headed straight for the Commando in the way.</p>
      <p>Each Geth he took out was overloaded courtesy of Tali with her unleashing her voltage break (her new name for her Omni-bolts) to destroy the Asari's shields. The Commando stumbled back, slightly shocked by such an attack with her having no time to react by the blur that appeared before her which revealed itself to be Roxas.</p>
      <p>In an instant, she felt her rib break and loss of consciousness by the powerful strike Roxas delivered to her midsection with his Keyblade.</p>
      <p>She sailed through the air, crashing into several pipes and slumped down, unmoving.</p>
      <p>Wrex oversaw this as he bashed a few Geth away, making him chuckle under his breath. "Brutal, but quick."</p>
      <p>"Wrex."</p>
      <p>"Right, right, sorry." Wrex said, spinning about to destroy another Geth that was thrown in his direction courtesy of Kaidan. "You know, this is rather fun! Keep chucking them at me when ya get the chance!"</p>
      <p>Kaidan snorted as he whirled around to deliver another enemy at the Krogan. "Your definition is clearly different from mine." He shouted out.</p>
      <p>Garrus was currently utilizing his advanced rifle form, utterly decimating the Geth and Commandos that fired upon them.</p>
      <p>He worked in tandem with Commander Shepard, sending multiple Geth floating aimlessly in the air with her Biotics giving the C-sec detectives easy pickings.</p>
      <p>The Asari Matriarch simply stood at her platform, watching as her forces were quickly decimated. She kept an eye on her daughter's companions as she tried to aim at them with her biotics, not bothering to move elsewhere in the meantime.</p>
      <p>"Okay, seems Benezia is not going anywhere from that platform. Don't know why, nor care right now." Shepard reported to the rest of her team. "Let's try to keep it that way."</p>
      <p>No sooner did she say that did more Geth and Commandos entered the room.</p>
      <p>Benezia then did something… rather terrifying.</p>
      <p>Her eyes glowed with darker wisps beginning to emanate off her form until she was entirely encompassed by it.</p>
      <p>"Hey… Liara…"</p>
      <p>"Yes, Tali?"</p>
      <p>"Do your people… do <em>that</em>?"</p>
      <p>"We most certainly do not."</p>
      <p>"Oh, good. Then it's just her."</p>
      <p>"No!" Roxas cried out, realizing what was happening. He had seen this before.</p>
      <p>In his visions.</p>
      <p>"She's being consumed by the Darkness!"</p>
      <p>"What now?"</p>
      <p>"The Heartless!" Roxas exclaimed. "We need to stop her <em>now</em>!"</p>
      <p>Shepard turned back to Benezia and her eyes widened.</p>
      <p>Benezia looked as though she was in pain.</p>
      <p>Her expression was calm yet her complexion was darkening with her beginning to twitch and jolt.</p>
      <p>"Roxas." Shepard said. "She's yours."</p>
      <p>The Nobody paused, looking to the Commander before turning to Liara, managing to catch her gaze.</p>
      <p>She saw the conflicted look on her face before it changed into one of resignation. The silent message conveying for Roxas to do what he must.</p>
      <p>With a grim nod, No. XIII had the light around him flare up with the teen jumping straight for Benezia.</p>
      <p>The Matriarch raised her hand, erecting a barrier permeated with darkness.</p>
      <p>The Keyblade clashed against the shield, momentarily being caught in it.</p>
      <p>"I'm surprised that you, my daughter and your companions have survived this long." Said the Matriarch, holding back the Keybearer with all her might. "Many discover they don't live to tell the tale once facing my commandos."</p>
      <p>It was at this point that something clicked in his head.</p>
      <p>"Why? Why would you want to kill your own daughter?!" Roxas asked out in shock and anger.</p>
      <p>"I see now I should have been more stricter with her."</p>
      <p>Roxas didn't fully understand the whole concept of parent and child but he <em>felt</em> how twisted and wrong that comment was.</p>
      <p>In fact, it rather infuriated him.</p>
      <p>Teeth clenched, the light that surrounded him increased in intensity, breaking the hold the darkened barrier had over his Keyblade and dispelling it entirely.</p>
      <p>He dashed forward for an attack but Benezia used her Biotics to levitate out of the way.</p>
      <p>As their confrontation continued on, the rest of the ground team were facing another wave of enemies.</p>
      <p>Roxas was smashing through barrier after barrier that Benezia created, each one being more darker than the last.</p>
      <p>She was putting up a good resistance but Roxas' powered up form was slowly breaking through her defenses.</p>
      <p>The others were taking out the rest of Benezia's forces which meant Roxas needed to wrap things up here.</p>
      <p>Calling upon his latent power once more, Roxas's Keyblade glowed and extended out into a singular tipped light blade.</p>
      <p>"You're finished." Roxas declared, unleashing a torrent of swings that destroyed whatever barriers Benezia managed to throw up.</p>
      <p>After not being able to keep up no more, Benezia could only watch in anticipation as the first set of blows were upon her.</p>
      <p>No. XIII proceeded to strike the Matriarch countless times, every blow becoming stronger and stronger with him thrusting forward and pillars of light exploding off of him.</p>
      <p>Eventually, the darkness that surrounded her dispersed with the Matriarch struggling to stay standing.</p>
      <p>When peering into her eyes, Roxas saw something rather odd. It was empty at first, but as he looked more intently, Roxas thought he could make out something trying to break through the surface.</p>
      <p>This made Roxas pause for a moment, though his weapon was still raised at Liara's mother.</p>
      <p>"This is not over," she said. "Saren is unstoppable. My mind is filled with his light. Everything is clear."</p>
      <p>"Lady, I've seen the Normandy's bathroom mirrors cleaner than your mind right now." Roxas snapped back. "And last I heard, Saren does not have a good track record with followers."</p>
      <p>Benezia focused more on her present opponent. "Your crass attempts at humor will not sway me, child. I will not…"</p>
      <p>Roxas quickly grew curious when the Asari Matriarch halted herself. She started to spasm a little before clenching her head.</p>
      <p>"You… will…"</p>
      <p>Not wanting to take a chance of her doing something surprising, Roxas rushed forward and bashed his Keyblade across her form. She sailed across the way and struck the far off wall, body falling to the floor.</p>
      <p>The fighting had come to a halt, the Normandy crew having killed or destroyed the last of Benezia's forces.</p>
      <p>They saw Roxas standing before a beaten Benezia with the team quickly joining him just as the Matriarch was coming to.</p>
      <p>"How in the hell did she survive that thrashing?!" Ashley asked incredulously.</p>
      <p>"The Darkness absorbed it all." Roxas stated.</p>
      <p>"I would've thought her being a Matriarch meant she was more durable or something." Kaidan theorized.</p>
      <p>"As if." Shepard snorted out.</p>
      <p>"Still… you'd think she'd be a goner." Garrus remarked.</p>
      <p>"She's about to be." Wrex growled.</p>
      <p>"Really Wrex?" Ash deadpanned.</p>
      <p>Wrex opened his mouth when he caught sight of a remorseful Liara looking down at her mother.</p>
      <p>He quickly clamped his mouth shut as the Matriarch regained her bearings.</p>
      <p>"You… will… never get me… to…" Benezia's words were slurred.</p>
      <p>When she opened her eyes next, there seemed to be a drastic change to her gaze.</p>
      <p>"Please, listen, I don't have time." She rasped out, struggling to even say anything. "I can't fight… the indoctrination, but not for long. It's… It's too strong." She explained.</p>
      <p>"Indoctrination?" Kaidan and Ash said at the same time.</p>
      <p>"You mean brainwashing?" Garrus concluded with Benezia nodding rapidly.</p>
      <p>"Yes, people are not themselves when they are around Saren." Benezia's voice was frantic and terrified. "You come to worship him. Idolize him. Willing to do anything for him."</p>
      <p>Shepard narrowed her eyes. "How do we know that this ain't a trick?"</p>
      <p>"I… sealed a portion of… my mind away for a chance… to fight indoctrination. But… But I… didn't take into account… with this lurking darkness…"</p>
      <p>"It's the Darkness of one's heart." Roxas said with a small frown. "The Darkness that corrupts and consumes all."</p>
      <p>"I have seen it recently." Benezia was breathing haggardly. "Everything surrounding Saren is all consuming. I thought I was capable of resisting but… it was a futile effort. The ship… Sovereign. Every minute I spent aboard that vessel was more time that I feel to Saren's will. I was weak, believing myself to be strong."</p>
      <p>"What's Saren's endgame?" Garrus asked quickly. "What's he after?"</p>
      <p>"The location of the Mu Relay that was lost four thousand years ago." Benezia explained. "Saren believes that relay will help him find the conduit. There is much I wish I was able to tell you but Saren does not counsel me on everything."</p>
      <p>"If that's true, then what can you tell us?"</p>
      <p>"As much… as I can…" Benezia strained out.</p>
      <p>"Then why are you here? What are you doing with the Rachni?"</p>
      <p>"Saren sent me… finding the exact location of the Mu Relay after it was lost for four thousand years. The Rachni knew its location as they have access to their genetic memories. And the Queens know what their predecessors know."</p>
      <p>Shepard quickly realized things. "You took the information from the queen and gave it to Saren already, didn't you?"</p>
      <p>Benezia merely nodded.</p>
      <p>"Dammit!"</p>
      <p>If Saren had the information already, he had a much bigger lead now to whatever he had in mind with the Conduit.</p>
      <p>"I… I can still help you."</p>
      <p>"What? How?"</p>
      <p>Benezia reached into a small pocket in her dress and pulled out a device. "I put everything I gathered into this prior to sending a copy to Saren, just in case something like this happened."</p>
      <p>Shepard took the given device and saw it was an OSD. Pocketing it, she started seeing the Matriarch was getting worse with her breathing.</p>
      <p>"What's going on?" She asked, clearly concerned and worried.</p>
      <p>"I'm… losing control. I can feel <em>them</em> coming back."</p>
      <p>Jane realized the indoctrination and the darkness were coming back in full force now.</p>
      <p>"You've gotta fight it!"</p>
      <p>"I CAN'T!" Benezia cried out in anguish, looking at her daughter one last time. "Liara…"</p>
      <p>"M-Mother?"</p>
      <p>The Matriarch pried off her Omni-tool and threw it at her daughter, who quickly caught it in her hands.</p>
      <p>"I regret… on not being the best mother for you. I love you, my little wing. And… I always have been proud of you."</p>
      <p>"Mother!" Liara cried out, tears quickly forming in her eyes.</p>
      <p>In an instant, darkness burst from Benezia's body and completely consumed her now.</p>
      <p>"MOTHER!"</p>
      <p>"Get back!"</p>
      <p>Suddenly appearing in front of them, Roxas held his Keyblade up in a defensive position. Magics flared as a hexagonal barrier surrounded them all, protecting them from the wave of darkness crashing all over the lab.</p>
      <p>When it started to die down, the Barrier quickly faded away.</p>
      <p>It was at this point did the team see something truly disturbing before them.</p>
      <p>What was once a mighty asari matriarch was now replaced with what partially resembled a corpse and that of a Neoshadows. Parts of the gaunt body were bloated due to decay. The surface of the form had several blue lines glowing like a circuit board. The tendrils on the head were lengthened and spread all over the place. The hands now had lengthened razor sharp claws. And the eyes were the signature yellow of a typical Heartless.</p>
      <p>"Whoa!" Ashley said aloud in shock, taking in Benezia's new form. "That is… disturbing."</p>
      <p>The transformed Benezia hissed which turned into a screeching roar that made everyone's ear drums ring.</p>
      <p>"<em><strong>RRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAA!"</strong></em></p>
      <p>"Fucking hell!" Wrex exclaimed. "Like a damn Banshee."</p>
      <p>"This is like a damn boss fight in a video game." Kaidan commented. "Always has to have a stronger form."</p>
      <p>The Deformed Benezia suddenly appeared right in front of the group, Roxas instinctively throwing his Keyblade up to defend them.</p>
      <p>The Banshee merely swung her hand, striking Roxas' blade with a mighty blow that sent him flying back.</p>
      <p>"Roxas!" Tali and Ash yelled out at the same time.</p>
      <p>"Barriers up." Shepard shouted/ordered, calling upon her Biotics with Liara, Wrex and Kaidan doing the same.</p>
      <p>They came up just in time as the Banshee jabbed its elongated hand forward and pressed itself against the combined barriers.</p>
      <p>In a scene that defied what they knew about Biotics, Benezia's Banshee Heartless began <em>pushing </em>them back with their feet grinding against the floor.</p>
      <p>"What the <em>hell?!</em>" Kaidan shouted out in utter astonishment.</p>
      <p>"Of course this would happen." Wrex grumbled. "Nothing is <em>normal</em> anymore." He fired his assault rifle as he tried to back away now, only for the bullets to bounce off against a dark-biotic barrier. "I seem to be longing for it now.</p>
      <p>"Biotic wave, now!" Shepard ordered and the four users sent out the shockwave that appeared to stun the Banshee.</p>
      <p>When they dove for cover, they were ready to take the Banshee Heartless down.</p>
      <p>Only to find her missing.</p>
      <p>"Wha-"</p>
      <p>"<em><strong>RRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAA!"</strong></em></p>
      <p>The people nearby the scream held their heads as they tried to fight off the pain.</p>
      <p>For those not near said scream saw what happened.</p>
      <p>"SHE CAN TELEPORT!?"</p>
      <p>"TALI!" Ashley cried out as the Banshee raised her hand to strike down the lone Quarian…</p>
      <p>When Roxas' glowing form smashed right into the Heartless, causing it to stumble back.</p>
      <p>"Get away from her!" Roxas snarled.</p>
      <p>The Banshee only hissed back.</p>
      <p>"You alright Roxas?" Shepard called out to him.</p>
      <p>"I'm fine." Roxas waved off, getting ready to fight the newly created Heartless.</p>
      <p>Darkness began swirling around the Banshee, the Heartless preparing for an attack.</p>
      <p>Rather than allowing for such a thing to occur, Roxas bolted forward, reeling his Keyblade back to strike.</p>
      <p>The Banshee only vanished as soon as Roxas got close to it, reappearing right behind him.</p>
      <p>"Shit!" Garrus threw his rifle up and fired at the Heartless which managed to strike it and stun it temporarily.</p>
      <p>In an instant, Roxas quickly swerved out of the way and ended up right behind the new Heartless. The instant he was fully behind it, he slammed his Keyblade across it's back and sent it flying.</p>
      <p>"Damn, kid's got some moves right there." Wrex chuckled out.</p>
      <p>"Less admiring and more helping." Shepard said, running forward. "C'mon, let's save his ass."</p>
      <p>Bouncing off the nearby wall, Roxas kept up his assault on the Banshee. It's biotic barrier flared with every hit, more so when a hail of bullets impacted it soon after.</p>
      <p>"Damn spongey barrier just won't break!" Ashley growled, not letting up. She switched to her incendiary rounds, trying to whittle the barriers down as quickly as she was able to until the Banshee up and teleported away once more.</p>
      <p>The screeching was heard again yet they powered through it, turning in the direction where it stood now and fired their weapons all at once.</p>
      <p>Fortunately for them, it's barrier finally broke.</p>
      <p>"Let her have it!"</p>
      <p>The Biotics threw whatever they had with all their might. Those without kept firing with no stop.</p>
      <p>Roxas, meanwhile, was a flurry of motions. The arcs following his Keyblade were lit up as it brightened up most of the darkened lab. It became more apparent when he dashed forward with a large plumb of flames encircling him as they started burning the Banshee Heartless.</p>
      <p>In the middle of this combined onslaught, Shepard took notice of a very hesitant Liara.</p>
      <p>"Liara!" She called out to the Asari, breaking her out of her daze. "You have to fight her!"</p>
      <p>"But-But I can't!"</p>
      <p>"Your mother's gone, Liara!" Shepard said. "Look at what she's become. Do you really want <em>this</em> to be what she's remembered for?!"</p>
      <p>The Heartless hunched over and seemed to hold itself from pain from the continuing onslaught. Yet that wasn't the case as biotics started surging from within the former Matriarch.</p>
      <p>"Oh, no. Look out-!"</p>
      <p>"<em><strong>RRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAA!"</strong></em></p>
      <p>An explosion went off, sending anyone near the Banshee flying back some distance away.</p>
      <p>Roxas took the majority of the hit as he slammed against the nearby wall hard. He slid off its surface before crumbling to the ground.</p>
      <p>Trying to get back up, he was struck by the Banshee once more with a kick before receiving a powered backslap to send him flying once more.</p>
      <p>"Come on you bitch!" Wrex roared aloud, rushing to Roxas' aid, wielding his Gravity Hammer.</p>
      <p>He swung his hammer, striking the Banshee at her knee.</p>
      <p>The Asari Heartless shrieked in pain, reflexively kicking the Krogan away.</p>
      <p>Looking back to the Keybearer, the turned Matriarch quickly ensnared Roxas' neck, making him struggle to breath.</p>
      <p>Seeing this from nearby, Liara was momentarily scared on what was about to happen to her young friend.</p>
      <p>Memories flashed across her gaze of various moments of her journey with him amongst the other ground team members.</p>
      <p>Him saving her back on Therum.</p>
      <p>Giving her that delectable Sea-Salt Ice Cream for the very first time.</p>
      <p>The many meals she ate with him and the rest.</p>
      <p>A great Prothean gift given to her after a past mission.</p>
      <p>And fighting alongside her when facing various forms of opposition.</p>
      <p>And a kind smile with Stitch hanging on his back, who gave a far greater one to her.</p>
      <p>Steeling herself, Liara yelled. "Don't you dare lay a finger on him!"</p>
      <p>With all her might, she roared and released everything she had in a biotic throw.</p>
      <p>The Banshee was sent careening into a wall, her body denting the metal, dropping down a moment later.</p>
      <p>"Take it out!" Shepard yelled, the entire crew shooting at the prone Banshee that screamed aloud, flailing about with the constant stream of fire preventing it from teleporting to safety.</p>
      <p>It forcefully began getting back up to its feet, despite the seemingly endless barrage when...</p>
      <p>"No you don't!"</p>
      <p>The Banshee whirled around and it's face was met with the Keyblade striking it. Falling back, it was struck once more with a volley of biotic blasts mixed with a couple of casted Thundagas, electrifying the former Matriarch greatly as it's barriers soon broke apart. Once down, Garrus took fire with his special powered rounds as they ended up with several headshots.</p>
      <p>After a few moments of trepidation and silence, the team watched as Darkness surrounded the Banshee, encompassing it entirely.</p>
      <p>The large blob of Darkness morphed and bulged until it began shrinking down when it receded entirely to reveal the original body of Benezia.</p>
      <p>Gasping, Liara ran straight for her, falling to her knees to check her over.</p>
      <p>"Spirits." Garrus rasped out. "I wish we don't deal with something like that ever again."</p>
      <p>"You and me both, Turian." Said Wrex.</p>
      <p>"Huh…"</p>
      <p>"What?"</p>
      <p>"Here I thought you would be fine with the challenge."</p>
      <p>"I would say otherwise, but that Heartless was a whole league onto itself." Wrex commented.</p>
      <p>"No arguments there."</p>
      <p>Roxas, Shepard and Tali stood over Liara who was cradling her mother's unmoving form.</p>
      <p>"Is she…" Tali asked hesitantly.</p>
      <p>Liara only shook her head, pressing her forehead against her mother's cheek, tears streaming down her eyes.</p>
      <p>Her Quarian friend kneeled down beside her, placing a comforting arm around her shoulder with Liara weeping now.</p>
      <p>Roxas gazed down at his distraught friend, feeling Shepard place her hand upon his own shoulder with him looking up at her.</p>
      <p>She had a forlorn look in her eyes, patting his shoulder.</p>
      <p>"Loss, Roxas." Jane said in a soft voice. "Loss is never an easy thing to deal with."</p>
      <p>He only stared at the Commander, not truly certain on what to say.</p>
      <p>It was then did he hear… something.</p>
      <p>It was faint before it escalated into a clatter.</p>
      <p>Whirling around, Roxas saw Wrex and Garrus drawing their weapons at a lone asari commando that was limping towards them. Liara momentarily broke away from her present position and tried to get ready to get back into a fight.</p>
      <p>However, the asari commando simply lurched forward, stumbling past everyone and right towards Shepard.</p>
      <p>Jane stepped back, looking at the asari before seeing the bullet holes in the body.</p>
      <p>"How the hell are you still alive?"</p>
      <p>This got a shiver to momentarily run down the spine of almost everyone in the lab. They indeed took a better look at the commando and realized the asari should be long dead now.</p>
      <p>It was then that Asari opened her eyes more as the Rachni queen let out a loud cry from within its containment tube.</p>
      <p>Then something else happened.</p>
      <p>"<em>This one…"</em> the Asari spoke in an unusual warbled voice, as if two were speaking at once. <em>"Serves as our voice. We cannot sing. Not in these low spaces. Your music's are colorless."</em></p>
      <p>…</p>
      <p>"Uh… What?"</p>
      <p>"Is… Is that Rachni queen speaking through a corpse?!"</p>
      <p>"Oh no. I'm not dealing with anymore zombie shit right here. The Thorian was enough but this…" Kaidan muttered out, his trigger finger started to get a little 'itchy' now.</p>
      <p>Garrus curled his mandibles distastefully. The jerky motions of the commando indicated that this wasn't quite natural. He was more than a little creeped out and tempted to join Kaidan's present action with his own weapon. Yet he stayed wary just in case.</p>
      <p>"We filled you with enough plasma and fire power to pop a tank." Jane said incredulously.</p>
      <p>"<em>This Vessel is at the </em>edge." The Asari stressed out. <em>"Yet she struggles. You cannot see her magnificence. We are breathing on the embers."</em></p>
      <p>"Great, so it's a poet." Ashley dryly quipped.</p>
      <p>"<em>We are the mother. We sing for those left behind. The children you thought silenced." </em>The Asari said. <em>"We… are </em>Rachni."</p>
      <p>"How are you speaking through this… vessel right now?" Jane asked tentatively.</p>
      <p>"<em>Our kind sing through touching of thought. We pluck the strings, and the other understands. She is weak to urging."</em></p>
      <p>"More like already vacant and you quickly took up residency." Garrus chimed in.</p>
      <p>The possessed Asari ignored Garrus as she continued. <em>"She has colors we have no names for. But she is ending. Her music is bittersweet. It is beautiful."</em></p>
      <p>The Asari gazed upon them all.</p>
      <p>"<em>You are not in harmony with those who hoped to control us."</em></p>
      <p>"Are you talking about who Benezia was working for? Saren and the Reapers?"</p>
      <p>"<em>Yes."</em> Confirmed the Rachni queen. <em>What will you sing? Will you release us? Are we to fade away once more?"</em></p>
      <p>"Look." Tali pointed out the containers above the Rachni queen's cell. "Those tanks have acid. Strong enough to kill anything, no matter it's biology. They wouldn't have installed that if they weren't afraid of the consequences of her getting loose."</p>
      <p>"We should kill her." Wrex said vehemently. "My people were uplifted for this very task and it's time we see it done. Millions of my ancestors died to put these things down. Don't let them come back."</p>
      <p>"Hold on a second, Wrex." Garrus chimed in. "If we kill her, we're sentencing an entire race to death. We should let the Council decide her fate."</p>
      <p>"But the Council isn't here." Kaidan pointed out.</p>
      <p>"We made a mistake." Liara argued. "We must not repeat the actions of the past."</p>
      <p>Shepard stared at it intently.</p>
      <p>"Did you have anything to do with killing the science team?" Shepard asked harshly.</p>
      <p>"<em>No!"</em> The queen quickly denied. <em>"We were locked away here. The children are beyond our songs. They have been lost to silence. You have silenced them. Freed them from the control of the needle-men who sought to take them and breed them as beasts of war."</em></p>
      <p>The crew was at an impasse as to how to handle this with each one picking a side of taking it out or letting it live.</p>
      <p>In that time, the Asari slowly turned its head towards Roxas, eyes widening.</p>
      <p>"<em>Y-you…" </em>it whispered, causing the group to turn silent.</p>
      <p>"<em>Y-y-you… a-a-are unnatural…."</em> The possessed Asari shakily pointed a finger in the direction of Roxas who blinked at the sudden attention.</p>
      <p>The others all turned to him in bewilderment then back to the possessed Asari that was trembling while having her gaze locked firmly upon Roxas'.</p>
      <p>Subconsciously, Tali stepped slightly in front of her friend in an almost protective manner.</p>
      <p>"What are you talking about?" Shepard asked, an accusatory glint in her eyes. "What does Roxas have to do with this?"</p>
      <p>"<em>N-N-N-Nothing."</em> The mind controlled Asari spasmed. <em>"And everything. His existence i-i-is an a-anomaly. He is the nothingness of which that h-he must re-return to."</em></p>
      <p>One question was shared among the team.</p>
      <p>What the hell was that supposed to mean?</p>
      <p>Roxas, however, was an entirely different matter.</p>
      <p>He didn't understand how but this thing… this queen had managed to deduce what he was.</p>
      <p>She may have not outright told them who or <em>what </em>he was but he knew.</p>
      <p>"<em>Your song is unlike anything we have encountered. It permeates the air and seeps into the fabrics of all songs." </em>The Asari was speaking reverently now. <em>"Your existence… contradicts all and yet you are… the song you portray… is beautiful and tragic."</em></p>
      <p>Roxas was beginning to shift about at the way the Asari was gazing at him.</p>
      <p>Something Tali saw.</p>
      <p>"What will you do now?" Tali asked defensively.</p>
      <p>"<em>You have the power to free us, or return our people to the silence of memory."</em></p>
      <p>Shepard sighed as she scratched her head. "If you're freed, will you attack other races again?"</p>
      <p>Wrex, sensing the possibility that the Rachni queen might go free, growled and glared at the human Spectre. "Shepard…" He growled menacingly.</p>
      <p>Jane ignored the hammer-wielding Battlemaster for now as she listened to the queen's response.</p>
      <p>"<em>No! We- I do not know what happened in the war." </em>The queen replied truthfully.<em> "We only heard discordance, songs the color of oily shadows. We would seek a hidden place to teach our children harmony. If they understand, perhaps we would return."</em></p>
      <p>"Are you a survivor from the war?" Wrex asked next. "Or are you a clone?"</p>
      <p>Jane briefly turned to the Krogan with a raised hand, telling the Battlemaster to back down. Wrex growled angrily once again before complying with the request.</p>
      <p>"<em>We do not know."</em> Answered the queen. <em>"We were only an egg, hearing Mother cry in our dreams. A tone from space hushed one voice after another. It forced the singers to resonate with its own sour, yellow note."</em> The corpse seemed to shrug in resignation. "Then we awoke in this place. The last echo of those who came out of the singing planet. The sky is silent."</p>
      <p>After hearing all this, Shepard released another sigh.</p>
      <p>'What to do? What to do?' She pondered.</p>
      <p>Garrus suddenly piped in. "Shepard, if you kill her, that's genocide. Do you really want that on your hands?"</p>
      <p>Wrex scoffed. "Genocide? You want to see genocide, Vakarian? I'll take you to a Krogan obstetrician's office."</p>
      <p>Sensing Shepard's hesitation, the queen queried. <em>"Is our kind so frightening? Would you silence us for the voices of the past?"</em></p>
      <p>"You tell me, you overgrown bug." Wrex snarled. "You're the reason my kind got uplifted only to be euthanized."</p>
      <p>After hearing everything, Shepard silently contemplated on what she should do until coming to an answer.</p>
      <p>"I won't destroy your race. You'll go free."</p>
      <p>Wrex however, didn't like that decision. "Are you stupid? Your people didn't fight these bastards, so maybe you don't get it!"</p>
      <p>"Wrex…" Roxas said softly. "If you condemn her to death… wouldn't that be the same as the genophage? Only immediate?"</p>
      <p>Liara jumped on what Roxas was suggesting. "Think about it, Wrex. If we let this queen go and if this leads to another war, have you considered that this would make the Council make a certain choice that would be impossible to make now?"</p>
      <p>"Yeah, like curing the genophage." Kaidan added.</p>
      <p>Wrex became less tense as he pondered on their words. With an exhaled grumble, he spoke. "Alright. I still say it's a stupid fucking choice to make, but I'll make an exception… for now." Wrex moved aside before looking right into Shepard in the eye. "Do what you want. My people will clean up the mess later. Just like we did for the Salarians."</p>
      <p>"<em>You will give us the chance to compose anew?" </em>The queen asked hopefully. "We will remember. We will sing of your forgiveness to our children, the one they call Shepard."</p>
      <p>Wrex scoffed some more. "Great~ Bugs are writing songs about you. Mark my words. You will regret this."</p>
      <p>"The only way we'll ever know if she goes back on her word." Jane remarked. "And I'm pretty sure that a species that is saved from extinction can understand what debt is."</p>
      <p>As Shepard was typing away on the console, Roxas thought on what he could possibly contribute in helping the Rachni Queen.</p>
      <p>She didn't know where she might end up at once freed from Peak 15 and so will everyone else. But he just didn't know for how long.</p>
      <p>For a moment, Roxas wondered if he could perhaps open up a Dark Corridor for the queen to traverse to and end up on some far off uninhabited planet in this galaxy and make do from there.</p>
      <p>Yet he realized the queen would have the high risk of the darkness corrupting her, just like what happened thousands of years ago and much recently with her children.</p>
      <p>This made him rescind his one idea and let Shepard do her work.</p>
      <p>Soon, the container that held the Rachni Queen elevated upwards with the queen gazing down upon them one last time before slowly departing.</p>
      <p>Once that was all said and done, Jane turned back to her team.</p>
      <p>"Come on. Let's get the hell outta here."</p>
      <p>
        <em>-Scene Cut-</em>
      </p>
      <p>After the events of Peak 15, the team returned to Port Hanshan to return to the Mako prior to heading back to the Normandy where it was presently docked.</p>
      <p>Once aboard, Jeff took off while some of the ground team took time to get out of their respective armors before reporting to the ship's comm room to discuss what happened on their recent mission.</p>
      <p>As per usual, Shepard stood up to show command while everyone else sat down on their designated seats.</p>
      <p>After what happened on Feros, an additional chair was given for Roxas while Stitch occasionally perched himself on a random person's shoulder or lap on each meeting. This time the little blue furred alien was on Liara's shoulder, who tried his best to comfort her as the asari was still quietly grieving for her mother. And sitting next to her was Garrus and Wrex, the latter was still fuming about Shepard releasing the Rachni queen.</p>
      <p>On the other side, Kaidan sat along with Ashely, Roxas and Tali.</p>
      <p>"So what's our next move, Commander?" Ashley inquired. "The Mu Relay?"</p>
      <p>"The Mu Relay could link us to dozens of systems." Shepard said. "Unless we know where Saren's going, we'd be wasting our time."</p>
      <p>"So that's a no go for now." Garrus surmised. "Thumbs up asses until then."</p>
      <p>"The Commander's right." Said Liara. "We can't rush off blind. We still need to learn about Saren."</p>
      <p>"Ok, then what do we do?" Kaidan asked, arms crossed in frustration. "Saren is still out there."</p>
      <p>"Most likely keep an ear out for anything."</p>
      <p>"What about what happened to Benezia?" Tali brought up hesitantly.</p>
      <p>"Spirits, what happened is <em>definitely</em> gonna give me nightmares for a while." Garrus muttered out, hands grasping each other and tightening.</p>
      <p>"If that happened to my mother…" Liara silently said. "There is a likely chance Saren may be going through the same thing."</p>
      <p>"Of what, the indoctrination or the darkness taking over?"</p>
      <p>"From what Benezia said, the Indoctrination is coming from Saren." Alenko pointed out. "So… possibly the Darkness."</p>
      <p>"Great… don't know which is worse."</p>
      <p>"Liara, did you possibly have a chance to look through your mother's Omni-tool. Perhaps there could've been something she recorded about her time on Saren's ship."</p>
      <p>"I will check on it after this." Liara assured.</p>
      <p>"Good to hear." Jane nodded approvingly. "Just take your time. You're still on edge with what happened. I won't force you."</p>
      <p>Liara gave the Commander an appreciative smile one Jane returned.</p>
      <p>The Spectre then turned to someone who hasn't really said anything since the meeting began.</p>
      <p>"Roxas?"</p>
      <p>The Blond teen looked up to her.</p>
      <p>"Everything alright?" Jane asked. "You've been quiet the whole time."</p>
      <p>"I'm good. Just… thinking about what happened."</p>
      <p>"Wanna share with the rest of the class?"</p>
      <p>Roxas tilted his head down, thinking of how the Rachni Queen addressed him directly.</p>
      <p>Did… did she know who he was? <em>What</em> he was?</p>
      <p>Seeing Roxas not responding, Shepard took a wild guess as to what's on his mind</p>
      <p>"Was it about what the Rachni said about you?"</p>
      <p>He didn't respond, though the momentary seize up of his body was enough of an answer for Shepard.</p>
      <p>"Why is it bothering you?" Shepard asked.</p>
      <p>Roxas frowned, thinking on this question.</p>
      <p>Why was it bothering him so much?</p>
      <p>Suddenly, he felt something swell inside. Something that had been bothering him in the back of his mind for the past few weeks as the days went by.</p>
      <p>"I…" Roxas's fists clenched tightly, beginning to shake.</p>
      <p>Why did those words bother him? Why was he constantly having those weird visions and dreams? Why did the Organization need him? Why hasn't he gone back to them? Why was he here?</p>
      <p>Who even was he?</p>
      <p>Why…</p>
      <p>Why did the Keyblade choose him?</p>
      <p>Noticing his state, Tali was about to reach out to him when…</p>
      <p>"I DON'T KNOW!" Roxas roared aloud, causing the entire group to flinch violently as the teen shot up from his seat.</p>
      <p>"I DON'T KNOW WHY IT'S BOTHERING ME SO MUCH!" He continued to yell.</p>
      <p>"Whoa! Easy there, Roxas-"</p>
      <p>"WHY AM I HERE?! HOW DO I EVEN <em>EXIST</em>?! WHY DID THE KEYBLADE CHOOSE ME?! WHAT IS SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN TO ME?!"</p>
      <p>The entire team could only stare with some mouths dropping as they had never seen Roxas react in such a manner.</p>
      <p>He was normally quiet, reserved though extraordinarily curious about everything.</p>
      <p>To see him in such a manner…</p>
      <p>"Ro-Roxas?" Tali was nervous and flinched at the way he rounded upon her, eyes ablaze in turmoil.</p>
      <p>Upon seeing his friend, his first friend since coming here, react in such a manner it was like a bucket of icy water was thrown on him.</p>
      <p>He saw the rest of the Normandy crew share slightly similar expressions, save for Wrex who was gazing at him curiously.</p>
      <p>Hanging his head, Roxas wordlessly left the meeting room, leaving a stunned team behind.</p>
      <p>They were silent for the most part when…</p>
      <p>"Ok…" Garrus said, slowly breaking out of his stupor. "<em>That</em> came out of nowhere."</p>
      <p>"What the hell was that about?" Ashley asked in concern.</p>
      <p>"Did any of you guys catch what he said?" Alenko inquired.</p>
      <p>"How could we have missed that?" Wrex rhetorically asked. "Can still hear the words ringing in my ears."</p>
      <p>"What was that about the Keyblade choosing him?" Garrus said in bewilderment.</p>
      <p>"What was that about his whole existentialism just now?" Ashley retorted.</p>
      <p>"Enough." Jane cut the discussion off with a sharp tone. "We'll talk about this later. Right now, it seems like we could go for a break. We'll talk to Roxas later."</p>
      <p>"You sure we should do that?" Liara asked tentatively, Stitch looking up from her shoulder in the direction Roxas walked off to.</p>
      <p>"He made that show in front of us." Jane said, head hung down. "That makes it <em>all </em>of our business."</p>
      <p>"Though now we're gonna be trailing on thin ice around him for who knows how long."</p>
      <p>"Maybe…" Jane said, a bit dejectedly.</p>
      <p>"<em>Transmission coming through from the Council, Commander." </em>Joker's voice chimed in. <em>"Should I patch it through?"</em></p>
      <p>"In a sec, Joker." She said before addressing the team. "In the meantime, you guys relax." Shepard exhaled a frustrated sigh. "I gotta deal with the Council now."</p>
      <p>Wrex let out a snort. "Have fun with them, Shepard. The Council's going to kick your ass over this. And for once, I won't blame them."</p>
      <p>"Yeah… I know." Jane bemoaned.</p>
      <p>Just before the group filed out…</p>
      <p>"Tali."</p>
      <p>The Quarian turned back to see Shepard giving her a knowing look with her momentarily hesitating.</p>
      <p>"What makes you think I-"</p>
      <p>"Because out of all of us, you're the closest to him. Please, try to see what's wrong. I just don't want things to go south because of whatever happened."</p>
      <p>Tali knew she had a point so she could only nod leaving the meeting room a moment later.</p>
      <p>Walking through the ship, she sought out Roxas and eventually found him in a lonely corner of the Mako bay.</p>
      <p>He had his knees up and arms wrapped around them with his head resting upon them.</p>
      <p>Going over to him, she saw him briefly tilt his head and upon seeing the familiar glint of his blue eyes, Tali was unsure of what to do.</p>
      <p>"R-Roxas?"</p>
      <p>He didn't respond, opting only to turn his head back down.</p>
      <p>She didn't know what to say to him.</p>
      <p>So, she opted for the next best thing.</p>
      <p>Tali slowly sank down next to him and gently laid her head down on his shoulder.</p>
      <p>He seized up, body not knowing how to respond before relaxing a moment later.</p>
      <p>There they sat for a few seconds until...</p>
      <p>"If you want to talk…"</p>
      <p>"Not really…"</p>
      <p>"Then we don't have to." She said softly. "But please, don't shut us out."</p>
      <p>'Don't shut <em>me</em> out.' She thought soon after.</p>
      <p>Roxas merely nodded as the silence soon surrounding them.</p>
      <p>
        <strong>Alright, so, this was a bit of a big one.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>A big confrontation with some crazy shit to happen.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>I love the reviews I keep seeing with so many people throwing out suggestions where, not gonna lie, J and I have taken many things into consideration beforehand when setting this story up.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>So the crew is starting to get used to fighting the Heartless but things are about to get… weirder to say the least in the next few chapters.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>A slew of madness and destiny altering events to come because when dealing with crossovers like these, things never happen the same way twice. Especially when dealing with Mass Effect.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Jebest4781: And honestly, we're gonna have to continually adjust our plans given all these criticism and ideas that keep coming our way as they do prove to be good points.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>FMW: Yeah, all we have are just rough outlines for the most part with a majority of these chapters being improvised though there are some that we had decided on from the get-go.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Jeb: Once we get past the essential ME1 events… boy it'll be a doozy with what we have figured out so far. More so once hitting ME2 as that's gonna be a long process. Not gonna lie about that.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>FMW: Yeah, ME1 for the most part has been a breeze to go by with us already sort of nearing the end. Don't worry, there's still a lot that's gonna go down in between now and the end of ME1. But it'll still be a cake walk when considering ME2, ME3, the extended content outside, KH2, Dream Drop, tying in Birth By Sleep, mentions of Coded, KH3, Sora's Journey, Riku's Journey, The Organization, the Reapers ALL OF THAT. ON TOP of the FF elements we have planned to come.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Jeb: No doubt about that. So sit tight and enjoy this crazy ride as long as possible.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>FMW: Yeah, we plan on making this one of the most unique stories that you could find on this sight. Like J has on his profile with A Song of Fire, Ice and Hearts, we got another one here with this story.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Until then guys.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Rate Read and Review and as Always Have Nice Day.</strong>
      </p>
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<a name="section0011"><h2>11. I Need Answers</h2></a>
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      <p>
        <strong>I hope you guys are prepared for this chapter.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>This one is gonna be a doozy, plain and simple.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Shit is gonna go down here and in the coming chapters overall.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Welcome to the madhouse, as they say.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Big shout out to one DrWriter21 of the creator of the story called Blank Slate that was a huge influence on this story. Like a really big one.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>For those who have read the story, you'll know it when you see it.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>So that means no more dilly dallying.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Rate Read and Review and as Always Have Nice Day.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>I'm Nobody Chapter 11: I Need Answers</p>
      <p>Gazing around, Roxas swore he was by some lake somewhere with the early morning sunrise blanketing the land, with its rich purple sky.</p>
      <p>Yet something was clearly off as it seemed familiar somehow.</p>
      <p>"<em>Gawrsh, is that all that's left of the Worlds taken by the Heartless?"</em></p>
      <p>Roxas looked over and saw Goofy, Donald and Sora standing by a rock formation as they were stepping on the extremely shallow water to reach one rocky landmass from the last.</p>
      <p>"<em>Those Worlds will be restored if we beat Ansem, right?"</em> Sora theorized.<em> "But, if we do beat him and all these Worlds become restored and disconnected, what's gonna happen to this place? And to us?"</em></p>
      <p>It was from here did the Nobody see the trio of companions traverse through an unusual series of areas in the Realm of Darkness. Combating Heartless left and right up till they came across some sort of giant demon situated on top of a mountain.</p>
      <p>Suddenly the environment shifted as the trio ended back up at the beach of Sora's childhood home.</p>
      <p>Yet it wasn't exactly the tropical paradise as it was all broken up with unnatural formations altering the landscape.</p>
      <p>Reaching at a certain sandy shore, Riku greeted them… or rather in fact Ansem.</p>
      <p>The silver haired teen's form shifted to that of an adult who vaguely looked like Xemnas to some capacity. His pale skin turned coppery brown with orange eyes peering at the trio with his long white hair flowing along the breeze. The muscle body suit became something else to that of an oddly designed opened coat with the Heartless emblem plastered on his chest.</p>
      <p>"<em>All worlds begin in Darkness. And all worlds end. Darkness sprouts within it. It grows, </em>consumes it.<em> Such as its nature."</em></p>
      <p>Soon enough, the trio clashed with the Seeker of Darkness.</p>
      <p>"<em>You see, </em><em><strong>Darkness </strong></em><em>is the heart's true essence."</em></p>
      <p>The battle was long and excruciating with so many things occurring left and right. The trio separated as they had to fight the waves of darkness before they were able to reunite.</p>
      <p>"<em>That's not true!" </em>Exclaimed Sora, floating in the pitch black darkness. Yet there seemed to be some sort of glow around him, Donald and Goofy for them to glide all over the place.<em> "The Heart may be weak. And sometimes, it may even give in. But I've learned that deep down, there's a light that </em>never<em> goes out."</em></p>
      <p>Seeing as he didn't want to admit defeat, the Seeker of Darkness swiftly turned towards the towering, ivory doors in the distance as it was placed on top of a few small grey islands.</p>
      <p>"<em>KINGDOM HEARTS!" </em>Ansem cried out desperately, reaching out to the large, gated door in the endless void. <em>"Fill me… with the power… of Darkness." </em>his voice was strained and weakened after being thrashed by Sora and company.</p>
      <p>"<em>You're wrong." </em>Sora declared with absolute confidence. <em>"I know now, without a doubt… Kingdom Hearts… is </em>Light!"</p>
      <p>The door opened, the light pouring out of Kingdom Hearts overwhelming and at long last defeating Ansem, the Seeker of Darkness.</p>
      <p>As Sora, Donald and Goofy tried to close the door to Kingdom Hearts, the brown haired Keybearer peered inside and saw who Donald and Goofy refer to as their king. His silhouette was brightened to some degree as he too wielded a Keyblade.</p>
      <p>"<em>Now Sora! Let's close this door for good." </em>King Mickey said, wielding his own Keyblade held above him.</p>
      <p>Together, he and Sora closed the door to Kingdom Hearts on both ends.</p>
      <p>As the doorway closed ever more, Riku said his goodbyes, not knowing when he'll ever see his friends next.</p>
      <p>"<em>Take care of her."</em> Was all the silver haired teen requested, which Sora complied.</p>
      <p>Once the door was closed, both King Mickey and Sora used their Keyblade's to seal it up, hopefully for good.</p>
      <p>"<em>Kairi!" </em>Sora ran right up to his other childhood friend with her locking eyes with him.</p>
      <p>"<em>Sora!"</em></p>
      <p>Suddenly, the ground between them shifted apart with Kairi nearly falling over had it not been for Sora catching her and holding her hand tightly.</p>
      <p>"<em>Kairi. Remember what you said before? I'm always with you too." </em>Sora promised with his entire heart pouring into his words. <em>"I'll come back to you. I promise."</em></p>
      <p>Both held onto one another until the distance became too much for them.</p>
      <p>"<em>I know you will!"</em></p>
      <p>The Worlds started to reform one by one as their hold with each other broke. The stars in the sky appeared in a mighty spectacle as they were able to come out of the darkness after who knows how long.</p>
      <p>Before long, Roxas saw the trio now walking along a dirt path in a wide grassy meadow with no markers to give any proper destination.</p>
      <p>"<em>Well now what do we do?" </em>Donald asked, rather unsure of their current predicament.</p>
      <p>"<em>We've still gotta find Riku and King Mickey." </em>Sora replied confidently.</p>
      <p>"<em>But uhh, where do we start lookin' for that there door to the Light?" </em>Goofy inquired.</p>
      <p>No sooner did Goofy ask did a familiar dog walk out of the grass with an envelope in his mouth.</p>
      <p>"<em>Pluto?" </em>Donald said, instantly recognizing the Kings trusted dog.</p>
      <p>"<em>Gawrsh, that's the King's Seal!" </em>Goofy said, identifying the note Pluto held.</p>
      <p>As Pluto ran away, Sora widened his smile as far as he could. Turning to his two friends he gestured to them to follow the wayward pet of King Mickey.</p>
      <p>"<em>Let's Go!"</em></p>
      <p>The trio ran at full speed after the dog…</p>
      <p>…</p>
      <p>…</p>
      <p>…</p>
      <p>Roxas's eyes snapped open, sitting up sharply.</p>
      <p>He was breathing heavily, sweat rolling down his brow.</p>
      <p>This was too much. It was becoming <em>far </em>too much.</p>
      <p>His head was pounding and his eyes actually hurt.</p>
      <p>Teeth clenched, Roxas got up out of his pod and walked off towards the Mako bay to be in the lonely corner he had found earlier.</p>
      <p>Leaning on a nearby crate, Roxas let out a heavy breath that he didn't realize he was holding in until now.</p>
      <p>Wanting to relax properly, the Nobody pulled out his Omni-tool and scrolled through his music library. There was quite a large variety he got since he first acquired it, due to him wanting to see which genres and artists fit him best.</p>
      <p>Right now, he just needed something soothing and upbeat.</p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>-Insert I'm Not in Love by 10CC-</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>As the song went through the beats and lyrics, he sat back and relaxed. And there he stayed for a time, playing the small minigames he had recently downloaded on his Omni-Tool while listening to his calming music.</p>
      <p>As he sat there, he saw out of the corner of his eye Garrus working on the repaired Mako Cannon with Kaidan helping him out.</p>
      <p>Wrex stood in his own corner, examining his Gravity Hammer and working out the kinks.</p>
      <p>Not far away, Ashley was at her station and she too was examining her weapons as she was dismantling and cleaning the parts.</p>
      <p>In another corner, Stitch was doing maintenance on his cruiser before getting to touch up on several parts that still needed to be repaired. If Roxas remembered correctly, his personal ship would be up and running very soon before he went for test flights.</p>
      <p>Seeing his friends going about their own business, the Nobody briefly thought of his two friends back with the Organization.</p>
      <p>He hadn't seen them in a while but… recently, he really wants to see them again.</p>
      <p>No. XIII couldn't help but wonder just how his first two friends were right now.</p>
      <p>Were they doing alright? He knows that he should have returned to the Organization but being here… he's learned so much more then he felt he ever would back with the assemblage of Nobodies.</p>
      <p>He knew he shouldn't have been away from them for so long, but he wanted to learn more about the "Heart" as he traveled in the Normandy.</p>
      <p>Has he overextended his departure? Should he return back soon and at least make his reports back to Saix and the Superior? Would that sate things so he may resume helping the Normandy in taking down Saren?</p>
      <p>Only one way to find out.</p>
      <p>Which meant he'll have to head back sooner than later.</p>
      <p>
        <em>-Scene Cut-</em>
      </p>
      <p>Within the marble white walls of Castle Oblivion on the first floor, Axel and Namine were following after their friend Xion who was rushing towards the front door.</p>
      <p>"Xion?" Axel called out to No. XIV who had run out to the entrance of the Castle. "What are ya doing?"</p>
      <p>"I thought I saw something outside."</p>
      <p>"Saw something out…" Axel looked around. "Was there a window here that I missed or something?"</p>
      <p>"I don't believe there are windows here." Namine murmured next to Axel.</p>
      <p>"Right?"</p>
      <p>Hearing the front door to the castle open, the duo saw Xion step out with Axel grumbling.</p>
      <p>"Hey Xion, wait a sec." Axel called out to her, jogging to catch up with Namine following closely behind.</p>
      <p>The two walked outside of the Castle doors, spotting Xion a few yards away looking around.</p>
      <p>"Xion, come on back inside." Axel said. "There's nothing out here."</p>
      <p>"No." Xion said confidently. "I know I saw something out here."</p>
      <p>Axel scratched his head, looking down at Namine with her only shrugging.</p>
      <p>"Xion, what can you possibly have seen out he-"</p>
      <p>"<em><strong>WOOF!"</strong></em></p>
      <p>Without warning and literally out of nowhere, a yellow-orange furred dog tackled Xion to the ground with Axel and Namine jolting back in complete shock at the hound's sudden appearance.</p>
      <p>"A dog?" Namine muttered aloud in surprise.</p>
      <p>"What the hell is a pooch doing out here?" Axel asked in complete bewilderment, noticing Xion underneath the paws of the dog. "You alright there Xion?"</p>
      <p>Rather than responding, No. XIV stared up at the dog with her eyes sparkling.</p>
      <p>"Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa~!"</p>
      <p>The black haired Nobody then latched onto the dog and let out the loudest 'squee' she could ever muster.</p>
      <p>"Holy hell she's loud!"</p>
      <p>Xion was squeezing the dog with all her might, rubbing her cheek against it with the dog barking happily.</p>
      <p>"Uh…" Axel then realized what was happening. "Oi, Oi, Xion, come on." He said exasperatedly. "You're going to get attached to it by this rate."</p>
      <p>"But! But! But!" The dog then started licking all over Xion's face, causing her to giggle aloud. "Th-That tickles! Stoooop~!</p>
      <p>Namine giggled, approaching the dog with a kind smile. "Hello there."</p>
      <p>The dog turned to the blond girl and woofed happily, licking her outstretched hand with Namine laughing and petting him.</p>
      <p>As the two girls fawned over the dog, Axel was left at a slight loss as to what to do.</p>
      <p>He was the keeper of Castle Oblivion, not a dog whisperer.</p>
      <p>While Xion continued petting the dog, she saw something that was tucked into his collar. "What's this?"</p>
      <p>Prying the item from the dog's collar, Xion saw it was some sealed letter with three solid circles attached together acting as the letter's seal.</p>
      <p>'Wonder who this is for?'</p>
      <p>She was about to open it out of curiosity when she looked at the dog once more. Her blue eyes sparkled as she sniffled a little.</p>
      <p>"Say-"</p>
      <p>"Don't ask questions you already know the answer to."</p>
      <p>"But Axel~" Xion cried out, arms flailing.</p>
      <p>"I don't think it would hurt to try." Namine said, looking to the red-head with her lower lip puckered.</p>
      <p>"Oh geez, not you to Namine." Axel groaned. "You really think that the Organization is gonna take care of a pet? I sure wouldn't waste my breath. Saix'll never agree to it."</p>
      <p>Looking back at the happy-go-lucky mutt, Xion spoke in the utmost apologetic way possible. "I'm sorry, puppy." Tears quickly formed in her eyes as she wailed, hugging the dog once more. "I'm so sorry!"</p>
      <p>"Urgh…" Axel slid his hand over his face, hearing his friend in such a despondent mood. "Alright, <em>alright. Fine. </em>I guess it wouldn't hurt to ask."</p>
      <p>Xion immediately brightened up. "Really?! "REALLY?! Oh thank you, Axel!"</p>
      <p>Axel couldn't help but chuckle at her optimistic tone. "Don't thank me yet, Xion. You still have to get permission to keep it."</p>
      <p>"I know I will." Xion declared determinedly. "Then I can have him come here whenever I visit you guys."</p>
      <p>"That sounds lovely." Namine said with a serene smile, kneeling down to scratch the dog behind the ears.</p>
      <p>"Now, you two keep this dog busy while I go fetch Saix." Axel said, conjuring a Dark Corridor beside him. "Until then, just… do whatever you want, I suppose."</p>
      <p>Stepping through, Axel disappeared once the Dark Corridor dissipated.</p>
      <p>Namine, Xion and their newfound to-be-determined pet reentered the castle to await the return of Axel with Saix.</p>
      <p>After waiting for nearly half an hour, the Flurry of Dancing Flames arrived with the Luna Diviner.</p>
      <p>"Here he is." Axel said, gesturing to the dog that bounded straight up to No. VII.</p>
      <p>Saix gazed down at the dog panting up at him with his face unmoving to the sheer joy radiating from the dog.</p>
      <p>"I suppose I can allow it." No. VII said after a few moments of silence.</p>
      <p>"Say what now?/Really?" Were Axel and Xions responses, the former stunned with the latter giddy beyond compare.</p>
      <p>"Come on puppy, let's go play with Namine." Xion exclaimed, the dog barking happily as the two ran over to where Namine was standing.</p>
      <p>"Well, well. Wonders never ceases to amaze." Axel remarked.</p>
      <p>"I was fond of dogs once."</p>
      <p>Axel blinked before a small grin formed.</p>
      <p>"So you <em>do</em> still have memories from the good old days."</p>
      <p>"Wasn't it your life's goal to make sure you were remembered forever?" Saix asked rhetorically, further surprising the red-head.</p>
      <p>"Remembered that too?" Axel asked, grin growing.</p>
      <p>"I recall calling you obnoxious." Saix's expression was stoic. But his tone…</p>
      <p>"Still am. Only way for me to <em>truly</em> die are three things: me physically dying, my name to be said one final time, and the last person who remembers me to pass away as well. So if I want to live 'forever', I need to have so many people remember my name."</p>
      <p>*Crash*</p>
      <p>Looking over, they saw the dog had knocked over a marble pillar with a large pot placed on top with its remains scattered across the floor. And in the distance, Xion chased after her recently acquired pet with Namine in tow.</p>
      <p>"So… about the pottery-"</p>
      <p>"Doesn't matter."</p>
      <p>With that, Saix left, leaving Axel with Xion, Namine and the new dog with the latter three gathered around the broken pot.</p>
      <p>Sighing, Axel snapped his fingers and out popped several Dusks with brooms in hand.</p>
      <p>"Alright you two, clean up your mess." Axel said, gesturing to the lesser Nobody's to hand over their cleaning tools.</p>
      <p>Aside from surveillance work, Dusks are pretty good handymen. Give them a command and they'll comply right away with any task given.</p>
      <p>Yet if the lesser Nobodies tend to have nothing productive to work on, they'll find something to do in some shape or form.</p>
      <p>Take for example a while back when Roxas first joined the Organization. Axel went to retrieve Roxas during his first few days with them in order to get him started on training.</p>
      <p>When he came into his room, Axel spotted a number of Dusks hovering over him and doing something to the sandy blonde teen. When they left, the chakram-wielder had to suppress a boisterous laugh.</p>
      <p>For the Dusks ended up drawing on No. XIII's face while he slept.</p>
      <p>It was funny the first time, but it kept happening the next several days. Thus the joke started to grow stale.</p>
      <p>If that were to happen to Demyx or someone else who deserved it, then by all means let the Dusks keep having their fun. But don't continuously do the act on a kid who hardly knew a thing.</p>
      <p>Breaking his gaze away from the lesser Nobodies, the fiery redhead shifted his green eyes to the playing trio that had finished cleaning, who's yells and barks -respectfully- echoed throughout the hallways.</p>
      <p>'Might as well go grab the dog some treats and toys.' Was Axel's thought, letting a Dark Corridor consume him so he may go shopping.</p>
      <p>
        <em>-Scene Cut-</em>
      </p>
      <p>The Normandy had returned to the Citadel once more.</p>
      <p>They wouldn't be here for long as they had several assignments to take care so this was essentially a pit stop for stocking up on supplies.</p>
      <p>Shepard was currently speaking with Garrus and Kaidan about the Mako's condition when she saw one specific teammate walking towards the exit with his hood up.</p>
      <p>Her expression fell slightly, something that both her comrades and friends noticed.</p>
      <p>"Shepard?" Kaidan was concerned with Vakarian looking back to what caught her attention, instantly knowing why she had such a facial shift.</p>
      <p>Jane blinked, realizing she had just went silent on the two.</p>
      <p>"What is it, Kaidan?"</p>
      <p>"Sorry, you're just really zoned out."</p>
      <p>"It's about Roxas, isn't it?" Garrus surmised.</p>
      <p>"It's that obvious, huh?"</p>
      <p>"Clearly. Not to mention we're on 'the same boat' as it were."</p>
      <p>Kaidan nodded in agreement with Shepard sighing, crossing her arms with her head down.</p>
      <p>Since Roxas's outburst at their last meeting, things had been rather… awkward to say the least.</p>
      <p>Roxas spoke very little to the crew overall, having kept mostly to himself now. He hardly said anything and just silently resided on the ship most of the time.</p>
      <p>Jane rested a tad easier when seeing Roxas was becoming a bit more "human" as it were as he was starting to show more and more emotions since he first came aboard and joined her crew. It made things feel better as he wasn't all out there without being grounded.</p>
      <p>Now, it had just regressed drastically with him basically cutting himself off from everyone else.</p>
      <p>The commander did request Chakwas to do another scan on him to see if there were some changes since his first examination. When the procedure was done, Shepard was able to get the good doctor's reports in comparison of changes and saw his unusual brain activity seemingly being the same to some degree.</p>
      <p>Jane wasn't really much of an expert on such things, but she honestly wished she was to understand things more without the full scientific jargon.</p>
      <p>"You think he'll be ok?" Kaidan asked, a slightly worried expression being shown.</p>
      <p>"I dunno." Jane admitted. "Whatever that was at the meeting… it felt like it's been growing in the back of his mind. He just didn't know how to address it and just came pouring out."</p>
      <p>"Wonder where all that came from?" Garrus murmured in thought.</p>
      <p>"He mentioned something about the Keyblade choosing him and his… <em>existence</em> for some reason." Kaidan recalled. "What'd you think that was about?"</p>
      <p>"Your guess is as good as mine." Jane said.</p>
      <p>Garrus hummed aloud. "Remember when we found out that Roxas has amnesia?"</p>
      <p>Both humans nodded.</p>
      <p>"He mentioned that by the time he met us, he only remembered a month of, well, everything really." Garrus said.</p>
      <p>"Yeah." Kaidan said. "What are you getting at?"</p>
      <p>"Did Roxas meet or speak with anyone else before joining us here?"</p>
      <p>Jane snapped her fingers. "Yeah, remember? He talked about this… Organization."</p>
      <p>Yes, the Organization.</p>
      <p>The ground team learned a bit more about this Organization XIII after the Council meeting, given they were interrupted beforehand. With Anderson and Udina, they learned of the initial basics on what this fourteen member group dealt with on a daily basis.</p>
      <p>Heartless extermination.</p>
      <p>Each were trained experts with all of the members being able to use magic. Traveling from world to world to help rid the planets from the Heartless.</p>
      <p>Why hasn't anyone ever heard about them before? Were they relatively new with members banding together and seeking out more for their everlasting fight against the Heartless?</p>
      <p>Roxas spoke as truthfully as possible, but there seemed to be things left out.</p>
      <p>It could be intentional or their sandy blonde companion didn't get the whole picture.</p>
      <p>Then again, he has only been a member for nearly two months by this point. More information would probably be given to him at some point.</p>
      <p>"So… where can we find this… Organization?" Kaidan asked.</p>
      <p>"I looked through the Codex and all it led me to was definitions." Shepard said. "The only way we'd ever meet any of these other members of the Organization is if they come to us-"</p>
      <p>"Or if Roxas leads us to them." Garrus concluded getting a nod from Shepard.</p>
      <p>"Think he'll be willing to do that?"</p>
      <p>"I don't know." Shepard threw her hands up in annoyance, peeved at how she had no answers to go off of right now.</p>
      <p>"Hey now, Tali at ten o'clock." Garrus abruptly said, the trio turning to the Quarian who was jogging to exit the Normandy, possibly to follow after Roxas.</p>
      <p>"You think-"</p>
      <p>"One can hope." Shepard said with a resigned tone.</p>
      <p>Roxas exited the Normandy with his head down, hood up and expression wrought with conflict.</p>
      <p>Back on the Citadel, he wasn't exactly sure what to do right now.</p>
      <p>Once returning here, that growing need to go back to the Organization had only risen when he stepped back out onto the large structure where his journey here started.</p>
      <p>His mind was ablaze, a thousand thoughts running through his head every second.</p>
      <p>The visions.</p>
      <p>The Keyblade.</p>
      <p>The Organization.</p>
      <p>His friends on the Normandy.</p>
      <p>What happened and what he saw in Noveria.</p>
      <p>He didn't understand the whole concept of loss but he knew that it struck a deep chord with his Asari friend and the rest of the team as a whole.</p>
      <p>And then there were these visions he kept having.</p>
      <p>The intensity just kept ramping up and it was starting to make sleep damn near impossible.</p>
      <p>He just…</p>
      <p>He just didn't know what to do anymore.</p>
      <p>"Roxas?"</p>
      <p>The Greater Nobody turned his head back to see a worried Tali gazing at him.</p>
      <p>"Are… are you alright?" She asked, placing a hand upon his shoulder.</p>
      <p>He found himself unable to find a proper means of responding to her, instead turning back down to the ground.</p>
      <p>Tali's expression fell beneath her helmet, now standing right beside him.</p>
      <p>"Roxas." She said softly. "Come on, you can talk to me. We can talk about anything..."</p>
      <p>She wasn't able to see his face, his hood completely shrouding his expression in complete darkness.</p>
      <p>It was rather scary being unable to see Roxas' face.</p>
      <p>She then heard him sigh, slowly reaching up to her hand and placing his over hers.</p>
      <p>The Quarian felt him gently squeeze her hand before he slowly took her hand off his shoulder and turned his back on her.</p>
      <p>She was silent though admittedly nervous yet she waited for him to say… anything really.</p>
      <p>"Tali…" his voice was a bit raspy. "I… I need answers."</p>
      <p>"Answers?" She repeated. "Answers to what?"</p>
      <p>"Just… everything." Roxas said, looking back to her.</p>
      <p>She was barely able to catch his blue eyes when a Corridor of Darkness abruptly appeared and without another word, Roxas walked right through it with Tali being unable to follow as the corridor swiftly closed a moment later.</p>
      <p>Tali stood there, frozen on the spot with an outstretched she had raised subconsciously as she watched Roxas literally disappear before her.</p>
      <p>Without another word, she turned around and bolted back inside the Normandy.</p>
      <p>Not seeing what occurred with the pair, the trio only saw the beginning portion of it all and went into their own thing.</p>
      <p>"No luck then."</p>
      <p>"They did seem chummy earlier."</p>
      <p>"If by chummy you mean just sitting together in silence for hours, then yes 'chummy'." Said Garrus. He then pulled out his Omni-tool and showed the pair a picture.</p>
      <p>"Oh~ they look cute like that." Jane preened.</p>
      <p>Kaidan chuckled at the commander's response of seeing the picture Garrus took of Roxas and Tali practically sleeping against each other.</p>
      <p>"How many did you get?"</p>
      <p>"A few spread out on their little sleep time. Too bad I wasn't there to get a picture of them waking up. Would've liked to see Tali's response of being in such a position." Garrus chortled.</p>
      <p>"Roxas is gone!"</p>
      <p>The group jolted at the sudden proclamation, turning to the Quarian they had been teasing just a moment ago.</p>
      <p>"What now?" Jane said, mind processing what Tali just said.</p>
      <p>"Roxas." The expert engineer stressed. "He just up and left."</p>
      <p>"Where? On the Citadel?" Kaidan asked with Tali shaking her head.</p>
      <p>"No, he left with his teleportation corridor power."</p>
      <p>This put off the trio, exchanging looks with one another.</p>
      <p>"Did… did he say where he was going?"</p>
      <p>"I don't know." Tali stressed out.</p>
      <p>"What do you mean 'you don't know'?"</p>
      <p>"It's what I said, Shepard."</p>
      <p>"Then do you have any idea for-"</p>
      <p>"He said he wanted to find answers… to everything." Tali interrupted.</p>
      <p>Ok, that didn't really sit well with Jane for the most part.</p>
      <p>"...That is rather vague."</p>
      <p>"He'll be back, right?" Tali asked nervously.</p>
      <p>Jane opened her mouth, closed it, then opened it again.</p>
      <p>"Yeah… yeah, definitely."</p>
      <p>She didn't really know if she was trying to convince Tali… or herself right now.</p>
      <p>
        <em>-Scene Cut-</em>
      </p>
      <p>Within a castle of contraptions, far below where there were many floating platforms and the water seemed to be rising upwards.</p>
      <p>At the lowest platform, a dark corridor appeared, receding moments later to reveal a young teen in a black hood.</p>
      <p>Pulling his hood back, Roxas gazed up at the large castle that had the Heartless symbol on it.</p>
      <p>"It's real." Roxas whispered to himself. "This is… Hollow Bastion."</p>
      <p>These weren't visions or dreams.</p>
      <p>They were memories.</p>
      <p>Memories of Sora.</p>
      <p>…</p>
      <p>…</p>
      <p>…</p>
      <p>What was he hoping to find here?</p>
      <p>Standing there for a few seconds, Roxas came to the conclusion that he needed to confirm for himself that this was a real place.</p>
      <p>Sora was here.</p>
      <p>Then that meant… he was in all those other places.</p>
      <p>Those worlds.</p>
      <p>Roxas had to be sure.</p>
      <p>The Corridor of Darkness enshrouded him once more, teleporting him away to another world.</p>
      <p>He came onto a land composed with all cooky craziness where the one prominent rose maze seemed to represent the World. It's residents were rather zany with Card Soldiers, a queen that sprouted "off with their head" for no apparent reason and an odd trio of individuals obsessed with tea of all things.</p>
      <p>The next place he wound up at was apparently a treehouse set high above a jungle of all places. He would've explored more, but heard voices coming from inside with the door nearby opening up. Leaping off the nearest platform, he dived towards the rainforest below and used a Dark Corridor to get outta there.</p>
      <p>He soon landed upon a dark and dreary place with tombstones set all around. The pale moon light shined down upon the land as he got a better view of the environment. And in the distance, he could see a town of sorts with a chorus number being heard, something pertaining to "Halloween".</p>
      <p>Sliding down the curved hill, Roxas used another Corridor to wind up in a desert environment. It's heat blazed upon the land as the coat wearing teen was not affected at all, thanks to his current apparel. Gazing in the distance, he saw a palace.</p>
      <p>Seemingly satisfied with seeing the structure, he opened up another Corridor and stepped right through it. Once on the other side, he appeared to be in some sort of city.</p>
      <p>"...Huh… Wonder what this place is."</p>
      <p>Roxas had pictured a Coliseum, but instead he found himself somewhere else, a city even.</p>
      <p>The architecture appeared similar with what he saw in his "dreams". He didn't know if his destination was set off or not, due to him not fully focusing on it or whatever from his quick jumps.</p>
      <p>Ascending a flight of stairs, passing by many pedestrians moving along their business, he came to the top and saw something "definitely" familiar.</p>
      <p>"Right, there's the Coliseum."</p>
      <p>It was in the distance, but it was hard to lose track of it now, given how big it was.</p>
      <p>Satisfied with the result, Roxas made his way to a secluded area. He would've used a Corridor right then and there, but he didn't want to startle the locals with his departure.</p>
      <p>"Hey, kid."</p>
      <p>Roxas looked over and saw a shady looking man approaching him with a red cap and a large grey cloak wrapped around him.</p>
      <p>"Yes?"</p>
      <p>Suddenly, the man unfurled the cloak, spreading the cloth to reveal-</p>
      <p>"Wanna buy a sundial?"</p>
      <p>Attached all over his body and most of the cloth were varying sizes of sundials all spread out.</p>
      <p>"...No thanks, not interested." Said Roxas before pulling up his arm. "Besides, I got something far better than a sundial."</p>
      <p>"Please, like there can be anything-"</p>
      <p>In an orange flash, Roxas' Omni-tool appeared around his arm and showed the salesman the current time.</p>
      <p>"..."</p>
      <p>"..."</p>
      <p>"..."</p>
      <p>"I should get going now."</p>
      <p>Walking away from the man, it didn't take long for the man to yell out at the top of his lungs.</p>
      <p>"SORCERY!"</p>
      <p>"What in Hades name is goin' on here!" Yelled out another pedestrian, seeing the one salesman freaking out all of a sudden.</p>
      <p>"Oh it's just the crazy sundial man." Said another. "Don't mind him. He just harassing another person and finally getting his comeuppance."</p>
      <p>After leaving the one salesman behind, Roxas entered a nearby alley and used another Corridor to leave that World.</p>
      <p>Next thing he knew, he wound up in another jungle… or was it a forest.</p>
      <p>"Weird… this is the second time in a row." He muttered aloud.</p>
      <p>Roxas picturing a pirate ship of all things as his destination, but for some reason he ended up… here…</p>
      <p>Where is "here" anyways?</p>
      <p>Deciding to search once more, Roxas traversed through the dirt path, not knowing he was being followed.</p>
      <p>It took a while for him to get through the forest, but he ended up near a cliffside.</p>
      <p>"Am I on a coastline?" He questioned himself.</p>
      <p>In the far off distance, he saw an island with a skull-shaped rock formation. Looking back, there seemed to be a small village set on a hill some miles out. And when he looked down towards the ocean he finally spotted what he came here for.</p>
      <p>"And there's the ship."</p>
      <p>He was thankful it was docked near the coast as he saw several pirates doing their business. It's captain was shouting out orders to his crew about "treasure" this or "Lost Boys" that.</p>
      <p>Satisfied once more, Roxas was about to leave when something flew right in front of his face.</p>
      <p>"WHOA!"</p>
      <p>A bright yellow light shined right in front of his face. And for some apparent reason, all he could hear were quick chimes of bells ringing in his ears.</p>
      <p>Focusing on his vision, he blinked in surprise when he saw the light was in fact a person; a small floating person at that!</p>
      <p>She appeared to roughly be the size of his hand. Her blonde hair was tied back into a high knot with a very small blue ribbon with bangs hanging over her forehead. Her green leafy dress revealed her arms and legs with a pair of green shoes being worn. And on her back were a pair of fairy wings.</p>
      <p>Upon closer inspection, Roxas saw her blue eyes sparkle as she wore the biggest smile.</p>
      <p>In a flash, she spread her body out with a series of chimes being heard. Next thing he knew, she seemed to hug his head with her entire body.</p>
      <p>Suddenly, the Nobody seemed to laugh all of a sudden without his control.</p>
      <p>"Hey, quit it, Tink!" He chuckled out.</p>
      <p>The moment he said that his eyes blinked in surprise before they widened.</p>
      <p>Why did he say that? And in a tone of such familiarity?</p>
      <p>He somewhat remembered the fairy's name being Tinkerbell from his "dreams" but him saying it in such a way seemed rather strange.</p>
      <p>Yet why did he have this odd sense of happiness rushing through him?</p>
      <p>Tinkerbell let go of his face as she laughed.</p>
      <p>Once more, she let out a series of bell-like chimes as he saw her mouth open and close.</p>
      <p>Was she speaking to him? Apparently so. Yet he can't understand whatever language she's speaking.</p>
      <p>"Sorry, I can't understand you."</p>
      <p>Tinkerbell waved him off before encircling him.</p>
      <p>Trailing behind her, Roxas saw some sort of dust coming off of her as she flew. It spread all over that it started to cake him from head to toe in the stuff.</p>
      <p>"Eh… What did you do?" He inquired, inspecting himself and saw the dust seemingly disappearing. "What is this stuff? It's glowing..." When the last bit of dust vanished, he started glowing a yellow aura before it died down. "And what was that?"</p>
      <p>Tinkerbell only answered in her usual chimes.</p>
      <p>He soon saw her dive towards the cliffside beside him. With her feet placed on the ground, she walked towards the edge and jumped off, soon floating in the air.</p>
      <p>"I… don't understand what you're meaning?"</p>
      <p>The little fairy did the act once more but emphasizing a whole lot more on the jumping portion.</p>
      <p>"Y-You want me to <em><strong>jump?!</strong></em> Why?"</p>
      <p>Tink gestured to her wings first before using her hands to move in a fluttering motion.</p>
      <p>"...Wait… Are… Are you saying I can <em><strong>fly?!</strong></em>"</p>
      <p>Tinkerbell nodded with a smile.</p>
      <p>"Well… Alright… I guess I'll have to trust you." Stepping towards the edge of the cliff, he was about to jump when he turned back to the fairy. "If I fall into the ocean and get wet, then I guess you'll get a laugh on the joke you pulled."</p>
      <p>Tinkerbell only rolled her eyes before ushering him to jump once more.</p>
      <p>Shaking his head a little, he closed his eyes and jumped.</p>
      <p>As he descended towards the ocean down below, something flashed before his mind. He didn't know why it came, but it just did.</p>
      <p>It was of Sora, doing the same thing that he was about to do. But… running through Sora's mind was of a memory that brought him joy. That gave him belief in what he was about to do.</p>
      <p>And with that…</p>
      <p>A memory of him being with Axel and Xion, eating ice cream at Twilight Town.</p>
      <p>The memory was rather pleasant as he hoped to see his first two friends again, telling them of what he went through since he saw them last.</p>
      <p>It was from this memory a series of them came rushing through his head. And all of them had one big connection.</p>
      <p>His time on the Normandy.</p>
      <p>But more importantly, his time being with its ground crew, it's pilot, it's doctor and it's commander.</p>
      <p>When he opened his eyes, he saw he hadn't moved at all. Looking around, Roxas was confused with what's happening.</p>
      <p>Until he peered downwards.</p>
      <p>"WHOA! I-I did it! I'm flying!"</p>
      <p>Well technically he's presently floating mid-air some inches away from his feet touching the water.</p>
      <p>But still, flying!</p>
      <p>Soon enough, he rose higher and higher into the air. Before he knew it, he was high up into the sky that he was able to see the place where he was presently at.</p>
      <p>A giddy feeling arose within him, trembling with excitement as he suddenly laughed aloud, beginning to fly about in the air with unrepentant glee. Loops and flips abound, Roxas was enjoying the liberating feeling of the wind whipping through his hair while he zoomed about.</p>
      <p>Funny… he swore he felt like he flew before.</p>
      <p>Upon looking at the place down below, Roxas thought he was at some larger landmass; like a coastline or something. In reality, he wound up at some large island with nothing but ocean surrounding it as far as his eyes could see.</p>
      <p>Without realizing it, he dived towards the island below as he started zooming all over the place with Tink by his side.</p>
      <p>The one village he saw before appeared to have no buildings at all. Instead of stone, wood or steel structures, they were tents. Reaching another part of the island, he came across a cove where he saw a number of mermaids interacting with one another. And soon enough, Roxas' little island tour came to an end when he landed before a large dead tree placed in a large open area.</p>
      <p>"Thanks for the gift, Tink." He said with a genuine smile.</p>
      <p>The little fairy nodded in glee, accepting his 'thank you'.</p>
      <p>Roxas then pondered a little on what was happening earlier. How could he fly?</p>
      <p>Was it because of the dust Tink sprinkled on him? Yes. But was there something else to it?</p>
      <p>There had to be as he suddenly thought of happy memories all of a sudden with no explanation.</p>
      <p>Could… Could happy thoughts and memories be a key to this new ability of his?</p>
      <p>Strange...</p>
      <p>Soon enough, the little grasped his hand and tried to pull him towards the dead tree as if wanting to introduce him to someone or something.</p>
      <p>And yet.</p>
      <p>"Sorry, Tink." Roxas said apologetically, prying his hand away. "As much as I'd let you take me… <em>somewhere</em>, I have someplace I need to be."</p>
      <p>He honestly wouldn't have minded, but there was something that came up during his flight.</p>
      <p>When he was inspecting this island, his mind flashed onto another island. A place that seemed connected to him rather deeply somehow.</p>
      <p>Tinkerbell pouted upon hearing this. Even kicking a little as if someone hurt her pet bug or something.</p>
      <p>Seeing her disappointment, Roxas gave her a reassuring smile. "Hey, don't worry. I'll come back as a means of me repaying you for making me be able to fly. I promise."</p>
      <p>Tinkerbell soon glared at him, pursing her lips and waving her hand at him. It didn't take much guess work for him to realize she was going along the lines of "you better" or "I'll be waiting."</p>
      <p>"Don't worry, I will."</p>
      <p>Tinkerbell nodded in glee as she waved him off before flying away to parts unknown.</p>
      <p>Chuckling to himself, Roxas opened up a Corridor and made his way right through.</p>
      <p>He went from a dirt field to a sandy shore.</p>
      <p>By the end of his little "tour", Roxas wound up on…</p>
      <p>"This is his <em>home</em>." He murmured.</p>
      <p>This place was the Destiny Islands.</p>
      <p>Where Sora grew up with his friends Riku and Kairi.</p>
      <p>Still…</p>
      <p>That didn't explain just why he was having these dreams or just who Sora was really.</p>
      <p>Looking around, Roxas spotted that familiar lone island with the strangely bent tree that had those star shaped fruits hanging off them.</p>
      <p>Making his way towards the tree, Roxas soon found himself standing on familiar ground with a wave of nostalgia hitting him.</p>
      <p>Without realizing it, he hopped up on the tree and was seated on the tree with him gazing out at the sunset.</p>
      <p>It was… beautiful.</p>
      <p>So very familiar as well.</p>
      <p>But Roxas was never here before until today. How can he find this place so nostalgic if he never came from here.</p>
      <p>He was born without memories but then he started getting these visions.</p>
      <p>Were they his memories?</p>
      <p>But how can they be?</p>
      <p>There were some similarities with Sora but he looked different enough from the brown haired boy that they were easily distinguishable from one another.</p>
      <p>So… what was the connection?</p>
      <p>Jumping down from the tree, he leaned back against it, head down as he contemplated on what to do next.</p>
      <p>He had gone to a number of the worlds that Sora has been to and he now stood where it all began for him.</p>
      <p>Even met one of his friends, Tinkerbell.</p>
      <p>Where else was there left to go?</p>
      <p>Roxas stood there for a number of minutes until he looked back up at the sunset with the lights dancing across the water and sky.</p>
      <p>It was breathtaking really.</p>
      <p>A lot like the clocktower at Twilight Town.</p>
      <p>At the thought of the usual place, Roxas felt a pang of guilt, thinking about Xion and Axel.</p>
      <p>He missed them.</p>
      <p>He wanted to see them.</p>
      <p>…</p>
      <p>And they were back in the World that may hold the answers to what he was looking for.</p>
      <p>It was time he returned home.</p>
      <p>With that, calling upon the Dark Corridor once more, Roxas left the Destiny Islands.</p>
      <p>
        <em>-Scene Cut-</em>
      </p>
      <p>
        <em>The World That Never Was</em>
      </p>
      <p>He was back.</p>
      <p>Back in his old room within the castle of the Organization.</p>
      <p>It was so… bizarre to be standing here.</p>
      <p>For nearly half of his existence, this is all he had ever known.</p>
      <p>But now, in the other half… it was indescribable by this point.</p>
      <p>The Normandy and her crew felt more a home to Roxas than this room had ever been to him.</p>
      <p>The only real connection that he could think of here was Axel and Xion.</p>
      <p>No. VIII was the one he had truly gotten to know when he first started out. The fiery Nobody showed him the ropes, instructed him on his duties and was his first friend.</p>
      <p>He's the one who started his border-line addiction to Sea-Salt Ice Cream.</p>
      <p>Xion started around the same time as he did and soon after, he befriended her as well.</p>
      <p>It didn't take long for her to join him and Axel at the clocktower with the trio spending every single day there at the end of their missions.</p>
      <p>He really missed that right about now the more he dwelled within his room.</p>
      <p>Shaking his head, Roxas left his room, walking out into the hallway that would eventually lead him down to the old mission room.</p>
      <p>It didn't take long for him to get there, standing in the grey colored lounge area as he saw that it was quite empty.</p>
      <p>That was certainly strange.</p>
      <p>Where was everybody?</p>
      <p>Saix wasn't even here.</p>
      <p>"Perhaps they were on missions already." He guessed.</p>
      <p>Seeing as he wouldn't find anything by just waiting here, Roxas left the room and went searching for the other Organization members.</p>
      <p>Scouring the Castle That Never Was for quite a while, Roxas was having no such luck in finding anyone. Not even a shred of evidence of their current whereabouts.</p>
      <p>No. XIII was about to call it quits and perhaps try again later in the day when everyone was back-</p>
      <p>"How is the puppet's progress?"</p>
      <p>That voice… it was Xemnas'.</p>
      <p>"Stifling, to say the least, Lord Xemnas." A more dignified voice drawled. "Without Roxas near her proximity, the puppets' Keyblade capabilities are fleeting to say the least. She can summon it regularly now, yes. But much of her abilities leave a great deal to be desired."</p>
      <p>That one… was Vexen if he recalled it correctly.</p>
      <p>"Can't all be that bad," a more laid back voice said. "Least the Poppet can collect Hearts properly now."</p>
      <p>Xigbar. Easily.</p>
      <p>"But it isn't enough." Vexen declared. "Without <em>both</em> Roxas and Xion, our plans for Kingdom Hearts will never come to fruition. She struggles in wiping out the more tougher Heartless we send her way on these missions of hers."</p>
      <p>Wait… what did he just say?</p>
      <p>"It can't all be that bad." Xigbar said. "She may be a puppet but she can still grow on her own. We'll just have her tackle weaker Heartless. Reduce the intake till she gets stronger herself."</p>
      <p>The Organization was the ones sending out the Heartless?</p>
      <p>How?</p>
      <p>From what they told him, the Heartless just appeared and went about collecting hearts for themselves.</p>
      <p>Wordlessly, Roxas held out his arm and had his Omni-Tool appear as he started recording this conversation.</p>
      <p>"Her experience is a very slow climb without No. XIII around. It's a miracle now that she can barely handle things on her own. Yet she failed on a few of her past missions." Said the resident scientist. "Had to jump in and save her or else she would've been destroyed."</p>
      <p>"Couldn't we just use another Replica of yours?"</p>
      <p>"As if it were that simple, Xigbar. Her present condition would be hard to make another replacement should she fall. All that power she gained from Roxas before his abrupt disappearance and her current experience would be utterly wasted." Vexen said bitterly.</p>
      <p>"Then what is it that you suggest we do, No. IV." Xemnas spoke slowly, methodically even. "We have the entire Organization scouring multiple Worlds for Roxas while unleashing Heartless across them all and we have found nary a trace or hair on our wayward Keybearer."</p>
      <p>"At least we know the kid's alive." Said the Sharpshooter. "Been getting an influx of Hearts as of late and Kingdom Hearts is progressing nicely as we speak."</p>
      <p>"We must figure out where they're all coming from." Vexen mused aloud. "If you would excuse me, Lord Xemnas. I have work to attend to in Castle Oblivion."</p>
      <p>"Oh~" Xigbar said aloud. "I heard some interesting rumors there, Vexen. Is it true? About Riku being in the castle?"</p>
      <p>"Indeed, Xigbar." The Chilly Academic confirmed. "I have recently clashed with the young man and have acquired a great deal of necessary data that will prove useful in the future. Even Axel fought with him, out of sheer boredom before asking for his input. Even Zexion contributed."</p>
      <p>"Then by all means, Vexen. You may go." Xemnas said, Roxas hearing the familiar sound of the Corridor of Darkness signifying No. IV's departure.</p>
      <p>No. XIII stood there in his hiding place, thinking over what he had just heard when the other two members inside the room began speaking to each other once more.</p>
      <p>"Without Roxas here, Xion is now a more valuable piece in our goals." Xemnas said in his deep tone.</p>
      <p>"Heh~ From sidelines to center stage." Xigbar wiped away a crocodile tear from his lone eye. "I'm so proud of her."</p>
      <p>"She will continue to perform as she is instructed until Roxas is found." Xemnas said. "Afterwards… we shall dispose of the Puppet."</p>
      <p>"Really? That soon?"</p>
      <p>"Vexen has proven to us that he still needs to work out many details with his replicas." No. I declared. "Xion's lack of progress is more of a hindrance than a benefit. And from what I have observed… she appears rather hesitant going about her duties."</p>
      <p>"Are we on that much of a timetable?" Xigbar asked.</p>
      <p>Roxas didn't hear anything for a moment, not knowing what sort of non-verbal response Xemnas gave to the free shooter.</p>
      <p>"How much longer do you think we can keep up the act? They may buy it for now, but sooner or later, they're gonna realize this whole 'Kingdom Hearts for our own Hearts' plan is bogus, you know?" No. II Remarked.</p>
      <p>Roxas froze, a cold chill going down his body.</p>
      <p>"They will continue to serve if they value their existence."</p>
      <p>Xigbar snorted aloud. "You mean non-existence right? Heh~ My Munny's gonna be when they're just about to kick the bucket."</p>
      <p>"It might just be for most, if not all who are not in the know." The Superior of the Organization then voiced an inquiry. "What do you think of our puppet?"</p>
      <p>"Do not worry, Xemnas. Our spare 'Key' will do as we commanded." Xigbar chuckled. "And by 'we' I mean 'you'. After all, either 'Key' is all a part of your plan. Using the Keyblade's power and all that."</p>
      <p>Xemnas only hummed aloud. "She's barely meeting our expectations. And still without Roxas's presence, the transfer has been halted."</p>
      <p>"I say we should just follow Larxene's idea and snatch Sora up, wherever he's at, and let Xion get the power directly before we off her." Xigbar said. "When we make a new replica, easy transfer right there. Fully powered up and ready to do our dirty work."</p>
      <p>At this point, Xemnas was probably willing to follow up with that offered suggestion.</p>
      <p>"If only it were so simple."</p>
      <p>"Right… still got no idea where he up and disappeared to after he beat your Heartless self." Xigbar groused out. "Seems both Somebody and Nobody are more similar than we would've thought."</p>
      <p>The leader of the Organization only hummed aloud.</p>
      <p>"Have you heard any news from Castle Oblivion?"</p>
      <p>"Aside from what we already know, not much else." Xigbar said. "Why? Still thinking on having Riku as one of the others?"</p>
      <p>"His link with Darkness is… <em>potent</em>, strong. And if given proper time and guidance, will become worthy once again."</p>
      <p>"If I remember correctly, your other half already made the connection with the other islander. He could be another candidate to fill the role."</p>
      <p>"Indeed."</p>
      <p>"So, even if things got out of whack, we can still realign the board in our favor." Xigbar stated. "Just gotta make a new Poppet and send it out and take care of our wayward 'Key' and see who comes out on top." No. II said with a shrug before becoming a bit more serious. "Think we'll find Roxas anytime soon?"</p>
      <p>"It shall only be a matter of time." No. I stated. "And when that time comes…"</p>
      <p>"We'll have the next vessel." Xigbar stated.</p>
      <p>"We only require one with the full and complete powers for our plans… in the end, it doesn't matter <em>which</em> one."</p>
      <p>Soon after, more sounds of Dark Corridors were heard with No. XIII being truly alone again. His Omni-Tool flickered off with his hand hanging limply by his side.</p>
      <p>They knew who Sora was…</p>
      <p>They knew… What was it that they were talking about?</p>
      <p>What were their plans?</p>
      <p>What did the Organization mean to these two?</p>
      <p>By the end of this, Roxas felt something stinging in his eyes. Bringing his leather clad hand up to his cheeks, he wiped it away and pulled back the appendage to see something wet staining the leather.</p>
      <p>'Tears?'</p>
      <p>He was… crying?</p>
      <p>How?</p>
      <p>He was a Nobody.</p>
      <p>Nobody's weren't meant to feel… anything…</p>
      <p>'What if that's not true?'</p>
      <p>The stray thought found itself rooted firmly in his mind now.</p>
      <p>What if that was also a lie?</p>
      <p>What if everything Xemnas, and apparently Xigbar, had said to all the members of the Organization was a lie?</p>
      <p>Their goal was, apparently.</p>
      <p>So truly… they could not be trusted.</p>
      <p>With a blank face, Roxas turned and began to walk away.</p>
      <p>Next thing he knew, his calm brisk walk down the hallway became a full out run.</p>
      <p>He kept on running with tears openly streaming down his eyes.</p>
      <p>Ending back up in his quarters, he closed the door behind him panting aloud with widened eyes.</p>
      <p>He quickly rubbed them dry and began pacing around in the room.</p>
      <p>Summoning his Keyblade, he peered on to the weapon.</p>
      <p>'Why am I in the Organization? Why were <em>we</em> in the Organization?' He thought, tightening his grip. 'We're the only ones able to use the Keyblade. That made us extra special to the rest of the members.' He then gritted his teeth with rage slowly surfacing. 'Xion and I were the only ones able to call upon this damn thing!'</p>
      <p>Rearing his arm back, he roared. "What's so special about this, anyways?! This stupid KEY!"</p>
      <p>*CRASH*</p>
      <p>Next thing he knew, he saw his Keyblade breaking through his window and soaring through the darkness outside.</p>
      <p>"...Crap."</p>
      <p>He did not mean to break the window.</p>
      <p>Someone must've heard it.</p>
      <p>It would be an utter miracle if no one heard that.</p>
      <p>In an instant, the Keyblade appeared in a flash, hovering before him.</p>
      <p>After some moments of self-thought, he spoke aloud.</p>
      <p>"...What? Are you telling me we can't rid ourselves of you… No matter how much we run?"</p>
      <p>The Keyblade glowed, signifying some answer to him.</p>
      <p>Gritting his teeth, Roxas didn't care this time if he was heard. "I've had enough of this! Why'd it have to be me?! To be Xion?!" Fresh new tears soon came streaming down his cheeks as a pain in his chest started to throb. "Why?.. Just… why?"</p>
      <p>Wiping away the tears, his blue eyes came across his bed as his Keyblade disappeared from his gaze.</p>
      <p>It was then did he see something he didn't remember there beforehand.</p>
      <p>Ice-cream sticks with "Winner" pressed into the wood.</p>
      <p>And there were a lot of them.</p>
      <p>But why were they there?</p>
      <p>"Xion…"</p>
      <p>Roxas's eyes widened exponentially. She was in danger!</p>
      <p>They were planning on destroying her!</p>
      <p>And then there was Axel. He had also been lied to.</p>
      <p>Xemnas and Xigbar basically confirmed it.</p>
      <p>Everybody in the Organization were nothing more than pawns. Tools to be used for whatever it was Numbers I and II had planned.</p>
      <p>He needed to find them! But where were they?!</p>
      <p>"Wait." He whispered. "They said Castle Oblivion. And Axel's there."</p>
      <p>At least he knew the destination, but now he needed to find the directions.</p>
      <p>Pulling up his arm, his Omni-tool sprang to life.</p>
      <p>With a smirk slowly forming, an idea formed.</p>
      <p>"Time to finally test if Tali's lessons really paid off."</p>
      <p>
        <em>-Scene Cut-</em>
      </p>
      <p>Within the small "hangout" room, as Axel had taken to calling it, it was currently being occupied by said individual who gave it the name, Xion, Namine, and their newest dog companion.</p>
      <p>Axel was lounging about on the couch whilst the two girls played and fawned over the dog.</p>
      <p>No. VIII watched on, a small fond look in his eyes at the sight of the girls having so much fun.</p>
      <p>It was a rather calming sight for the red-head.</p>
      <p>A nice change of pace rather than lording over a castle that was too damn big for him alone to manage.</p>
      <p>He had already heard what was going on in the basements below.</p>
      <p>Some kid named Riku apparently had arrived from out of the blue and Zexion wished to observe him.</p>
      <p>Fine, whatever. More power to him. Least he had something to keep himself busy. Even himself at one point when he got really bored.</p>
      <p>As he continued to relax on the couch, Xion and Namine continued to play with their dog when the latter abruptly stopped.</p>
      <p>Her action caught Xion's attention.</p>
      <p>"Namine? Is something wrong?"</p>
      <p>Hearing Xion's question, Axel raised his head, having also seen Namine's change in demeanor.</p>
      <p>"What's up, Namine?" Axel asked a moment later.</p>
      <p>The platinum blonde teen didn't respond at first until…</p>
      <p>"Sora…"</p>
      <p>The two members of the Organization shared a look of confusion.</p>
      <p>"Who's Sora?" Axel inquired.</p>
      <p>Xion shared the sentiment yet… there was something unusually familiar about that name.</p>
      <p>Namine's expression fell slightly.</p>
      <p>"He's… he's someone that Marluxia was after." Namine stated, bewildering both her friends.</p>
      <p>"What now?" Axel sat up now, fully attentive. "What does old Marly want with this Sora guy?"</p>
      <p>The young girl was unsure on whether or not she should divulge No. XI's plan…</p>
      <p>But Axel and Xion were her friends.</p>
      <p>They kept her company and had been so much more kinder to her than the Graceful Assassin had ever been.</p>
      <p>So, it only made sense that she would tell them everything.</p>
      <p>To say that Axel and Xion were stunned would be putting mildly.</p>
      <p>This Sora kid also had the Keyblade?</p>
      <p>And Marluxia wanted that power for himself to control the Organization?</p>
      <p>No. VIII couldn't help but scoff at the absurdity to No. XI's plan.</p>
      <p>As if that would be enough to overthrow the Organization.</p>
      <p>Still, Axel's curiosity was now piqued.</p>
      <p>"So why bring him up now then?"</p>
      <p>"...Because he's here."</p>
      <p>"...Huh? Say what now?"</p>
      <p>"When we let out our dog outside for some fresh air earlier, he soon found Sora and… <em>brought</em> him here."</p>
      <p>"...Okay, but why? And why am I just hearing about this now?"</p>
      <p>"I do not have all the answers, Axel."</p>
      <p>No. VIII exhaled a sigh. "Alright, alright. I'll see this kid and see what his deal is. Hopefully, he'll give me as much of a challenge as the other one downstairs."</p>
      <p>With that said, he used a Corridor to meet their new 'guest'.</p>
      <p>
        <em>And speaking of 'guest'...</em>
      </p>
      <p>Sora stared up at the large castle before him, Donald and Goofy conversing/arguing nearby.</p>
      <p>What was this place?</p>
      <p>He didn't know how to put it, but there seemed to be something odd about this place.</p>
      <p>Like 'familiar' odd.</p>
      <p>Wanting to see what this place was, Sora came up to the front door and made his way through with Donald and Goofy's help.</p>
      <p>Once the doorway was opened, Pluto, the King's pet dog came rushing <em>out </em>of the building.</p>
      <p>"Pluto!" Donald exclaimed. "Why'd ya up and run off ahead?"</p>
      <p>"Yeah boy." Sora reached down to pet the King's dog. "Better yet… how'd you even get in here?"</p>
      <p>Upon gazing about the ivory white space, Goofy voiced an inquiry. "Hey, ya think it's okay to barge in?"</p>
      <p>"But we gotta do it," said the court magician, "if we're gonna find the king…"</p>
      <p>The Captain of the Guard quickly flailed, whirling his head all over the place. "The king!? King Mickey's here?"</p>
      <p>"I don't know." Donald admitted. "But something just told me he was here, ok?"</p>
      <p>"Really?" Goofy was certainly surprised by this statement. "Cuz, now that you mention it, I was thinking the same thing!"</p>
      <p>"Seriously?!" Sora was in disbelief. "Me too! Just one look at this place and… I knew. Our best friends were here."</p>
      <p>"But what is this place?" Donald asked, looking around.</p>
      <p>From within Sora's pocket, Jiminy sprang out and perched himself on the Keybearers shoulder. "We were following Pluto, who had the King's letter."</p>
      <p>Goofy nodded. "Speaking of, where is the letter?"</p>
      <p>"Pluto must've dropped it somewhere on accident." Donald guessed.</p>
      <p>"Gawrsh, I really hope he's here."</p>
      <p>"<em>Nope. Wrong on that account."</em></p>
      <p>The trio jumped in surprise at the voice that echoed around the chamber.</p>
      <p>A Dark Corridor sprang behind the trio, startling them in the process as the front entrance closed back up.</p>
      <p>When it disbursed, they were greeted with Axel, who faintly smiled at them.</p>
      <p>"Hello!" The red head greeted in faux cheer.</p>
      <p>"Huh?" Sora said, summoning his Keyblade with Donald and Goofy summoning their wand and shield, respectively. "Who are you?"</p>
      <p>"Name's Axel." The Nobody introduced himself. "A-X-E-L. Lord of this castle. Got it memorized?"</p>
      <p>"Um…" Sora looked to his two companions with Pluto bounding up to the newcomer before them, panting happily up at him.</p>
      <p>This put the trio subconsciously at ease.</p>
      <p>It seemed Pluto was familiar and rather friendly with this Axel fellow.</p>
      <p>"How do you know Pluto?" Goofy asked curiously.</p>
      <p>"What makes ya think I know him?" Axel said cheekily. "Maybe I'm just a dog person."</p>
      <p>"I dunno." Goofy said, scratching his head. "Pluto seems awfully friendly to ya."</p>
      <p>"Pluto?" Axel voiced, looking at the dog by his legs. "So that's your name, huh?"</p>
      <p>At least it's better than Xion and Namine calling him 'puppy' or 'doggie'.</p>
      <p>"So… What do you want?" Sora asked warily, standing up straight though keeping his Keyblade still in hand.</p>
      <p>As this went on, Jiminy Cricket had his journal whipped out ready to transcribe this latest event.</p>
      <p>"Oh, I'm just here to greet my new 'guests'. And yet you three are intruding on private property."</p>
      <p>"We didn't mean to, honest." Said Goofy.</p>
      <p>"We were just following Pluto." Sora defended his dog friend.</p>
      <p>As this went on, Axel gazed down at the Keyblade that Sora still held.</p>
      <p>"So… it is true." Axel said aloud. "You can wield the Keyblade just like <em>him</em>."</p>
      <p>"What?" Asked Sora</p>
      <p>"What?" Donald squawked. "Who are you talking about?"</p>
      <p>"Are ya talkin' about King Mickey?" Goofy inquired.</p>
      <p>The only other person they knew who wielded a Keyblade these days, asides from Sora, was their old friend Mickey.</p>
      <p>Axel suddenly had a sly grin. "Maybe~"</p>
      <p>"Tell us." Donald declared.</p>
      <p>"Make me~"</p>
      <p>To put more annoyance towards the talking duck, Axel blew a raspberry at him.</p>
      <p>"That's it!" With a wave of his wand, Donald called out a spell. "THUNDER!"</p>
      <p>Axel stood there with his arms crossed, shit eating grin now plastered on his face.</p>
      <p>"Was something <em>supposed</em> to happen?" he taunted.</p>
      <p>"I… I know I had this right. THUNDER!"</p>
      <p>…..</p>
      <p>…..</p>
      <p>…..</p>
      <p>"You know, you can <em>admit</em> if you have performance issues. There's no shame in that."</p>
      <p>Donald quickly grew red from both anger and embarrassment.</p>
      <p>"Donald, what did he mean by that? Is it because of your spell work?"</p>
      <p>Goofy and Jiminy facepalmed at this.</p>
      <p>Oh Sora, you poor, pure innocent teenager...</p>
      <p>"Okay, okay. Enough teasing."</p>
      <p>With a snap of his fingers, something clicked inside of the trio's heads.</p>
      <p>They felt a rush of familiarity wash over them, their forms glowing momentarily.</p>
      <p>"W-What was that?" Sora rasped out, holding his head a little with his two friends sharing the same action.</p>
      <p>"A safety precaution for intruders." Axel explained. "Cuts off one's 'knowledge', or so I am told. But now I gave you 'permission' to use said 'knowledge' to come at me."</p>
      <p>In all honesty, he didn't understand the whole thing when Zexion explained everything of his title as "Lord of the Castle".</p>
      <p>"Donald." Sora and Goofy rounded on their shortest friend scoldingly.</p>
      <p>"Don't go attacking someone like that if they're not gonna attack us first." Sora stressed out with the Wizard realizing his bullheaded action just now.</p>
      <p>"Oh… Um… sorry." Donald sheepishly said.</p>
      <p>"Least you learned your lesson." Axel chided, smirk returning to him.</p>
      <p>"Gawrsh, so you're in charge of this castle?" Goofy asked. "Sorry for barging in like that."</p>
      <p>Axel waved the Knight off, descending down from where he stood.</p>
      <p>"So, what brings you all here to my… "Humble" abode?" Axel asked, arms crossed.</p>
      <p>"We're looking for our friends." Sora declared. "Riku and King Mickey. Have you seen 'em?"</p>
      <p>"I may have, I might have not." Axel said offhandedly.</p>
      <p>Sora clenched his teeth. "Come on, quit it with the games! Have you seen them or not?"</p>
      <p>"Well, how can I have seen them, when I don't even know <em>who</em> you're talking about." Axel countered. "For argument's sake, I could've met 'a' Riku and 'a' Mickey, but not the ones you're specifically looking for."</p>
      <p>Sora, Donald and Goofy were unsure how to respond to this strange man's wordplay.</p>
      <p>"So… how about we make a deal?"</p>
      <p>"A deal?" The trio before him repeated in confusion.</p>
      <p>"Yeah, a simple deal. Beat me and I'll tell you what I know."</p>
      <p>The trio looked at each other and conversed with each other for a brief moment. Once facing Axel, they accepted the deal.</p>
      <p>Snapping out his arms, a torrent of flames appeared before his palms. When they died down, a pair of chakrams were quickly snatched before he dangled them freely in his grasp.</p>
      <p>"Now then, Keyblade Master, show me what you got."</p>
      <p>Sora and co. jumped back at Axel's sudden conjuring of weapons, the trio wielding their own as they prepared themselves for a fight.</p>
      <p>Before the new arrivals clashed with the "Lord of the Castle", the front door was barged open.</p>
      <p>"Holy crap that's one heavy door."</p>
      <p>Hearing the familiar voice, Axel whirled around with his green eyes widening.</p>
      <p>Sure enough, the red-head was greeted to the sight of someone he had not seen in a long while.</p>
      <p>"Roxas?" No. VIII said in disbelief.</p>
      <p>No. XIII's expression brightened up upon seeing his old friend. "Axel!"</p>
      <p>"Roxas!"</p>
      <p>The sandy-blond haired teen ran right towards him, running past the bewildered group of Sora, Donald and Goofy.</p>
      <p>Suddenly, the moment Roxas was within arm's reach, Axel ensnared the Nobody in his arm, twisted him around and drove his knuckles into his scalp.</p>
      <p>"Where the hell have you been you, little shit!" his friend asked, grinding his knuckle into his head.</p>
      <p>"Ah! Stop with the noogie! It hurts!" Roxas flailed about in a vain attempt of trying to escape.</p>
      <p>"I will once you tell me what happened!"</p>
      <p>"I will! I will! Just stop!"</p>
      <p>Sora was trying to wrap his mind around what he was witnessing.</p>
      <p>"Uh…" Goofy lowered his shield. "Are we not fightin' anymore?"</p>
      <p>"I… I don't think so…" Sora was completely unsure as to how to proceed, a sentiment shared with Donald and Goofy.</p>
      <p>Axel was seemingly ready to combat them when he dropped that intention the minute this… what was his name? Roxas, was it? The minute this new Roxas kid arrived, Axel no longer seemed to care about fighting him and his friends.</p>
      <p>"Hey Donald."</p>
      <p>"Yeah, Goofy?"</p>
      <p>"Doesn't he look like someone we knew?"</p>
      <p>Donald pondered a moment before voicing his thoughts. "Maybe, who knows."</p>
      <p>Eventually, Roxas managed to free himself from Axel's grasp.</p>
      <p>His hair was disheveled and ruined for the most part but the face on No. XIII's was positively beaming.</p>
      <p>"Where the hell have ya been Roxas?" Axel asked, throwing his arms up dramatically. "Wait, how did you <em>find</em> this place?"</p>
      <p>"I hacked Saix' computer."</p>
      <p>"...You hacked his computer?"</p>
      <p>"Yeup."</p>
      <p>"You hacked his computer…"</p>
      <p>"I just said that."</p>
      <p>Axel took a few seconds of silence before he suddenly went into a fit of laughter.</p>
      <p>"Oh god that is just too good!"</p>
      <p>The laughter lasted about a minute. Once it died down, Axel got a little serious.</p>
      <p>"Okay, honest, how did you find this place? As far as I remember, you have no experience working with tech."</p>
      <p>"Before that, no. But recently, I've had help."</p>
      <p>"Oh from who?"</p>
      <p>"More like <em>what</em>."</p>
      <p>Holding up his arm, the Omni-tool flared to life.</p>
      <p>Axel reeled back in surprise.</p>
      <p>"Whoa, what is <em>that?!"</em></p>
      <p>"An Omni-tool. Got it where I've been at since we last saw each other."</p>
      <p>The three onlookers who saw this were equally as enraptured with the device on Roxas' arm as Axel was.</p>
      <p>"Whoa! Sooo cool!"</p>
      <p>Roxas turned his attention away from Axel to the one who just spoke up.</p>
      <p>The moment Roxas and Sora had eye contact…</p>
      <p>"It's you!"</p>
      <p>"Huh!"</p>
      <p>"You're Sora!" Roxas said, pointing at him emphatically.</p>
      <p>"Uh… yeah." Sora was a bit put off by this. "H-How do you know me?"</p>
      <p>"Yeah, how do you know him!?" Donald exclaimed, waving his wand at him.</p>
      <p>"My thoughts exactly." Said Axel.</p>
      <p>Roxas gazed at the small walking duck and then at the tall dog.</p>
      <p>"You're both Donald and Goofy." He said in recognition.</p>
      <p>"You know us, too?!" Goofy spoke in a surprised tone.</p>
      <p>"Yeah, it's… a complicated story." Roxas trailed off.</p>
      <p>"Complicated?" Axel repeated. "Roxas, <em>where</em> have you been? Practically the entire Organization is looking for you when you up and got swallowed by that dark portal Xion mentioned."</p>
      <p>"Xion…" Roxas' eyes widened, rounding on the tall redhead with Axel jolting back at the teens frightened look. "Where is she?! Is she alright?! Has anything happened to her?!"</p>
      <p>"Whoa! Whoa! Cool your jets, Roxas. She's here, safe and sound on the top floor."</p>
      <p>"Wait? She's here too?"</p>
      <p>Roxas honestly didn't know Xion would be here as well. Great! That literally saves a trip and a half!</p>
      <p>He collapsed to the floor in relief. "She's ok. You're ok. You're both safe."</p>
      <p>To say that Axel was greatly put off and quite frankly, a bit concerned about how Roxas was behaving would be understating it.</p>
      <p>"...Is there something I'm missing here?"</p>
      <p>"A lot actually." Roxas said. "Can you get Xion down here? You all need to hear this. This is really important."</p>
      <p>Axel hesitated for a moment.</p>
      <p>"Eh… You sure?"</p>
      <p>"Positive." Roxas then turned to Sora. "Because it involves <em>him</em> as well. It involves <em>all </em>of us."</p>
      <p>Axel still wasn't entirely convinced but decided it was better to go along with this than not.</p>
      <p>One thing was certain in the redhead's mind.</p>
      <p>Roxas had <em>definitely</em> changed.</p>
      <p>He teleported away via a corridor, leaving Roxas with Sora, Donald and Goofy.</p>
      <p>No. XIII was looking at Sora rather intently.</p>
      <p>"So…"</p>
      <p>"So…"</p>
      <p>"...I'm Sora."</p>
      <p>"And I'm Roxas."</p>
      <p>"And… you know me? Us?"</p>
      <p>"Unintentionally and not by choice."</p>
      <p>"How?"</p>
      <p>"I…. kinda wish I knew the answers myself." Roxas admitted. "The best I could say is, I've been having these weird… dreams lately… about you three."</p>
      <p>That wasn't awkward at all.</p>
      <p>No less than a few seconds later, Axel had returned with Xion and a platinum blonde haired girl in tow.</p>
      <p>"ROXAS!"</p>
      <p>"Xi-"</p>
      <p>Roxas was interrupted when a human sized missile crashed into him, causing him to fall onto his back.</p>
      <p>"You're here!"</p>
      <p>"Xion, get off please!"</p>
      <p>"Noooo!"</p>
      <p>Sora however stared at both Xion and the blond haired girl.</p>
      <p>"K-Kairi?"</p>
      <p>No wait… neither of these girls could be Kairi. One had black hair and the other a platinum blond.</p>
      <p>Still… the resemblance was uncanny now that he thought about it.</p>
      <p>More so with the long blonde haired girl beside No. XIV.</p>
      <p>"Sora." Said the blond girl.</p>
      <p>"Uh…" It appeared to be a running theme here that many of the people in this castle knew him while he had no clue who they were. "Hi. Do I know you?"</p>
      <p>"You do not, but I know you and Donald and Goofy." The girl said. "My name is Namine. It's a pleasure to finally meet you Sora."</p>
      <p>"Um… same as us, I guess." His response only caused Namine to laugh heartily.</p>
      <p>Donald, hearing enough, fumed. "Alright, enough! You people know us, but we don't know you!"</p>
      <p>"Yeah, Roxas." Axel said. "You mentioned that you needed to tell all of us something really important. So spill it. And after, just where in the hell have you been?"</p>
      <p>Roxas looked around at the group, face becoming serious.</p>
      <p>"Okay to start things off, I've been away. And in that time, I've been fighting the Heartless."</p>
      <p>"Oh well that's good." Axel exhaled. "At least you've been keeping up with your-"</p>
      <p>"Axel, Xion… they lied to us. The Organization lied to us, about everything." Roxas said in a grim voice.</p>
      <p>Numbers VIII and XIV could only stare at No. XIII in silence.</p>
      <p>"...Excuse me?"</p>
      <p>"I'm sorry, what?"</p>
      <p>Sora, Donald, Goofy and Jiminy were silent as they were clueless as to whom they were referring to.</p>
      <p>"What are you talking about?" Axel asked.</p>
      <p>Wordlessly, Roxas brought up his Omni-Tool again, stunning Xion and Namine in the process when he played what he had recorded earlier back in the World That Never Was.</p>
      <p>The audio recording was rather troubling for those present, more so for the four present Nobodies.</p>
      <p>As for the newcomers, it took a bit of work to figure out some of the wordplay… but suffice to say… they were surprised.</p>
      <p>"<em>WHAAAAT?!" </em>Sora, Donald and Goofy said simultaneously.</p>
      <p>"What do they mean they've been flooding the World's with Heartless?!" Sora asked in complete shock and horror.</p>
      <p>"I thought we were already done with them after we defeated Ansem."</p>
      <p>"Who?" Xion asked.</p>
      <p>"A bad guy." Goofy summarized.</p>
      <p>"No." Roxas shook his head. "The Organization is in control now. They're doing this because of me and Xion for about two months now. They need us to harvest their captured hearts to create Kingdom Hearts."</p>
      <p>Sora and co felt their brains overload on that piece of information.</p>
      <p>"<em>WHAAAAT?!"</em></p>
      <p>"AGAIN!"</p>
      <p>"Bu-But we sealed Kingdom Hearts! King Mickey and I did that!"</p>
      <p>"Well they're making another one." Roxas replied. "And you heard them mention you, Sora. You're part of whatever Xemnas' real plan is."</p>
      <p>"Roxas." Axel's expression was grim, having heard every word that came from that audio recording. He was greatly disturbed and frankly, he wasn't sure if that fear he was "feeling" right about now was a memory of it. "Is… is all this for real?"</p>
      <p>Roxas only held up his Omni-Tool, pointing to it. "You heard it all, Axel. Everything Xemnas and apparently Xigbar fed us was a complete lie. None of it was true. They just used that to keep us around and in line."</p>
      <p>"Then that means…"</p>
      <p>What did that mean?</p>
      <p>"So…" Axel raised a hand to his temple. "Everything we know is all bullshit. Then… What is the Organization's <em>real</em> plan?"</p>
      <p>"Hey, uh, one of those fellers in that recording mentioned something about a <em>vessel</em>." Goofy brought up. "Does that mean anything to any of you?"</p>
      <p>The Nobody's only shook their heads.</p>
      <p>"Soon as I heard that they left, I got outta there as quickly as I could." Roxas said.</p>
      <p>"Then… What are we supposed to do now?" Sora bemoaned. "The Heartless are wreaking havoc on the World's again, there's this Organization we have to worry about and we still don't know where our friends are."</p>
      <p>Hearing this, Axel figured it was best to come clean now.</p>
      <p>"Well actually-"</p>
      <p>"<em>I thought I smelled someone familiar."</em></p>
      <p>The assembled group whirled around to see Zexion appear from a Dark Corridor with Vexen right beside him. And soon right after-</p>
      <p>"Riku! You're here!"</p>
      <p>Sora couldn't believe it.</p>
      <p>His best friend was here!</p>
      <p>Right in front of him!</p>
      <p>But… there was something different about Riku.</p>
      <p>Why was he in the same garb he had when he was controlled by the darkness and Ansem soon after?</p>
      <p>Better yet, why was he with these other Organization guys?</p>
      <p>Remembering what he heard personally, Roxas went on the defensive. "That's not the Riku you know!"</p>
      <p>"He's right." Axel confirmed, his chakrams having returned to his hands. "That's not the real one."</p>
      <p>"And how would you know?" Goofy inquired.</p>
      <p>"Because I fought him in the basement levels."</p>
      <p>"..."</p>
      <p>"..."</p>
      <p>"..."</p>
      <p>"SO YOU <em>DID</em> KNOW HE WAS HERE!" Donald exclaimed, pointing his wand at Axel in an accusing manner.</p>
      <p>"Focus!" Axel said as the large group faced the three newcomers.</p>
      <p>"What is the meaning of this Axel?" Vexen spoke up. "What is-Roxas? What in the World?! What… how are you here?!"</p>
      <p>"What's going on?" Zexion's tone was sharp.</p>
      <p>"So, you're Sora." "Riku" remarked in an unimpressed look.</p>
      <p>"Aurgh, what's happening right now?!" Sora exclaimed, turning to Roxas. "What do you mean he's not Riku?"</p>
      <p>"He's probably a replica." Roxas said aloud. "Vexen was talking about it with Xemnas and Xigbar at the castle."</p>
      <p>"How did you- You were there?!" Vexen surmised. "And eavesdropping no less."</p>
      <p>"Only using what you guys taught me, in case you forgot." Roxas retorted.</p>
      <p>"What is going on here, Axel?" Zexion inquired again, looking towards the "Lord of the Castle".</p>
      <p>The red head looked between the group he stood and the group adjacent to them.</p>
      <p>His mind was rushing, trying to come up with something, anything that would de-escalate the situation they had now found themselves in.</p>
      <p>But…</p>
      <p>Then he remembered what Roxas just revealed to them.</p>
      <p>The truth about the Organization.</p>
      <p>So truly, there was only one option.</p>
      <p>"What's it look like, Zexion?" Axel rhetorically asked, calling forth his chakrams again. "We're betraying the Organization."</p>
      <p>"You WHAT?!" Vexen shouted.</p>
      <p>"You heard me, Brain Freeze." Axel declared, the temperature around his group beginning to increase. "And frankly, I'd suggest you join us but figure you're in too deep with Xemnas by this point."</p>
      <p>"Like I would betray the Superior-"</p>
      <p>"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Axel lifted his arms up, Chakrams spinning in front of his hands while flames enveloped his weapons.</p>
      <p>Throwing them forward, Vexen hastily threw up a wall of ice that absorbed the fiery projectiles if only barely.</p>
      <p>"You traitorous fools." Vexen exclaimed. "Have you no self-preservation?!"</p>
      <p>"What makes you think we wanna work for a team that withholds all sorts of dirty secrets from their own teammates?" Axel said in a taunting manner, Chakrams back in hand.</p>
      <p>"Then you shall pay for your fool hardy actions." Vexen snarled, holding out his arm.</p>
      <p>Ice and snowy particles appeared around his outstretched arm, a blue shield forming a moment later.</p>
      <p>The Riku next to Vexen called forth his own weapon with Zexion waving his hand with a tome appearing before him which split into three around him.</p>
      <p>Sora, Donald and Goofy got into their stances with Roxas and Xion doing the same.</p>
      <p>And with their stances came...</p>
      <p>"What? Keyblades!?"</p>
      <p>"But I thought only Sora and the King had them?"</p>
      <p>"Yeah! What's going on?!"</p>
      <p>The recent chatter caused Zexion and Vexen to pay more attention to the three newcomers as Jiminy quickly hid himself away on Sora's person.</p>
      <p>"Aren't they who we think they are?" Said No. VI.</p>
      <p>"I believe we do." No. IV said, unable to withhold a cackling smile. "It appears, both Somebody and Nobody have reunited. Both pieces together at last."</p>
      <p>"What?" Sora tilted his head.</p>
      <p>"Focus damnit." Axel said aloud, jolting everyone. "Namine, stay behind us."</p>
      <p>"Yes." Namine said, stepping behind the battle ready group.</p>
      <p>Sora was the first to jump in headfirst as he went to clash against Zexion. His Keyblade was blocked and intercepted from one of his floating Lexicons. When the clash occurred, the one Lexicon exploded, sending Sora back with a hail of razor sharp paper.</p>
      <p>"Sora!" Donald exclaimed, running forward with Goofy to assist their friend.</p>
      <p>Roxas and Xion ran forward, the Riku Replica running forward to intercept them.</p>
      <p>In an instant, "Riku" was before the two, Roxas already meeting his weapon with his own.</p>
      <p>Xion momentarily stumbled yet moved aside to get behind the silver haired replica. As she did, she was barely able to land a blow on "Riku" before she was kicked back by him.</p>
      <p>Axel meanwhile rushed forward and clashed his fiery chakrams against Vexen's ice shield. He casted Fira against the defensive measure point blank, sending No. IV back some distance before the redhead avoided a hail of ice shards. After avoiding the volley of projectiles, Axel threw his weapons at his "elder".</p>
      <p>Vexen threw his shield up, grunting as the inflamed Chakrams spun and grinded against his weapon until forcefully sending them flying back into the hands of their owner.</p>
      <p>In retaliation, Vexen slammed his hand down on the ground, several lines of Ice spears shooting up from the ground and headed straight for the fiery Nobody.</p>
      <p>Axel only 'tsked' in amusement, throwing up a fiery wall around him with the icy spears melting once they got close.</p>
      <p>"You'll have to do better than that, Vexen." Axel taunted with No. IV gritting his teeth in irritation.</p>
      <p>A moment later, both men reengaged one another, ice and fire flying off of them from their every clash.</p>
      <p>Back with Zexion, he had a bit of difficulty dealing with the trio before him. The court magician and captain of the guard of King Mickey's court were quick to assist the one Keybearer. No. VI used his floating Lexicons to unleash a volley of spells left and right. Some were quickly avoided while the others were met by Goofy's mighty shield when he quickly moved to protect his two companions.</p>
      <p>Soon enough, the Cloaked Schemer quickly maneuvered from Donald's casted Blizzara spells before sending one back in return.</p>
      <p>Goofy was there to intercept the spell, his shield absorbing the blow.</p>
      <p>Sora then jumped over his two friends, Keyblade overhead and brought it down with Zexion gliding back, leaving after images in his retreat.</p>
      <p>These three would undoubtedly prove to be dangerous adversaries if he doesn't go about this properly.</p>
      <p>Zexion conjured another Lexicon behind his back, his main one called the "Book of Retribution", watching as Sora, Donald and Goofy took out his other floating books before they ran towards him.</p>
      <p>He readied himself as they drew near.</p>
      <p>However…</p>
      <p>Just as they were within reach of him, a light started forming something along the far off wall of the First Floor. When it died down, a new door was formed. Shortly after, it opened up with a pair of individuals stumbling out.</p>
      <p>"Finally." Muttered out the human individual. "<em>He's</em> finished and we're-"</p>
      <p>"Wait." Said the anthropomorphic one. "What's going on here?"</p>
      <p>The pair looked over and quickly recognized a specific trio.</p>
      <p>"SORA!"</p>
      <p>"DONALD! GOOFY!"</p>
      <p>Snapping their attention towards the side, the traveling trio saw-</p>
      <p>"RIKU!" Cried out Sora.</p>
      <p>"YOUR MAJESTY!" Yelled out Donald and Goofy.</p>
      <p>Roxas momentarily looked over to what just occurred before turning over to Axel. "Did those two come out from the basement levels?"</p>
      <p>Axel tried to give an answer to his young friend. "I…"</p>
      <p>"ROXAS!" Xion cried out, drawing his attention back to assist her in combating the Riku Replica.</p>
      <p>"XION! I'm coming!"</p>
      <p>"SORA." Riku yelled out, overjoyed in seeing his friend again.</p>
      <p>"DONALD!" Mickey said aloud, being in a similar boat as Riku. "GOOFY! You're here too!"</p>
      <p>"SHUT UP!" Vexen roared, unleashing a wave of cold throughout the room. "SHUT UP! SHUT UP! WILL YOU ALL JUST SHUT UP!"</p>
      <p>"Wow don't blow a blood vessel, Vexen." Axel retorted, sending a volley of fireballs at the scientist.</p>
      <p>As the trio consisting of Sora, Donald and Goofy were distracted by seeing the arrival of the real Riku and King Mickey, Zexion used this opportunity and quickly made a play.</p>
      <p>With his floating Lexicons out, No. VI had them enlarged, open up and "swallow" his three opponents up.</p>
      <p>"NO!" Riku shouted, quickly drawing out his Soul Eater.</p>
      <p>"Give them back!" Mickey demanded, drawing forth his Kingdom Key (D).</p>
      <p>With their weapons drawn, they rushed towards the Cloaked Schemer, only to be intercepted by the Riku Replica.</p>
      <p>"You'll have to fight me as well, <em>faker</em>." "Riku" sneered, challengingly.</p>
      <p>"No, you're the fake here!" Riku growled back, calling forth his latent dark power and entering into his advanced Dark Mode.</p>
      <p>"Riku, our friends."</p>
      <p>"Go on ahead, Mickey." Riku said, already clashing with his replica. "This one is mine."</p>
      <p>Nodding, Mickey zoomed past his companion since arriving in the Castle's basement levels to combat the Cloaked Schemer.</p>
      <p>"Hold on your majesty." A joking voice said next to the King of Disney Castle.</p>
      <p>The small Keyblade wielder looked up to see Axel running alongside him.</p>
      <p>"You again!" Mickey didn't know if he would be overwhelmed by seeing the acting "Lord of the Castle" join Zexion. But he will be sure he'll use everything he had to combat the pair.</p>
      <p>"On your side for this fight." Axel explained. "You'll need my help if you wanna get those three bozos out of Zexion's trap."</p>
      <p>When Axel changed dance partners, Roxas and Xion now faced the Freezing Scholar.</p>
      <p>"Roxas." Vexen shook his head in disappointment. "How could you even <em>consider</em> betraying us?"</p>
      <p>"I've got a lot of reasons." Roxas barked out, glaring at the Chilly Academic. "The lies and what you said about Xion."</p>
      <p>No. XIV only turned to Roxas with worry. She herself had heard the recording earlier but was still unsure as to what to truly make of it.</p>
      <p>However it was clearly affecting Roxas on a very personal level considering his reaction.</p>
      <p>She had never seen <em>anyone</em> that angry before in her short existence.</p>
      <p>"So you <em>did</em> hear it all." Vexen then muttered to himself. Note to self be sure no one is listening in on conversations from here on out."</p>
      <p>As soon as he finished that statement, Vexen had to raise his shield to block Roxas's Keyblade.</p>
      <p>Straining slightly under the boys strength, No. IV pressed his free hand against the back of his shield. Channeling his icy powers, icy needles shot out from the front of his shield forcing Roxas to jump back.</p>
      <p>The two Nobody Key Bearers moved around the space to strike the Organization's Scholar. While Vexen's shield was met with Roxas' weapon once again, No. IV conjured up a large ice wall to intercept Xion's. The moment the latter clashed, the ice wall exploded outward, sending a volley of ice at the puppet.</p>
      <p>"Xion!"</p>
      <p>"I'm okay." She said, quickly casting Cure onto herself.</p>
      <p>"Focus on your enemy, boy." Vexen sneered aloud, appearing before Roxas and bashing him back with a Shield strike to his face.</p>
      <p>"Roxas!" Xion cried aloud, about to go help him when Vexen turned towards her and unleashed a cold wave littered with ice shards.</p>
      <p>She threw her hands up, gritting her teeth in slight pain as the shards bounced off her body.</p>
      <p>The two Riku's clashed back and forth, zooming all over the first floor while briefly avoiding and maneuvering around the other fights going on.</p>
      <p>Axel and Mickey rolled and jumped out of the way of Zexion's spells. No. VIII had to be extra careful as No. VI was unleashing a wave of Waterga all around to quench his fire. To somewhat combat this, Mickey had to be careful when he casted his Thunder variants so he wouldn't strike his unlikely ally.</p>
      <p>Taking a moment to look over to Axel, Mickey couldn't help but wonder what in the world happened?</p>
      <p>Why were Sora, Donald and Goofy here? How did they get here after the sealing to the door to Kingdom Hearts?</p>
      <p>Better yet, who were those other two teenagers fighting Vexen right now that had the <em><strong>exact</strong></em> same Keyblade as Sora?</p>
      <p>Granted, Mickey had a "similar" model as Sora's, but there was a purpose and reason behind it.</p>
      <p>So many questions in so little time.</p>
      <p>All the while, Namine had to hide behind a far off pillar with Pluto nearby, growling in order to protect his new buddy.</p>
      <p>Roxas, all the while, was back up and clashing with No. IV again, the two face to face as they struggled against one another with their weapons.</p>
      <p>"So… you want to leave the Organization." Vexen tauntingly asked. "What will you do afterwards?"</p>
      <p>"Already have several things that come to mind."</p>
      <p>"As if, No. XIII." Said Vexen, bashing his Frozen Pride shield against Roxas. "Apart from the Organization, there is no other place that <em>will</em> tolerate you!"</p>
      <p>Roxas retaliated with a powerful horizontal swing that sent Vexen skidding back.</p>
      <p>The Icy Nobody stood up straight, shield raised defensively.</p>
      <p>"Now <em>think</em> carefully, Roxas. <em>Who</em> gave you your name and place among us? <em>Who</em> gave you a reason to even 'exist'? Only <em>we</em>, the Organization, can provide everything to you if you cooperate. Especially the Heart you seek."</p>
      <p>Getting back onto his feet, Roxas growled at the Frozen Scholar.</p>
      <p>"Xemnas gave me a name I <em>didn't</em> choose and a Number I never asked for." Roxas shouted back. "But I <em>do </em>have a place where I belong. I found it on my own."</p>
      <p>No. XIII began glowing with light.</p>
      <p>"And as for having a Heart, with the memories that come with it… I've been gaining one of my own while I've been away."</p>
      <p>Vexen hotly scoffed. "Like you can have them without-"</p>
      <p>"These are <em>my</em> feelings; <em>my</em> memories and I <em>will</em> accept them!"</p>
      <p>"And how long will you be blinded by these lies, No. XIII. Accept the truth!"</p>
      <p>As he yelled, Vexen unleashed a Blizzaga Burst, sending a large volley of ice projectiles all over the room. While the other combatants were able to quickly avoid the blows, Xion was hit and had to move out of the way to recover; all in order to quickly join back in.</p>
      <p>"Nobody else will decide what I feel, Vexen. My feelings are my own!" Roxas roared aloud, the light radiating off his body flashing vibrantly now, causing No. IV to squint his eyes. "What I feel for Axel, for Xion, for all the friends I've made are real! They're not fake at all."</p>
      <p>Vexen scoffed aloud, Ice beginning to swirl around him as he prepared himself for another attack.</p>
      <p>"So utterly ignorant!" He berated. "That <em><strong>puppet</strong></em> you call a friend will no longer serve a purpose as both you <em>and</em> her will be <em>replaced</em>. So why do you persist with this folly?!"</p>
      <p>Roxas paused for a moment until his expression became fierce. He ran forward at full speed, jumping forward and smashed his Keyblade down upon Vexens shield again, staggering the Icy Nobody.</p>
      <p>"Because… Because I made a promise! I made a promise to my friends!"</p>
      <p>In a flash of brilliant light, his Keyblade shifted and changed from the Kingdom Key form into something else.</p>
      <p>"WHAT?!"</p>
      <p>With all his might, Vexen's Frozen Pride broke through, having the newly shifted Keyblade crash into No. IV before sending him flying across the room.</p>
      <p>"In-Inconceivable… How is this… possible…?"</p>
      <p>With that, Vexen was knocked unconscious.</p>
      <p>Shortly before this occurred, Mickey and Axel were able to smash through the floating Lexicons and released Sora and his two old friends. The trio were happy to be released from their confinement as each had to deal with more attacks from other Lexicons present in their "prison".</p>
      <p>The trio were quick to jump back in to have another round against Zexion.</p>
      <p>It was at this point Sora momentarily saw what happened between Roxas and Vexen, gasping aloud on the end result.</p>
      <p>The Keyblade form within Roxas' grasp was all too familiar to him.</p>
      <p>"Th-That's…!"</p>
      <p>Roxas gazed at his recently changed Keyblade as he took note of the details.</p>
      <p>His weapon had a pair of hearts embedded in its design with the handle bearing two white wings with the overall colorization being white, blue and yellow. The blade's teeth had a symbol which pointed at every other direction (光). The chain hanging off the end had a charm resembling a star composed of seashells.</p>
      <p>At the end of his inspection, a name quickly flowed right out of his mouth. "Oathkeeper."</p>
      <p>Roxas had little time to fully take in his new Keyblade as Zexion had unleashed an illusion that encompassed the entire room.</p>
      <p>All the combatants were now in an entirely different realm, a floating island with a dark sphere above.</p>
      <p>"What the-?"</p>
      <p>"Where are we?"</p>
      <p>"How are we back on the Islands?"</p>
      <p>"This ain't real, kid." Axel informed. "It's just one of Zexion's tricks."</p>
      <p>"Tricks, are they?" Zexion's disembodied voice refuted around them. "Why I'm sadly hurt. Illusions can be real if one believes hard enough in them."</p>
      <p>Axel only scoffed. "And let me guess, part of your interest in studying this castle, huh?"</p>
      <p>"In a manner of speaking." Flipping open his "Book of Retribution", Zexion summoned forth his personal lesser Nobodies.</p>
      <p>Like all members of Organization XIII, each had command of a certain branch of the lesser Nobodies outside of the Creepers and Dusks. And Zexion was of no exception as he rarely used them.</p>
      <p>These particular Nobodies resembled those of the Bookmaster Heartless and their several branches of the Rune, Barrier and False Masters. But instead of the colorful themes they bore, these ones were primarily grey in tone and the Nobody sigils were on the book covers instead of on their initial bodies.</p>
      <p>And they were not as short and stout as their Heartless counterparts or "Cousins".</p>
      <p>These Nobodies were slender and lanky with their heads being completely covered with a hood and flowing robes that covered their bodies.</p>
      <p>These were the Arcanists.</p>
      <p>"Great." Axel said in annoyance. "These guys."</p>
      <p>"Wha-what are they?" Sora asked in worry, having never seen enemies like these before.</p>
      <p>"Nobodies, now keep your guard up." Axel said. "They're tricky to fight."</p>
      <p>Zexion suddenly appeared before the group with Riku Replica in tow.</p>
      <p>Zexion looked on with a narrowed glance. "You'll regret what you've done here. You, Xion and Axel will wind up in Oblivion."</p>
      <p>"That's fine as long as it means I messed up Xemnas' plans." Roxas declared, pointing his newly changed Keyblade at the Cloaked Schemer.</p>
      <p>The Keyblade chose him for a reason. He had to know why.</p>
      <p>With a wave of his hand, Zexion's lesser Nobodies attacked the group with "Riku's" form glowing. A moment later, a dozen more "Riku's" appeared, all running straight at them.</p>
      <p>Axel threw his chakrams up, the circular weapons rotating around him with flames bursting forth and surrounding the team.</p>
      <p>The Riku Replicas were quickly burned away yet they continually replenished themselves and kept charging.</p>
      <p>The Arcanists began levitating around the assembled group, their books glowing.</p>
      <p>"Axel!" Roxas shouted, the red head looking up in time to see the Arcanists unleash a torrent of Watera spells, reigning down on them.</p>
      <p>Gritting his teeth, Axel charged up his flames and fired back a large fiery sphere that impacted with the water.</p>
      <p>Though his flames were put out, the heat of the fire was enough to turn the water into steam that surrounded the area.</p>
      <p>"Donald!"</p>
      <p>"I got it!" Donald threw his staff up. "Aeroga!"</p>
      <p>Wind whipped up around the court Wizard before it burst off from Donald, blowing away the steam in time to show that they were surrounded by Riku Replicas and Arcanists.</p>
      <p>"WHACK!"</p>
      <p>"Illusions, remember!" The real Riku reminded them.</p>
      <p>The islander charged up his Soul Eater and went into a Dark Barrage, cleaving through a number of enemies left and right. He was essentially a darkened blur with a white trail right behind his movements. Before long, a second Soul Eater appeared in his other hand as the blades extended as he performed a Dark Maelstrom prior to slamming them down for a Dark Impulse.</p>
      <p>Once it died down, the real Riku yelled. "You're Majesty!"</p>
      <p>"Riku!"</p>
      <p>Leaping in the air, the two quickly came back to back. Pointing their weapons outwards, the pair started spinning and unleashing their Inverse Burst Limit Break. A volley of light and dark balls of energy shooting out all over the place.</p>
      <p>Seeing this, Axel knew that they needed to power their way out of Zexion's illusions.</p>
      <p>The more time they allowed for No. VI to continually channel his powers, the more elaborate the illusions would become.</p>
      <p>"Can't say I didn't warn you." Axel exclaimed, holding out one Chakram in front of him with the other behind.</p>
      <p>Fire erupted around him which was then absorbed into his Chakrams.</p>
      <p>He flung one forward, the fiery disk exploding upon impact with the other following suit a moment later.</p>
      <p>Both Chakrams reappeared in his hands, still alight with flames with Axel now floating.</p>
      <p>No. VIII then sent his Chakrams hurtling forward again, unleashing Sabretooth with the two fiery disks floating around him and expanding to strike the other nearby enemies.</p>
      <p>Xion, all the while, improvised her own attack, having thrown her Keyblade up to send up a flurry of spells.</p>
      <p>This was herself made Limit break that she dubbed Magic Hour that emphasized her affinity towards magic for the most part.</p>
      <p>It was a flurry of multiple smaller spells that came out in numbers, overwhelming and destroying the Nobodies and Replicas she targeted.</p>
      <p>Though at its end, Xion was momentarily put into a state of exhaustion, rushing back to some safer ground to properly use up a number of Ethers to restore her reserves.</p>
      <p>Roxas went right for his Limit, Event Horizon, sending out a torrent of swings and strikes with the pillars of light exploding off his form.</p>
      <p>From their end, Goofy quickly formed an idea.</p>
      <p>"Donald! Sora! Help me up!"</p>
      <p>"And do what?" Donald inquired.</p>
      <p>"Battering ram!"</p>
      <p>"Ah! Right!" Said Sora.</p>
      <p>Hoisting Goofy up, Sora and Donald soon charged forward and used Goofy as a battering ram as the captain of the guard held up his trusty shield. All of the Nobodies who got in the way were smacked away with the charging force colliding with them.</p>
      <p>Once the charge came to an end, more Nobodies came rushing in to strike the trio down.</p>
      <p>But they were not done yet.</p>
      <p>Donald and Sora soon tossed the captain of the guard in the air just as the court magician casted Aeroga to send him higher up. Repositioning himself, Goofy became an incoming missile aiming towards the ground, impacting it and causing a small shockwave to damage a number of enemies.</p>
      <p>To finish things off, Sora glowed a bright light as he thrusted his Keyblade straight up. A magical orb quickly formed prior to the Keybearer jumping and flipping upside down. Jabbing his Keyblade into the floor, a giant glyph formed as it too started to glow. Getting back onto his feet after spinning around, Sora grabbed his weapon with both hands and turned the 'Key'. Once this happened, a powerful light exploded from the ground and vaporized a number of enemies away.</p>
      <p>The shockwave of light was enough to stun both Zexion and the original Riku Replica, the two being seen by the group.</p>
      <p>"You're finished!" Riku declared, rushing straight for Zexion.</p>
      <p>No. VI seized up, desperately throwing up books and pages as a defensive shield yet Riku sliced right through them.</p>
      <p>The Illusions surrounding them broke apart, ending the fight with the Riku Replica being knocked out by Xion and Roxas as Zexion struggled to stay upright.</p>
      <p>"You know… we won't stop till… we take you back… or take you down." Zexion struggled out.</p>
      <p>"Not if we stop you first." Roxas declared, rushing forward at No. VI.</p>
      <p>Zexion however, had enough.</p>
      <p>With a wave of his hand, Riku Replica and Vexen were enveloped by corridors of darkness before he himself called for his own.</p>
      <p>A moment later, all three were gone.</p>
      <p>"Are they…?" Goofy was unsure.</p>
      <p>"They're gone." Riku declared.</p>
      <p>"What now?"</p>
      <p>"Now, we need to leave before the rest of the Organization reigns down on our ass."</p>
      <p>"Don't have to tell us twice."</p>
      <p>"But… where would we go?"</p>
      <p>Suddenly, without warning, a dark portal appeared below the group's feet.</p>
      <p>"<em>I believe I can be of assistance."</em></p>
      <p>A deep gentlemanly voice echoed around them before they were all sucked into the dark portal. It soon disappeared, leaving no other trace of their presence in Castle Oblivion.</p>
      <p>
        <strong>AN</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>So… this was a big one, if you guys haven't noticed.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>I can't begin to describe how jittery I am with what J and I have done here. We are completely off course on the KH side of things.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>And soon enough, the Mass Effect side will be joining them.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Yes, he and I had followed most of the first ME timeline for the most part but with subtle changes placed at the start, greater ramifications will be felt later on.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Jebest4781: Like my friend said, many things will be getting altered heavily from here on out. Sure there will be some familiarity, but there's a domino effect with what's happening. And yes, our planning has been a struggle on a number of issues on what we exactly decided. Hopefully, they'll be worked well in bashing through those writing "barriers".</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>FMW: Indeed. These barriers were addressed of sorts when J and I sat down and went to town on writing out a long outline of the many plans and events to come. Shit is gonna get crazy as we get to ME2, KH2 and basically everything.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Jeb: And the other games and content following will just have to be ridden out from there with certain events not happening or just going sideways.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Yup Yup.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>So, once again, DrWriter21, don't know if you'll ever read this but I owe you a lot cause your story Blank Slate greatly influenced me for this story.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Check out the story and support him as well.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Rate Read and Review and as Always Have Nice Day.</strong>
      </p>
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<a name="section0012"><h2>12. The Paths we Choose</h2></a>
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      <p>
        <strong>Thanks for the reviews.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Crazy shit right?</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>On with the show.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Rate Read and Review and as Always Have Nice Day.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>I'm Nobody Chapter 12: The Paths we Choose</p>
      <p>How had they gotten here?</p>
      <p>One moment, the large collection of Sora, Donald, Goofy, Riku, Mickey, Roxas, Axel, Xion, Namine and Pluto were standing within the white halls of Castle Oblivion. Having defeated two members of Organization XIII with Replica Riku.</p>
      <p>Next thing they all knew, they were sucked into a dark portal.</p>
      <p>The entire group floated about in darkness when they found themselves on sturdy ground, all standing before a crumbling mansion.</p>
      <p>"Where…" Roxas looked around. "Wait… this is the mansion in Twilight Town!"</p>
      <p>"How'd we get here?" Xion asked in bewilderment. "Wait… where's Namine?!"</p>
      <p>"I'm here."</p>
      <p>The two Nobody's most familiar with her turn to see her coming out from around the mansion gates, Pluto right by her side.</p>
      <p>"Riku!"</p>
      <p>The group turned to see Sora having tackled his best friend into a bear hug, basically lifting him up off the ground. The older teen laughed aloud in complete relief though he had one hand shoved against Sora's face.</p>
      <p>"Let me down, you lazy bum." Riku said good naturedly.</p>
      <p>"Lazy Bum?" Sora squawked in a faux offended manner. "Don't you realize what I've been through to find you?"</p>
      <p>"Your majesty!"</p>
      <p>No sooner had Sora stated this did Donald and Goofy tackle their own friend, the King laughing at his closest friend's reaction.</p>
      <p>"How'd you get here?" Sora asked, shaking his head a second later. "I mean, how'd you and the king get out of the Realm of Darkness?"</p>
      <p>"Yeah, weren't the two of you trapped on the other side after you and Sora sealed the Door?" Goofy asked.</p>
      <p>"That's… a bit of a story." Riku admitted with Sora groaning aloud.</p>
      <p>"That's what Roxas over there said." Sora said, pointing to the blond teen who was standing with Xion, Axel and Namine.</p>
      <p>"Roxas?" Riku gazed at him inquisitively. He noticed that he was standing with Axel, someone he had fought earlier down in the lower basements of Castle Oblivion.</p>
      <p>He then took notice of Xion-</p>
      <p>"What is Kairi doing here?!" The islander said alarmingly.</p>
      <p>"That's not Kairi."</p>
      <p>"It's a complicated matter."</p>
      <p>"Guess there's a lot of questions going around." King Mickey said, voicing the sentiment shared by the entire group.</p>
      <p>"A whole boatload of them." Axel said, arms crossed.</p>
      <p>"What are you doing here, Axel?" Riku asked defensively, recalling his previous clash with the fire user.</p>
      <p>"Hey now, is that any way to talk to someone that you just fought alongside?" Axel rhetorically asked.</p>
      <p>"Why did you?" Mickey inquired with a guarded tone.</p>
      <p>"Yeah, and why did you <em>lie</em> about not meeting Riku and the King?!" Donald asked, hopping up and down in irritation.</p>
      <p>"I'm helping out my friends… after we learned a number of truths."</p>
      <p>"From that recording Roxas had."</p>
      <p>"A recording?"</p>
      <p>Roxas was about to bring up his Omni-tool when another dark portal appeared.</p>
      <p>However… this one was noticeably different.</p>
      <p>For one part, the portal was rather quick to appear just as it was to disappear.</p>
      <p>And the one who had used it did not wear the cloak of the Organization.</p>
      <p>He was a tall man wearing a complex attire that was mostly crimson red in color. His entire head was wrapped in red bandages and a pair of belts, save for his right amber orange eye and mouth to reveal the dark skin underneath. He wore a long cape with a quadrate crosscut taken out at the chest with the attire's edges being yellow. And this cut exposed a similarly oblong white symbol on a pitch-black shirt.</p>
      <p>Overtop the shirt, the man wore segmented grey armor over his sides and abdomen. His legs were covered by a long, black cloth lined with yellow which had several brown straps pinned on the front. Around his waist were a number of pouches, descending downward diagonally on his left hip. And around his neck was a dark colored scarf to finish off his attire.</p>
      <p>"Who are you?!" Donald squashed out, thrusting his wand at the crimson man.</p>
      <p>"Easy." The new arrival warned. "Is that anyway to treat your rescuer?"</p>
      <p>"Hello, DiZ." Riku greeted, with Mickey nodding in response.</p>
      <p>"Riku, Your Majesty." DiZ greeted in return.</p>
      <p>"Riku, you know this guy?" Sora asked in confusion.</p>
      <p>"Yeah… he helped me get out of the Realm of Darkness… somehow. And Mickey piggybacked from there.</p>
      <p>"You did?!" Sora turned to the strangely clothed man before giving him a beaming grin. "Thank you so much for saving our friends."</p>
      <p>DiZ couldn't help but snort in amusement at the brown haired boy's boisterous nature.</p>
      <p>"You are very kind, young Sora." He then turned to the one who yelled at him earlier. "At least he has the decency of paying his aspects."</p>
      <p>"Whack!" Donald looked sheepish. "Sorry."</p>
      <p>Goofy merely chuckled into his hand.</p>
      <p>"Hey." Axel called out to the newcomer with a suspicious look. "How the heck do you know how to use our way of getting around Worlds without a cloak?"</p>
      <p>DiZ regarded Axel and the other Nobodies with a slight glare.</p>
      <p>"Once you have an understanding of the darkness the way I do, then the Darkness no longer has hold over you."</p>
      <p>DiZ turned to the locked gate and opened the lock. With the chains clambering on the dirt floor, he pushed the gate open and ushered the group inside.</p>
      <p>"If you would follow me, it's best we discuss things at a safer location."</p>
      <p>Seeing no other choice, the group complied and entered the abandoned mansion.</p>
      <p>The foyer was mostly a wreck with large cloths covering up certain pieces of furniture. And saw several doorways blocked off with various miscellaneous items.</p>
      <p>"This place is in serious need of renovations." Axel drawled, seeing the state of the mansion.</p>
      <p>Ascending the nearby staircases, the group followed the crimson man as they eventually found themselves in a stark white room with its furniture being colored as such.</p>
      <p>"Almost looks like some of the rooms back at Castle Oblivion." Xion noted with Namine nodding in confirmation.</p>
      <p>"If you all make yourselves comfortable, I believe we have much to discuss."</p>
      <p>"You're telling me." Sora responded, sitting down in a nearby chair with the others following suit.</p>
      <p>The only ones who didn't sit down were Riku and Axel, who leaned against adjacent walls with their arms crossed.</p>
      <p>"You have many questions." DiZ began. "That is understandable. But first, I must address you all by group."</p>
      <p>The crimson garbed man turned to Sora's group first.</p>
      <p>"Sora, Donald, Goofy, the three have you are owed an irreparable debt with your actions in defeating Ansem and returning to the Worlds to what they originally were."</p>
      <p>The trio couldn't help but become rather bashful at such praise.</p>
      <p>"Ah~ Shucks." Goofy said with his signature chuckle.</p>
      <p>DiZ then looked to Riku and Mickey.</p>
      <p>"Riku, you have overcome great strife both within Castle Oblivion and internally in conquering the Darkness that Ansem had left behind." DiZ declared. "And I need not espouse what you have already accomplished, your majesty."</p>
      <p>The man then turned to the ones with the black cloaks and the lone girl in white.</p>
      <p>"As for you four… I honestly didn't account for your presence. Yet things are no doubt changing, hopefully for the better against the Organization." DiZ's voice however was tinged with distrust and suspicion, something Axel easily picked up on.</p>
      <p>"You got a problem with us, weirdo?" Axel asked challengingly.</p>
      <p>"I have a bit of a problem trusting Nobodies."</p>
      <p>"Yeah, well, I didn't ask for <em><strong>this</strong></em> you know?" Axel shot back. "<em>None</em> of us had a choice in the matter. So don't go throwing us looks like that."</p>
      <p>DiZ only hummed aloud.</p>
      <p>"Wait, DiZ." Sora spoke up. "Roxas here just showed us that the World's are not at peace. This… Organization is sending out Heartless across the Worlds."</p>
      <p>"Really? How so?"</p>
      <p>DiZ had already noticed an unusual influx of Heartless as of late and had been investigating for some time prior to running into Riku in the Dark World. But it seemed he had some answers within arm's reach.</p>
      <p>"Listen." Roxas said, bringing up his Omni-Tool which caught Riku and Mickey off guard.</p>
      <p>"Whoa!" Riku said in wonder. "What is that?"</p>
      <p>The crimson man eyed looked at the Omni-tool, stroking his chin with interest.</p>
      <p>"Fascinating device you have there. Pray tell how you acquired it."</p>
      <p>"Got it when I was away from the Organization." Roxas summarized. "Now then…"</p>
      <p>He pulled up the audio recording and pressed play.</p>
      <p>Once more the recording Roxas acquired from earlier that day rang out. Sora, Donald and Goofy were unsettled on hearing the details once understanding things more than ever after their quick conclusions. Same with the Nobodies.</p>
      <p>Pluto, though, was just lying his head on Namine's lap, who was stroking his head for her self comfort.</p>
      <p>As for Riku and Mickey, they were quickly startled on the details being implied with several questions forming within their minds.</p>
      <p>Though his expression was hidden for the most part, one could easily pick up on the troubled air DiZ gave off upon hearing the recording to its completion.</p>
      <p>"This… certainly was not what I was expecting to hear." DiZ admitted aloud.</p>
      <p>"What are we gonna do?" Sora asked worriedly. "This Organization is sending out Heartless across multiple worlds. What if some have already fallen to them?"</p>
      <p>"Do not be troubled by that regard." DiZ waved off. "Though I have indeed noticed the spike in Heartless across the Worlds, your actions Sora have prevented their abilities in consuming Worlds as they were once able to."</p>
      <p>"But people's Hearts can still be lost to them." Riku pointed out with clear concern.</p>
      <p>"They were only sent out to find me after I abruptly left." Roxas informed. "They were only ordered to do so and not… whatever you two just said."</p>
      <p>"And you think that makes things any better?" Riku snapped.</p>
      <p>"Possibly."</p>
      <p>"Easy Riku." Sora said. "Roxas didn't know."</p>
      <p>"Even then, in case you forgot kid, the head honcho had them out as a ruse for Roxas and Xion to slay the Heartless for their plans." Axel pointed out.</p>
      <p>"So this means our work is not yet finished." King Mickey said determinedly. "The Worlds are still in danger and we need to act on it."</p>
      <p>"One danger is replaced with another. Something far more fearsome and troubling than the last." DiZ said sagely.</p>
      <p>"Then how are we going to do this?" Donald asked. "We just found each other and now… it feels like we might go our separate ways."</p>
      <p>"We won't be apart long this time." Mickey declared. "This time, even if we do split up, we can help protect and save the Worlds together."</p>
      <p>"True but where could we go and how? We have no way of getting back with our Gummi Ship to travel to the Worlds again." Sora stated. "We left it somewhere in the Lanes In Between before we went to fight Ansem."</p>
      <p>Mickey pondered a little and gave his hopeful thought. "I believe someone trustworthy would've gotten it."</p>
      <p>"Yeah, like Chip and Dale." Goofy explained. "They made our ship, so they must've gotten control of it and sent it back home."</p>
      <p>"You think that's possible?" Donald inquired.</p>
      <p>"Maybe." Goofy said. "I figure Chip and Dale are smart enough to have their own set of backup plans on the ship they built."</p>
      <p>"Yeah, good point." Sora agreed with a nod.</p>
      <p>"But what then?"</p>
      <p>"I suggest you five get in touch with Yen Sid." DiZ suggested.</p>
      <p>"Yen Sid?!" Donald and Goofy said aloud in disbelief.</p>
      <p>Mickey pondered the thought. "That sounds like a great idea."</p>
      <p>Everyone else however…</p>
      <p>"Who's Yen Sid?" Sora asked, turning to Riku who merely shrugged</p>
      <p>The King turned to inform the others.</p>
      <p>"Yen Sid is my mentor." Mickey informed them. "Taught me everything I know about the Keyblade and has knowledge of many other things."</p>
      <p>"Whoa!" Sora gaped. "Seriously?"</p>
      <p>"Uh-huh." Mickey nodded. "He'd be more than willing to help us out."</p>
      <p>"And how can we reach him?" Donald questioned. "The only way we could've gotten to his Tower was with a Gummi ship last time. Before that, it was through the Star Shards."</p>
      <p>"Go to the train station underneath the Clocktower. There you will find a means of reaching his residency." DiZ advised. "Upon reaching his home, the rest will be left up to him."</p>
      <p>"Um, Excuse me." Xion shyly spoke up. "What about us? Where would we go? We're now labeled traitors by the Organization."</p>
      <p>"What about you?" DiZ said coolly.</p>
      <p>"The hell is that supposed to mean?" Roxas asked. "What's your problem with us?"</p>
      <p>"Did you not hear what I had said earlier?"</p>
      <p>"And did you not pay attention to the fact that <em><strong>we</strong></em> are completely against the Organization?!" Roxas growled out. "You heard everything I recorded. They lied and manipulated us into joining up with them. And we know that they'll be coming after us."</p>
      <p>"So that means, this is much our fight as it is theirs." Axel proclaimed, loathed as he was to admit it.</p>
      <p>"Wait a sec…" Sora spoke up. "I don't want to sound rude or anything but… you guys never really told us who you all were? What's your connection to this Organization?"</p>
      <p>Roxas looked to Axel. "We should tell him."</p>
      <p>"What?" Axel blinked. "Why?"</p>
      <p>"He needs to know." Roxas stated. "They all do. If we're gonna be fighting the Organization, then it's better they know about us."</p>
      <p>"No need for that." DiZ cut in with a dry tone. "Master Yen Sid shall explain for them instead."</p>
      <p>Roxas found himself greatly irritated by this man's rather rude dismissals.</p>
      <p>"Will you just, <em>fucking </em>knock it off with that?!" Roxas said aloud in aggravation, greatly surprising all present at such crass words.</p>
      <p>"...Damn, Roxas. Where'd you get that mouth from?"</p>
      <p>No. XIII released a sigh. "Blame some of the people I've been traveling with. They've been <em>quite</em> the influence on me."</p>
      <p>"H-how vulgar." DiZ said in complete shock.</p>
      <p>"We're Nobodies." Roxas ranted at the crimson man. "And we're part of the Organization. But not anymore. I just showed you the evidence and you just heard us tell you we're willing to fight against them. But you're still treating us like shit. Who are you to decide what we do and don't do?"</p>
      <p>Dammit, it was like the Citadel Council all mushed into one person. He never knew such a thing was possible.</p>
      <p>"We're going to fight against the Organization." Roxas proclaimed. "And there's nothing your stupid ribbon head is gonna do about it. This is just as important to us as it is to Sora, Riku or even <em>you</em> for that matter."</p>
      <p>DiZ was at a slight loss for words as to what to say, having never been spoken to in such a manner.</p>
      <p>Axel however, couldn't withhold the guffaw that escaped from his lips.</p>
      <p>"Man Roxas, I don't know where that came from but that was something else." Axel said, patting his friend on the shoulder with the boy getting a sudden sheepish expression.</p>
      <p>"Ok…" Sora rubbed the back of his head, still recovering from Roxas's outburst. "So… I guess we all know what we're doing then."</p>
      <p>Donald and Goofy nodded with Riku muttering "right".</p>
      <p>"But still, where could we go…" Xion said, down casted.</p>
      <p>Roxas was silent for a few moments before facepalming.</p>
      <p>"Can't believe I forgot…"</p>
      <p>"Roxas?"</p>
      <p>He pried his hand away from his face before turning to Axel and Xion.</p>
      <p>"Hey."</p>
      <p>"Yeah?"</p>
      <p>Roxas wore a cheeky grin. "Do you guys wanna run away together? I know a place where we could go."</p>
      <p>"You do?"</p>
      <p>"Yeup."</p>
      <p>"Where?"</p>
      <p>"Where I've been at for weeks."</p>
      <p>"...You sure?"</p>
      <p>"Positive, the Organization hasn't found me yet over there."</p>
      <p>Xion looked to Axel, the taller Nobody shrugging.</p>
      <p>"If you say so."</p>
      <p>"Sounds good to me." Said No. VIII, smirking a little.</p>
      <p>"I could even get you one of these." Roxas said, bringing up his Omni-Tool again.</p>
      <p>"Hey, I want one to!" Sora said with an envious whine.</p>
      <p>Roxas couldn't help but laugh.</p>
      <p>"Eh… maybe…"</p>
      <p>"Please~?" Sora begged.</p>
      <p>"A-hyuck. It does seem pretty useful." Goofy admitted aloud.</p>
      <p>"Wouldn't mind one myself." Riku admitted, gazing at the Omni-Tool in fascination.</p>
      <p>"What does it do anyways, aside from recording?" Mickey questioned.</p>
      <p>"All sorts of things like taking photos along with playing music, movies, games…"</p>
      <p>"Oh man now I want it even more!"</p>
      <p>Roxas looked over at the crimson garbed man in a flat look.</p>
      <p>"You're not getting jackshit with the way you've acted towards me and my friends."</p>
      <p>DiZ jolted, scoffing at the manner in which he was addressed by the sandy-blond haired teen.</p>
      <p>"Come on fellas." Mickey spoke up. "It's best we get moving. We don't wanna stay in one spot unless we want the Organization to find us."</p>
      <p>"Hang on a second." Axel said. "We still have one more person we still haven't talked about."</p>
      <p>The redhead drew their attention to Namine that had been completely silent for the majority of the discussion, having kept herself occupied with petting a now napping Pluto.</p>
      <p>"Namine." Axel said. "Where are you gonna go?"</p>
      <p>Namine looked down, biting her lips nervously.</p>
      <p>"I believe you should go with Sora and Riku." DiZ declared.</p>
      <p>"And why should she do that?" Xion asked defensively, unconsciously stepping towards Namine in response.</p>
      <p>"She has capabilities that would no doubt fascinate Yen Sid and with his help, perhaps she would be able to control them over time." the Crimson man elaborated, making Namine look to him and then her friends.</p>
      <p>"But…"</p>
      <p>"Namine." Axel looked down at her. "It's your decision."</p>
      <p>Said Nobody was silent for a few moments, thinking things over on the decision. And it wasn't long before she pointed towards the group of five. "I agree with DiZ. I think it's best for me to go with them."</p>
      <p>"I second that." Said Axel. "The Organization will be more focused towards the three of us instead of you."</p>
      <p>"Until some point when they track down Sora."</p>
      <p>"They'll be after all of us now." Roxas said in a grim tone.</p>
      <p>"Then we must make haste." DiZ stated. "King Mickey knows the way. I shall meet with you when the time comes."</p>
      <p>A moment later, DiZ vanished in a dark portal.</p>
      <p>"That guy… was an asshole." Axel remarked.</p>
      <p>"Second it. He ties up with the Council." Roxas stated.</p>
      <p>"Who?"</p>
      <p>"I'll tell you later."</p>
      <p>"I guess… this is goodbye then." Sora said to Roxas, Xion and Axel.</p>
      <p>"Not for long." Roxas said. "We'll see each other again, soon enough."</p>
      <p>Sora gained a more thoughtful look as he approached No. XIII.</p>
      <p>Roxas wasn't sure what Sora was going to do but he was slightly weirded out by the brown haired boy leaning towards him.</p>
      <p>"Is it weird how it feels like I know you?" Sora asked, Roxas blinking in response.</p>
      <p>"No." Roxas then chuckled. "Strangely, it's not."</p>
      <p>Sora couldn't help but laugh a moment later. "I may have known you guys for a few minutes really but… I think you guys are really brave going against everything you know to help us save the World's."</p>
      <p>"Heh, now don't get all mushy on us yet, Keyblade master." Teased Axel.</p>
      <p>Sora only grinned widely with his friends laughing behind him.</p>
      <p>Then, without realizing it, Axel felt a small body hug him tightly.</p>
      <p>Looking down, he saw a familiar head of platinum blond hair that belonged to the girl he had been watching over since taking over as keeper of Castle Oblivion.</p>
      <p>"I'm gonna miss you Axel." Namine said, holding her tall friend tightly.</p>
      <p>Axel scratched his head bashfully while placing his other hand on her shoulder. He looked over to see Xion beaming at him and the others were having similar reactions of their own.</p>
      <p>"Ah, don't worry Namine." No. VIII said assuredly. "We won't be gone for long. Xion and I will definitely come see you again the moment we get the chance."</p>
      <p>Namine looked up at him with a wide, kind smile.</p>
      <p>She hugged him tightly once more before moving on to Xion, the two girls embracing one another.</p>
      <p>"Bye Xion."</p>
      <p>"Bye Namine."</p>
      <p>"<em><strong>WOOF"</strong></em></p>
      <p>Xion was abruptly tackled down to the ground by Pluto who proceeded to slobber her face, No. XIV only laughing happily at such affection.</p>
      <p>The others did the same as Pluto was relentless in his licks until Mickey recalled him.</p>
      <p>"You know fellas, brief as we have all just met, I look forward to the day we get to fight together." Mickey said, holding up his hand towards Roxas which the Nobody accepted.</p>
      <p>"We won't let you guys down." Roxas declared. "We'll all get stronger and when the time comes, we'll all take on the Organization together."</p>
      <p>Riku smirked. "We'll hold you to that."</p>
      <p>"Come on." Sora said. "Let's go."</p>
      <p>Exiting out of the old mansion, the group made their proper separations and waved each other goodbye.</p>
      <p>When the group consisted of the two Destiny Islanders and their friends entering the nearby forest, the Nobodies went through a Dark Corridor.</p>
      <p>
        <em>-Scene Cut-</em>
      </p>
      <p>It felt like weeks have passed since Roxas' abrupt departure from the Citadel. In reality, it's only been a few days.</p>
      <p>In all honesty, Shepard felt there was this odd void that was placed without his presence there. Some people were less talkative and active as a result.</p>
      <p>The Normandy team couldn't really go into a normal shore leave like the past ones. One factor was still with Roxas not being with them. The other was doing a replenishment of their supplies as they were quickly called back for a couple of missions.</p>
      <p>Recently, there was a priority distress call that was sent their way from the colony planet of Terra Nova in the Asgard System of the Exodus Cluster.</p>
      <p>A metallic asteroid labeled X57 was fitted with massive booster fusion rockets so it can be mined for its resources around the orbit of the aforementioned planet. However, the engineers who were orchestrating the return trip had gone silent and the asteroid was on a collision course with the colony planet which inhabits four million people.</p>
      <p>With how dire it was, Shepard had wanted every member of the ground team present. Though they didn't know how much things would go without Roxas being there alongside them.</p>
      <p>When they got close to the wayward asteroid, they picked up a distress call from said asteroid, showing there was more to their situation than they realized.</p>
      <p>As it turned out, a Batarian extremist group was behind the whole problem, tampering the fusion torches and redirecting the asteroid at a direct course to the planet. And they were led by a man named Balak, a dangerous zealot for his beliefs and he'll go to any extremes to get his point across.</p>
      <p>Now most of the ground team were quick to really focus more with how much more dangerous their present opposition was. Wrex was naturally having no problems with the ensuing battle, something that helped relieve his displeasure on what happened back on Noveria. Stitch was in the same manner as the resident Krogan. Garrus, Liara, Ashley and Kaidan were focused on the task at hand as a means of distracting themselves from Roxas' departure.</p>
      <p>Tali, on the other hand, was having some trouble on the mission. The Quarian did promise she'll focus more on what's going on after being confronted on her losing focus once taking care of the first fusion torch before the second torch and rescuing the apprehended engineers spread out on certain parts of X57.</p>
      <p>Neither Shepard or the rest of the ground team could really blame her. She missed Roxas greatly. Yet she needed to put such issues aside now and focus on something that was really dire.</p>
      <p>Now most of the issues on their priority targets were quickly resolved. The only hiccup they had along the mission were some Heartless popping up here and there. After the final fusion torch was taken care of, they had to focus on Balak directly.</p>
      <p>At least there wasn't much problem dealing with him as a number of his men wanted to abandon the extremist behind as <em>even</em> they thought he was too crazy. And no amount of credit would make them fully fall in line.</p>
      <p>It was honestly surprising to see said Batarians were the opposite of their supposed leader. Helped clean up the stereotyped image their race held, only by a small margin. After all, neither of the ground team knew how long it'll take for some Batarians to go back to their old habits.</p>
      <p>Once directed to the main facility, they were met with the extremist leader. And suffice to say, the Normandy team was not impressed upon learning why Balak was doing this.</p>
      <p>The reason for this whole debacle: a bullshit complaint of humans hogging all of the "good planets" and leaving the Batarians for scraps while being forced into exile for decades. And he wanted to get attention for his cause as a result.</p>
      <p>Right… him complaining about that even though the majority of his race that serve the Hegemony are slavers and host a large number of raids over most of the galaxy. Humanity never dropped asteroids on any of their colonies or raided said colonies.</p>
      <p>And Balak had the gall of accusing humanity of not having the Citadel Council <em>helping</em> them when this was occurring. Yet the man never saw past the Council's reasons as to why they didn't intervene on the Hegemony's case.</p>
      <p>As Shepard was talking with the extremist leader, the hackers of her team -comprised of Stitch, Tali and Kaidan- went out to secure the last of the hostages. When they did, they learned of the planted bombs and went out to disable the explosives set out in the main facility. And when the extremist tried to set said explosives off, hoping to kill said hostages, he was met with a surprise when none went off.</p>
      <p>He and the rest of his men were quickly taken care of with everything settled and back under human control. And just in time too as X57 would've been impossible to put back on orbital course if things weren't resolved in another hour. If it was too late, Terra Nova would've been doomed with almost the entire planet's population wiped out.</p>
      <p>As for Balak, he was captured and sent over to Alliance personnel back on Terra Nova for questioning and punishment for his crimes.</p>
      <p>After that, the Normandy had to head directly to the Sol System, which is where they were going towards right now.</p>
      <p>Admiral Hackett hastily requested their help to resolve a serious problem the Alliance was facing on the training facility on Earth's moon, Luna.</p>
      <p>From what he informed her, the station where they tested soldiers, weapons and new technology had been compromised. One of the central VI's which helped in live-fire simulations is no longer responding to override commands and has gone rogue, either due to a glitch or outside interference. And so far in casualties, seventeen marines died before the place was evacuated.</p>
      <p>To the Earthers, Skynet from the Terminator series and even Hal from 2001: A Space Odyssey quickly came to mind.</p>
      <p>To the rest, a whole bunch of references that went right over their heads with the humans promising them movie night to get them up to speed. Of course, it would be a bit of a long process with nearly three hundred years of references. And that's just the movie side of things when it comes to humanity.</p>
      <p>Going back to the whole Luna VI situation, Shepard had taken some time in going over the mission file that Admiral Hackett had sent her.</p>
      <p>While she got the gist of what was going on, there were several… strange occurrences that she had noticed when the report came in.</p>
      <p>The whole point of this mission was really simple.</p>
      <p>Go in, get the Luna base back under control from what was basically a Rogue VI.</p>
      <p>But… what were these mentions of strange ships being seen within the vicinity.</p>
      <p>They were unable to be identified and from what she could tell, they just popped in and out of the Luna bases scans.</p>
      <p>This put Shepard slightly on edge, unsure of what to make of it.</p>
      <p>She had a gut feeling that this mission was not going to go the way most would think, a growing sentiment since…</p>
      <p>Since Roxas had joined them.</p>
      <p>Nothing had been the same since he became part of the crew.</p>
      <p>Their fights were no longer normal firefights nor were there adventures.</p>
      <p>Even their weapons and tools were beyond anything they had once known.</p>
      <p>When they had truly taken the time to really think about their journey, well, to put it plainly, Garrus had the exact words needed to describe what they had experienced thus far.</p>
      <p>"<em>We haven't gone insane have we? Cause if so, it seems we're just going along with it by this point."</em></p>
      <p>Honestly, it sure felt like it.</p>
      <p>"<em>Approaching Alliance Lunar base, Commander."</em></p>
      <p>Jane sighed, pushing down the many thoughts that have been plaguing her mind the past few hours.</p>
      <p>"Call up Ash, Kaidan, Garrus and Tali." Shepard ordered.</p>
      <p>"<em>You got it, Commander."</em></p>
      <p>Soon enough, Jane's chosen team was seated in the Mako as the Normandy flew towards Earth's closest satellite.</p>
      <p>Flying over the Lunar surface, the Mako was deployed with the vehicle hitting the ground rolling.</p>
      <p>The Normandy flew back up, entering into orbit over the moon as Joker awaited the call from Shepard once the mission would be completed.</p>
      <p>Joker leaned back, getting comfortable in his chair as he went about piloting the Normandy.</p>
      <p>He heard the familiar skittering and pattering of a blue fur ball with enough energy to power half the Citadel nearby.</p>
      <p>"Stitch, don't drool over the controls this time." Joker warned. "It took days to get the smell out."</p>
      <p>He heard the little guy grumble to himself, the grumbles equating to "it was one time".</p>
      <p>"Yeah, it was once, but one and done." Joker countered. "Just because you like your own brand and Roxas tolerates it, doesn't mean everyone else should."</p>
      <p>Stitch only "roared" back, shaking his fist at joker who rolled his eyes with amusement at the childish behavior.</p>
      <p>Honestly, he was still trying to figure out how it was that he became so friendly with this alien life form.</p>
      <p>"<em>-Hey!"</em></p>
      <p>Joker and Stitch paused in what they were doing, looking over to the radio transmission.</p>
      <p>"<em>Hellooooo~"</em></p>
      <p>They weren't hearing things. Both Joker and Stitch heard a radio transmission over the comms.</p>
      <p>"<em>Can someone hear me out there! This is the Spear of Selene SR-2, requesting help!" </em>The voice was female. And frantic.</p>
      <p>Better yet…</p>
      <p>Who was out here on the moon other than whoever was probably left in the Alliance base? Wasn't their communications cut out?</p>
      <p>And Joker had never heard of this Spear of Selene, whatever that was.</p>
      <p>Ship possibly. Just a name he never heard before.</p>
      <p>Right now, Joker needed to make a call.</p>
      <p>"Uh Shepard?"</p>
      <p>"<em>Yes Joker?" </em>He heard the Commander grunting and the sound of cannon fire on the other end.</p>
      <p>"I'm picking up a strange distress signal. It's on an open frequency but I don't recognize its origin. All I got so far is the name of the ship being the Spear of Selene." Joker admitted, briefly looking back to see Stitch having crawled up on his chair. "I'm gonna get ya patched through now."</p>
      <p>In the mako, Shepard quickly got in touch with the sent out comm signal and spoke up. "We hear you, Spear of Selene. What seems to be the problem?"</p>
      <p>"<em>Oh finally! Someone actually responded! Been trying for a while now and no one's come to help." </em>The relief in the woman's voice was present as… space day to see.</p>
      <p>"Sorry to hear about that ma'am." Shepard said apologetically. "So about your problem…"</p>
      <p>"<em>Okay so my ship crashed and I need help."</em></p>
      <p>"Uh… sure we'll be on our way, ma'am."</p>
      <p>Shepard looked towards the Mako's occupants and shared a look as if this was some sort of trap all of a sudden. Especially with their present mission to take care of the Alliance training facility.</p>
      <p>"<em>Great! And hopefully soon because I've got all these Heartless on me and they're a complete pain in taking care of."</em></p>
      <p>The team were greatly alarmed upon hearing this.</p>
      <p>"I'm sorry, but did you just say Heartless?" Jane asked in a sharp tone.</p>
      <p>"<em>Yes I did! Now hurry up, please and thank you!"</em></p>
      <p>When the transmission cut out, they saw the signal on the mako's radar to indicate the origin.</p>
      <p>"Did she just say Heartless?"</p>
      <p>"Yes she did."</p>
      <p>"But how can someone know of the name 'Heartless'? Aside from us, only the Council, Anderson, Udina and a few others know of their name."</p>
      <p>"Hopefully, we'll find out soon."</p>
      <p>Flooring the Mako, Shepard sped across the moon's surface as she drove towards wherever this Spear of Selene crash landed.</p>
      <p>When they came to the signal, they quickly saw the person in distress was indeed right. There was Heartless present as they were zooming across Luna's atmosphere and avoiding… laser fire?</p>
      <p>Ignoring that for now, Shepard drove in faster and pulled to the side for the gunner to hopefully get a clear shot.</p>
      <p>"Garrus?"</p>
      <p>"I see 'em." He said, checking through the scope before speaking in utter surprise. "Are those… spaceship Heartless?"</p>
      <p>"So these bastards are capable of interstellar travel?" Kaidan dryly asked. "When the hell did they learn to do that?"</p>
      <p>"I'm bringing us in close." Shepard said, flooring the accelerator causing the other occupants to jolt.</p>
      <p>"Do we really need to request Anderson to put you through driving classes again?"</p>
      <p>"I second that suggestion."</p>
      <p>"Will you all just shut up and deal with it?"</p>
      <p>"Never!" Chorused the Mako's other occupants.</p>
      <p>Driving closer for better shots, the driver and gunner was able to see the quite recent shipwreck in a moon's crater. And by the look of things, there was only one person present who they realized was the one who sent out the signal in the first place. Said person was doing her best in fighting the Heartless with whatever armaments she carried on her.</p>
      <p>Garrus whirled around the cannon, firing rapidly at the flying Heartless ships, taking them out in rapid succession.</p>
      <p>"Well, least they're easier to take down than usual." Garrus commented, blowing another ship out of the sky.</p>
      <p>"We are using a larger gun."</p>
      <p>"That too."</p>
      <p>When the last of the Heartless ships fell and evaporated away into dark vapors, Shepard rolled up closer to the crash site.</p>
      <p>Stepping out, they went over to see if there were any problems with the survivor before requesting Joker to pick her up.</p>
      <p>"Oh man, I can't thank all of you enough for saving my hide out here. Guess I should've listened to my brother a lot more seriously."</p>
      <p>What they were seeing… It made the team question if they were imagining things or not.</p>
      <p>The person who sent out the distress signal… was an anthropomorphic creature.</p>
      <p>A female duck to be precise with shoulder length white hair.</p>
      <p>Instead of wearing a spacesuit, she wore an odd aviator's outfit with a blue scarf around her neck and a synthetic left leg.</p>
      <p>"Howdy, thanks for saving me!" The duck woman said jovially, holstering her weapon on her belt.</p>
      <p>Rather than getting a proper response, her five rescuers stared at her with varying, yet similar reactions.</p>
      <p>"Is… is that a talking duck?" Kaidan questioned with widened eyes. "I'm not seeing things, am I?"</p>
      <p>"Is she not wearing a helmet?" Ashley asked, quickly noting that crucial detail.</p>
      <p>"How is she breathing in space?" Tali inquired.</p>
      <p>"Ok… it's official. We've gone insane." Shepard sadly summarized.</p>
      <p>"I'm blaming Roxas for this." Garrus said quickly, earning an elbow strike to his ribs. "Tali! Why?!"</p>
      <p>"Because you were bad mouthing him."</p>
      <p>"It was only one small thing."</p>
      <p>"Aren't you upset with him at all?"</p>
      <p>*Thump*</p>
      <p>"Ow! What'd you pack in your suit?"</p>
      <p>The female duck person merely looked at the interaction going on. Wanting to regain their attention, she coughed into her hand rather loudly.</p>
      <p>"Hey there Space travelers." the Anthropomorphic duck greeted cheerfully. "Fine day for traversing the stars, don't ya think?"</p>
      <p>"..."</p>
      <p>"..."</p>
      <p>"..."</p>
      <p>"What's the matter, is there something on my face?" The walking, talking duck asked with a confused look.</p>
      <p>It was difficult to see the looks of five people before with them wearing helmets that covered their faces for the most part save for the eyes.</p>
      <p>"You guys ok?" The female duck asked, hesitantly reaching out to them.</p>
      <p>"How are you breathing in outer space?" Kaidan asked.</p>
      <p>"How are you talking?" Garrus asked a moment later.</p>
      <p>"How did you <em>get</em> here?" Tali stressed out.</p>
      <p>"Oh, uh, well, I'm Della Duck; adventurer extraordinaire." The duck introduced herself in a grand fashion. "And I was testing the newest Gummi Ship my Uncle Scrooge helped me build but~ I still see I need to work out <em>a lot</em> of kinks. So, what are you guys doing out here?"</p>
      <p>…</p>
      <p>…</p>
      <p>…</p>
      <p>"We're… on a mission." Jane finally answered. "To stop a rogue VI…"</p>
      <p>"Rogue VI?" Della crossed her arms in confusion. "What's that supposed to be?"</p>
      <p>"Virtual intelli- Are we really having this conversation right now?" Ashley abruptly exclaimed.</p>
      <p>"Whoa, what?" Della jumped back slightly. "What's wrong?"</p>
      <p>"<em>THIS. THIS RIGHT HERE!" </em>Ashley shouted. "I did not join the Systems Alliance military to just… GAH!"</p>
      <p>Ashley up and stormed off, going directly towards the Mako and banged her head against the wheel.</p>
      <p>Not hard enough though.</p>
      <p>She was still in space after all.</p>
      <p>"Huh… And here I thought my brother had anger issues." The duck woman snorted. "Like I'm one to talk."</p>
      <p>"You'll have to forgive Chief Williams." Jane said slowly, still trying to come to terms with the anthropomorphic duck in front of her. "We've been having some… really strange days."</p>
      <p>"More like weeks." Kaidan added in.</p>
      <p>"Oh that." Della Duck chortled, thumbing back to her crashed ship. "I hear ya sister, don't we all."</p>
      <p>"Right…" Shepard said. "So… you crashed your ship?"</p>
      <p>"More like it was shot down." Della fumed. "Those blasted Heartless up and blew me out of the sky! I was really precautious this time around in designing my ship. Didn't want to deal with solar storms ever again like the last time."</p>
      <p>As the duck fumed, the crew could only watch.</p>
      <p>"GAH, I should've listened to Donald's last letter before I went off." Della bemoaned. "I can't believe I'm saying this but, he was right. I should have been ten times more cautious with the Heartless just floating about out there. They'd attack me in a heartbeat. Ah, Scrooge is gonna kill me."</p>
      <p>"You… know about the Heartless?"</p>
      <p>"Doesn't everyone?" The duck woman said in a matter-of-fact tone.</p>
      <p>"...No…"</p>
      <p>"Really?" Della scratched her head. "Where the heck did I land on?"</p>
      <p>"The moo- well, Earth's moon really."</p>
      <p>"Earth? I landed near a dirt planet?" Della looked towards the planet the moon was orbiting and saw something was off. "Doesn't look like a full on dust giant. There's oceans and-"</p>
      <p>"Hold up." Shepard cut her off. "Where are you even from?"</p>
      <p>"Disney Castle."</p>
      <p>"...I'm sorry what?"</p>
      <p>"Oh right, need to be a bit more specific. Disney Castle is a structure over by Disney Town." Della muttered out. "Well to be more accurate I'm from Duckberg on the planet Disna."</p>
      <p>"And where in the Milky Way galaxy is that?"</p>
      <p>"Milky Way? No no no no. I'm from the Ōkoku galaxy."</p>
      <p>"..."</p>
      <p>"..."</p>
      <p>"..."</p>
      <p>"..."</p>
      <p>"...The what now?"</p>
      <p>"Wait… are you from a different <em>galaxy?!" </em>Tali exclaimed.</p>
      <p>"Yeah, the one right next door to this galaxy." Della said, pulling out a small tablet like device from her pocket and continued to speak when peering on the screen. "Give or take a few… billions light years. Andromeda is just in between us… sort of. You know, I'm not entirely sure. I could read a map but ain't no astronomer."</p>
      <p>"Yeah… sure, that explains <em>everything." </em>Garrus quipped.</p>
      <p>"It does?"</p>
      <p>"NO!" the entire group in front of her bellowed.</p>
      <p>"Oh great, and here we're dealing with yet another first contact here. And I thought Stitch was enough."</p>
      <p>"Anderson is gonna have a field day with this if this is true."</p>
      <p>"Can we at least try to finish up what we're originally doing here and discuss things under a better environment."</p>
      <p>Della soon became a little worried. "Hey, hey, I'm not causing you guys any serious problems, am I?"</p>
      <p>"Uh, no you're not." Shepard said reassuringly. "We're just going to a facility nearby to resolve our one problem."</p>
      <p>"Oh right, your VI problem, I gotcha." Della then brightened up a little. "Maybe I can come with and help."</p>
      <p>The Normandy team looked at each other before going back to Della.</p>
      <p>"Uh… I don't know." Jane said. "What can you even do, if you don't mind me asking?"</p>
      <p>"Shepard, what are you doing?" Ashley whispered.</p>
      <p>Jane remained quiet as Della went over her capabilities.</p>
      <p>"I'm well versed in hand to hand combat, know my way around with a number of armaments, been getting better in my hacking capabilities and I'm quite agile." The talking duck said, thumping her chest proudly. "Though I do wish I was as well versed with magic as my brother Donald is." Della exhaled a sigh. "Sadly, I only can cast the simplest Cure spells." She then grumbled to herself. "He should've taught me more than just those."</p>
      <p>"Healing does help out a lot no matter the circumstances." Garrus stated.</p>
      <p>Della blinked before smiling up at the Turian.</p>
      <p>"You know what, you're absolutely right."</p>
      <p>"Alright, so, you can handle yourself." Jane said. "But we still have a few more questions."</p>
      <p>"What about?"</p>
      <p>"First off, how the hell are you breathing without a helmet?" Kaidan asked straight away.</p>
      <p>"Oh right. I've been able to survive in the ambient atmosphere of space thanks to this!"</p>
      <p>Della reached into her pocket, pulled out something and tossed it over. Shepard caught the item before laying it flat on her palm to reveal… a pack of gum?</p>
      <p>"Gyro's Oxy-Chew." Della reached into her mouth, stretched out a long strand of gum before releasing and having it snap back into her orifice. "Provides oxygen, water and nutrition."</p>
      <p>"...Are you kidding me?" Ashley muttered in disbelief.</p>
      <p>"Why would I? This gum saved my life and as you can clearly see, I have nothing else on me to provide me with breathable oxygen out in the vacuum of space."</p>
      <p>"She's right on that one." Kaidan said aloud as he kept looking at anything mechanical on her to provide her on such things. Yet the only thing remotely mechanical was her robotic leg.</p>
      <p>Della nodded and waved off some bits of concern. "At least this orange flavor I have on me now is far better than the previous batch I went through."</p>
      <p>"How so?"</p>
      <p>"The last one I had-had this growing flavor of black licorice which lasted for a decade. And that was on just <em>one</em> stick."</p>
      <p>"..."</p>
      <p>"..."</p>
      <p>"..."</p>
      <p>"How bad can black licorice be? Let alone why?"</p>
      <p>"Because it's the worst flavor ever!" Della stated, stomping her mechanical foot. "You could have chosen <em>any</em> other flavor like Mint or basic bubble gum, Gyro. But <em>noooo~ </em>you just had to go with the gum that tastes like the bottom of a boot."</p>
      <p>"Ok… let's just… calm down about the gum… part…" Jane said slowly. "How are we talking about this again?"</p>
      <p>"What was that?"</p>
      <p>"Nothing, nothing." Jane said, her mental state still a bit haywire.</p>
      <p>Save all these difficult questions aside in order to save one's sanity.</p>
      <p>"Come on, we can talk more along the way and at the base."</p>
      <p>"Sweet. Let me grab a few things from my ship."</p>
      <p>Seeing Della off, Ashley spoke up. "Why are you letting her come with, Skipper?"</p>
      <p>"First off, first contact with a literal new alien species."</p>
      <p>"I don't think a talking duck counts, Shepard." Kaidan interrupted.</p>
      <p>"And Stitch barely counts as we're still trying to figure out a better way of understanding him." Tali added in.</p>
      <p>"...Second, I don't want to leave her alone out here with more Heartless floating about." Shepard finished, giving her two companions a dry look. "So let's just get this over with before we go even more insane. I'd like to keep whatever semblance of my sanity I have left intact please and thank you."</p>
      <p>"Whatever you say, Shepard."</p>
      <p>"Oh shut up, Vakarian, you're no better than I am."</p>
      <p>Della came back with what appeared to be a military grade backpack with an assortment of gadgets on her.</p>
      <p>"Okay, let's shove off."</p>
      <p>Hopping back into the Mako, Jane drove back towards the training facility. It took a number of minutes, but the Normandy team was able to resume their original assignment at hand.</p>
      <p>"Huh, pretty good defense system here." Della said, stepping out of the Mako with only her gadgets and few weapons presently on hand as her backpack was left in the vehicle. "Far better than the one back on my planet's moon."</p>
      <p>"What do you mean by that?" Garrus inquired.</p>
      <p>"Well I should tell you that my planet's moon had this one civilization. Highly civilized they were, they honestly have not bothered to set up anything to defend themselves against the local wildlife."</p>
      <p>"Like what?"</p>
      <p>"These giant mite-like insects the size of these turrets here." Della informed them before she pulled out a notepad and started sketching.</p>
      <p>"What are you doing?"</p>
      <p>"Oh, just some notes I'm taking down for next time." Della said. "Hopefully, my buddy Balthier will be back around to help my uncle and I fix up a better model of the ship. I've had enough crashes for a lifetime."</p>
      <p>"Weren't you… shot down?"</p>
      <p>"True but I'd like to have less of that please and thank you." Della declared.</p>
      <p>As much as they'd like to inquire more on such details, this was not the time and place. Having already taken out the defensive turrets for the Alliance training base earlier before finding the crashed duck, it was a smooth ride back towards the facility.</p>
      <p>Upon entering the facility, they were met with utter silence with the overhead lights lighting their way.</p>
      <p>"So your ship," Tali leaned forward. "What did it utilize? Element Zero?"</p>
      <p>"Element what now?" Della questioned.</p>
      <p>"Element zero, or Eezo for short." Tali elaborated. "It's what every ship uses here for interstellar travel."</p>
      <p>"Well, we don't have that where I'm from."</p>
      <p>"Tali, different galaxy, remember?" Kaidan reminded her. "... Can't believe I just said that."</p>
      <p>"At least you're not having yours fueled by precious metals."</p>
      <p>"Like what exactly."</p>
      <p>"My previous ship, the Spear of Selene SR-1, was fueled by gold." Della said with utter disdain.</p>
      <p>"..."</p>
      <p>"..."</p>
      <p>"..."</p>
      <p>"Excuse me… Gold?"</p>
      <p>"Yeah, ridiculous ain't it?"</p>
      <p>"...You mean to tell me your previous ship was fueled by <em>gold</em>?"</p>
      <p>"Who does that?"</p>
      <p>"Yeah." Della groaned out. "Stupid Gyro had slipped in Gold-tech into it without me knowing; thinking so many planets out there had gold deposits for harvesting. Made getting off our planet's damn moon much harder. Luckily had a gold filling, which I forgot, and our moon's hidden space civilization had nothing but gold all over the place." She snorted. "The giant space-mites had quite the appetite for metal and gold was like a gormey to them. You guys can probably put things together.</p>
      <p>"Now that's just dumb." Ashley plainly stated.</p>
      <p>"Which one?"</p>
      <p>"Both."</p>
      <p>"The insect got over it… eventually. But on the former? I know, right? Thankfully when Gummi tech came around, my uncle Scrooge decided to have it integrated into any and all space crafts from here on out." Della said. "Far safer and easily to reconstruct from any form of damage."</p>
      <p>"Are we <em>really</em> having a conversation with a talking duck?" Ashley asked, rounding the corner and checking their sights for anything out of the ordinary.</p>
      <p>"Ash… just… drop it." Jane said in a defeated tone.</p>
      <p>Della went on.</p>
      <p>"Now though, Scrooge figured we should use the Gummi tech proper then always relying on our own." Della remarked. "Chip and Dale gave us a few of their schematics but Scrooge can't help but tinker with what we had before."</p>
      <p>It was then did Tali halt her movement when hearing something particular a bit more.</p>
      <p>"Wait, you said Gummi-tech. Like Gummi-blocks?"</p>
      <p>"You know Gummi-blocks?!" Della asked in utter surprise.</p>
      <p>The others looked at their Quarian companion with Kaidan asking the resounding question. "Wait, Tali, how do you know that term?"</p>
      <p>"Roxas told me."</p>
      <p>Kaidan exhaled a sigh. "Of course."</p>
      <p>"Still, the question remains…"</p>
      <p>"Oh right-"</p>
      <p>"Can we discuss this back on the ship once we're done with this mission? Really do not wanna get distracted here." Shepard said, readying her weapon.</p>
      <p>"Yeah sure, whatever you say Shepard." Della quickly said.</p>
      <p>Upon entering one of the facilities rooms, they saw movement.</p>
      <p>"Contact!"</p>
      <p>Whipping out their weapons, the group quickly shot down a number of drones flying about. Retaliating fire came soon after, making them duck for cover.</p>
      <p>Heh, duck for cover. And they had a duck in their group…</p>
      <p>Ok, enough of that.</p>
      <p>"Tali."</p>
      <p>"On it!"</p>
      <p>With her Omni-Tool out, her fingers tapped away rapidly until the drones closest to them short circuited.</p>
      <p>Garrus and Ashley popped out from their cover and quickly shot them down.</p>
      <p>The other remaining drones were quickly caught in Biotic stasis fields courtesy of Kaidan and Shepard with the duo sending them crashing into the walls.</p>
      <p>"Whoa~" Della uttered out, blinking a moment later. "Ah, dang it, I didn't get to do anything."</p>
      <p>"Come on, we still have the rest of the base to clear out." Jane ordered, the group moving forward through the base.</p>
      <p>"How'd you do that anyways? Magic?" Della asked, looking up to the Commander.</p>
      <p>"Space magic if you wanna refer to it like that."</p>
      <p>"Eh~ seems offensive if I try to do that. Almost like saying that certain space doors are made out of what, galactic mithril?"</p>
      <p>With the one room clear, the group went onto the connecting hallways to enter the next areas. There they were able to repeat the same process as before.</p>
      <p>This time, Della was quick on the action and pulled out her weapons.</p>
      <p>From her holster, she whipped out a yellow blaster. Pulling the trigger, a stream of condensed lighting blasted out and struck a number of synthetic drones. They spasmed before collapsing to the ground in a heaping pile of smoldering metal.</p>
      <p>"Damn, what is that?"</p>
      <p>With the last of the present drones taken care of, Della spoke to Ashley. "This here is a Lumarian blaster. Fires condensed electrical charges. While harmful to organics if the settings are set high enough."</p>
      <p>"And given what we just witnessed with these drones; they do a lot more damage." Shepard quickly said.</p>
      <p>"Exactly."</p>
      <p>"It's almost like my one Omni-tool amp." Tali piped up, drawing a quick look from the duck woman. "I'll tell you more specifics along the way."</p>
      <p>"Got it."</p>
      <p>"Pretty nice weapon there, Della." Garrus commented. "Though not as well as my trusty sniper rifle."</p>
      <p>"Do you ever leave it behind the ship, Garrus?" Kaidan inquired with a chuckle.</p>
      <p>"After what we've been through, Kaidan, it's staying on my person almost every time I'm out."</p>
      <p>"No arguments there." Ashley said aloud as the group of six traversed further into the first bunker.</p>
      <p>Meanwhile, in orbit over the Moon, the Normandy continued drifting there as they awaited the completion of Shepard's mission.</p>
      <p>Joker was humming along to the Elvis track being played by Stitch with the blue life form doing the same.</p>
      <p>Taking a moment to check up on the status of Shepard's whereabouts, something pinged on the Normandy's scanner.</p>
      <p>Blinking, Joker brought it up to see what it was.</p>
      <p>"Hey Presley, you reading this?"</p>
      <p>"Reading wha- The hell?"</p>
      <p>"What is-"</p>
      <p>The alarms then began to blare, the crew immediately began getting to work to get the Normandy's defenses up.</p>
      <p>Joker only looked ahead, his eyes widening upon seeing what was appearing before the ship.</p>
      <p>Multiple smaller fighters were appearing with several particularly bigger ones following suit.</p>
      <p>And they weren't appearing the way that all ships do in this galaxy via the Mass Relays.</p>
      <p>No these ships were quite literally popping up in and around the Normandy.</p>
      <p>And they all had one unifying symbol plastered on each ship.</p>
      <p>The Emblem of the Heartless.</p>
      <p>"Oh, fuck me." Joker said, instantly going into evasive maneuvers.</p>
      <p>"Am I seeing things?"</p>
      <p>"That's impossible, we shouldn't have any hostiles this close to our homeworld."</p>
      <p>"Tell them that."</p>
      <p>"Oh boy, brace for evasive maneuvers!"</p>
      <p>Joker pivoted the ship about as the Heartless began firing upon the Normandy some stray shots striking the ship.</p>
      <p>"Shields at 80 percent."</p>
      <p>"What the-? That was only <em>four shots.</em>"</p>
      <p>"<em>We're dealing with the Heartless Joker." </em>Liara T'soni's voice chimed in from her area in the ship.</p>
      <p>"I can see that, but seriously?!" Joker growled, narrowly dodging a slew of rockets.</p>
      <p>"<em>Joker."</em></p>
      <p>Oh great, it was the Commander.</p>
      <p>"<em>Joker, what's going on up there?"</em></p>
      <p>"Heartless, Commander." Joker stressed out, the ship flying up high and away from the moon with a slew of Heartless following after it. "Got a bunch of Heartless fighters on our ass."</p>
      <p>"<em>Get out of there, Joker."</em></p>
      <p>"And leave you behind, Commander? No can do." Joker grunted.</p>
      <p>"Ready the guns." XO Presley shouted out.</p>
      <p>"We'll handle ourselves up here, Commander." Joker assured. "You just do what you need to. Don't worry about us."</p>
      <p>Stitch, seeing what they are up against from the cockpit's window, narrowed his eyes. With a determined look, he ran as fast as he could to the hangar downstairs.</p>
      <p>"Stitch! Where ya going?!" Joker yelled out right before he had to quickly focus on the present opposition flying around them.</p>
      <p>It took little time at all for the blue furred alien to reach his red space cruiser as he started slipping on the harnesses upon entering. He then closed the glass domed hatch and booted up the systems, making it roar to life.</p>
      <p>"The hell, he repaired his ship?! When'd he do that?!" Squawked the Krogan, who stood nearby.</p>
      <p>Entering the comms, Stitch patched up to the Normandy's cockpit.</p>
      <p>"Joka! Open hatch!"</p>
      <p>"<em>What the-Stitch? But-"</em></p>
      <p>"Open now!"</p>
      <p>"<em>Okay, okay fine!"</em></p>
      <p>Overhearing what Stitch ordered, the present occupants in the hangar ran to safety.</p>
      <p>"Oh for the love of- warn us next time, fur ball!" Said Wrex, scrambling out of the hangar as fast as he could so he won't be sucked out.</p>
      <p>When the hatch was opened up, Stitch floored the pedal and had his cruiser move in reverse to zoom out of the Normandy. After a few moments of briefly drifting in space, the ship's thrusters flared to life as he started zooming through Luna's orbit.</p>
      <p>Seeing the large assemblage of Heartless Gummi Ships flying around the Normandy, Stitch growled aloud as he thrusted his controls forward, rocketing straight towards them.</p>
      <p>Pressing a button and pulling a switch, Stitch had his cruiser pull out its automated turret. Once it started spinning, it fired a stream of green projectiles.</p>
      <p>The moment they flew, the cruiser's arsenal was plowing through the Heartless with utter ease.</p>
      <p>Once the present amount was taken care of, Stitch maneuvered around to head towards the retreating Normandy. Getting in close, he shot down a number of tailing Heartless before zooming in front of the Normandy.</p>
      <p>Wanting to get the pilot's attention, he honked the horn.</p>
      <p>Hearing the unusual sound, he and the other occupants in the cockpit saw what was happening.</p>
      <p>"What the-Stitch?"</p>
      <p>Over the comms, those in the cockpit heard Stitch's cackle before seeing the cruiser rush forward to take care of more of the attacking Heartless with all sorts of sounds going off.</p>
      <p>"Wait, when the hell did his ship have police sirens?"</p>
      <p>"You're focused on that? I'm more attentive on that turret on its belly."</p>
      <p>"And look at it go!"</p>
      <p>The turret was tearing right through the Heartless, Stitch performing accel spins for a greater range of fire that took down the ships in droves.</p>
      <p>He laughed aloud gleefully at the mayhem, when his ship jolted from a shot that came from behind.</p>
      <p>Growling, he looked back to see more Heartless ships appearing and zooming past him.</p>
      <p>Nearby, the Normandy was firing back now at the Heartless that got within sight with the entire crew working at full capacity.</p>
      <p>The Heartless just kept on coming with every system being utilized to its fullest effect save for the stealth features.</p>
      <p>No point in that really when in an open firefight.</p>
      <p>"Contact!" A crewman shouted. "And it's a big one."</p>
      <p>Stitch angled his ship around to see a new Gummi Heartless appear.</p>
      <p>It was mechanical in appearance, as most of the Gummi Heartless were.</p>
      <p>It had a green head with it being shaped as a flying saucer. The usual glowing yellow eyes were present with the black head being encased in a glass dome with a short yellow antenna on it. The base of the head was decorated with a jagged, yellow line.</p>
      <p>There were four long, thin wings with two on either side of the body all being color yellow with a red angular spiral pattern decorating them. A short tube connected the abdomen to what was the main body and on the abdomen was the Heartless insignia emblazoned on it.</p>
      <p>"Looks like a Dragonfly." Joker said aloud.</p>
      <p>"Really?"</p>
      <p>"Do you have a better name for what I'm seeing?"</p>
      <p>"Guess you're right."</p>
      <p>The Normandy's cannons opened fire upon these newly present Heartless with Stitch's cruiser charging in to assist his ally.</p>
      <p>It took a bit of time to deal with this present enemy, but the pair got the job done.</p>
      <p>As they kept destroying the Heartless, those in the cockpit were seeing a number of… colorful things… floating about.</p>
      <p>"What the hell is all this debris?" Presley demanded. "They aren't like anything I've ever seen."</p>
      <p>"I don't know but they seem to be bouncing off our hull." Spoke one of the servicemen.</p>
      <p>"Are they damaging us?"</p>
      <p>"I... don't think so." Joker informed, quickly checking the readings and saw everything was alright, aside from the already previous damage reports.</p>
      <p>Presley hummed to himself for a little moment. "We'll check the stuff later. For now, they're just a distraction."</p>
      <p>"You're right about that." Said the pilot. "Blocking up some of my visuals."</p>
      <p>Soon enough, the Normandy whirled around to combat more of these Heartless.</p>
      <p>Getting out of the first bunker, the team of six were quick to get into the Mako and drove off towards their next destination.</p>
      <p>"You did good down there, Della."</p>
      <p>"Thanks. All those years of adventuring have been paying off."</p>
      <p>"And what did you do exactly with these adventuring escapades?"</p>
      <p>"For a while, it was mostly archaeology, exploring all these dangerous tombs and temples to loot all sorts of artifacts. Not to mention all of the swashbuckling escapades I had to do along the way."</p>
      <p>"Oh like Tomb Raider."</p>
      <p>"Or Indiana Jones."</p>
      <p>Della turned to Kaidan and Ashley with a confused look. "Who?"</p>
      <p>"Sorry, human fictional characters. They were pretty much like what you were describing yourself." Shepard said quickly, soon swerving to avoid the coming turret fire.</p>
      <p>"Gotcha."</p>
      <p>"What else did you do?" Asked Tali.</p>
      <p>"Help around my uncle's company on occasions while I pilot a lot of aircrafts here and there."</p>
      <p>"Huh, another flyer."</p>
      <p>"Wonder how well you'll get chatting with Joker and Stitch."</p>
      <p>"Friends, I take it."</p>
      <p>"Joker's our pilot and Stitch… is an enthusiast, I think." Jane remarked.</p>
      <p>"No doubt Joker will be a better conversationalist for ya."</p>
      <p>"Why's that?"</p>
      <p>"Can hardly understand what Stitch is saying half the time. And we're not joking about that." Tali clarified.</p>
      <p>"Okay."</p>
      <p>"Besides, seeing how things are so far with ya, you and Joker might get along well."</p>
      <p>"Might?"</p>
      <p>"As long as you don't mess around with his controls-"</p>
      <p>"Oh believe me, I understand completely." Della remarked. "Moment you said messing with his controls, reminded me of my old partners Brathier and Fran. Those two <em>always </em>made sure to keep their ship running under their terms. Always took pride in that." She then laughed a little. "And then there's Launchpad… boy he's something..."</p>
      <p>"Bad experience?" Ashley surmised, clearly hearing the tone Della used a bit ago.</p>
      <p>"A book's worth." Della groaned, running her hand over her face. "He's my co-pilot and he's not a great flyer at all. Keeps crashing all over, no matter what vehicle he's driving. Doesn't even know most of the jargons when properly operating and repairing said vehicles."</p>
      <p>The Normandy members shared a concerned, confused look.</p>
      <p>"Why do you have him as your co-pilot if he's that bad?" Tali asked aloud.</p>
      <p>"Out of pity, for one. And two he works directly under my uncle so he has the big say if he gets laid off or not. And three… sad to say but Launchpad has saved our hides a number of dire occasions with his odd antics, so things evened out to some degree."</p>
      <p>"Still, that doesn't give him the excuse of still being your co-pilot."</p>
      <p>"I know, I know and I've been trying to teach him every time I got when he's available so he can get better and do his own thing one day."</p>
      <p>"And has he gotten better under your tutelage?" Garrus asked as he fired the Mako's gun at the turrets they were coming up towards.</p>
      <p>"I'd like to think so." Della stated. "Hasn't crashed in a while so that counts for something."</p>
      <p>"At least he's progressing."</p>
      <p>"Though I do think he has an attention disorder, so there's that to contribute." Della noted.</p>
      <p>"Didn't you crash here?" Tali pointed out.</p>
      <p>"Shot down, there's a distinct difference." Della countered. "And no, Launchpad's habits are not contagious."</p>
      <p>"How is attention disorder contagious?" Kaidan asked, looking to Ashley who shrugged in defeat.</p>
      <p>"I don't know. We're talking about a duck that has a mental disorder and can apparently fly ships." Ashley stated. "You tell me, Alenko."</p>
      <p>"Not disorder, just… Ugh forget it."</p>
      <p>As the Mako drove across the surface of the moon, Jane saw the Normandy fly by with a strange, winged Gummi Heartless in pursuit with a smaller familiar red ship following after them both.</p>
      <p>She wanted to help her pilot and ship out but she would have to trust her crew to take care of themselves.</p>
      <p>Joker was the best pilot in the Alliance for a reason.</p>
      <p>"What the hell was that?"</p>
      <p>"Duh, a Heartless." Della said quickly as she barely gazed out of the Mako's window. "And by the looks of it, it's a Gummi type; a… Dragonfly if I got it right."</p>
      <p>"...There are more types?"</p>
      <p>"Yeup in all of the colors of the disturbing rainbow."</p>
      <p>"Let's focus on this next bunker, people." Shepard said, halting the vehicle to a momentary stop to give Garrus a clearer shot at the last turret. Once done, they exited the vehicle and went into the next bunker.</p>
      <p>As they entered, the place seemed empty for the most part though they knew that the Alliance Drones were just waiting around the corner in the next room.</p>
      <p>Soon as the door had opened to where the drones were most likely stationed, Jane jolted back with her arms outstretched wide to shove the team back from the barrage of rockets sent their way.</p>
      <p>"What the hell?!" Ashley exclaimed.</p>
      <p>"Yikes! These drones mean business." Della said nervously.</p>
      <p>"Sabotage and dampening fields, now!" Shepard ordered out, Tali and Garrus getting quick to work to follow through with Shepards commands.</p>
      <p>Once that was handled, the closest drones to them were unable to fire with the team firing back at the wave drones coming their way.</p>
      <p>"Okay, this is clearly wrong." Garrus noted, quickly firing at the drones appearing left and right.</p>
      <p>"What kind of intel did Hackett give us?!" Ashley yelled out, firing her shotgun left and right. "This is a small army for Pete's sake!"</p>
      <p>"Son *BANG* of *BANG* a *BANG* Bitch!" Kaidan swore, using his own shotgun to take down a few drones near him. Feeling claustrophobic all of a sudden, he used his biotics to throw a number of them away in order to give himself space.</p>
      <p>Ducking behind some cover, Garrus had set his sniper rifle to go through an updated feature. Once ready, he peered down the scope and analyzed the readout of the coming drones. When the circle around the crosshairs shifted from red to green, the Turian pulled the trigger. His shot fired out and immediately broke off into a dozen or so separate rounds which almost a dozen drones responded to.</p>
      <p>Getting behind cover once more, Garrus had to reload the special load as he spoke aloud.</p>
      <p>"Spirits, I love this gun. Damn shame I can't do more in this bunker with it."</p>
      <p>"I feel ya, Garrus." Della said, firing off her Lunarian blaster. "This place is more suited for a pistol or a shotgun." She then tossed a couple of grenades. They exploded with an EMP blast going off and short circuiting a good chunk of enemies.</p>
      <p>Seeing this, Garrus held out his hand. "Can I have some?"</p>
      <p>"Sure, why not. Knock yourself out."</p>
      <p>Tossing over a few, Garrus had his visor get a quick scan, he let out a loud whistle as Della charged into the fray.</p>
      <p>"What's up, Garrus?" Shepard questioned, releasing a biotic warp around the area.</p>
      <p>"From what I'm seeing, Della's grenades are really strong. Like strong enough that if we're not careful our suits will go haywire and shut down."</p>
      <p>"That bad, huh?" Tali questioned, firing her Geth Pulse Rifle. Once a number was down, she hacked one of the drones and had it fire upon its allies.</p>
      <p>"Like needing to replace the suits, bad."</p>
      <p>"...Alrighty then. We'll be a bit more careful with those, I guess."</p>
      <p>"Then take cover people!" Warned the Turian, waiting a few seconds before he activated the bomb and tossed it overhead.</p>
      <p>Not long after, it went off and nearly the rest of the drones fell to the ground.</p>
      <p>"Man that was intense." Kaidan commented, coming out of cover and inspected the ruined drones littering the floor.</p>
      <p>"More like awesome." Shepard said with a grin.</p>
      <p>"You're welcome by the way." Della said, walking over to the group with a big smug grin.</p>
      <p>"Which we are very thankful for." Garrus said as he gazed around the wreckage. "Okay, I gotta ask, but why this many drones?"</p>
      <p>The lieutenant soon took note of a number of drones and saw how unusual they were. "Now that you mention it, some of these models should not be present here from what I saw in Hackett's reports on this place."</p>
      <p>"Makes you wonder what's actually happening here." Ashley commented as they went to disable the bunker in another room. "Asides from this facility being a testing and training base."</p>
      <p>"Do you think Admiral Hackett mentioned anything else about this place?" Garrus asked the commander.</p>
      <p>"No." Shepard gave her reason. "Anderson told me Hackett is the type of man who doesn't bother beating around the bush."</p>
      <p>"So maybe it's something else." Tali guessed.</p>
      <p>"The saboteur, most likely." Della said, commenting about what details she learned back in the first bunker. "Would not be surprised if that were the case."</p>
      <p>"You sure about that?"</p>
      <p>"Shep, with the life I lived and experienced, that is the most likely option to consider."</p>
      <p>"Okay… if that were the case, then why do all of this."</p>
      <p>"Hopefully, the main bunker will finally shed some answers."</p>
      <p>When they finished up disabling the bunker, Della spoke a very interesting question.</p>
      <p>"Hey, should these bunkers have any defensive measures?"</p>
      <p>"They should." Ashley informed the duck woman. "All military facilities have to have them. Standard procedure."</p>
      <p>"Right. Then why weren't any triggered and activated?"</p>
      <p>This made the group rather worried about what is being implied here as they eventually left to head towards the final bunker for the mission.</p>
      <p>Back with Joker, the Normandy pilot had his teeth clenched as he was making the Normandy "dance" to keep the damn Heartless off his back.</p>
      <p>The maneuvers that he pulled off would normally seem impossible to most.</p>
      <p>But dammit, he was the best and he was not gonna let that title go to waste nor let down his crew.</p>
      <p>"Come on you bastard." Joker muttered, angling the ship out of the way and slowing it down enough for the Dragonfly Gummi Heartless to zip past him.</p>
      <p>"Gotcha." Joker declared, firing the Normandy's primary cannons at the Heartless.</p>
      <p>The shots impacted the Dragonfly, the Gummi Heartless jerking about upon every impact until the wings glowed and flapped them forward.</p>
      <p>Joker's jaw could only get so slack upon seeing the Heartless literally <em>blow</em> the shots being fired at it away.</p>
      <p>"... Fuck that noise." Jeff "Joker" Moreau said. "That is such bullshit, that's not even close to fair."</p>
      <p>"Joker!"</p>
      <p>"Yeah I know Presley." Joker said, instantly firing again. "Stitch, where the hell are ya? This bastard is being a severe pain in the ass!"</p>
      <p>"<em>Coming!"</em> was Stitch's response, the Normandy pilot quickly seeing the red ship fly out in front of his, firing at the Dragonfly Heartless.</p>
      <p>It flew upwards, Stitch angling his ship up to pursue it.</p>
      <p>"What's the status of the ship?" XO Presley said aloud, the Normandy's VI responding a moment later.</p>
      <p>"<em>Ships life support systems 100%. Ships weapons systems 82%. Shields at 35%. Hull breach detected."</em></p>
      <p>"Hull breach? When the hell did that happen?" Joker said in alarm.</p>
      <p>"<em>We are handling that right now, Joker." </em>Liara's voice chimed through the comms. <em>"You just keep piloting the ship, Joker. We'll fix up what we can."</em></p>
      <p>Much as he wanted to get out of the fight, now wasn't the time for such a thing.</p>
      <p>And besides, who was he to run from a challenge.</p>
      <p>"Alright you twitchy bug freak." Joker said determinedly. "Time to show you who's the ace pilot."</p>
      <p>The Normandy's engines flared, the Alliance ship blasting forward after the Dragonfly to join Stitch in taking it out.</p>
      <p>Its weapons were on full blast, riddling the Dragonfly with its firepower.</p>
      <p>The Heartless was now on the defensive, constantly trying to get some distance from the Normandy and Stitch's red ship that needed a name but neither gave it any room or quarter. They kept at, tag teaming against the Heartless until at last…</p>
      <p>"GOTCHA YA BASTARD!" Joker roared aloud in euphoria, watching multiple explosions go off around the Heartless until it exploded entirely.</p>
      <p>Over the comms, the rest of the crew cheered in victory, Stitch being heard the loudest with his cackling glee.</p>
      <p>Joker slumped back into his chair, a large grin present upon his face as he saw no new enemy Heartless ships appear.</p>
      <p>Lazily, he reached forward to contact the Commander.</p>
      <p>"Shepard? Skies are all clear up here."</p>
      <p>"<em>That's great to hear, Joker." </em>Came the grunt of a response from the Commander who was clearly in the middle of a firefight. <em>"How's the ship?"</em></p>
      <p>"In one piece."</p>
      <p>"<em>That doesn't sound very promising."</em></p>
      <p>"Ah shut up Williams, you weren't up here. Right Stitch?"</p>
      <p>"<em>Yeah!"</em></p>
      <p>"<em>Oh buzz off, ya damn furball."</em></p>
      <p>"Standing by Commander." Joker said. "Waiting on you guys."</p>
      <p>"<em>Good to know." </em>Shepard remarked, a stray bullet whizzing by her head.</p>
      <p>Back down with the ground crew, they had at long last gotten to the last bunker of the Lunar base and were cleaning up the last of the Drones while taking care of the VI conduits.</p>
      <p>When the last of the VI consoles were disabled, all comms blared to life. It surprised and startled the Normandy members as they still wore their helmets.</p>
      <p>"The hell was that?"</p>
      <p>"I don't know."</p>
      <p>"I think I'm seeing something."</p>
      <p>"Where?"</p>
      <p>"On my head's up display."</p>
      <p>Some of the members paid a bit more attentive now and saw a series of 0's and 1's going on and off.</p>
      <p>"What does this mean?"</p>
      <p>Della quickly pulled out her tablet device and did a scan. "Let me check."</p>
      <p>Soon enough the 0's and 1's were displayed before she went through a certain application to decode what she's finding.</p>
      <p>"H'boy, that's interesting."</p>
      <p>As this was spoken, the overhead lights went out with the only things lighting the room were some lights coming from the team's suits and Della's tablet.</p>
      <p>"What you got, Della?"</p>
      <p>"A couple of things really." Della scrolled a little on the findings. "I was right about the saboteur idea as someone was tampering with the systems."</p>
      <p>"What for?"</p>
      <p>"From what I'm seeing here… it was for an experiment of some kind."</p>
      <p>"An experiment?"</p>
      <p>"Yeah, by the coding I got translated, it seems someone was trying to see if they can control… an AI?"</p>
      <p>"Control an AI?" Tali said quickly. "Are you certain, Della?"</p>
      <p>The duck woman handed her tablet over to the Quarian. "You can check it if you want."</p>
      <p>"Clearly that didn't work out so well." Garrus quickly commented.</p>
      <p>"Right." Shepard said firmly. "Della, if you would be so kind as to forward this data to us, I believe the Alliance would be happy to look after it."</p>
      <p>"Yeah will do, Shep."</p>
      <p>Nodding, Shepard radioed Joker as they were exiting the main bunker. "We could use that pick up now, Joker."</p>
      <p>"<em>Coming your way, Commander. Anything else to expect from this crazy assignment?"</em></p>
      <p>Jane snorted along with the rest of her team. "Oh yeah, Joker." She said gazing at the easy-go-lucky duck woman as she was conversing with Tali on her interesting tech on her person. "We definitely have something."</p>
      <p>"<em>Is it good?"</em></p>
      <p>"Oh she's definitely good."</p>
      <p>"<em>...Why did you say </em><em><strong>'she'</strong></em><em>?"</em></p>
      <p>
        <em>-Scene Cut-</em>
      </p>
      <p>The Normandy was docked in a port on Earth within the city of London.</p>
      <p>It had received a bit of damage from the Heartless and was undergoing repairs while the ground team of the Normandy had been called for a meeting with the man who had brought the Lunar situation to them.</p>
      <p>Stitch's cruiser would've docked in the Normandy right away, yet he was asked by Presley to help gather whatever materials were floating in Luna's orbit for inspection. There were no remains of Heartless before, but whatever the debris was-was the next best thing.</p>
      <p>When seeing the gathered items, Della revealed something rather interesting to the ship's occupants.</p>
      <p>"<em>Huh, that's quite a lot of Gummi-blocks you got here. Big ones at that as well."</em></p>
      <p>Della went on to explain a number of details about the Gummi-blocks. One of which was used as building materials like needing to help repair certain breaches. And Della demonstrated by helping out in repairing the hull.</p>
      <p>What should take hours was cut to less than an hour.</p>
      <p>Even if Della said the blocks can hold the ship together, Shepard and Presley didn't want to take any chances if they were to come apart all of a sudden. And the duck woman was understanding.</p>
      <p>Presently, the Normandy ground crew stood nearby the airlock with Hackett before them.</p>
      <p>"Admiral sir." Shepard saluted the man with Ashley, Kaidan and Garrus doing the same. Though he wasn't part of the Alliance, saluting those of higher ranking was drilled into all Turians, no exceptions.</p>
      <p>The rest simply stood at attention as the Admiral looked them over.</p>
      <p>Though, upon reaching the end of the line, it was quite easy which ones out of the group would garner his complete and immediate attention.</p>
      <p>Stitch who at first stood at attention was now gobbling on a cake that he had… somehow.</p>
      <p>Della Duck, however, remained at comical attention with her chest puffed out and hand snapped in salute for the Admiral.</p>
      <p>"Shepard… what-"</p>
      <p>"It's difficult to explain sir." Shepard said with a tired look. "And sir… I'm still trying to wrap my mind around everything we learned today."</p>
      <p>When Della came aboard the Normandy, she clearly turned heads with many people quickly wanting to get into First Contact protocol. After all, who can ever see a living, breathing, anthropomorphic, sentient being without hallucinating?</p>
      <p>And that's not excluding Stitch.</p>
      <p>"Admiral Hackett, sir." Shepard said. "We found Stitch here on Feros. As for Ms.… Duck, she was on our moon after her ship crash landed."</p>
      <p>Hackett gazed upon the walking, talking duck with an unreadable expression.</p>
      <p>"Hiya, Admiral Hackett." Della greeted the high ranking officer with a smile. "Nice to meet ya, Della Duck, adventurer extraordinaire from the Ōkoku galaxy. I can understand we have a whole lot of things to discuss."</p>
      <p>Turning back over to Shepard after several moments, once giving the duck woman a firm handshake, he asked her a question. "Are there any other surprises for me, Commander?"</p>
      <p>Before a response could be given, something happened nearby, quickly drawing everyone's attention.</p>
      <p>"What the hell?"</p>
      <p>What Hackett was seeing was a Dark Corridor forming. Looking back, he expected to see the shocked expressions, only to find none at all.</p>
      <p>Only except a bit of weariness and… hopefulness?</p>
      <p>"...Does that count?"</p>
      <p>When the Normandy Crew took a moment to look over at the newly formed Corridor, they noticed immediately that this one was noticeably larger than the usual slimmer variations they had seen Roxas use.</p>
      <p>And speaking of Roxas…</p>
      <p>From the Corridor, out stepped their wayward teammate. And he wasn't alone.</p>
      <p>Right behind him came out two other people, both of which wore the black cloak that he had on.</p>
      <p>One was a tall red-head with purple teardrop tattoos under his eyes and appeared to be significantly older, if not closer to Shepard, Ash and Kaidan's age. The second was a young black haired, blue eyed girl who was roughly Roxas' age.</p>
      <p>Seeing the assembly of people in front of them, Axel addressed his young friend. "Huh… did you call your pals ahead of time, Roxas?"</p>
      <p>"No… I didn't." Roxas said, pleasantly surprised at seeing all his friends present.</p>
      <p>"That would at least explain their expressions."</p>
      <p>"R-Roxas!" Shepard exclaimed, forgetting her military training and walking right up to him to deliver a small bonk on his head.</p>
      <p>"Ow" Roxas whined, comically rubbing his head only for him to get ensnared by one Ashley Williams who was now giving him… "Noooo, not another noogie!"</p>
      <p>"This is the first of a thousand ya little jerk." Ashley growled out, really digging his fist into his head. "This is what ya get for making us worry like that."</p>
      <p>Roxas couldn't even breath with Stitch immediately jumping on his face, squeezing him tightly.</p>
      <p>Watching from the sidelines, Wrex released a bellow of a laugh. "Serves you right, runt."</p>
      <p>Kaidan and Garrus merely chuckled when seeing the scene before them. And Liara merely smiled at seeing his return.</p>
      <p>Tali, however, was rather silent.</p>
      <p>Once released from Ashley's hold, the sandy blonde massaged his head. He soon looked over to Della, stating the obvious. "She's new."</p>
      <p>"Yeah, picked her up at the nearby moon."</p>
      <p>Della was staring up at Roxas with her eyes wide and jaw on the floor.</p>
      <p>"...Ven? Ven is that you?"</p>
      <p>"Huh?"</p>
      <p>Suddenly Della leaped and tackled Roxas to the ground.</p>
      <p>"Ven! It's so good to see you again!" Della was squeezing the life out of him.</p>
      <p>"GAH! You're squeezing too hard!"</p>
      <p>After gushing for a little moment, Della's happy expression quickly shifted into one of a confused realization.</p>
      <p>"Wait a second, how the heck are you still a teen? You should be an adult by now! It's been ten years!" Della exclaimed. "Wait, are you his kid?! Hang on, you literally look just like him around when I saw him last. Wait… are you a time traveler? Ven is it you?!"</p>
      <p>Finally, Roxas managed to lightly push Della away with him looking completely disheveled.</p>
      <p>"No I'm not a time traveler, I'm just Roxas."</p>
      <p>"Roxas? That's a strange name."</p>
      <p>"That's what's strange to you?!" Tali, Garrus, Ash and Kaidan all exclaimed at the same time.</p>
      <p>"Oh… uh… right."</p>
      <p>"What's up with this whole 'time traveler' thing?" Kaidan asked aloud.</p>
      <p>"...I've had a <em>very</em> peculiar, interesting life." Della said with a sheepish smile. She then realized she was still standing on Roxas, hopping off with an apologetic look to her face. "Right, sorry about that. You just looked like a friend I met a decade ago."</p>
      <p>As the Anthropomorphic duck said this, one of the two newcomers found himself tensing up though it was missed by all present since the focus was solely on the Duck and sandy blond haired teen.</p>
      <p>She coughed into her hand and gave herself a proper introduction. "Name's Della Duck."</p>
      <p>"Right and you already know my name."</p>
      <p>"Yeah, Roxas, right?" he nodded in confirmation before squinting his eyes at Della.</p>
      <p>"Say… I'm just shooting in the dark here, but does the name Donald Duck ring a bell?"</p>
      <p>Della gaped. "How do you know my brother?"</p>
      <p>"Oh, he's your brother?"</p>
      <p>"Yes, now answer the question!" she asked frantically.</p>
      <p>"We met him not long ago."</p>
      <p>"Really?!" Della then bombarded the young Nobody with question after question. "How is he? Where is he? Is he still with Goofy and that Sora kid on their adventure to-"</p>
      <p>"Yes, they're alright." Roxas interrupted.</p>
      <p>"Last we saw them was back in Twilight Town with King Mickey before going to Yen Sid's place, wherever that's at." Axel informed the duck woman.</p>
      <p>It was then at last, everyone turned to the two newcomers that had arrived with Roxas.</p>
      <p>"Roxas." Shepard said slowly. "Who are these two?"</p>
      <p>No. XIII glanced back to his two friends before turning back to Shepard.</p>
      <p>"These are my friends, Shepard." Roxas revealed. "Axel and Xion."</p>
      <p>"Axel and Xion?" Jane murmured, recognizing those names. "From that Organization you mentioned?"</p>
      <p>"The very same." Roxas confirmed.</p>
      <p>The rest of the team regarded them warily when the tall red head stepped forward with a disarming smile.</p>
      <p>"Hey there." No. VIII greeted "cheerfully". "You must be the ones that have been looking out for the walking zombie. You have my thanks."</p>
      <p>"Walking zombie?" The group murmured.</p>
      <p>"I wasn't that bad." Roxas retorted in a grumpy voice making his first friend chuckle.</p>
      <p>"Pleased to meet you all. The name's Axel. Got it memorized?"</p>
      <p>Roxas smirked slightly at that. He would use every chance presented to him to use that phrase of his.</p>
      <p>"Um… Hello." No. XIV said timidly. "I'm uh… I'm Xion."</p>
      <p>The little interaction was abruptly cut off when one Admiral Hackett cleared his throat aloud.</p>
      <p>"As... Ms. Duck here... said earlier before things went off tangent, we have a lot of things to discuss." Hackett seemed to really be trying to process what was happening here but was barely getting by. "Shepard, if you would."</p>
      <p>Shepard nodded as she ushered the 5th Fleet Admiral to the comm room so they could be able to get things underway.</p>
      <p>As everyone followed after them, a few people lagged behind.</p>
      <p>"Roxas." Ashley said, throwing her arm around the young man. "You damn moron, don't go disappearing on us like that again! Do you have any idea how worried we all were?"</p>
      <p>"Speak for yourself, Gunney." Wrex piped up.</p>
      <p>"Oh don't even with your tough guy act, Wrex." Ash shot back at him with an accusatory scoff.</p>
      <p>"Yeah, you should have seen the big lug." Garrus said, nudging Roxas with his elbow.</p>
      <p>"So, you two know Roxas?" Liara said, addressing Axel and Xion.</p>
      <p>"Oh yeah, we go <em>way</em> back." Axel remarked with a casual grin. "Showed Roxas the ropes on how to do just about <em>everything.</em> Xion here included."</p>
      <p>"That's not true." Xion said with a slight put with Axel ruffling her hair a moment later.</p>
      <p>The rest of the group was unsure as to what to ask because to be frank, they didn't know where to start.</p>
      <p>"Guys!"</p>
      <p>They looked ahead to see Shepard waiting for them.</p>
      <p>"Come on, Admiral Hackett wants the full report from <em>all</em> of us."</p>
      <p>"Then we'll just wait out here." Axel declared, leaning on the hallway.</p>
      <p>"What?"</p>
      <p>"We're not army, lady." Axel pointed out. "Hell, we just got here."</p>
      <p>Shepard wanted to dispute that but… he did kind of have a point. Hackett wasn't gonna like this.</p>
      <p>She was about to persuade the new arrivals in coming with them, due to Hackett being curious about them and wanted to talk to them; yet she saw her Quarian teammate acting odd.</p>
      <p>"Tali?"</p>
      <p>The Quarian was unusually silent with her appearing to be adamant on not speaking. More specifically, not speaking to someone.</p>
      <p>And using her girl's intuition, she could hazard a guess as to who it was.</p>
      <p>She looked over to Roxas who was closest to her and noticed how he kept giving glances towards Tali.</p>
      <p>Jane sighed, placing a hand on Roxas' shoulder.</p>
      <p>He looked up at her and she gave him an expectant look.</p>
      <p>"You can talk to her later." Shepard softly said. "Right now, we have a lot to discuss with Admiral Hackett alright?"</p>
      <p>Roxas only nodded slowly, still unsure as to what he had just returned to. Best just get one with it.</p>
      <p>The Normandy team save for the two newest arrivals went in for a full debriefing with the Admiral.</p>
      <p>They had quickly gone over the mission that they undertook to the Alliance Lunar base which in turn led them to encountering Della Duck.</p>
      <p>From there, well, it spiraled into exposition madness.</p>
      <p>From the reveal of life being present in other galaxies, the Heartless, magic, the Moogle on the ship, Stitch, Roxas' capabilities, their upgraded weapons and so on and so forth.</p>
      <p>Eventually, the topic of Gummi's came up, something that completely enraptured the attention of the Admiral. More so with the nearest completed ship is still on the Earth's moon.</p>
      <p>From what Della Duck had described it as, this was how she traversed to different worlds, let alone different galaxies.</p>
      <p>Basically, the crew has just discovered an entirely different means of interstellar travel and from what Della was insinuating, faster than light travel as well.</p>
      <p>When they took a moment to consider what she had just said… it essentially is about to change everything.</p>
      <p>Much as he wished to discuss more, Hackett saw that the team had undergone a great deal of trials recently and from the sudden return of this Roxas, they were anxious to catch up with him.</p>
      <p>He also wished to speak more personally to this Roxas boy but Hackett knew when not to overstep his boundaries.</p>
      <p>Much as he would like to pull rank, throw the human card on Shepard and ask her for a private debriefing with the boy, he had more decency then that.</p>
      <p>So with all that mattered for the most part out of the way for the time being, Hackett dismissed the Commander and her crew, departing from the ship with a great deal more questions than answers.</p>
      <p>Something the crew of the Normandy had for Roxas and his two friends he had brought on board.</p>
      <p>
        <strong>So we're basically on fire right now with our fingers made of literal lightning.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Kinda going crazy is underplaying it with just how fast we got these chapters out back-to-back. But that's what happens when two minds are synchronized to the point where these chapters just write themselves basically.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>This is what happens when two minds understand franchises so well that we leave no stone unturned.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Jebest4781: Now if you guys are wondering, Disna is gonna be labeled as the general combined world of Disney Castle, Disney Town and a few other Disney properties which associate with the series of Ducktales, Goof Troop and a lot of things.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>FMW: And if you're wondering, </strong>
        <strong>Ōkoku translates to Kingdom in Japanese. At first I wanted to name the KH "Galaxy" or conglomerate of worlds really simply the Kingdom Hearts galaxy but in Japanese. You know what it came out to? Kingdamhatsu. Yeah, sticking with Ōkoku.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>That's all we got for now folks.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Those reviews were awesome and loved the reaction to everyone just jumping at the part with the canon divergence.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>We are truly well on our way now.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>And this is a string of chapters that is basically the gigantic setup to it all. The dominoes have begun to fall.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Rate Read and Review and as Always Have Nice Day.</strong>
      </p>
    </div>
  </div>
</div>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0013"><h2>13. Show Us Around</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p></p><div class="xcontrast">
  <p></p>
  <div>
    <p></p>
    <div>
      <p>
        <strong>Yessss! Yessssssssssaaaah!</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>I'm loving all your guys reviews and excitement for things to come.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>We're off rails from the KH canon.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>And soon enough, Mass Effect will be joining them.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>The inclusion of Della Duck was a brilliant stroke of genius on Jebests part so that's his golden egg cause the reviews showed how much they love her inclusion.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>But I really don't wanna waste much time here.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>ON WITH THE SHOW!</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Rate Read and Review and as Always Have Nice Day.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>I'm Nobody Chapter 13: Show us Around</p>
      <p>It was comforting to be back on the Normandy after what felt like too long a time.</p>
      <p>Though he had been gone for maybe a day or two, turns out, from his friends and teammates perspectives it was much longer.</p>
      <p>So that means he had a lot of explaining to do.</p>
      <p>Where he was, what he was doing, why he left and more importantly, who were these two new guys that he had brought back with him.</p>
      <p>And that's what he was about to do right now.</p>
      <p>Standing in the middle of the meeting room, Roxas was in the center with Axel and Xion by his sides whilst the rest of the crew were seated around them.</p>
      <p>They were all silent for the most part but clearly antsy to get into it.</p>
      <p>Axel, however…</p>
      <p>The red head looked around at all the seats</p>
      <p>"Huh… from one Organization to another." Axel remarked. "Just one seat short of thirteen and far less stylized. Quite the intervention room we got here."</p>
      <p>Roxas soon saw what Axel was talking about and couldn't help but agree.</p>
      <p>"Least they're not raised all weirdly." Came No. XIII's comment, earning odd looks from everyone not in the know.</p>
      <p>Axel only chortled aloud. "That's a good point. Always felt like overcompensation."</p>
      <p>"Our comm room serves as our meeting room." Said Shepard.</p>
      <p>"You say comm room, to me it's an intervention room." Axel said with a shrug.</p>
      <p>"Roxas." Ashley cut in. "Who is this guy? And her also."</p>
      <p>Xion felt herself shyly shift over slightly to Axel as she was still somewhat nervous around all these new faces.</p>
      <p>As this went on, Tali was staring at the two former Organization members.</p>
      <p>'Those cloaks.' She internally thought. She remembered seeing <em>them</em>. In that dream of that white room with the odd throne-like chairs.</p>
      <p>She remembered these two especially as when she first saw them, she almost freaked out upon seeing Axel's striking red hair. It was only Xion who remained a mystery as in that dream, only she kept her hood drawn up while everyone else had theirs down.</p>
      <p>It was so… frightening to see it if she was being honest with herself to see that… they weren't visions or dreams.</p>
      <p>She then turned to Roxas who was speaking with Axel and then looked to Shepard.</p>
      <p>"Ok now… Roxas." Shepard began. "Let's start from where you up and left. Where'd you go?"</p>
      <p>"Why'd you leave?" Ashley asked a moment later. "You could have told us at least. You just vanished on us. Do you have any idea how worried we were?"</p>
      <p>"Never seen a human get so twitchy like that before." Wrex remarked.</p>
      <p>"Oh please Wrex." Ashley rolled her eyes. "I saw you looking around the Mako bay half the time."</p>
      <p>"And?"</p>
      <p>"I think a certain battle master was hoping his aging eyes were hoping he'd spot our missing teammate." Garrus said with a smug tone.</p>
      <p>All he got was an annoyed growl out of the Krogan. "Shut it Vakarian."</p>
      <p>"I'm not hearing a 'No'."</p>
      <p>"Alright, enough." Jane said in slight amusement. "Much as it feels good to hear the crew like this again, we still need Roxas to explain just where he went off to."</p>
      <p>She looked back at Roxas. "So, Roxas, mind telling us?"</p>
      <p>Releasing a sigh, he spoke. "I needed to find answers. Answers to who I am and my purpose."</p>
      <p>"And?" Alenko leaned forward.</p>
      <p>"I didn't like what I found."</p>
      <p>The team was unsure as to what he was talking about.</p>
      <p>"What did you find?" Tali nervously asked, speaking for the first time.</p>
      <p>"Hey, Roxas." Axel suddenly spoke up, tone serious. "You sure about this?"</p>
      <p>Roxas nodded with a convinced look. "My friends here have been looking out for me since I got here. I owe them more than the Organization."</p>
      <p>"What, so what Xion and I did for you meant squat?" Axel asked in a joking affronted manner.</p>
      <p>Roxas' eyes widened and opened his mouth to apologize only for his head to get shoved down lightly.</p>
      <p>"Just kidding there ya zombie." Axel said with a wide grin, ruffling No. XIII's hair.</p>
      <p>"Zombie?" Jane repeated in slight amusement.</p>
      <p>"Yeah, when I first met him, he had little to no reactions at all to anything. Deadest voice there ever was." Axel said. "Could've put a Nihilist to shame. Then again… he had only been around for a week since his birth so, meh, whaddya gonna do."</p>
      <p>"...I'm sorry what did you just say?"</p>
      <p>Axel blinked. "On what? The Nihilist?</p>
      <p>"After that."</p>
      <p>"Oh~ You mean… Roxas…"</p>
      <p>"Yeah?"</p>
      <p>"You didn't tell them everything, did you?"</p>
      <p>"I… didn't know how."</p>
      <p>Axel rubbed his chin in thought. "Yeah, that's not an easy thing to discuss. Figured with you being so chummy with them and all..."</p>
      <p>"Ok, enough with the vague crap." Garrus said tiredly. "Just, spell it out clearly."</p>
      <p>Axel exhaled a sigh, scratching the back of his red locks. "Want me to rip the band aid or should you, kid."</p>
      <p>"Er… yeah, you do it Axel." Roxas said, holding up his hand that held his Omni-Tool. "I have my own load I got right here."</p>
      <p>"Alright~" No. VIII coughed into his hand and bore a simple nonchalant smile. "We're Nobodies."</p>
      <p>"..."</p>
      <p>"..."</p>
      <p>"..."</p>
      <p>"Is this some sort of joke?"</p>
      <p>"...Oh for the love of- you didn't even tell them about Nobodies either?"</p>
      <p>"Only the Heartless."</p>
      <p>Axel slumped a little with a groan. "Boy you really want to make things more difficult for me, don't ya?" Composing himself, he addressed the people in the room. "Ok, so, Heartless, he got that out of the way, yes?"</p>
      <p>He received nods of confirmation from everyone.</p>
      <p>"Great, that takes care of half the issue." Axel said patiently. "So keep up with the rest, and please get it memorized. I'd rather not repeat myself."</p>
      <p>"I think we can handle it."</p>
      <p>"...You won't." Axel said, snapping his fingers.</p>
      <p>In an instant, a Dusk appeared right next to him in a plumb of silver and white vapors.</p>
      <p>…</p>
      <p>…</p>
      <p>…</p>
      <p>"WHAT THE FUCK!"</p>
      <p>"DID YOU JUST SUMMON A HEARTLESS?!"</p>
      <p>Nearly everyone present quickly went on guard. Biotics flared with weapons drawn. As those without weapons, they wished they had them right now.</p>
      <p>"Relax~ look at the symbol." Axel said, lightly nudging the Dusks head forward to show off the emblem of the Organization. "This is a Nobody, a Dusk to be specific; lowest of the bunch."</p>
      <p>"The fuck is a Nobody?" Ashley asked, not lowering her weapon.</p>
      <p>"Huh, guess that's where Roxas learned <em>it</em> from." Axel commented.</p>
      <p>"Guys." Roxas stood in front of the Dusk and Axel. "Trust me, you guys are ok."</p>
      <p>Slowly, the team lowered their weapons while keeping an eye on the swaying Dusk that seemed unperturbed by the weapons pointed at it.</p>
      <p>"Axel." Xion looked concerned. "Won't this Dusk-"</p>
      <p>"Why Xion, I'm surprised." Axel said. "Don't you recognize this one? After all that effort he put into tidying up your room."</p>
      <p>Realization dawned upon the puppet Nobody. "It's you!"</p>
      <p>Oddly enough, the Dusk whirled around the room and ended up by her side before patting her head. After that, it whirled back to Axel.</p>
      <p>"Now you understand what happens for a Heartless to replenish their numbers, acting on instincts and all that. What you don't know is what happens to the bodies left behind, their 'shells' function in a higher standard."</p>
      <p>Axel didn't need to look at the crew's reactions to see he caught their unique interests.</p>
      <p>"At certain times, if someone with a strong Heart and Will -doesn't matter if they were good or evil- becomes a Heartless, the empty shell they leave behind begins to act with a will of its own. An empty vessel whose heart has been stolen away… acts on its own as it clings onto existence in order to prevent themselves returning to the darkness. For you see, ladies and gents, Nobodies never exist in the first place."</p>
      <p>"What?" Several of the crewmates said.</p>
      <p>"How does that make sense?" Garrus asked.</p>
      <p>"Is this like some abstract thought or Avant Garde type of explanation?"</p>
      <p>Axel rolled his eyes with a shake of his head. "And here I thought you people would try to keep an open mind after learning about the Heartless."</p>
      <p>"I'm sorry, you just said something about nonexistence." Ashley said. "How can you say that when that… Dusk there is literally existing right in front of us."</p>
      <p>Axel smirked. "I know, and therein lies the contradiction."</p>
      <p>"What?" was the response.</p>
      <p>"You see, Nobodies are best described as accidents, if you could call it that." Axel said. "Cause that's what I always figured. If you were never meant to be yet you are, perhaps your accidental existence is what best describes you as a Nobody."</p>
      <p>"But… that empty shell that acts on its own…" Liara murmured, feeling a bit jumbled in the mind from all this. "I… I don't understand."</p>
      <p>"No one truly gets it the first time around. I sure didn't when I became who I am."</p>
      <p>"Meaning?"</p>
      <p>"I'm a Nobody." Axel thumbed to himself. "Just like Roxas and Xion here. I'm not entirely human you could say. I don't have a heart cause I was never meant to be. My destiny, like the destiny of all Nobodies, was to sink and disappear into the darkness. But we didn't. Our willpower had us cling onto our existence, getting past the next life and staying rooted here."</p>
      <p>This sent a disturbing chill down everyone's spine.</p>
      <p>"Are you telling us you were <em>meant</em> to pass on?" Liara whispered. "And your willpower <em>forcibly</em> kept you alive?"</p>
      <p>Axel tilted his head with an enigmatic grin. "In a manner of speaking. In our new existence, we lost the ability to feel <em>any </em>emotion."</p>
      <p>"Huh?" was the united reaction.</p>
      <p>"Us Nobodies may seem to have feelings, but we act on the memories left behind in our shells. Sadly yet, it's not meant to be as we pretend to have Hearts for there's none at all within us." Axel said.</p>
      <p>"You… "pretend" to have hearts?" Tali wasn't really understanding what he was talking about.</p>
      <p>"Oh yeah." Axel nodded. "Most Nobodies just remember what it was like to have hearts. So they just go off their memory. But in reality, it's nothing more than a falsehood. A lie to convince themselves and others that they exist."</p>
      <p>Axel then threw his arm around Roxas' shoulders.</p>
      <p>"But Roxas here is a bit of a special case."</p>
      <p>"Meaning?"</p>
      <p>"He was born about… how long has it been now Roxas?"</p>
      <p>Roxas brought up his Omni-Tool. "71 days."</p>
      <p>"Whoa, 71 days?!" Axel nodded his head in a thoughtful frown. "Time flies. Any who, Roxas here has only existed in those 71 days."</p>
      <p>"..."</p>
      <p>"..."</p>
      <p>"..."</p>
      <p>"And that means?" Shepard was unsure of how to ask for clarity.</p>
      <p>"Roxas," Axel gestured to him. "Has only existed for 71 days. Plain as that."</p>
      <p>The crew wasn't sure as to how to respond to that.</p>
      <p>"Oh for God sake. It's as simple as that." Axel threw his hands up. "He just came into being 71 days ago. And what made him a special case was that Instead of having his 'memories' right away like the rest of us, he had to develop ones of his own and take it from there. If you guys don't get what I'm saying, let me spell it out as plain as the sun is red. Roxas is only two months old and has no memories to fall back on cause he was born with <em>nothing.</em>"</p>
      <p>While the team tried to make heads or tails of what Axel was talking about, Shepard had an unusually slow dawning of realization.</p>
      <p>Somehow, by some bizarre reason, everything in Shepard's mind was falling into place. She didn't see it at first but as she continued to observe Roxas and from hearing what Axel was revealing...</p>
      <p>First came the odd behavior when he first came aboard and joined her team. He quite literally questioned <em>everything. </em>There was nothing that he didn't ask about with him treating everything that was explained to him as <em>the </em>most fascinating thing he had ever heard.</p>
      <p>Nothing was off the books for him.</p>
      <p>Second was the medical results with the extremely unusual heart readings. And by unusual, it was the lack of a heartbeat at all.</p>
      <p>After every mission, she had Chakwas examine Roxas to see if his heartbeat would appear. And there was only one recorded instance of it but it was so brief and barely noticeable that it was chalked up to a fluke.</p>
      <p>And the mention of the lack of emotion.</p>
      <p>There were times when Shepard looked directly at Roxas and found a disturbingly unresponsive and unphased look at what most would categorize as justifiably emotional situations.</p>
      <p>Especially after Benezia's death.</p>
      <p>Now, everything was starting to make <em>too</em> much sense. The bit with the amnesiac thing Roxas had to play through was a lie as he honestly had no memories prior to his existence.</p>
      <p>And from what Axel was insinuating, if she were to hazard a guess, was that Roxas here wasn't born in some test tube or a lab. He's not some clone or whatever.</p>
      <p>No, he quite literally came into being when someone with a strong heart lost themselves to the Heartless.</p>
      <p>And his "memories", developing ones of his own…</p>
      <p>Shepard rubbed her forehead on trying to understand that last one was causing her to have a little headache. Overworking her head and all that.</p>
      <p>The only other person that was as close to understanding this like Shepard was is Tali.</p>
      <p>She had slightly similar thoughts though missing a few details like his heartbeat and such. Yet, the pieces were all there. His blank looks, overly curious nature, lack of common sense and that was coming from a naive young girl on her pilgrimage.</p>
      <p>All of it just somehow fit.</p>
      <p>And it was maddening.</p>
      <p>She was about to say something when Axel continued to speak after he dismissed the Dusk, having it disappear in a plumb of silver and white vapors.</p>
      <p>"-And at first, I thought Xion fell into the same category as Roxas was just a coincidence. But then came the <em>evidence</em>."</p>
      <p>"What exactly are you talking about?" Shepard asked quickly.</p>
      <p>Axel looked down at the shorter Nobody. "Roxas…"</p>
      <p>Pulling up his Omni tool, Roxas quickly pulled up the audio file and played.</p>
      <p>
        <em>"-Her experience is a very slow climb without No. XIII around. It's a miracle now that she can barely handle things on her own. Yet she failed on a few of her past missions… Had to jump in and save her or else she would've been destroyed."</em>
      </p>
      <p>"Who's that?" Asked the commander.</p>
      <p>"Vexen, our scientist. A real nutcase, that one is."</p>
      <p><em>"Couldn't we just use another Replica of yours?"</em> Came a smooth, hotly voice.</p>
      <p><em>"As if it were that simple, Xigbar. Her present condition would be hard to make another replacement should she fall. All that power she gained from Roxas before his abrupt disappearance and her current experience would be utterly wasted."</em> Vexen said bitterly.</p>
      <p>"And this Xigbar?"</p>
      <p>"Number II in the Organization."</p>
      <p>"He's second in Command then?"</p>
      <p>"No, that'd be Saix." Axel clarified.</p>
      <p>"Who?"</p>
      <p>Jane held up her hand to refrain the others from further questioning. "Let's… just keep listening. Specific questions can be asked later."</p>
      <p><em>"Then what is it that you suggest we do, No. IV."</em> A deep brass toned voice slowly, methodically even said. <em>"We have the entire Organization scouring multiple Worlds for Roxas while unleashing Heartless across them all and we have found nary a trace or hair on our wayward Keybearer."</em></p>
      <p>Upon hearing <em><strong>that</strong></em> voice, Tali practically froze in her seat. She shook a little, which nobody really took notice of as they were more focused on the recording.</p>
      <p><em>"At least we know the kid's alive."</em> Said the Sharpshooter. <em>"Been getting an influx of Hearts as of late and Kingdom Hearts is progressing nicely as we speak."</em></p>
      <p><em>"We must figure out where they're all coming from."</em> Vexen mused aloud. <em>"If you would excuse me, Lord Xemnas. I have work to attend to in Castle Oblivion."</em></p>
      <p><em>"Oh~"</em> Xigbar said aloud. <em>"I heard some interesting rumors there, Vexen. Is it true? About Riku being in the castle?"</em></p>
      <p><em>"Indeed, Xigbar."</em> The Chilly Academic confirmed. <em>"I have recently clashed with the young man and have acquired a great deal of necessary data that will prove useful in the future. Even Axel fought with him, out of sheer boredom before asking for his input. Even Zexion contributed."</em></p>
      <p><em>"Then by all means, Vexen. You may go."</em> Xemnas said, soon the crew could faintly hear the familiar sound of the Dark Corridor appearing, signifying Vexen's departure.</p>
      <p>"Is that it or-"</p>
      <p>"There's more." No. XIII said.</p>
      <p><em>"Without Roxas here, Xion is now a more valuable piece in our goals."</em> Xemnas said in his deep tone.</p>
      <p>
        <em>"Heh~ From sidelines to center stage. I'm so proud of her."</em>
      </p>
      <p>
        <em>"She will continue to perform as she is instructed until Roxas is found. Afterwards… we shall dispose of the Puppet."</em>
      </p>
      <p>
        <em>"Really? That soon?"</em>
      </p>
      <p><em>"Vexen has proven to us that he still needs to work out many details with his replicas."</em> No. I declared. <em>"Xion's lack of progress is more of a hindrance than a benefit. And from what I have observed… she appears rather hesitant going about her duties."</em></p>
      <p><em>"Are we on that much of a timetable?"</em> Xigbar asked.</p>
      <p>'Timetable?' Thought many of the ground team.</p>
      <p><em>"How much longer do you think we can keep up the act? They may buy it for now, but sooner or later, they're gonna realize this whole 'Kingdom Hearts for our own Hearts' plan is bogus, you know?"</em> No. II Remarked.</p>
      <p>'Kingdom Hearts?' Was the collective thought the Normandy crew shared. It was the second time it was mentioned now.</p>
      <p>
        <em>"They will continue to serve if they value their existence."</em>
      </p>
      <p>Xigbar snorted aloud. <em>"You mean non-existence right? Heh~ My Munny's gonna be when they're just about to kick the bucket."</em></p>
      <p><em>"It might just be for most, if not all who are not in the know."</em> The Superior of the Organization then voiced an inquiry. <em>"What do you think of our puppet?"</em></p>
      <p><em>"Don't worry, Xemnas. Our spare 'Key' will do as we commanded."</em> Xigbar chuckled. <em>"And by 'we' I mean 'you'. After all, either 'Key' is all a part of your plan. Using the Keyblade's power and all that."</em></p>
      <p>Xemnas only hummed aloud. <em>"She's barely meeting our expectations. And still without Roxas's presence, the transfer has been halted."</em></p>
      <p><em>"I say we should just follow Larxene's idea and snatch Sora up, wherever he's at, and let Xion get the power directly before we off her."</em> Xigbar said. <em>"When we make a new replica, easy transfer right there. Fully powered up and ready to do our dirty work."</em></p>
      <p>As much as either crew member wanted to ask what exactly was being discussed, they kept silent and continued listening.</p>
      <p>
        <em>"If only it were so simple."</em>
      </p>
      <p><em>"Right… still got no idea where he up and disappeared to after he beat your Heartless self." </em>Xigbar groused out. <em>"Seems both Somebody and Nobody are more similar than we would've thought."</em></p>
      <p>"Somebody?" Kaidan muttered out. "First Nobody and now Somebody?"</p>
      <p>"Shush!"</p>
      <p>
        <em>"Have you heard any news from Castle Oblivion?"</em>
      </p>
      <p><em>"Aside from what we already know, not much else."</em> Xigbar said. <em>"Why? Still thinking on having Riku as one of the others?"</em></p>
      <p><em>"His link with Darkness is… </em>potent<em>, strong. And if given proper time and guidance, will become worthy once again."</em></p>
      <p>
        <em>"If I remember correctly, your other half already made the connection with the other islander. He could be another candidate to fill the role."</em>
      </p>
      <p>
        <em>"Indeed."</em>
      </p>
      <p>The crew caught onto this "Riku" person again as he seemed to be rather important.</p>
      <p><em>"So, even if things got out of whack, we can still realign the board in our favor."</em> Xigbar stated. <em>"Just gotta make a new Poppet and send it out and take care of our wayward 'Key' and see who comes out on top."</em> No. II said before becoming a bit more serious. <em>"Think we'll find Roxas anytime soon?"</em></p>
      <p><em>"It shall only be a matter of time."</em> No. I stated. <em>"And when that time comes…"</em></p>
      <p><em>"We'll have the next vessel."</em> Xigbar stated.</p>
      <p><em>"We only require one with the full and complete powers for our plans… in the end, it doesn't matter </em>which<em> one."</em></p>
      <p>After that was said, the recording came to an end as Roxas shut off his Omni-tool.</p>
      <p>"...The Geth recording sounded a whole lot easier to understand than listening to that." Wrex said bluntly.</p>
      <p>"Right?" Garrus said suddenly.</p>
      <p>"At least it was just a few sentences we were hearing. But this…"</p>
      <p>"Ok… number of questions from <em>that</em> alone." Jane stated.</p>
      <p>"How many?" Ashley dryly added on. "Do you want the novel or the collection? Right now, I'm pretty sure we're on volume three with four on the way."</p>
      <p>Axel shook his head in amusement on hearing their reactions. At least it helped ease the seriousness wafting in the air; in his perspective, that is.</p>
      <p>"Can we at least start with the easiest one?"</p>
      <p>"Which is?" Axel asked the group as a whole.</p>
      <p>The Normandy crew immediately had their mouths clamped shut.</p>
      <p>"Er…"</p>
      <p>"Uh…"</p>
      <p>"Well…"</p>
      <p>"Um…"</p>
      <p>"Did you get all your vowels out kids?" Axel mocked. "Caused you missed 'A' and 'I' and I believe we're missing 'O' as well. 'Y' doesn't count this time."</p>
      <p>"Oh shut up." Ashley grumped.</p>
      <p>"Wonderful, you included 'O'." Axel clapped. "Well done Ms. Williams was it? You get a cookie."</p>
      <p>"Will you knock it off?" Ashley snapped. "I thought you said you didn't have emotions."</p>
      <p>"You don't need emotions to piss people off."</p>
      <p>"That's… unironically true." Kaidan couldn't help but admit to that strangely sound logic.</p>
      <p>It was at this point that Wrex took note of the lone girl in the trio, staring at her intently.</p>
      <p>"What about her?" Wrex spoke up. "What was that about her being a 'puppet'? Is that some sort of figure of speech?"</p>
      <p>"That's true in a literal <em>and </em>figurative sense." Axel said, mood abruptly shifting into one of grim countenance. "Xion here is the best question to get out of the way."</p>
      <p>"Ok, so, puppet." Jane said. "That… what was the name of the guy with the bassy voice?"</p>
      <p>"Xemnas." Axel stated. "X-E-M-N-A-S. Got it Memorized?"</p>
      <p>"Are you just gonna say that every chance you get?" Garrus pointed out.</p>
      <p>"I dunno Garrus, are you gonna say calibrated every other hour of the day?" Ashley quickly countered.</p>
      <p>"I'll stop after Tali stops saying Keelah, Liara with Goddess, Wrex with Quads and Pyjaks and Roxas with… whatever it is he says."</p>
      <p>"Ok, ok, enough with the distractions." Jane said, a small smirk playing on her lips. "So… uh, Xion dear… and Axel, this whole Puppet business. Please… elaborate… to the best of your abilities."</p>
      <p>"The Replica Program." Axel revealed.</p>
      <p>Rather than interrupting or repeating whatever it was Axel just said, the crew just silently listened.</p>
      <p>"In some manner, you could say it's a cloning program, but it's not as simple as that. See, we don't use something like a hair or a blood sample (though that would be easier or difficult depending on the tech) but data." Axel said. "And how we collect data is really bizarre and weird and I'm not a scientist so I don't fully understand it that much to begin with. Will need to go back and collect some notes when I get the time or feel safe enough to survive. Only then can I get a far clearer picture on this whole Program."</p>
      <p>"And how did you discover all this?" Liara asked, beginning to get drawn into the conversation.</p>
      <p>"Shortly before Roxas went missing and apparently ran into you guys, I was deployed in being stationed at Castle Oblivion, our second base of operations. One day when I was utterly bored out of my mind, I went through the library and began reading all sorts of books there. One in particular I didn't take much interest in at first, thinking it was just some random jargons Vexen was spewing. But after hearing the recording the first time around, things started to make sense."</p>
      <p>"Alright, don't leave us in suspense…"</p>
      <p>"The Replica Program was heralded by our scientist, Vexen. The goal was to create empty vessels that could contain a heart and outwardly reflect its original appearance. Out of this project of his were a pair of 'individuals', a replica of Riku… and Xion."</p>
      <p>"Then what was the purpose behind this program, for real."</p>
      <p>"I still don't understand what Xemnas' endgame is, but he ultimately wanted -at this time- a completely loyal Keybearer under his thumb. In order to do so, he wanted to duplicate the memories of the Keyblade wielder and through them his powers- into a puppet. And the target of this was towards Sora, a Keybearer we met."</p>
      <p>"And how does this Sora person fit with all this?"</p>
      <p>"Don't exactly know for sure, but… Xion had to absorb the strength and powers from either him… or Roxas in order to complete Xemnas' little passion project for his bigger plan." Axel said with a conflicted expression as he still had no idea what his former superior intentions were. "As of right now, the only Replica they have in their thrall is no doubt Riku Replica and by my guess, he's a successful copy of the original."</p>
      <p>"Then what's that about a replacement?"</p>
      <p>"From what I was able to piece together, Xion wasn't meeting up to the 'Superior's' expectations and wanted to scrap her and begin again. So he wanted to use all the power she has and dump it into a new Replica and continue from there and make said Replica far more loyal and obedient."</p>
      <p>"There seems to be more to this-"</p>
      <p>"Look," Axel had his hands on his hips with his head facing up at the ceiling. "Everything we know," Axel then looked back down at the crew. "We know as much as you do. We only learned about all this literally a few hours ago… I think. Time flows differently here I guess when you mentioned Roxas had been gone for a few days."</p>
      <p>"Well, we did just discover a talking duck that comes from a different galaxy." Alenko wryly brought up.</p>
      <p>"And let's not forget about… well <em>everything </em>we've been doing the past few weeks." Wrex drawled.</p>
      <p>"By this point, I think we should just let go and expect anything." Garrus conceded.</p>
      <p>Roxas and Xion all the while turned to their friend.</p>
      <p>"Why didn't you bring this up before, Axel? When we were with Sora and the others back in the mansion?" Roxas inquired.</p>
      <p>"In all honesty, I was about to consider bringing it up, but that DiZ asshole wanted them to learn about Nobodies from this Yen Sid guy first. And with that happening, it would've been confusing to really dwell into the details without them knowing what Nobodies were beforehand." Axel then adopted a thoughtful pose. "Though I believe Riku could fill in a few pieces here and there, due to him fighting his Replica a number of times in Castle Oblivion's basement levels."</p>
      <p>"DiZ?" Liara asked aloud. "Who's-"</p>
      <p>"Can we not?" Axel held up a hand with an irritated face. "I'm kinda getting tired of explaining all this. And I really don't want to get off tangent here from the initial details."</p>
      <p>"Axel is pretty much right on that."</p>
      <p>"Thank you."</p>
      <p>"So… what now then?" Ashley asked, looking around. "Cause I'm not gonna lie, even with all that we've faced and learned, I'm still trying to wrap my mind around all this. None of it makes sense to me, hard as I try to think about it."</p>
      <p>"I'm… kinda at a loss myself." Garrus admitted. "This stuff is <em>way</em> above my paygrade."</p>
      <p>"Well we told ya everything and ya heard what we had to say." Axel said, throwing his hands up in 'what else do ya want' manner.</p>
      <p>The Normandy crew was unsure of what to say or do next when...</p>
      <p>"What if… what if it could be seen?" Liara said nervously.</p>
      <p>Everyone turned to the Asari who was gazing at the trio of Nobodies.</p>
      <p>"I think… if one of us <em>sees </em>it, <em>feels</em> what you all are talking about, then maybe it can be believed." Liara said with growing confidence though her voice was tinged with uncertainty.</p>
      <p>Shepard, having experienced what Liara possibly may be suggesting, caught on quickly.</p>
      <p>"Liara, are you sure about this?"</p>
      <p>"Wait, what's she talking about?" Axel asked, looking between Jane and Liara, clearly not in the know.</p>
      <p>"A mind meld." Garrus finally deduced it. "That way, she can see and feel exactly what you've all been talking about."</p>
      <p>"She would be able to see everything." Shepard chipped in. "If you allow her."</p>
      <p>Roxas stared at Liara in wonder. He had read about the whole mind meld thingy that Asari were supposedly capable of but he never truly studied it as extensively as he did other matters.</p>
      <p>Scrunching up his face in determination, Roxas nodded.</p>
      <p>"Do it."</p>
      <p>Though she was nervous, Liara managed to repress it as her curiosity overwhelmed her hesitation.</p>
      <p>She had come to learn that nothing was what it seems with Roxas being around. That meant that perhaps not even her meld with him may go in an unexpected direction.</p>
      <p>"Embrace eternity."</p>
      <p>How right she was.</p>
      <p>
        <em>-Scene Cut-</em>
      </p>
      <p>Darkness…</p>
      <p>There was nothing but darkness as far as Liara could ever see.</p>
      <p>It honestly terrified the asari doctor for a few seconds, which became a bit much more than that.</p>
      <p>She expected to start seeing Roxas' memories right away so she could perhaps understand things a whole lot better on her original intention. Yet something was wrong.</p>
      <p>So there she was, walking through the darkness on an invisible path to parts unknown.</p>
      <p>She continued walking, not sure what exactly had happened or why she was even walking in this dark and endless abyss.</p>
      <p>Only that she was here and rather had nothing to do other than wander aimlessly.</p>
      <p>It was… terrifying.</p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>-Insert Kingdom Hearts 2: Dive into the Heart Extended-</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>"He… Hello?" Liara called out, hoping something, someone would respond. "Hello~? Is anyone out there?"</p>
      <p>She heard nothing at first. Just this… ambience.</p>
      <p>"Hello!" Liara louder this time. "Someone! Please, answer me! Roxas? Roxas, are you there?"</p>
      <p>It took a few seconds but at long last, she heard something responding. A distant voice.</p>
      <p>"Hello! I'm over here." Liara said, desperately looking around to find the source of the voice.</p>
      <p>"...ra! Liara!"</p>
      <p>Wait… she knew that voice.</p>
      <p>"Liara! Is that you?"</p>
      <p>"Shepard?"</p>
      <p>Sure enough, somehow, Commander Shepard had appeared before her, running right towards her.</p>
      <p>"Commander." Liara said in relief, rushing to her as well.</p>
      <p>"Liara." Shepard stood before her now. "What the hell is going on?"</p>
      <p>"That's what I wanted to ask you." Liara said. "What are you doing here?"</p>
      <p>"What am I doing here?" Shepard asked incredulously before her face fell into deep thought. "What <em>am</em> I doing here? Liara… what do you remember? Before this?"</p>
      <p>Liara stared at the Commander, wracking her mind to answer the question.</p>
      <p>"I… I was about to perform a mind meld with Roxas." Liara recalled which appeared to trigger Shepards memory.</p>
      <p>"Yeah, that's right." Jane said with a snap of her fingers. "And then everything went to shit… or at least, that's what it seemed like."</p>
      <p>"What happened afterwards?" Liara asked with a curious look on her face.</p>
      <p>Jane frowned for a moment. "Something… went, well, haywire if that's how I could describe it. You initiated the mind meld with Roxas… and then your Biotics just erupted with this weird light that came from Roxas that…"</p>
      <p>"..."</p>
      <p>"That what?" Liara desperately wanted to know.</p>
      <p>Shepard instead opted to look around.</p>
      <p>"We need to find the others."</p>
      <p>"Others? They're here?"</p>
      <p>"I don't know but I'm not discounting it if <em>I'm </em>here." Shepard pointed out. "Wherever <em>here </em>is."</p>
      <p>Liara could only absently nod when she tilted her head.</p>
      <p>"Do you hear that?"</p>
      <p>Jane looked to Liara quizzically when her ear twitched.</p>
      <p>"Yes." Jane turned in the direction of the sound. "Come on!"</p>
      <p>Shepard and Liara broke into a run, going straight for the source and after a few seconds of running they both saw…</p>
      <p>"Tali!" the duo said aloud with relief.</p>
      <p>The Quarian whirled towards them. "Shepard! Liara!"</p>
      <p>She jumped towards them, hugging them closely. They shared a small group hug when the Quarian pulled away.</p>
      <p>"Keelah, what happened Shepard?" Tali asked straight away.</p>
      <p>"Isn't that the burning question." Shepard retorted. "Come on, if the three of us are here than the rest are undoubtedly somewhere nearby or through this… darkness."</p>
      <p>With not much else needed to be discussed, the trio rushed off in a random direction.</p>
      <p>Eventually, bit by bit, they found the rest of the Normandy crew who were all just as dazed and confused as anyone else would be when presented with this sort of situation.</p>
      <p>The only people that were missing were Roxas, Axel and Xion.</p>
      <p>"So, anybody got any ideas what madness we fell into this time?" Garrus asked, looking around the void.</p>
      <p>"What are we even standing on?" Ashley asked, stomping her foot on the ground.</p>
      <p>"That's what you ask?" Wrex said disbelievingly. "Williams, in case you haven't noticed, we're in a blank abyss."</p>
      <p>"I have noticed, thank you very much." Ashley snipped. "Just… going with what's off the top of my head."</p>
      <p>"Oh yeah, then why haven't any of us asked where Roxas, Axel and Xion are." Garrus stated. "If all of us are here then it should be believable in assuming those three are around here somewhere."</p>
      <p>"Good point." Shepard raised a hand up to her chin in thought.</p>
      <p>"So that begs the question then, where are they?" Kaidan asked.</p>
      <p>"We'll have to keep moving and maybe we'll find them. Like we did each other." Tali said.</p>
      <p>"Can't think of anything else to go on." Shepard said with a shrug. "Let's keep moving then."</p>
      <p>And so, the group of seven trudged forward within the endless dark void that appeared to stretch on endlessly.</p>
      <p>They just kept on walking in what felt like an aimless direction. They weren't even sure if it was straight or all over the place.</p>
      <p>"Where the hell are we going?" Wrex asked aloud irritably.</p>
      <p>"Yeah, this is starting to become less creepy and more annoying." Ashley groused out. "I'm starting to lose my mind here."</p>
      <p>"You mean you haven't already?"</p>
      <p>"Bite me, Garrus, you know what I'm talking about."</p>
      <p>"Bite you… is this another human thing?"</p>
      <p>"Just load up human phrases on your Omni-tool, Garrus." Tali suggested. "I figured it'd help later on."</p>
      <p>"Goddess, why didn't I think of that?"</p>
      <p>"Are you sure?" Garrus inquired. "Think there'll even be enough space for that?"</p>
      <p>Before anyone could make another comment or quip, Tali saw something, or rather someone in the distance.</p>
      <p>"Guys!" Tali said, pointing ahead.</p>
      <p>The group turned to where Tali was pointing to and somehow were able to make out someone in a familiar black cloak and hood standing off in the distance.</p>
      <p>It looked like…</p>
      <p>"Roxas!" Tali said aloud, running towards him with the group following after her.</p>
      <p>As they drew closer, the hood figure turned to them. Once they were a few feet away, the figure vanished with wisps of light floating about before falling to the ground.</p>
      <p>"Wha-?" Tali looked around, desperately trying to find Roxas.</p>
      <p>Having had enough of this, Jane simply looked to the skies.</p>
      <p>"HEY!" She shouted with all her might. "What the hell is going on here?!"</p>
      <p>"Uh, Skipper, I don't think yelling at the sky's gonna solve anything." Ashley said.</p>
      <p>"Oh yeah, Gunnery Chief. And what would you suggest?" Jane shot back in a deadpan. "I'm all ears here."</p>
      <p>As the group bickered, Tali was still trying to locate the hooded individual in the darkness. She knew that it was Roxas. Had the same body posture and everything.</p>
      <p>Just… where in the world did he disappear to?</p>
      <p>The moment Tali took one step forward, light appeared below her foot.</p>
      <p>She looked down only to shield her eyes, the group following suit as the light was blinding. All around them, shadows retreated, shaping into what looked like birds.</p>
      <p>Once the illuminating light died down, their eyes adjusted to the darkness. And there they saw the source of the light.</p>
      <p>It was a large platform filled with lights like that of the sunrise and sunset. The colors of twilight were very gentle and soothing in contrast to the unsettling darkness.</p>
      <p>As their eyes took better focus on it, they reared back in surprise on what they were seeing.</p>
      <p>It was a stained glass platform filled with the twilight of colors. Along the edges was the repeating symbol of the Nobodies. And in the far background was a beautifully constructed clocktower with roman numerals on the clock face.</p>
      <p>But this wasn't what really drew their attention, but the people designed into the stained glass platform.</p>
      <p>At the center of it all was Roxas as he grasped his Keyblade with a determined look on his face. Surrounding his head in small head portraits were four individuals. One was the smiling Axel, one was Xion with a melancholy visage, another was Tali with her bright cheerful eyes and the last was Shepard with a straight, determined visage.</p>
      <p>From there, the others saw other portraits hanging around Roxas' body of the rest of the Normandy ground team of Kaidan, Ashley, Wrex, Garrus and Liara. And apparently Joker, Stitch and Dr. Chakwas seemed to have sneaked in there as well.</p>
      <p>"...Okay what the hell is this?"</p>
      <p>"Not that I mind how beautiful this is designed, but this is really freaking me out." Ashley said aloud.</p>
      <p>"Why are we all here surrounding Roxas like this?" Kaidan asked, kneeling down to examine his portrait that was next to Ashley's. This picture of him was giving off a calm expression whilst Ashley's had a large, brimming smile. He looked over to the others, noting the image of an easy-going Garrus (somehow), a feral grinning Wrex and Liara with a kind smile.</p>
      <p>Tali silently gazed down at the face of the teen she had grown to care for so much since she had first met him.</p>
      <p>His eyes were not as hollow as they once were but they still held a blankness to them that showed how much Roxas had to learn.</p>
      <p>She felt great internal conflict, eyes shifting over to the portrait of her nearby Roxas's head. Her eyes drifted over to the other three closest to him. Xion, Axel and Commander Shepard.</p>
      <p>What did this mean? There are the others of course but these four seemed to be the most prominent.</p>
      <p>Did… did they signify something? Like… they were the ones closest to Roxas?</p>
      <p>Tali'Zorah Nar Rayya was unsure as to how she came to this conclusion but it just… <em>felt</em> right.</p>
      <p>She had subconsciously placed a hand over her chest without realizing it.</p>
      <p>Looking up, Tali blinked upon seeing a stained glass platform appear before her which began multiplying and forming upwards until she saw it reach another platform that was elevated higher than the one they stood on.</p>
      <p>"Whoa!" Several of the Normandy Crew said in unison, having seen what Tali had.</p>
      <p>"Where… where do you think that leads?" Kaidan asked a bit hesitantly.</p>
      <p>"Only one way to find out." Tali said determinedly, taking the first step forward towards the stained glass staircase.</p>
      <p>Knowing they had no other alternative, the team trudged on, climbing up the winding staircase</p>
      <p>They soon arrived at another platform, similar to the floor from the last one yet rather than the colors of a setting sun, the primary coloring was that of a rising one with bursting pigments of yellow and blue.</p>
      <p>"Ok, what-"</p>
      <p>"<em>Power sleeps within you."</em></p>
      <p>The entire team jerked, quickly forming into a circle with their backs to each other.</p>
      <p>"The hell was that?" Wrex asked in a growl.</p>
      <p>"<em>The path… has changed. The Destiny of all… obscured."</em></p>
      <p>"Can you guys hear that?" Garrus asked.</p>
      <p>"We all can, Vakarian." Wrex snarked.</p>
      <p>"No." Garrus shook his head. "Did you <em>hear</em> that?"</p>
      <p>They were unsure at first what Garrus was insinuating when that strange, disembodied voice <em>spoke </em>again.</p>
      <p>"<em>Your Journey starts at the end."</em></p>
      <p>Though it took a moment, Alenko voiced what most of them were thinking.</p>
      <p>"Is he… talking without saying anything?" Kaidan asked nervously. "You can all hear that right?"</p>
      <p>The group was silent for the most part.</p>
      <p>"We gotta keep going." Shepard declared. "Nothing gained by just standing around here."</p>
      <p>Without another word, the group went on, having seen yet another long winding path of stained glass that would lead them to the next platform.</p>
      <p>However, upon arriving at the next platform, the Lieutenant of the group was the first to see what was on the floor this time around.</p>
      <p>"...The hell is this?"</p>
      <p>The others looked over to the lieutenant and quickly bore shocking looks on what they were seeing.</p>
      <p>It was another stained glass platform. But instead of Roxas, it primarily focused on Kaidan.</p>
      <p>Everything seemed similarly the same as the first one they saw, but the colors were switched out with bright blue and cobalt blue colors. Instead of standing, he seemed to be relaxing with his form laying across the platform's edge. The portraits at the top were focused on a number of individuals, which Kaidan muttered out in surprise.</p>
      <p>"Mom… Dad… Rahna… Commander… Roxas? How-?"</p>
      <p>"What is all this?" Ashley asked, now becoming anxious. "Is this some trippy self-reflection trip we're on? I thought we were supposed to learn about Roxas, not go on a fever dream."</p>
      <p>Stepping back in her surprise at seeing this platform, the back of Tali's foot impacted something over the edge and another pathway was formed. Looking back, she saw it connected to a platform… with her as the focus. And the other her rested comfortably with her Omni-tool out with the background being grey and purple as the prominent colors. And in the far background was the Migrant Fleet.</p>
      <p>Surrounding her with the portraits of Roxas, Shepard, another Quarian, Garrus, Ashley, Liara, Kaidan and Wrex.</p>
      <p>"What… what is all this?" Tali asked in complete and utter bewilderment.</p>
      <p>More and more followed suit where the other Normandy ground team saw their very own platforms. Each designed in their own ways and colors with familiar faces for the most part though each one had a few add ons.</p>
      <p>Like Ashley with her sisters, Liara with Benezia and Garrus with his father and sister.</p>
      <p>Shepard had her own as well, having the crew for the most part and Anderson and her mother with her late father and late younger brother, something the others heard her mutter out from under her breath.</p>
      <p>Even <em>Wrex</em> had one dedicated to him with him having <em>only </em>the Normandy ground crew… and Stitch somehow.</p>
      <p>"What is this all supposed to mean?" Liara asked, somewhat becoming overwhelmed by all that they were seeing. "Why are we seeing all of this?"</p>
      <p>Garrus hummed aloud, thinking critically on this matter with his detective skills coming into play.</p>
      <p>"Each of these platforms we stood on had all of us at one point with Roxas appearing twice." Garrus surmised. "What was the main thing that was always constant?"</p>
      <p>Everyone took a moment to pause and consider Garrus' words.</p>
      <p>"All of us are usually present." Shepard pointed out after a few seconds. "In one way shape or form, practically the entire Normandy ground team is always there on each platform around those artsy versions of ourselves."</p>
      <p>"Meaning?" Wrex asked impatiently.</p>
      <p>"They are those we are closest to." Tali stated. "Those who we've connected to the most."</p>
      <p>"Is that supposed to be some sort of sappy metaphor, or…" Ashley asked, slightly amused, slightly curious.</p>
      <p>"No, no…" Liara rubbed her chin, deep in thought. "Tali may be right. Think about it, every platform we've been to has shown all of us along with several distinct individuals in our lives outside this team that we have bonded with over this journey. Tali may be on to something."</p>
      <p>"But that doesn't really explain just how this happened, why it's happening and what we're even supposed to do." Kaidan pointed out.</p>
      <p>"Not gonna lie, starting to get a bit antsy in here." Wrex openly admitted.</p>
      <p>"So what? Should we keep moving then?" Ashley inquired.</p>
      <p>"Seems to be the only real option right now." Shepard said. "We've seen the entire team now."</p>
      <p>"What about Axel and Xion?" Tali asked.</p>
      <p>"I'm not sure." Jane admitted. "We've only met them recently after all. Who knows, that may change later on."</p>
      <p>So, they had no choice other than to keep walking.</p>
      <p>The next stained glass staircase was laid bare before them so no other place to go towards. The others just led backwards.</p>
      <p>Then they saw <em><strong>this</strong></em> platform.</p>
      <p>For the briefest of moments, they thought they were looking at Roxas once again, but something wasn't right on a number of details.</p>
      <p>For one, he wasn't wearing his Organization coat and wasn't standing, but in fact leaning back and was seemingly asleep. And in his grasp was an oddly designed Keyblade in a reverse grip.</p>
      <p>With his attire, it vaguely looked similar to what his casual attire was, but only on a number of aspects. The rest seemed to have him wear several odd armor pieces like a pauldron on his left shoulder, something around his waist and his boots were armored up as well.</p>
      <p>Said weapon had a black handle that was offset with its guard being in a dull gold color and joined with the shaft of the sword to fully enclose the handle. The shaft is grey, thin, and has a very slight curve outward. There were three thin, dull gold lines that decorate the middle of the shaft. Two short bars connect the main blade to the teeth, which are grey like the blade and have a wing-like shape as they are composed of five cured bars that decrease in size the lower they are to the weapon.</p>
      <p>The main color scheme on the platform was predominantly green with a touch of light-blue. In the background, there was some sort of rocky desert. And in the portraits had a brown haired with his eyes closed, a blue haired woman who brightly smiled, and a black haired man with a high ponytail with a few scars on his face. The other portraits, however, seemed to have been hazed out for some reason.</p>
      <p>"What's this supposed to be?" Garrus asked. "Another rendition of Roxas?"</p>
      <p>"I don't know." Shepard said with a frown, going down to one knee while analyzing the platform. "Is it weird that… this doesn't <em>feel </em>like Roxas."</p>
      <p>"Huh? What's that supposed to mean?" Ashley asked in bewilderment.</p>
      <p>"You heard what I said." Shepard said more firmly. "This may look like Roxas but it doesn't <em>feel </em>like it is. Like it's a different person entirely."</p>
      <p>"You're right." Tali confirmed. "This isn't Roxas. This is someone else."</p>
      <p>"Then who is <em>this</em> supposed to be?" Wrex asked.</p>
      <p>"How should any of us know?" Tali countered. "I know as much as you guys do."</p>
      <p>"I find it strange how I feel no exhaustion." Liara suddenly said. "It feels like we've been here for hours now without any rest."</p>
      <p>"It is strange." Kaidan murmured.</p>
      <p>"Then that means we still need to keep moving." Tali declared. "I know we're close. We'll find whatever it is that brought us here."</p>
      <p>"What brought us here?" Ashley murmured. "Didn't it have something to do with Roxas?"</p>
      <p>"So we find Roxas, and maybe our way outta-"</p>
      <p>"Well <em>finally, </em>found ya guys."</p>
      <p>The team turned to see none other than Axel walking towards them with a sleeping Xion in his arms.</p>
      <p>He immediately walked right up to Liara with a suspicious look on his face.</p>
      <p>"Alright, spill it lady, what the hell happened?" Axel asked straight away, making Liara jerk back in surprise. "You leaned your head against Roxas', next thing I know, I'm waking up here with Xion out cold and Roxas nowhere to be seen."</p>
      <p>"Hey, lay off her." Ashley got in between Liara and Axel. "She didn't know that this would happen. None of us did. This is a first for all of us."</p>
      <p>Axel frowned before relenting. He then took a moment to look over the group.</p>
      <p>"Where's Roxas?" Axel asked.</p>
      <p>"You haven't seen him?" Tali said in concern.</p>
      <p>No. VIII shook his head. "Nada. just been me and a sleeping Xion here."</p>
      <p>"Why is she sleeping?" Jane asked, slightly worried for the young girl's condition.</p>
      <p>"No idea." Axel said looking down at her with a melancholy expression. "Maybe she'll wake up soon after. Maybe she won't. I'd rather not stand around idle really."</p>
      <p>Wrex snorted aloud. "Something I could agree on."</p>
      <p>Once again, the group resumed their pace, walking off the strange platform and arriving at yet another platfo-</p>
      <p>"Roxas!" Tali cried aloud in an instant.</p>
      <p>The entire team saw the Quarian running forward and falling to her knees next to the body of an unconscious Roxas.</p>
      <p>The rest soon gathered around the two a moment later, Tali gently lifting Roxas' head up.</p>
      <p>"Roxas! Roxas!" Tali said aloud in concern.</p>
      <p>"Easy there Tali." Shepard said, kneeling down to the two.</p>
      <p>"What happened?" Kaidan asked.</p>
      <p>"I think that's a question on all our minds." Axel stated, not getting any denying comments from the others.</p>
      <p>There was a groan that came from the young blond, signifying his return to consciousness.</p>
      <p>From Roxas's point of view, everything was a blur until it slowly began to clear up.</p>
      <p>He blinked, taking sight of the concerned eyes of Tali'Zorah.</p>
      <p>"Tali?" He muttered. "Wha-What happened?"</p>
      <p>"Something weird involving you, unfortunately." Came a familiar dry tone.</p>
      <p>"Garrus?" Roxas was helped in sitting up as the teen saw the entire Normandy crew plus Axel and Xion were around him.</p>
      <p>"Where are we?" Roxas asked aloud, upon realizing that they were no longer on the Normandy.</p>
      <p>"You tell us." Ash said expectantly, arms crossed. "I remember a flash of light coming from you the moment Liara initiated her meld."</p>
      <p>Roxas shook his head.</p>
      <p>"Sorry, but this is honestly a first for me." He took a better look of his surroundings, seeing the abysmal sky to the stained glass ground where everyone else stood.</p>
      <p>Wait a second… he's seen this before.</p>
      <p>'Sora.' Roxas internally thought to himself.</p>
      <p>The thought alone appeared to trigger something when the entire team heard winds began to pick up around them.</p>
      <p>"What's going on?!" Liara asked in alarm.</p>
      <p>When the wind ceased, the surrounding individuals looked around and saw that they were surrounded by what they could best describe to be decorated screens of some kind. And they reached up to the abysmal sky above.</p>
      <p>"What is…" Shepard stared at the screens, eyes widening in confusion.</p>
      <p>The screens then brightened up for a brief moment, revealing what appeared to be odd screenshots of various events.</p>
      <p>Multiple images and small "clips" began to show, some distinct and clear while others were hazy if not impossible to see due to the bizarre static on display.</p>
      <p>The screens kept on moving, making it a little hard to keep track of, yet the lieutenant marine was able to catch onto something.</p>
      <p>"That's… that's us on Feros." Kaidan pointed out. He watched as the memory played with Roxas and Kaidan attacking Thorian Creepers together.</p>
      <p>"And that's the first time we encountered Heartless and met Roxas." Shepard added next.</p>
      <p>"And that's him fighting against the Thresher Maw." Wrex stated, watching Roxas cleave through the Maw's skin.</p>
      <p>"Damn, only hearing and reading the report does not do justice after seeing him cleave that thing." Said Garrus.</p>
      <p>"That's where we first met." Tali whispered, eyes boring into the first ever memory she had with Roxas.</p>
      <p>When he helped save her life.</p>
      <p>"What are these things?"</p>
      <p>After gazing at a number of them, Liara gave her theory. "These… These are Roxas' memories."</p>
      <p>"Really?"</p>
      <p>The Asari nodded as she gazed at a "clip" of Roxas helping her out on a past assignment. "Granted these appear to be of a different fashion than what Asari typically view them, and others when put through the mind meld; but the targeted result is right before us."</p>
      <p>The assembled group nodded as they kept viewing the screens before them.</p>
      <p>Tali had her eyes trained on one in particular.</p>
      <p>'Keelah!' She thought to herself in shock. 'That wasn't a dream?!'</p>
      <p>She saw Roxas and Axel standing in a room surrounded by thirteen throne-like chairs with the two looking up at the one in the center.</p>
      <p>Once again, Tali shuddered upon seeing the orange eyed, silver haired man.</p>
      <p>This made the Quarian wonder how that was possible in seeing the memory beforehand. She looked at Roxas who had stood up to his full height by this point, having walked forward in slight wonder.</p>
      <p>"Hang on a second." Ashley said aloud, waving her hands. "If you're telling me these are Roxas' memories, then explain to me who's that?" Williams points to the image of a boy in red clothing, blue eyes and brown hair.</p>
      <p>Axel, who quickly spotted the "clip", answered. "That would be Sora."</p>
      <p>"Who's Sora?"</p>
      <p>The series of "clips" they were now viewing were of the three former Organization members meeting Sora, Donald and Goofy at Castle Oblivion before having to fight against Vexen, Zexion and Riku Replica. This was prior to the real Riku and King Mickey appearing and joining in on the fight.</p>
      <p>It was quite… stunning to see such wild powers on display from those they knew and those they were unfamiliar with.</p>
      <p>Are these the types of fights and people Roxas is usually associated with.?</p>
      <p>They couldn't even begin to fathom the type of power these individuals could wield or what even Roxas was truly capable of.</p>
      <p>After viewing the battle sequence… things started to go awry.</p>
      <p>Things shifted from Roxas' perspective to that of Sora's.</p>
      <p>Roxas frowned as he gazed at a number of images and "clips" now flowing before them. "I… I don't even remember any of these."</p>
      <p>The series of images and "clips" depicted moments of Sora's adventures of traveling from world to world.</p>
      <p>"Hold on, why am I seeing the Queen of Hearts?" Ashley spoke out. "Or at least a rendition of her."</p>
      <p>"With the Mad Hatter, March Hare and the Dormouse." Said Shepard.</p>
      <p>"Is that a Husk?" Kaidan inquired.</p>
      <p>"I think that's just a skeleton… an animated one at that." Garrus commented as he shivered a little on seeing the decayed being.</p>
      <p>Many more gazed across their eyes as Sora traveled from World to World in combating the Heartless. Eventually the segmented "clips" came across the time of the brown-haired islander coming across Hollow Bastion and his conflicts which occurred at the Heartless filled world.</p>
      <p>After that, things shifted once more as the many screens floating about were having a hard time presenting the images and "clips."</p>
      <p>They were foggy, really hard to distinguish.</p>
      <p>But one thing was clear.</p>
      <p>He saw himself several times in scenarios and other worlds he had never ventured to.</p>
      <p>"Roxas?" Jane was next to him now, placing a hand on his shoulder.</p>
      <p>Instead of answering, No. XIII had his head down, deep in thought.</p>
      <p>"You know, after this, I'm gonna have no expectations." Ashley declared suddenly.</p>
      <p>"Huh?"</p>
      <p>"Seriously, what can get trippier than this?" Ashley exclaimed, throwing her arms up to emphasize their current location. "We just went on a trip that <em>drugs </em>can't even come close to replicating. That's it, no more surprises for me."</p>
      <p>"You wanna bet?" Wrex rumbled with a large grin.</p>
      <p>"You're on you old dinosaur."</p>
      <p>Garrus merely groaned. "Please, I would rather not."</p>
      <p>Axel snorted. "I believe you guys will get more than you'd bargain for."</p>
      <p>Eventually, the screens faded away into nothingness.</p>
      <p>"Roxas." Jane turned to him. "This feels like something only <em>you </em>can break us out of."</p>
      <p>"But… I don't know how to do that." Roxas said aloud.</p>
      <p>"You can do it, Roxas." Shepard encouraged, hand once again on his shoulder. "You just gotta… focus."</p>
      <p>Roxas gave the Commander a dry look. "And what would that be?"</p>
      <p>"I don't know, it feels like we're literally in <em>your head."</em> Shepard accentuated by thumping her knuckle against his forehead. "You figure it out."</p>
      <p>Roxas gave her a grumpy look until he relented.</p>
      <p>Looking to the others, he saw them waiting on him expectantly.</p>
      <p>Xion was still out cold in Axel's arms and Tali was… well he could tell there was a mixture of emotions radiating off her.</p>
      <p>He couldn't really think of a way out of this.</p>
      <p>"<em>Within you lies great power."</em></p>
      <p>Roxas jolted, surprising the team with his reaction.</p>
      <p>"<em>But to bring it forward, you must let go of thought."</em></p>
      <p>"Do you guys-"</p>
      <p>"<em>The power that resides within you only needs be called upon with feeling. Not thought."</em></p>
      <p>Upon hearing those words, a strange haze in his mind began to clear up.</p>
      <p>Nodding to himself, Roxas held out his hand.</p>
      <p>Summoning Oathkeeper, he twirled it around and jabbed it into the sky. Before anyone on the ground team could comment about the Keyblade's new form, a beam of light shot out of the weapon's tip. A moment later, the beam impacted something, resulting in a large shattering noise to appear in the darkness above.</p>
      <p>From that, the assembled group saw a large keyhole appear in the darkness before everything faded into white.</p>
      <p>
        <em>-Scene Cut-</em>
      </p>
      <p>Groaning awake, Roxas held his head as he pried himself off the floor. Sounds greeted his ears with everyone else in the comm room waking up from their shared experience.</p>
      <p>"Err… My head…" Ashley moaned aloud.</p>
      <p>"Don't know if my little headache is due to the odd mind meld or something else." Garrus groaned out.</p>
      <p>"I think mine was just because of how I collapsed." Shepard complained, rubbing her aching head.</p>
      <p>"This is worse than my amp flares." Kaidan muttered out.</p>
      <p>"Everyone alright?" Shepard asked, getting grunts and grumbles for confirmation.</p>
      <p>"Give me an hour and I'll come back to you." Said Ashley as she still laid on the ground, curled up as she clenched her head.</p>
      <p>Eventually, everyone was getting back onto their feet. Some needed a little bit of assistance, but nothing all that bad.</p>
      <p>"Xion." Roxas softly said, kneeling right next to Axel who was holding her up.</p>
      <p>A moment later, Xion's eyes slowly opened up with her grunting softly.</p>
      <p>"Roxas? Axel?" Xion murmured. "What happened?"</p>
      <p>"That's a story we'll tell ya in a bit." Axel said, helping her to her feet while holding her to keep her steady. "How ya feeling?"</p>
      <p>"A bit dizzy." Xion admitted.</p>
      <p>"You're alright." Axel said, lightly patting her back as she regained her balance.</p>
      <p>"Thanks."</p>
      <p>"I can agree with everyone else that we don't need Liara's input to confirm things." Shepard informed, earning nods and grunts from the room's occupants.</p>
      <p>"Yet we ended up getting more questions than answers, if I'm being honest here." Garrus inputted.</p>
      <p>"Damn right." Snorted the Krogan.</p>
      <p>"What now?"</p>
      <p>"Now?" Shepard merely shrugged. "Just recuperate most likely. Until the Normandy is fully patched up, we're grounded here on Earth."</p>
      <p>"Shore leave then." Kaidan stated rather than ask, getting a nod from Jane.</p>
      <p>"Always wanted to visit Earth." Liara said with a small smile.</p>
      <p>"Wonder what grub this planet has." Wrex asked aloud, already taking his leave with several members of the crew.</p>
      <p>Most had left for the most part save for Roxas, Axel and Xion with Tali waiting over by the entrance with Shepard not far away.</p>
      <p>"Speaking of grounded…"</p>
      <p>Shepard gazed at Roxas, earning a confused look from him.</p>
      <p>"What?"</p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>*BONK*</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>"Ow!" Roxas whined aloud, rubbing his head.</p>
      <p>Most punches wouldn't really phase the Nobody for the most part but Shepard had her Biotics coating her fist to really give him a good bump on the noggin.</p>
      <p>It wouldn't bruise or anything.</p>
      <p>Just enough of a jolt to help in getting the message Jane was about to convey to him.</p>
      <p>"That's for up and ditching Tali in front of her face and not telling us you were leaving."</p>
      <p>"I said I was sorry-"</p>
      <p>"Since you're aboard my ship, I don't care if you're considered a civilian, Roxas. I'm your superior officer as long as you're taking part of this mission of stopping Saren. And I can't have that happen on my watch."</p>
      <p>"I'm not in the army."</p>
      <p>"Did I not just say I'm your superior officer."</p>
      <p>"But if I didn't leave then-"</p>
      <p>"No excuses."</p>
      <p>"Aw come on! Everything I just found out was a lie. My whole reason for existence was a lie, Shepard."</p>
      <p>Jane opened her mouth only to close it a moment later.</p>
      <p>He did have a bit of a point there. And apparently he brought back these two newbies with him because he considered them worth saving since they were his friends.</p>
      <p>She sighed in slight defeat.</p>
      <p>"Alright, you were right in going to save your friends." Shepard admitted. "But you were wrong in how you did it. You should have said something before pulling that disappearing act in front of Tali. Especially after that little outburst. We were all <em>worried</em> about you Roxas. Just be more considerate next time."</p>
      <p>No. VIII and XIV were silent alongside Tali as they witnessed the N7 commander chew out No. XIII.</p>
      <p>"Still, I just gave you the rundown so you're still getting punished." Shepard declared, a tone that brokered no arguments. "Because of your actions, I'm shelving you for the next few ground missions. I can't have you running off like that on us again." Shepard stated. "Not to mention you'll be having double cleaning duty until I say otherwise."</p>
      <p>Roxas frowned as he gazed at Shepard's glare, but he did notice a particular glint in her green eyes that made him hold his tongue on arguing back.</p>
      <p>"Two ground missions?" Roxas held up two fingers.</p>
      <p>"Four."</p>
      <p>"Three."</p>
      <p>"Deal."</p>
      <p>Soon enough, he exhaled a sigh and nodded, accepting his punishment.</p>
      <p>"Good to see you accept it." Said Jane. "Be glad you aren't military or else I'd give you a <em>worse</em> punishment on what you pulled."</p>
      <p>Axel snorted upon hearing this as he can imagine the possible outcomes.</p>
      <p>Next thing Roxas knew, he was enveloped in a hug by Shepard with the Nobody blinking in surprise by the action.</p>
      <p>"You dummy. Don't worry us like that again, got it?"</p>
      <p>Roxas wasn't quite sure how to respond to this. Yet, he felt warmth spreading within his chest. After a few moments, he slowly leaned his head against her shoulder with his two arms moving around Jane's back.</p>
      <p>"I'm sorry." Roxas said quietly after a few seconds.</p>
      <p>He felt Shepard place her hand on the back of his head, ruffling through his hair again with him laughing lightly.</p>
      <p>"Now get outta here." Shepard said with a kind smile. "Guess you'll wanna explore this city with your friends."</p>
      <p>The Spectre regarded both Xion and Axel, the former of which was looking on curiously while the latter gave her, specifically an intrigued look.</p>
      <p>And this wasn't one of those intimate or attracted types of looks.</p>
      <p>No, this was a look of analysis, gauging as to who it was that caught their attention and interest.</p>
      <p>No doubt Shepard will be talking to her fellow redhead in order to figure him out sometime soon. Just a means of figuring the man out, gauging him on what to do with him in the foreseeable future alongside Xion.</p>
      <p>Jane soon departed, wanting to find the anthropomorphic duck on her ship and discuss a number of topics she wanted to properly ask on a one-on-one basis.</p>
      <p>Seeing the commander off, Roxas turned to the Quarian and made a proper introduction to his first two friends.</p>
      <p>"Tali, this is Axel and Xion." Roxas said with a small smile. "Figure you should at least meet them under more proper circumstances."</p>
      <p>"Hey there." Axel said pleasantly enough.</p>
      <p>"Hello." Xion was much more kinder.</p>
      <p>"Hi." Tali said. "Roxas told me a lot about you all whenever he was able to."</p>
      <p>"Oh, so he didn't forget about us after all." Axel remarked, flipping the blonde teen's hood over his head and pulling it down. "I'm so <em>flattered</em>."</p>
      <p>Tali couldn't help but giggle at the way Roxas threw his hood back with an annoyed look to his face that he directed at the redhead who whistled innocently up at the ceiling. Xion had let out a small laugh at their antics with Axel doing the same to her a moment later.</p>
      <p>Xion soon voiced an inquiry. "Is there perhaps anything you want to ask us?"</p>
      <p>"Plenty come to mind."</p>
      <p>No. XIV nodded. "And you obviously can tell we'll have plenty to ask of you since we just got here."</p>
      <p>"Most definitely and I'll answer all that I can."</p>
      <p>"Thank you."</p>
      <p>Xion then left as she wanted to start exploring the Normandy, her possible home for the unforeseeable future.</p>
      <p>Axel, meanwhile, moved some distance away as when he saw the tense atmosphere between Roxas and his Quarian friend, he had a feeling he didn't want to interfere.</p>
      <p>"Tali… listen, I didn't mean to leave you like that."</p>
      <p>"It's ok Roxas." Tali's voice was distant, something Roxas immediately took note of. "I just… I just have to handle a few things right now."</p>
      <p>With that, Tali walked away leaving a very sullen and confused Nobody.</p>
      <p>He heard Axel inhaled a bit sharply while also letting out a bit of a snort.</p>
      <p>"Yikes."</p>
      <p>"What?" No. XIII turned to his taller friend who had an amused cringey expression.</p>
      <p>"Oh boy, Roxas." Axel said sympathetically. "Looks to me like you flipped a few wrong switches."</p>
      <p>"...Wrong switches?" Roxas repeated in bewilderment.</p>
      <p>"Yup." Axel elaborated. "Girls have these switches and if you flip the wrong one, you're out. Got it memorized?"</p>
      <p>'A switch?' Thought Roxas. 'I… I don't get it… where was the switch?!' He then turned to the tall redhead. "Do only girls have this 'switch'?"</p>
      <p>"It's nothing like that. Ya see, girls and their switches are kinda complicated. I wouldn't know where to begin."</p>
      <p>"...I see…"</p>
      <p>"You'll both understand when you're older." Said Axel, wondering where Xion could have gone off to. "Now, I'm actually kinda curious about this whole ship you've been staying in."</p>
      <p>Leaving Roxas alone for him to contemplate on a number of things, Axel went off to properly explore the Normandy just like Xion.</p>
      <p>To begin his little self-tour, No. VIII made his way towards the cockpit before making his way back and all over.</p>
      <p>Upon reaching his first destination, he saw Xion conversing with the pilot, who he soon learned his name -or at least nickname- was Joker.</p>
      <p>Before he could possibly join the conversation, Axel saw the blue furred alien scurry up to the cockpit from parts unknown.</p>
      <p>Upon entering the space, a brief silence quickly surrounded the cockpit. For Xion was staring at Stitch with a silence befalling the pair.</p>
      <p>Stitch, wanting to break the silence, greeted the black haired Nobody.</p>
      <p>"Ha-ha-ha-ha-HIIIII!"</p>
      <p>On the side, Axel saw the odd sparkles appearing in Xion's eyes. Seeing what was about to happen, he clapped his hands over his ears and was ready for the inevitable.</p>
      <p>"Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa~!"</p>
      <p>The black haired Nobody then latched onto the blue furred alien and let out the loudest 'squee' she could ever muster.</p>
      <p>"Holy hell she's loud!" Joker whined out, clenching his ears in response.</p>
      <p>Xion was squeezing Stitch with all her might, rubbing her cheek against him with said alien flailing in his grasp.</p>
      <p>"HE'S SO CUTE!"</p>
      <p>"...I think I'm seeing Stitch reach a new shade of blue now." The pilot commented before he let out a snort. "Heh, I wonder if she'll do the same thing with Mosh."</p>
      <p>"Who?" Axel asked.</p>
      <p>"A Moogle who hangs out in the hangar bay. Even wears the same coat as you three wear."</p>
      <p>"Really?" Axel hummed.</p>
      <p>The only Moogle he knows was the one who used to hang out in the Grey Room back at the Castle That Never Was.</p>
      <p>Could it be the same one?</p>
      <p>Filing that bit of info away for now for his impromptu tour, Axel spoke up as he gazed more at the scene before him and Joker. "Regardless, it seems that this Stitch guy here ended up flipping Xion's switch."</p>
      <p>Stitch tried pushing her away yet Xion remained firmly latched on until she nuzzled his face which appeared to make Stitch jolt until he relented and hugged her back.</p>
      <p>Jeff chuckled at the scene before looking at the red haired man. "So is that hair done all natural or do you use product?"</p>
      <p>Axel scoffed. "Please~ This is all <em>natural</em>, my good sir. I don't want to waste all my Munny on buying cosmetics all the damn time. I'm not like certain people out there."</p>
      <p>Out in the universe, a certain Savage Nymph, a Graceful Assassin and several silver haired individuals loudly sneezed.</p>
      <p>Joker snorted. "Right, that's what they all say."</p>
      <p>"What and the trimmed beard of yours is the look you went for?"</p>
      <p>"Huh? What's wrong with it?"</p>
      <p>"Ever heard of a douche strap?"</p>
      <p>Joker quickly jabbed an accusing finger at the man. "Take that back!"</p>
      <p>"Make me."</p>
      <p>The two entered into a staring contest until they broke down, chuckling heartily at one another.</p>
      <p>Joker couldn't help but notice there was something that was a bit off about the way Axel had laughed but he just laughed it off.</p>
      <p>"I think we're gonna get along just fine." The pilot of the Normandy held out his hand. "Name's Jeff Morreau, but I like going by Joker."</p>
      <p>The redhead, green eyed Nobody took the offered hand and gave it a firm handshake.</p>
      <p>"And you may call me Axel." He then tapped the side of his head as he widely smirked. "Get it memorized, bub."</p>
      <p>"Wouldn't be too hard with such a name."</p>
      <p>"Hope to see you do."</p>
      <p>
        <em>-Scene Cut-</em>
      </p>
      <p>Outside, within the old city of London, three individuals in matching black cloaks were walking through the streets of the capital of the isle of Britain.</p>
      <p>It was quite the sight to see.</p>
      <p>While Roxas, Axel and Xion had seen and walked through a city before, that was back in the Organizations world.</p>
      <p>This one however was <em>much </em>more crowded, bustling and livelier.</p>
      <p>People were everywhere with the occasional Asari, Turian and Salarian for the most part.</p>
      <p>Not a lot of people stared at them for long periods of time, only passing glances. Mostly due to viewing the unique matching attires they wore.</p>
      <p>The Nobody trio briefly heard mentions of "new lines of fashion" or "advertising" about something. Didn't really pay too much attention as their focus was elsewhere.</p>
      <p>"Geez, where do we even begin with this place, Roxas?" Axel asked, looking around the bustling city.</p>
      <p>"We could try finding the others." Roxas remarked. "But that could take a while."</p>
      <p>To their knowledge, almost everyone on the Normandy was out and about in the city for shore leave for the next day or so.</p>
      <p>The only ones that weren't out were Stitch and Della.</p>
      <p>For Stitch, the ground team learned the little alien didn't <em>exactly</em> get along with large gatherings of people all that well. He admitted he'd been getting better over time, but only in certain circumstances with the right conditions.</p>
      <p>And besides, it would be hard to properly keep Stitch out of trouble, even if he was supervised. And his "genetically modified pet" cover can only go so far without giving himself away.</p>
      <p>For Della, it was far more obvious in one particular detail.</p>
      <p>She was, in all intents and purposes, a new first contact alien; no way hiding that fact. If she were to go out in public now, she would be turning heads and <em>not</em> in the good way. Far from it.</p>
      <p>Della was quick to understand and she wasn't exactly in the mood to go out.</p>
      <p>In the meantime, she was staying on the Normandy and waited for Hackett to personally bring over her ship, which was still on the nearby moon so she could begin repairing it. And Della will be staying on the space vessel until it's completed.</p>
      <p>"Then… what should we do?" Xion asked, her senses being rather overwhelmed by all the sights and sounds before them.</p>
      <p>"Well, let's see.." Roxas brought up his Omni-tool before pausing to look at it.</p>
      <p>A moment later, a wide grin broke out as he turned to Axel and Xion. "Let's get you both some Omni-Tools."</p>
      <p>The two couldn't help but beam in anticipation at the thought of finally getting that crazy useful device Roxas had on his arm.</p>
      <p>And if memory serves, Sora and the others would probably want one as well; given their quick fascination with the device.</p>
      <p>It took a while to find a proper store selling Omni-tools. But once finding it, purchasing one each for Axel and Xion and getting things set up; the group went out once more.</p>
      <p>"Alright, gotta admit, <em>this </em>is pretty cool." Axel openly declared, sifting through his Omni-Tool like a madman. He didn't even know where to begin with this astonishing new device.</p>
      <p>Xion nodded as she looked at a variety of details.</p>
      <p>She'll be needing help, that's for sure, given the amount which was confusing her.</p>
      <p>Like what was done for Roxas, Tali might help her out.</p>
      <p>For some time, the trio walked about and saw all sorts of places.</p>
      <p>The many bridges in the city, small dining establishments everywhere with a heavy emphasis on pubs and taverns.</p>
      <p>Several times, Roxas and Xion were steered away from these places by Axel with the older Nobody simply stating, "When you're older".</p>
      <p>Eventually, they managed to find a place to sit down and eat together, Xion commenting on how this is basically their first time ever eating like this with something not involving Ice cream for once.</p>
      <p>"Oh yeah." Roxas and Xion turned to Axel who reached for something behind him and quite literally pulled out three wrapped bars of sea-salt ice cream.</p>
      <p>"Gotta celebrate our reunion, right?" Axel said with a grin, handing one over to Roxas.</p>
      <p>"They sell those here?" Xion questioned, retrieving hers as well.</p>
      <p>"Still have a few more in store on the Normandy from when I last bought them on the Citadel." Roxas said. "Where'd you get <em>these</em> ones, Axel?"</p>
      <p>"Always have some on me." Axel shrugged. "But now that I know we can find them here, makes getting them a whole lot easier."</p>
      <p>"But… where can we eat these?" Xion asked.</p>
      <p>Suddenly, the familiar chimes of bells echoing across the city was heard by all its inhabitants.</p>
      <p>Looking up, Axel smirked.</p>
      <p>"<em><strong>There's</strong></em> an idea."</p>
      <p>Following suit, Roxas and Xion saw where Axel was gazing towards and came to a quick agreement.</p>
      <p>Once entering a nearby alleyway, the three used a Dark Corridor to end up at the higher areas of the residential clock tower of London.</p>
      <p>Big Ben.</p>
      <p>The large British monument was one of the many structures that had been preserved by humanity over the centuries. New technology was integrated into the historic landmark, yet the integrity of it all remained the same.</p>
      <p>Firmly sitting at the highest ledges the clock tower provided them, the trio gazed at the environment before them.</p>
      <p>Despite the nice day the city had, the skies were foggy; so trying to see the present sunset was a little hard. Only the sky color is brightened to a certain color but not all the way great.</p>
      <p>As they silently watched things progress, the trio took better note of where they were sitting and couldn't help but do some comparisons of the place they would've gone to for a time like this.</p>
      <p>The dials of Big Ben faced in all four directions of the world. It greatly differed with the Twilight Town clock tower as it only faces the sunset. Whereas Twilight Town connects to the train station, Big Ben connects to London's Parliament building and some distance away from the London Eye, a giant Ferris wheel, and Tower Bridge. Also no big hanging bells on the sides unlike Twilight Town.</p>
      <p>"It's not like the one back in Twilight Town." Axel commented, chomping on his ice cream. "But~ it'll do for this time around."</p>
      <p>Roxas and Xion chuckled lightly, nibbling on their own ice cream bars.</p>
      <p>There wasn't much that they spoke of for the majority of their time atop the tower, gazing out at the city and sky whilst eating their ice cream.</p>
      <p>"This place ain't like the <em>other</em> Big Ben." Roxas remarked.</p>
      <p>"Other Big Ben?" Both his friends looked at him.</p>
      <p>"Yeah." He nodded. "The other Big Ben. Sora, Donald and Goofy once went there with this kid who could fly named Peter Pan. It was from this World called Neverland."</p>
      <p>...Now that he thought about it, the name Neverland didn't exactly fit with what he saw in his dreams.</p>
      <p>He only saw the time on Captain Hook's ship as it was soaring London's skies.</p>
      <p>For some reason, however, the island he went to in order to find his answers seemed like the better place to properly be called Neverland.</p>
      <p>Probably when he goes there next time, like he promised Tinkerbelle, he'll ask for a clarification.</p>
      <p>Silence wafted in the air as passing thoughts occasionally came to and for. Yet one remained prevalent in the Fiery Nobody.</p>
      <p>"You think we'll be safe here, Roxas." Axel suddenly asked, tone being devoid of his usual sarcastic and easy-going self.</p>
      <p>No. XIII could only shake his head, taking his friend's question in stride.</p>
      <p>"I dunno." He admitted. "I wish I could believe that but… if the Heartless could find me…"</p>
      <p>"The Organization can." Axel finished grimly, not exactly liking that reality.</p>
      <p>"But how long until they'll find us?" Xion asked in concern.</p>
      <p>"Only time will tell, I suppose." Axel muttered out, chewing on the last of his ice-cream.</p>
      <p>Roxas didn't respond to all this, only holding out his hand to call forth his transformed Keyblade. It had yet to revert back to its original form in and frankly, Roxas believed it possibly never will.</p>
      <p>For some part of him, the Key of Destiny preferred it that way. But for the rest of him, it didn't matter.</p>
      <p>This Keyblade is named Oathkeeper for a reason as it reflected Roxas' most deepest and personal desires.</p>
      <p>To keep the ones he had grown to care for safe. This was his promise to himself and to them.</p>
      <p>He would fight tooth and nail to make sure all the friends he's made these past two months would be safe.</p>
      <p>Roxas wasn't a fool in believing that they couldn't protect themselves.</p>
      <p>The Normandy squad and his two friends right beside him were more than capable of fighting on their own.</p>
      <p>But that did not mean he was gonna have them fight alone.</p>
      <p>With all the power he had, he would stand by his friends to the bitter end.</p>
      <p>This, he promised.</p>
      <p>-Scene Cut-</p>
      <p>Inside of the white and grey room Where Nothing Gathers, a meeting was taking place.</p>
      <p>The topic was of the recent developments and events which took place not long ago.</p>
      <p>Out of the thirteen chairs, only eleven had their occupants seated in their respective positions.</p>
      <p>The seats of No.s VIII and XIII were those that were empty.</p>
      <p>"Zexion."</p>
      <p>No. VI tilted his head up to the leader of the Organization, Xemnas.</p>
      <p>"Tell us." The man's deep voice was slow and methodical with a dangerous edge. "What has transpired in the halls of Castle Oblivion."</p>
      <p>Zexion knew that this was nothing more than a formality. That he himself had to state this out loud.</p>
      <p>However, he knew now wasn't the time for such petulant and petty thoughts.</p>
      <p>"It is as Vexen had reported, Lord Xemnas." Zexion said simply. "Axel, Roxas and Xion turned against us in the Castle. They assisted the Keyblade hero, the King and the Hero of Darkness. We were lucky to survive at all."</p>
      <p>"So you turned tail and ran like a coward?" Larxene said with a stingy scoff.</p>
      <p>"Would you have been able to take on <em>four </em>Keyblade Wielders at once?" Zexion retorted in a sharp tone that made No. XII 'hmph', turning her nose away.</p>
      <p>"To have all of those separate parties converge in Castle Oblivion." No. VII, Saix, pointed out. "That is more than an unprecedented coincidence. The king and his subjects, The Keyblade's chosen one, the Hero of Darkness, our puppet, two of our members and Namine all under one roof? Something was amiss. We just failed to see it."</p>
      <p>No. III growled aloud from his seat.</p>
      <p>"Never would've imagined Axel, of all people, to become a turncoat." Xaldin spat out.</p>
      <p>From his seat, No. XI firmly grasped his armrests as he shifted his eyes away from the others. For he had planned on turning against the Organization, on his terms. Though it seemed No. VIII did the act before him.</p>
      <p>"Believe it was just a spur of a moment." Luxord commented as he shuffled his deck of cards. "He took a gamble and now he's paying for whatever hand he played with."</p>
      <p>"What reason would there be for him to act as such?" Vexen inquired.</p>
      <p>"Why don't you go out, find and ask him yourself." Demyx said offhandedly, tuning up the strings on his signature sitar-like weapon. "Oh wait, you can't as <em>you</em> don't even know where he ran off to."</p>
      <p>"How dare you?! In this Organization, I am No. IV, you are number-"</p>
      <p>"Oh brother, again with the numbers? Give it a rest, Vexen."</p>
      <p>"Silence, No. IX!"</p>
      <p>"Make me, old man!"</p>
      <p>"Enough." Xemnas said aloud, ceasing the quarrel between the Nobodies of Ice and Water.</p>
      <p>A pair of dice was tossed and up and down in No. X's hand. "The die has been cast, no way to change the outcomes now. We must play on what's on the board now."</p>
      <p>"I couldn't help but agree more." Xigbar chuckled out. "Axel, Roxas and Xion made their move, so we must make ours."</p>
      <p>"But to lose <em>both </em>our Keyblade wielders." Lexaeus pointed out. "A great blow has been struck to the Organization."</p>
      <p>"This has happened too soon." Saix said aloud, head inclined down.</p>
      <p>"Perhaps, had you had <em>still</em> left the castle under <em>my </em>control, this <em>outcome</em> wouldn't have happened." said a sly voice from his chair.</p>
      <p>"Know your place, <em>Marluxia.</em>" Saix stated, bluish-white wisps emanating off of his form. "Be thankful that we deemed you as a valuable member and kept you around at all. Had you and Larxene been anyone else, both of you would have said goodbye to your <em>existences."</em></p>
      <p>No. XI only smirked in a condescending manner. "Guilty as charged. But perhaps, had I still followed through with my plans, we would've had a <em>third </em>Keyblade master under our thumb. The real one at that. Not his Nobody or incomplete Replica."</p>
      <p>"But you geezers and crazy coots just couldn't let us go." Larxene said in a bored voice. "I can't tell if I should be touched or disgusted."</p>
      <p>"Maybe disgusted." Xigbar said. "Hey, if you hurl, you can shave off some of that weight you've gained since coming back."</p>
      <p>The Freeshooter tilted his head to the side as one of Larxene's electrified knives flew past him and embedded itself into the back of his seat.</p>
      <p>Though she was a Nobody, it was easy to see that No. XII was positively fuming at that comment with lightning crackling all around her. She was truly living up to her moniker of the Savage Nymph.</p>
      <p>"Touched a nerve there, didn't I?" Xigbar couldn't help it with Larxene's lightning becoming more erratic.</p>
      <p>"Hey!" Demyx hastily ducked under a stray bolt. "What'd I do?"</p>
      <p>However, all that was drowned out by the explosion of power that came from the second-in-command of the Organization.</p>
      <p>"If you wish to send one another back into Oblivion, you shall not do it here." No. VII all but growled out, his eyes glowing, X shaped scar on his face growing and becoming more jagged and his expression overall being more feral in appearance with sharpened teeth to match.</p>
      <p>Xigbar chortled to himself whilst Larxene simmered down.</p>
      <p>"Vexen." Luxord spoke up, looking to the Chilly Academic. "Is it not possible to utilize the data we have left in creating a <em>new</em> Replica."</p>
      <p>"More or less." No. IV admitted. "But it would be vastly inferior to No. XIV."</p>
      <p>"Speaking of Replica, how's it going with our new recruit?" Xigbar asked.</p>
      <p>"The Riku Replica is progressing fine so far." Vexen explained the details. "The data I acquired from our bout back at Castle Oblivion proved essential. Our Replica is downloading the information nicely."</p>
      <p>"And how soon will it be strong enough to go toe to toe with the traitors?" Saix requested. "Let alone the Hero of the Keyblade, the King and the Hero of the Darkness?"</p>
      <p>"All in due time." Answered the scientist. "We just need to gather more data as what I have isn't enough to make our Replica stronger than our present opposition."</p>
      <p>"Then we better find the traitors and the three aforementioned combatants to get the necessary data for your project, Vexen. Sooner that happens, the sooner the traitors can be dealt with." Xemnas declared. "You all have your assignments. Dismissed."</p>
      <p>Soon after, ten pillars of darkness encompassed the ten members inside the Place Where Nothing Gathers.</p>
      <p>All the members had disbursed.</p>
      <p>All but one.</p>
      <p>Zexion stayed behind and stayed silent, seated in his chair as he was in deep thought.</p>
      <p>The gears in his mind were working overtime as he was processing everything out accordingly. It was in order to figure out a number of inquiries that were present that he wanted answers for.</p>
      <p>Calling forth the corridor of Darkness, Zexion was teleported away to his destination.</p>
      <p>He soon appeared where he wished to be, spotting the Luna Diviner standing at his glass window that gazed out into the eternal nothingness of their world.</p>
      <p>"Saix."</p>
      <p>No. VII turned to the Cloaked Schemer.</p>
      <p>"Zexion?" Saix's expression was cold though not dismissive. "Are you not supposed to be going off on your mission?"</p>
      <p>"A moment of your time." Zexion said. "There are several questions I wish to ask pertaining to what had happened in Castle Oblivion."</p>
      <p>"And what would they be?"</p>
      <p>"Axel's betrayal came out of left field for sure… but before that had happened, he and I conversed on a particular matter that has been on my mind since that time."</p>
      <p>"And what have you conversed about?"</p>
      <p>The Illusionist crossed his arms as he recalled his conversation with the Flurry of Dancing Flames.</p>
      <p>"Some time ago, Axel had come to me seeking answers that I was unable to provide and perhaps he himself knew he would not find." Zexion began.</p>
      <p>Saix was silent, patient as No. VI went on.</p>
      <p>"The subject was on the matter of the last days in our world." Zexion revealed. "The final day in Radiant Garden before darkness consumed us and our World, labeling it as the Hollow Bastion we know today."</p>
      <p>Saix narrowed his eyes, yet still remained silent.</p>
      <p>"He spoke of how the Master having gone insane didn't make sense to him." Zexion's tone shifted into one that held a slight tint of venom when speaking about their former <em>master.</em> "How all of us becoming Nobodies didn't make sense to him. But… from what he was inferring, I believe Axel was looking for something that he quite didn't understand yet."</p>
      <p>"I see… and how did you come to that conclusion?"</p>
      <p>"Call it intuition." Zexion said. "But I have another question for <em>you </em>Saix."</p>
      <p>"Oh?"</p>
      <p>"You and Axel knew each other in your previous lives as Somebodies." No. VI stated, noticing No. VII's fist clenched up tightly. "You both apprenticed under the master shortly before the destruction of our World."</p>
      <p>"What is this about, Zexion?" Saix asked, tone colder than Vexen's ice.</p>
      <p>"Does Axel seem like the man who would betray the Organization like that? Without good reason?"</p>
      <p>Saix said nothing for a moment or two, thinking about the details. "And what does that concern you?" He said, redirecting the question with another.</p>
      <p>"I believe we are missing something here." Zexion said with conviction. "Axel asking me about the past, all those that gathered in Castle Oblivion and then his sudden betrayal? All of these events are too much to leave to chance. To mere coincidence. There was a part of me that partially understood Roxas and Xion's betrayal. After learning about the purpose of their existence, revolt is rather natural. Yet Axel? Something, I feel, has not been told to us."</p>
      <p>No. VII remained silent as Zexion went on.</p>
      <p>"Vexen told us that Roxas overheard his reports to Xemnas about the Replica program." Zexion said. "That's what he told the entire Organization. But what Vexen did not tell the group, he told me and Lexaeus in private. That Xigbar was there as well."</p>
      <p>No. VII's eyes widened slightly.</p>
      <p>"What does Xigbar have anything to do with this matter at all?"</p>
      <p>"That's just it… what <em>does </em>he have to do with this?" Zexion questioned rhetorically. "Even as Braig, Xigbar was always particularly "close" with Xem- I mean, Xehanort. They always spoke to one another more candidly and personally."</p>
      <p>Saix's mind was ablaze, finding this one-sided conversation rather… unsettling.</p>
      <p>The Lunar Diviner drummed his fingers on his arms, thinking on various new bits of information.</p>
      <p>"As of now, I am only as knowledgeable as you are on this matter."</p>
      <p>Zexion only inclined his head.</p>
      <p>"What brought this about?" Saix suddenly queried.</p>
      <p>The Cloaked Schemer only hummed aloud. "A theory perhaps. Or maybe curiosity. I myself have yet to find the answer."</p>
      <p>Not giving Saix the chance to respond, Zexion teleported away with a Dark Corridor, leaving the Seventh member of the Organization alone to stew in his thoughts.</p>
      <p>The Cloaked Schemer sought after answers, only to receive more questions in his wake.</p>
      <p>What to do with this now?</p>
      <p>All he can do, honestly, was contemplate and figure things out on his own.</p>
      <p>Elsewhere, Saix found himself growling, fuming and raging all internally at the thought of Axel having betrayed both the Organization and most of all, their purpose.</p>
      <p>Were they not supposed to do this for the sake of finding their lost friend?</p>
      <p>Did everything they go through not mean anything in the end?</p>
      <p>When he sees his "old friend" again, Saix vowed to beat the answers out of him personally.</p>
      <p>
        <strong>AN</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>WOOO.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>There's another one for ya guys.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>More and more we diverge from the path of canon towards a much murkier and unpredictable future that only the two of us know.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Jebest4781: How much it diverges, you can only guess, fellow readers.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>FMW: Surprises and wild rides don't even begin to cover just how much has changed overall with both of these universes. J and I can't convey enough just how things are going to shift, alter and change for </strong>
        <em>
          <strong>everything </strong>
        </em>
        <strong>and </strong>
        <em>
          <strong>everyone</strong>
        </em>
        <strong> in this story. Naturally, there will be some familiarity overall to retain the feel from both universes. But they're influencing and bleeding into one another. Eventually, shits gonna change drastically.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Jeb: And with said changes leaves more challenges for free man and I on how to make this all work. Boy these days will be quite </strong>
        <em>
          <strong>fun</strong>
        </em>
        <strong>.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>FMW: Fuck yeah. You guys loved Della Duck, but she's literally the tip of the iceberg. Strap in because FUCK you guys are in for a crazy ride.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>So our good readers, thanks again for choosing this completely different crossover to read. Means a lot to both of us.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Be sure to read our other experimental KH crossover A Song of Fire, Ice and Hearts.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>And…</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Rate Read and Review and as Always Have Nice Day.</strong>
      </p>
    </div>
  </div>
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  </div></div>
<a name="section0014"><h2>14. Take Some Time to Learn</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p></p><div class="xcontrast">
  <p></p>
  <div>
    <p></p>
    <div>
      <p>
        <strong>So glad in seeing the reviews touching on the now unpredictability of the future in this story.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Yeah, it's not gonna go the way most would expect in both the KH side of things and the ME part.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Really then, let's just get on with it.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Rate Read and Review and as Always Have Nice Day.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>I'm Nobody Chapter 14: Take Some Time to Learn</p>
      <p>It was strange for one Jane Shepard, Commander of the Systems Alliance, first human Spectre and "Captain" of the Normandy SR-1.</p>
      <p>Less than a few days ago, there was a strange sullen atmosphere that permeated the air in the Normandy.</p>
      <p>Roxas having been gone left a noticeable absence that was really affecting the team. Not their performance for the most part. They still performed adequately and worked well together overall. Though they had encountered a few Heartless that they had struggled with several times.</p>
      <p>They were encountering stronger Heartless. Had Roxas been there, the fight would have gone more smoothly.</p>
      <p>No, it was mostly their mood that had shifted.</p>
      <p>Ash and Tali were far less upbeat then their usual selves, Garrus didn't make as many comments as did Wrex and Kaidan and Liara was slightly downtrodden for the most part.</p>
      <p>Shepard had worked and fought in many fire teams before but this was unusually different.</p>
      <p>It was like they all <em>felt</em> on the same wavelength.</p>
      <p>But now…</p>
      <p>Roxas was back and with him came three additional members on the Normandy.</p>
      <p>Sure, Della had joined them separately but Jane figured it'd be better to just chalk up her joining the crew the same time as Axel and Xion did upon Roxas' return. Though Jane did remember Della Duck telling her that once her ship was fixed, she'd be leaving as in her own words she had said she refuses to be a hassle to those who saved her skin.</p>
      <p>The anthropomorphic duck had admitted that as much as she wanted to stick around to go on this crazy new adventure, she needed to get her ship fixed up and head back to see her Uncle Scrooge and her three sons: Huey, Dewey and Louie. She had at least hoped that she would be able to establish contact with her Uncle somehow, so she was hard at work in establishing a means of communicating with her family.</p>
      <p>Other than that, she had been hard at work repairing her ship while having one Tali'Zorah over her shoulder learning everything she had to offer when it came to the knowledge of Gummi's.</p>
      <p>Della was more than willing to teach about everything she knew with the Quarian having her Omni-Tool out and recording absolutely everything.</p>
      <p>Tali had even shown her the Gummi pieces that she herself had collected after their many skirmishes and encounters with the Heartless.</p>
      <p>With Della's help, she had identified and named many of the Gummi pieces Tali had in her possession and explained each piece's function.</p>
      <p>When handling Gummi blocks and pieces, there was a great deal of thought and creativity that went into the creation of a ship. From the shields, to the weapons system to even where the cockpit would need to be placed.</p>
      <p>It was quite a complicated process yet Tali made sure to review and constantly look over everything Della had instructed her on and showed.</p>
      <p>Since then, aside from speaking with and becoming fast friends with Tali, Della had spent her time getting to know the crew a bit better.</p>
      <p>The duck woman got along well enough with Kaidan, Ash, Wrex and Garrus for the most part though Ashley was still having trouble adjusting even though she said nothing would surprise her anymore.</p>
      <p>Stitch didn't seem to mind her much until she helped with improvements on his own ship. That earned him a great deal of brownie points with the little furball.</p>
      <p>Della had also struck up a fast friendship with Joker over their mutual love of flying ships and going out to explore in their own, respective ways.</p>
      <p>Hearing this was certainly surprising for Shepard as she never pegged Joker for an adventurer.</p>
      <p>Yet, a heartwarming comment that truly caught Shepard off guard was…</p>
      <p>"<em>Losing her leg didn't seem to affect her outlook on life. Why should these glass bones do the same for me?"</em></p>
      <p>So Della had pretty much earned her spot on the Normandy brief as it more than likely will be.</p>
      <p>Currently, Shepard had passed by the comms room and saw Della speaking with Hackett who was on call with her.</p>
      <p>No surprise there since Hackett, like Tali, was very interested in what Della had to offer in terms of knowledge about Gummi's. Who wouldn't truthfully? A completely new means and method of traversing the stars that could perhaps outclass and outmatch what the rest of the galaxy had been using? Going beyond what any Mass Relays can take them within this galaxy and even further. Why wouldn't the Alliance Admiral jump at the chance of learning and perhaps integrating this new technology into the SA Navy?</p>
      <p>Continuing down her path, Shepard eventually reached the Mako bay below and saw the usual occupants.</p>
      <p>Wrex was in his corner but he wasn't alone.</p>
      <p>Ashley was next to him, the two casually chatting with one another about whatever it was their topic of conversation was.</p>
      <p>Over by the Mako was Garrus and Stitch were working together on a ship of some kind which Jane quickly recognized as the one that belonged to Della Duck.</p>
      <p>"What do you think, Stitch? You think Della would appreciate a cannon that can blast through a Turian cruiser?" Garrus asked his blue helper with the little guy babbling about encouragingly.</p>
      <p>"Alright, just need to make sure it's calibrated properly."</p>
      <p>Stitch snorted, holding up his clawed fingers and made the quotation motion while tauntingly saying "calibrating".</p>
      <p>"What, you want me to use another word that wouldn't fit what I'm going for?" Garrus asked with Stitch rolling his eyes, mumbling aloud.</p>
      <p>"Oh I'm sorry, and what word would you use?"</p>
      <p>"Enhance." Stitch retorted with a 'hmph' of triumph as he saw Garrus open and close his mouth several times.</p>
      <p>"Well… that doesn't work." Garrus shot back. "Not enough syllables."</p>
      <p>Stitch gaped, launching into a grumbling and growling tirade which Garrus ignored with a smug look on his face as he resumed his work on the Spear of Selene.</p>
      <p>"Got a lively bunch here, Commander."</p>
      <p>Jane nearly jumped out of her skin from the laid-back voice that came from behind her.</p>
      <p>Whirling around, she saw that Axel was leaning against the wall near the doorway she had just walked down from with his arms crossed.</p>
      <p>"What the- how did you-"</p>
      <p>She cut herself off from seeing the amused smirk appear on her fellow green-eyed redhead, the Commander narrowing her eyes slightly at the newcomer to the ship.</p>
      <p>"It's a gift of mine." Axel said with a cocky tone.</p>
      <p>"Oh really? Sneaking up on people is a gift of yours?" Shepard remarked.</p>
      <p>"Hey, gotta accumulate a set of skills in my line of work." Axel said.</p>
      <p>"Clearly."</p>
      <p>Axel huffed in amusement, pushing off the wall to walk away when Shepard stopped him.</p>
      <p>"Hold on a second there, Axel." Jane said. "I wanted to talk to you."</p>
      <p>"Oh?" No. VIII turned to the Commander. "What about?"</p>
      <p>"Just wanted to speak with you is all." Jane said plainly. "Since you're gonna be staying with us here on the ship for a while, I wanna get to know my two newest crewmates."</p>
      <p>"Really now?" Axel leaned back against the wall. "And what do you want to know?"</p>
      <p>"Just a bit of a more general knowledge about you." Jane admitted. "Can't deny that you, Roxas and Xion are probably the most interesting people on this ship right now."</p>
      <p>"Heh, glad you think so. It's nice to know my friends and I are at the center of attention." Axel remarked, cocky tone coming up once more. "Show's that we're memorized and ingrained into your heads."</p>
      <p>Shepard tilted her head at the wording that Axel used. "You know, you use that word quite often. <em><strong>Memorized</strong></em>."</p>
      <p>Axel silently nodded.</p>
      <p>"What does it mean? To you, I mean." Shepard clarified.</p>
      <p>Axel simply shrugged. "No particular reason."</p>
      <p>"<em>Really?"</em></p>
      <p>The Flurry of Dancing Flames threw a hand up. "Just something I've picked up on in saying whenever introductions are made or important things needed memorizing."</p>
      <p>Shepard was a bit unconvinced but decided to drop it for the time being.</p>
      <p>"Well I know we won't be forgetting everything you told us anytime soon." Jane wryly commented earning a snort out of the Fiery Nobody.</p>
      <p>Shepard felt her eye twitch slightly at the way the Nobody before her laughed. There was something… a bit unsettling about it.</p>
      <p>Sure he laughed and sure it sounded genuine… but, there was a detachment to his voice that didn't sit well with Shepard. Taking a moment to look over his eyes, Jane found herself looking at a familiar sight if not a bit more troubling.</p>
      <p>They were blank and devoid just like Roxas was but with the younger Nobody, there was a curiosity to them that replaced the usual emotions one would associate in someone as young as him. With Axel, there truly was a freaky sense that he really was emotionless as he claimed all "Nobodies" to be.</p>
      <p>That was another thing that Shepard still was having a hard time understanding. The concept of the "shell" left behind from a Heartless, moving and having a will of its own.</p>
      <p>About how the shell was not meant to be and how they exist nonetheless, devoid of the "Heart" and basic emotions.</p>
      <p>She wanted to question Axel about all this but Jane figured this possibly wasn't the proper time for such a thing. He had literally only joined the crew two days ago.</p>
      <p>"So Axel, what can you tell me about this Organization XIII?" Jane found herself asking the red head.</p>
      <p>"Well I don't know, what can you tell me about that Vakarian fellow and his borderline obsession with calibrating." Axel shot back. "Even I don't say my thing <em>that</em> often."</p>
      <p>Shepard couldn't help but guffaw at the rhetorical question, Axel's smirk growing as he watched the Commander lean on the wall next to him.</p>
      <p>"That's a good question." Jane said. "But I'm afraid you'll have to ask Garrus for that one but he might not provide an answer."</p>
      <p>"I'll take you up on that offer." Axel said, crossing his arms.</p>
      <p>The two shared a calm moment of silence between them both.</p>
      <p>"So… you didn't answer my earlier question." Jane brought up. "What can ya tell me about this Organization that I haven't already heard from Roxas before."</p>
      <p>Axel shrugged. "What do you wanna know?"</p>
      <p>Shepard shared his gesture. "Just the whole point of them really. I keep replaying that recording Roxas had that he got from there… where did Roxas go exactly?"</p>
      <p>"To our world." Axel explained. "The World That Never Was."</p>
      <p>"The World That Never… What?" Shepard repeated in bewilderment. "What kind of planet calls itself that?"</p>
      <p>"Huh…" Axel scratched the side of his head. "I've noticed a few interesting things about where we come from and this place here. See, in our neck of the woods, we don't have many… <em>planets</em> per say. Each world is its own entity of sorts that operates on their own laws and such. Most of the time, travel between those worlds is very difficult unless you have your own work arounds. Like Gummi ships or the Corridors Roxas, Xion and I use."</p>
      <p>"Wait, so there are… "Worlds" out there that don't have interstellar travel?" Shepard asked in fascination.</p>
      <p>"Our place is a helluva lot more different then this galaxy here." Axel said in a vague tone. "I kinda understand some of it but it's probably better I bring you guys a book or something that explains it better than I do. What I do remember is how we were actually not allowed to talk about us being from other worlds."</p>
      <p>"What? Why not?"</p>
      <p>"Meh, something about not meddling or stuff like that. Like I said, Worlds' laws and orders. Never made any sense to me really but at the time, never really cared to understand why."</p>
      <p>Shepard tilted her head. "But you're talking about it right now."</p>
      <p>"In a galaxy where travel between planets is common." Axel countered. "No need to worry about any bogus world order law BS here."</p>
      <p>Shepard nodded at his logic. "You still haven't told me much about the Organization that you, Roxas and Xion come from. That recording showed that they lied to you all."</p>
      <p>At the mention of the recording, Jane noticed how the Fire-users expression darkened considerably.</p>
      <p>"Yeah, they're a bunch of deceitful bastards alright." Axel said cynically. "Well, Xemnas and Xigbar turned out to be. Vexen too but…"</p>
      <p>"But…?"</p>
      <p>He didn't say anything, turning his head away.</p>
      <p>"Forget about it. Just know that next time I see Xemnas and Xigbar, I'll make sure to remind them why I was also a part of their little gang." Axel declared with a fierce undertone. "I retained my human form because I had a strong heart once. Just cause my Heart is gone, doesn't mean my strength is."</p>
      <p>Jane was stunned slightly at the sudden shift in tone by her fellow green-eyed redhead as it was a stark departure from the laid back persona.</p>
      <p>The man appeared to notice his change, quickly shaking his head.</p>
      <p>"Sorry about that." Axel said, slightly turning his head away.</p>
      <p>Shepard frowned though her face conveyed understanding.</p>
      <p>"It's alright." Jane said. "I can imagine what it's like getting betrayed like this."</p>
      <p>"Maybe." Axel murmured.</p>
      <p>"Did what they spoke about mean anything to you?" Jane asked. "One thing that stuck out to me is this whole vessel business."</p>
      <p>"Got me." Axel admitted. "First I ever heard of such a thing. Your guess is as good as mine."</p>
      <p>The pair remained there in silence for a few seconds until…</p>
      <p>"What was it like?"</p>
      <p>The fiery Nobody looked over to the Spectre who had an unusual expression he couldn't quite discern.</p>
      <p>"What was what like?"</p>
      <p>Jane hesitated for a momentum feeling an uncomfortable pit in her stomach before shaking her head.</p>
      <p>"The first few days with Roxas." Jane asked quickly after. "You… mentioned something about him being a zombie?"</p>
      <p>Axel didn't respond at first, instead taking a moment to gauge at the woman. There was something off for a moment about that question.</p>
      <p>Like it wasn't the one she had wanted to ask. But he'd drop it for now.</p>
      <p>"Well what else would you call a kid who was born with no memories, nothing in his mind to fall back on to form a personality?" Axel remarked. "Kid was a lost puppy. Hell, a lost puppy would at least find their way back to their mom. He literally wouldn't do anything unless you pointed in a direction and said, "do that". Even then, he'd just be on instinct."</p>
      <p>"Sounds like he was a handful." Jane said with a light grin.</p>
      <p>Axel shrugged. "Main problem was getting him up in the morning. Dusks may be one of the lower Nobodies but they just can't help messing with the new guy."</p>
      <p>"What'd they do?"</p>
      <p>"Face painted on him for the most part." Axel said, lightly chuckling. "Got annoying after a while but can't deny their creativity."</p>
      <p>Shepard laughed. "Wouldn't mind having seen it."</p>
      <p>"Yeah, shame I didn't have this Omni-Tool here." Axel said. "This takes videos and pictures right?"</p>
      <p>She looked over to the one he pulled up on his arm and nodded. "Yeah, that model has it."</p>
      <p>"Great. Maybe I could convince a few of my own to mess around with the crew."</p>
      <p>"Your own?"</p>
      <p>"I'll show ya later." Axel waved off, pushing himself off the wall. "Nice talkin' with ya Shep. I think we're gonna get along alright."</p>
      <p>"Thanks for the vote in confidence." Shepard said wryly.</p>
      <p>"What? Hard to believe this award winning smile?" Axel cheekily said, grinning widely.</p>
      <p>Jane only snorted, watching the Nobody walk away and go up the steps she just came down from.</p>
      <p>It was strange to her that she really didn't feel like she had gotten much out of him in their little conversation. Shepard would like to think she's a peoples person but how can you gauge someone who has "no" emotion.</p>
      <p>She'd be watching him closely. Roxas seems to trust him so she'll put her faith in the teen who had become like a little brother to her.</p>
      <p>
        <em>-Scene Cut-</em>
      </p>
      <p>The Normandy departed from Earth soon after once the ship had been patched up and were on route back to the Citadel.</p>
      <p>But first…</p>
      <p>A few "pit stops" were needed along the way with some issues that needed to be sorted out.</p>
      <p>Assignments to be clear.</p>
      <p>The first assignment the crew had since departing Earth came upon Hackett's request. On the planet Chohe, in the Cacus system of the Hades Gamma cluster, a Sirta Foundation research facility has been attacked and taken over by Biotic fanatics. From what they learned from a few people who escaped, the captors used a psychotropic drug on the captives, thus rendering them insane. And given what's presented, Shepard had to be extra careful as the fanatics are essentially using the captives as human shields.</p>
      <p>Joining Shepard on the assignment were Liara and surprisingly…</p>
      <p>"<em>Sounds like fun, mind if I tag along?" </em>Came the confident request from one of the Normandy's newest recruits.</p>
      <p>It was understood with the two biotics as their abilities could help hold off those who were running in the line of fire. As for Axel, the commander wanted to at least gauge his skills personally, hoping that while the drugged up people won't get attacked, Axel could take care of those responsible.</p>
      <p>No. VIII complied with tagging along, saying it would be an interesting challenge for him. He had spoken with Roxas at one point with the younger Nobody briefly going over what Biotics were.</p>
      <p>This naturally intrigued Axel who was now more curious than ever to see how these Biotics would do in battle.</p>
      <p>Of course, the sight of the ground team Shepard had taken returning to the Normandy covered in singes was a bit of a comical sight.</p>
      <p>From what Roxas was told, the mission went on without a hitch as the group was able to secure the base and neutralized the biotics without a single casualty. And by Axel's accounts, it was a little boring compared to what "thrill" he had in the past but didn't really complain.</p>
      <p>Though the Flurry of Dancing Flames did say it was a little entertaining seeing the scientists being all loopy with how drugged up they were. Of course both Shepard and Liara chastised him for saying it out loud in front of the captives as they weren't in their right mind and acting in such a way.</p>
      <p>But that didn't explain the singes at first.</p>
      <p>That was until Garrus, who had gone along with the ground team as well, told of how one of the crazed Biotics would make sure that the galaxy would remember their "campaign" across the galaxy.</p>
      <p>This of course prompted Axel into stepping forward and making sure they'd <em>memorize</em> what <em>he </em>was about to do to <em>them.</em></p>
      <p>To say that he put on an over excessive fire show would be like calling Tali not a ship fanatic.</p>
      <p>One of the fanatics tried to go for the team from behind, only to be met with a literal fire disk that struck him and quite literally burnt him to ash.</p>
      <p>Needless to say, Axel proved that he was more than capable of being useful in a fight.</p>
      <p>If not a bit hard to control at times. It wasn't that he didn't follow orders it's just that he really wanted to put on a memorable first outing.</p>
      <p>Needless to say, he delivered quite spectacularly.</p>
      <p>So, his skills did not need any further evaluation. Save for subtlety.</p>
      <p>The next assignment that took place was investigating the whereabouts of the MSV Majesty as it suddenly disappeared somewhere in the Traverse a few days ago. Either because of mechanical failure or they were attacked.</p>
      <p>Upon some digging and following a radiation trail, the ship ended up on the planet Xawin, in the Strenuus system of the Horsehead Nebula.</p>
      <p>As it turned out, the ship was taken by pirates and a number of the ground team had to go down to the base stationed there, take care of its occupants and hopefully find survivors of the MSV Majesty.</p>
      <p>Though she was slightly hesitant, Shepard had requested Xion to join her alongside Ashley and Wrex as the commander thought it was time to see No. XIV was capable of. Jane hoped it wouldn't be too much for the teenage Nobody, but Xion assured her she'll do her best and run back if needed.</p>
      <p>After all, if she was anything like Roxas or Axel then it would be relatively easy for the most part.</p>
      <p>At the base, the team had a little bit of difficulty taking care of the pirates, due to them actually being members of the Blood Pack. Things, more or less, were handled at one point until a scrimmage of Heartless appeared at the base and took out the majority of the pirates. This really got Xion to give it her all to help protect the people Roxas was traveling with for weeks.</p>
      <p>Once everything was taken care of, Xion was able to use her Keyblade to open up all sorts of safes. Most were from past pirate raids and the rest were from the MSV Majesty, due to what they found on some logs. While it was unfortunate they couldn't find any survivors, Shepard was able to send out a signal to the Alliance to pick up what remained of the MSV Majesty and her crew.</p>
      <p>They got the assignment done and Xion more than proved herself to be a worthy addition to the team. That and she knew how to hold back unlike a certain fellow redhead.</p>
      <p>Lastly there were a pair of distress signals sent out from the Alliance Listening Posts Alpha and Theta one after the other as they were being attacked by unidentified, hostile lifeforms. Upon reaching Alpha, the ground team learned that the base was attacked by Rachni.</p>
      <p>Once again, Shepard brought along Axel with Wrex, Ashley, Tali and Stitch going along for the mission.</p>
      <p>Wrex seemed to have a ball in more ways than one, due to him not only killing more Rachni but also stating it was still Shepard's fault of their presence here due to her actions. And this got a bit more bashing with Garrus as a result.</p>
      <p>Once clearing Alpha of the problem surrounding their base, the team needed to take care of the root of it all as the Rachni were reported to have a nest in the nearby mine. Axel volunteered to go on ahead with Wrex to help resolve the issue, which Shepard had to comply due to their unique skills and weaponry.</p>
      <p>As Jane and the others made sure everything in the base was secure for the most part, the telltale sounds of a raging Krogan and raging inferno was present for all to hear. Soon after, Shepard and company stood at the front of the mine and were met with quite the sight.</p>
      <p>Surprisingly… actually, it wasn't that much of a surprise considering the two that went in there.</p>
      <p>Suffice to say, the mine was scorched and completely leveled due to their actions; not that either Nobody nor Krogan really complained. In fact, they were pretty damn smug about it.</p>
      <p>Before things could settle down, another distress signal coming from the neighboring star system was received from the Alliance Listening Post Theta. And it seemed they too were suffering from a Rachni infestation as the insectoid species had infiltrated the base and killed everyone stationed there.</p>
      <p>Upon closer investigation, it seemed whatever supply ship had come to both Listening Posts was the connecting point with how the Rachni got there in the first place. And wanting to get to the bottom of this, they downloaded the logs of the base to backtrack the supply ship's course of origin from the Argos Rho Cluster.</p>
      <p>It was rather quick for the Normandy to find the shipment facility freighter, Depot Sigma-23, only to find its crew were all killed as it was now taken up by the Rachni. While Listening Posts Alpha and Theta were a challenge, the ship was honestly a cakewalk. Granted they did have to be extra careful, due to the small size in comparison to the two bases, but it wasn't too big of a problem.</p>
      <p>Wanting to figure out how this all went down, they combed through the data files they found from the freighter's commanding officer, Major Elena Flores.</p>
      <p>As it turned out, Cerberus was involved as they were using the freighter to help transport "special goods" in order to be tested out against pirates on a neighboring system. Of course the crew ended up mishandling the Rachni they acquired, causing an outbreak to occur. They soon boarded the supply ships and deployed to random destinations as they soon spread across the cluster within a week.</p>
      <p>Wrex found the situation rather hilariously ironic as history repeated itself.</p>
      <p>A failed experiment with the Rachni, hoping to see they would be in control, only to realize they can't be controlled all that well. And Axel added more to the fire that people are just stupid and ignorant when not realizing when to hold oneself back on something.</p>
      <p>Wanting to prevent further contamination, charges had to be set before everyone could board the Normandy. Once a safe distance away, the turned Cerberus facility was blown up before this had to be reported directly to the Alliance.</p>
      <p>So that was all said and done, yet they still had more "pit stops" to attend to.</p>
      <p>As of right now, Shepard, Xion and Tali were investigating the MSV Worthington after stumbling upon it drifting through the Ming system of the Gemini Sigma Cluster. It's in a shutdown state with the thrusters cold, but they can still read power being present.</p>
      <p>Being that this was the fourth and last ground mission for the most part, Roxas would soon be allowed to rejoin the team on their usual endeavors with part of his punishment officially over. Then again, it was supposed to be after the third one but that appeared to "slip" the mind of the Commander with Roxas uncharacteristically swearing "revenge" the next chance he'd get.</p>
      <p>Walking through the Normandy, Roxas was heading towards the cockpit as he wanted to relieve himself of some boredom before the ship made its return to the Citadel. The blonde Nobody wanted to converse with Joker as he was already exhausting the others of any conversation topics that came to mind. Either about the overall mission in hunting Saren down or about personal topics and insights.</p>
      <p>He had wanted to talk and hangout with Axel but his friend was sleeping like a log and it appeared that Stitch had opted to join him.</p>
      <p>Getting closer to the front of the ship, Roxas heard Joker was having a laugh as he was happily chatting with Della.</p>
      <p>"You cheated and you know it." Came the reply of a jokingly insulted Della Duck.</p>
      <p>"I'll have you know, Quackster, that was pure skill."</p>
      <p>"Whatever you say, Glasscase, I still think it was phooey how you pulled off that last spin." Della retorted.</p>
      <p>Walking into the cockpit, Roxas saw the two were engaged in a battle of wills via video games with both having controllers in hand and pressing buttons frantically.</p>
      <p>It appeared to be some kind of fighting game that was rather graphic, one of the characters in a purple garb decimating another that was a dark skinned woman with power gauntlet on both arms.</p>
      <p>"Now what was that Prince song that can work with my victory here?" Joker asked condescendingly before a smug grin broke out. "Oh yeah! Here comes the <em>Purple Rain!" </em>Joker exclaimed, performing a finishing move on Della's character with her fighter being decimated by water spikes.</p>
      <p>"AH~" Della bemoaned in overexaggerated defeat, slumping down to the ground.</p>
      <p>Joker's victorious grin only grew when he performed an exceptionally disturbing means of killing Della's character. It was literally water being ejected at such high pressure that the skin was grinded off with the body being sliced apart into pieces moments later.</p>
      <p>Roxas really hopes Demyx never sees anything like this lest he wants to take inspiration.</p>
      <p>"That looks really brutal." Roxas commented, momentarily drawing the two players away from the screen.</p>
      <p>"Hey, Roxas." Della said with a bit of a grumble in her voice.</p>
      <p>"Hiya, kid." Said the pilot, who basked in his bit of glory.</p>
      <p>"What game were you two playing?"</p>
      <p>"This old human game from the early 21st century called Mortal Kombat." Answered Joker. "Tis an ancient relic from a more civilized time."</p>
      <p>"This qualifies as civilized?" Della said in disbelief.</p>
      <p>"Can I give it a try?" Roxas asked.</p>
      <p>Joker only shook his head, putting the game away. "Don't know if this is up your alley."</p>
      <p>"Why not?" Inquired the Nobody.</p>
      <p>"You don't seem like a person who's down for fighting games."</p>
      <p>Della nodded and backed up Joker's argument. "I can probably see why with him literally fighting out there constantly."</p>
      <p>"Maybe, maybe not." Roxas shrugged out. "Won't know unless I try."</p>
      <p>"And have you tried any other games, kid?"</p>
      <p>Roxas brought up his Omni-tool. "A number of them on my Omni-tool. Some I already finished off; others still got a bit to go as in order to complete them just need to reach the final score."</p>
      <p>"Ah~ the 'mini-game' player. Sounds fair." Joker turned to Della and voiced a thought. "What do you suggest he play?"</p>
      <p>"Racing games could be up his alley." Della stated.</p>
      <p>"Isn't that your type of game?" Joker said flatly.</p>
      <p>"It's not exclusive to me, Glasscase, and you know it." Della said in a huff.</p>
      <p>"True as I enjoy my fair share and all but need some variety from time to time."</p>
      <p>"Like what?"</p>
      <p>"I occasionally play MMORPG's like Warcraft." Joker said proudly.</p>
      <p>"Warcraft?" Della and Roxas repeated.</p>
      <p>"If you want super nerd, give that a try." Joker said, pulling up what the game is towards the cockpit's other occupants.</p>
      <p>"Huh, looks like something I play with Huey back home." Della murmured in interest.</p>
      <p>"And what would that be?"</p>
      <p>"Legends of Legend Quest."</p>
      <p>"...What kind of title is that?"</p>
      <p>"Sounds odd, yes, but the game had been a passion of mine since I was a teen." Della said. "You have your… elves, are those elves?"</p>
      <p>"Those are elves."</p>
      <p>"You have your elves and I have my Legend's quest." Della said with dramatic passion.</p>
      <p>"I feel ya, Quackster."</p>
      <p>"Well, I'm starved." Della declared. "A good thrashing like that works up and appetite. Roxas, wanna come?"</p>
      <p>"Sure, why not."</p>
      <p>"How bout you Joker?"</p>
      <p>"Someone's gotta fly the ship."</p>
      <p>"Good point."</p>
      <p>"Not to mention need to be here in case Heartless show up out of nowhere again for a firefight." Joker said with a slight edge to his voice.</p>
      <p>After what happened on Luna, Joker wanted to at least be a bit more attentive on his next encounter with the Gummi Heartless. And they had indeed popped up again when the Normandy was back in the Argos Rho Cluster for the extended mission with the stray Rachni.</p>
      <p>At least he was getting better in combating them with Stitch by his side and Della giving pointers in how to better take them down.</p>
      <p>"See ya later, Joker."</p>
      <p>"You know where to find me."</p>
      <p>Leaving the cockpit, the pair made their way to the mess hall and gathered up some food before sitting down.</p>
      <p>"This food is alright, I guess." Della said, mouth full as she chowed down on her lunch.</p>
      <p>"Ashley always told me it was meant to be edible, not flavorful." Roxas said with a shrug. "Something about how tech advances but military grub doesn't."</p>
      <p>Della snorted. "I bet. My uncle Scrooge tried that once, but the food didn't exactly fit his expectations." She briefly adopted a thoughtful look. "If I remember correctly, he plans on opening a restaurant. Though I have no idea where."</p>
      <p>Roxas nodded as he continued eating his meal with the duck woman. At some point, something came to mind. Something that had left him curious for some time now.</p>
      <p>"Della."</p>
      <p>"Hmmm?"</p>
      <p>"... you said that I looked like someone you met before when we first met. Someone from ten years ago named Ven."</p>
      <p>Della halted in her eating, looking over at Roxas before averting her gaze a moment later.</p>
      <p>"Stitch said the same thing to me when we encountered him on Feros." Roxas revealed. "Who was he?"</p>
      <p>"So even Stitch met him." Della murmured with a small smile.</p>
      <p>"Della?"</p>
      <p>"Oh? Oh! Sorry about that, just thinking about the past." Della said apologetically.</p>
      <p>"About Ven?"</p>
      <p>She chuckled. "Am I that easy to read?"</p>
      <p>"Kinda obvious."</p>
      <p>The Duck snorted. "Well you're a lot more blunt and brooding then Ven, that's for sure. That's easy enough to tell you two apart. Sorta. Anyways, you wanna know about Ven. then I guess I'll start from the beginning. Back on the planet Disna, I met Ven when he came to Disney Town for the Dream Festival Queen Minnie was hosting ten years ago."</p>
      <p>There was a strange feeling that welled up within Roxas.</p>
      <p>A strange feeling of longing that appeared as quickly as it went away while Della continued to speak on her first meeting with this Ventus.</p>
      <p>"I met him when I was working on the ice-cream machine my uncle Scrooge had commissioned for the event. Had some trouble working the blasted thing as Scrooge ended up having it too difficult to operate. Yet Ven was quick in figuring out the controls, either by sheer dumb luck or catching onto an oversight and correcting it."</p>
      <p>"Was there anything else?"</p>
      <p>"Ven… Ventus was a kind soul." Della said with a somber smile. "I never knew what became of him aside from what King Mickey told me."</p>
      <p>"King Mickey knew Ven?" Roxas asked in surprise.</p>
      <p>Della blinked. "You know King Mickey?"</p>
      <p>"Yeah, I ran into him when I met Sora, Donald and Goofy." Roxas stated.</p>
      <p>"Really? And he didn't say anything?"</p>
      <p>Roxas only shook his head, confusing Della. "That's strange. Mickey had known Ven and fought alongside him from what he told me."</p>
      <p>"Wait, what did King Mickey tell you about what happened to Ven?"</p>
      <p>Della shook her head with a small frown. "Just that he had to… heal his heart."</p>
      <p>"Heal his heart?"</p>
      <p>The adventurer ran a hand through her hair before scratching her scalp. "There… There was an incident that happened that led to Ventus having to be needed to be put somewhere safe for healing. That's all his majesty ever told me." Della then became downtrodden. "And what was worse, no one knows where he's being kept as the one who took him there, Aqua I believe, turned up missing shortly after."</p>
      <p>"Aqua." Roxas murmured, the name feeling familiar. A bit <em>too familiar.</em></p>
      <p>He wanted to know more now.</p>
      <p>"Can you tell me anything else about Ven?"</p>
      <p>"Oh yeah there was one other thing." Della scoffed. "Ven had to deal with Pete, who was going around town and was messing around with many of the stalls. Ven helped clean up his mess with the ice-cream machine before he left the festival to find Aqua and some other friend of his."</p>
      <p>Roxas nodded before bringing up a couple of questions. "Who's Pete? And why did he do that?"</p>
      <p>"Pete used to be an old friend of my brother's friend, Goofy, as their sons PJ and Max have been best friends since diapers. Things were good and all but as years went by, Pete's relationship with everyone else started to strain. More so when his wife, Peggy, was considering leaving Pete altogether with how he just kept stirring up trouble."</p>
      <p>Della remembered the times interacting with Peggy when she was still married to Pete. She clearly saw the angsty atmosphere at the Pete residence whenever she visited Goofy and his son as Goofy and Pete were neighbors. And she was glad the kids didn't hear the arguments the former married couple had as they often occurred when said kids were out for school.</p>
      <p>"As for why, well we found out Pete was messing around with the stalls and trying to win the title of 'Million Dreamer' in order to possibly win back his wife. Of course that didn't work out and he was banished because of the number of actions he caused. This caused Peggy to not only get their daughter, Pistol, but also their son as an end result."</p>
      <p>"And do you know where Pete is now?"</p>
      <p>"Sorry, Roxas, but I haven't the foggiest on his whereabouts."</p>
      <p>"<em>Commander Shepard on Deck." </em>The Normandy's VI suddenly announced aloud.</p>
      <p>"Oh, Shepherd's back." Della said, looking up at the ceiling.</p>
      <p>Turning his head back, he saw Shepard walk in with Tali and a rather somber looking Xion.</p>
      <p>The Greater Nobody momentarily locked eyes with Tali though the Quarian turned away soon after with Roxas' expression dropping.</p>
      <p>"Heya Commander." Della hopped up from her seat and approached the human Spectre. "How'd it go down there?"</p>
      <p>Jane looked back to the two despondent teammates and turned back to Della.</p>
      <p>"Swimmingly." The Commander said in false cheer. "Now if you'll excuse me."</p>
      <p>Shepard walked away, Tali heading to the engine core room a moment later leaving Xion to stand there on her own.</p>
      <p>"Xion, honey," Della looked up at the young girl in concern. "Are you alright?"</p>
      <p>"I'm… I'm fine." Xion said quietly.</p>
      <p>Della wanted to ask what had happened but she was interrupted by the sound of pattering on the ceiling.</p>
      <p>A blue fur ball fell from above and landed on Xion's shoulder.</p>
      <p>"Xion." Stitch said happily, drawing a smile out of her face.</p>
      <p>"Hey Stitch." Xion said, giving him a kind smile before her face fell again.</p>
      <p>Seeing how really troubled Xion seemed to be, Roxas walked up to her. "Hey, Xion, how'd it go?"</p>
      <p>No. XIV turned to him and regarded him with a soft, sad look. "It was alright."</p>
      <p>Seeing her expression, he asked the obvious. "Did something bad happen?"</p>
      <p>"You can say that." Xion said.</p>
      <p>Stitch hopped over to Roxas' shoulder, giving him a slobbering lick that managed to lighten up the mood between the two. Della by this point had a small smile on her face, opting to walk away to allow the two to talk.</p>
      <p>"You wanna talk about it?" Roxas asked, gesturing his head over to the table he just sat at.</p>
      <p>Xion didn't reply at first before slowly nodding. "I probably should."</p>
      <p>Going over to the nearby table, they sat down, Stitch curling up into his ball form and rolling off Roxas' shoulder and table and heading off to wherever it was he was rolling to.</p>
      <p>"So what happened?" Roxas asked straight away.</p>
      <p>Xion had her head down, deep in thought as she went over their recent mission.</p>
      <p>"We thought the ship was abandoned, but when looking into it further, life support was the only thing remaining on." Xion began. "When we were checking further in, we heard footsteps. I ended up going ahead and tripped a sensor of sorts, setting off a placed charge."</p>
      <p>Roxas leaned forward with his expression changing into one of concern. "Did you get hurt?"</p>
      <p>Xion smiled at him. "Only a little, nothing a simple Cure can't fix."</p>
      <p>Roxas nodded before voicing an inquiry. "But if the ship seemed abandoned, why have the charges set?"</p>
      <p>"Someone placed them there. The reason why is to protect someone." Xion then explained further in detail. "The person we found was labeled 'brain dead' by Tali."</p>
      <p>"Brain dead?"</p>
      <p>Xion grimaced. "It's when the mind is no longer giving out any activity and functionality. While the brain was 'dead' the body was still alive… somewhat… as Tali said the person was just an empty shell."</p>
      <p>"...Like us." Roxas said, referring to himself, Xion and Axel.</p>
      <p>"More or less." Xion folded her hands together with a slight tremble. "The man we found was in all intents and purposes dead with only life support keeping him alive."</p>
      <p>"So… what happened?" Roxas asked quietly.</p>
      <p>"Shepard wanted to shut the machine down as it was a merciful way for him. She didn't want the man to live any longer in such a state." Xion informed. "Before we did, we wanted to at least know more on what was going on with why there was no one else on the ship."</p>
      <p>"What did you find?"</p>
      <p>"Reading through some logs, it showed us the brain dead man was named Jacob. He had an accident and without getting enough oxygen in his brain soon enough, it ceased to function. There was nothing the medical staff could do, only wanting to let him die with dignity as Jacob's previous wishes."</p>
      <p>"Yet that didn't exactly happen, did it?"</p>
      <p>Xion nodded. "Jacob had a friend, a really close one at that named Julia. She didn't exactly come to terms with his wishes. As a result, she lashed out and… killed everyone else on board, in order to prevent them from killing him."</p>
      <p>Suffice to say, Roxas was surprised when hearing this. "But why, why would she do that?"</p>
      <p>"I didn't understand at first but Shepard told me she didn't want to lose him. The only friend she had left in the world. She wanted to find a way to save him, but it was too late." Xion exhaled a sigh. "When we returned to where Jacob was at, we found Julia as she was guarding him. She lashed out at us, not wanting us to take out the life support. It wasn't pretty on what went on. But in the fight, the life support machine was wrecked, effectively killing Jacob and making Julia become furious. We tried talking her down and stand down peacefully, saying that Jacob wouldn't have wanted this; but without her friend anymore, she just wanted to die."</p>
      <p>It was clear to Roxas that Xion was a bit distraught at what she had witnessed. Seeing someone who was so like them while also the death of someone that cared for them to such a rapid degree. It didn't make sense.</p>
      <p>He had seen Shepard and co take out mercenaries and such. Hell, he had even participated in a few of those actions.</p>
      <p>But when he saw Benezia perish right before Liara… that troubled him greatly. It was still something that he was trying to understand. And now Xion was going through a similar ordeal.</p>
      <p>Instinctively, Roxas reached out and placed a hand over both of hers, with Xion looking up at him.</p>
      <p>"I know it's hard and I wish I knew what to say but…" Roxas frowned, thinking for a moment. "But maybe you should talk to somebody who <em>does</em> understand."</p>
      <p>Xion blinked. "Like who?"</p>
      <p>"Well, everyone on this ship seems to have an idea." Roxas said. "I've been meaning to talk to them about it honestly just… didn't get around to it."</p>
      <p>"Why not?"</p>
      <p>Roxas gazed at her before chuckling slightly. "I had two friends I wanted to see first."</p>
      <p>Xion stared at him until she broke into a small giggle. "Thanks Roxas."</p>
      <p>"Hey~"</p>
      <p>The two turned to see Axel approaching them.</p>
      <p>"Had a nice nap?" Roxas asked good naturedly.</p>
      <p>"Slept like a log." Axel said, plopping down next to Xion. "Then my sleeping partner up and left me."</p>
      <p>"Yeah Stitch was here a moment ago." Roxas said when he heard the little guy's gibberish speech, announcing his return.</p>
      <p>Roxas glanced over to see Stitch carrying a set of chocolate cakes.</p>
      <p>"Stitch, where do you keep getting these cakes from?" Roxas asked in utter bewilderment.</p>
      <p>"Me." Stitch declared proudly, placing all the cakes on the table.</p>
      <p>"You?" Roxas blinked. "Wait, you made these?"</p>
      <p>Stitch made his sound of confirmation, hopping up on the table to dig into his own cake while the others looked at the large stack.</p>
      <p>"There's probably enough for most of the crew to have… unless Stitch eats it all." Roxas noted. "Don't wanna have him be momentarily comatose again like last time."</p>
      <p>"Last time?" Xion repeated in confusion.</p>
      <p>"Yeah, he ate at least twenty of these." Roxas said, pulling his cake out of the way without looking just as Stitch was about to chomp down on it.</p>
      <p>"Makes you wonder how such a little guy can handle so much food without dying from an overdose." Axel muttered, swiping his gloved finger across some frosting for a little taste. "Mmm, not bad."</p>
      <p>The trio of friends had their little treat while ignoring Stitch devouring the other cakes all in one sitting.</p>
      <p>With the blue fur ball eventually leaving, the trio saw him pat his stomach and loudly belching before disappearing from view.</p>
      <p>"Where does it all go?" Xion couldn't help but ask. "He's smaller than Wrex."</p>
      <p>"Who knows. Something I don't really wanna figure out." Said the redhead, leaning on his fist. "So, Roxas. What's the deal between you and Tali?"</p>
      <p>"Huh?"</p>
      <p>"You heard me." Axel said with a waggle of his eyebrows. "I've noticed she's been rather avoiding you still."</p>
      <p>"She has." Roxas' expression fell slightly. "I wish I knew why."</p>
      <p>"What, you don't remember the whole 'switch' conversation?"</p>
      <p>"I do but… what does it even mean?"</p>
      <p>"Have you tried talking to her?" Xion asked.</p>
      <p>Roxas opened his mouth only to close it. "I…"</p>
      <p>He had wanted to speak with her on a number of occasions but she kept looking away, walking away or both. She was avoiding him and it was really starting to affect him.</p>
      <p>Out of everyone on this crew, since coming to this place, Tali was the first friend he made here. To not be able to converse or spend time with her like he used to… it was really beginning to bother him.</p>
      <p>Shaking his head, Roxas stood from his seat with a determined look to him now.</p>
      <p>"I'm gonna go talk to her and set things straight."</p>
      <p>"Atta boy, Roxas." Axel cheered on.</p>
      <p>Seeing Roxas walk off with a purposeful strut, Xion momentarily thought back to what she and him were talking about a few minutes ago.</p>
      <p>"Axel?"</p>
      <p>"Hmmm?"</p>
      <p>"There's… something that's been bothering me." Xion said slowly, watching as her close friend regarded her to indicate she had his attention. "It's from the last mission."</p>
      <p>"Yeah, the one you came back from with Tali and Shepard." Axel recalled. "What about it?"</p>
      <p>"Well… something happened there and… I was hoping you'd be able to explain what it all means."</p>
      <p>As Xion began speaking with Axel about her most recent mission, Roxas made his way over to the engine core room.</p>
      <p>It took the teen a split second to find Tali in her usual spot, diligently working on the engines with several Gummi pieces on the panel.</p>
      <p>"Tali." Roxas said aloud, making the Quarian jump a bit from hearing her name be called out.</p>
      <p>She turned to No. XIII, eyes widening slightly at seeing him approach her.</p>
      <p>"R-Roxas?"</p>
      <p>"Tali, can we talk?" Roxas asked straight away, not beating around the bush.</p>
      <p>Tali jerked back slightly, now looking away to continue whatever it was she was working on.</p>
      <p>"What's there to talk about?" She said, trying to dissuade the conversation.</p>
      <p>"Why have you been avoiding me?" Roxas bluntly asked.</p>
      <p>"I haven't been avoiding you." Tali said though she saw the disbelieving look Roxas sent her way.</p>
      <p>"Then why haven't we talked like we used to before I left?"</p>
      <p>Tali clamped her mouth shut, having stopped her work.</p>
      <p>Silence permeated between the two with Roxas' expression looking slightly desperate for an answer.</p>
      <p>He was about to reach out to her when she spoke in a quiet voice.</p>
      <p>"...Do you honestly not know how worried I was? How much it hurt with you departing all of a sudden, without me preparing for it?"</p>
      <p>"Tali-"</p>
      <p>"It <em>hurt…</em> so much… I tried… I tried to focus on everything else, so I could distract myself with what I was feeling. Yet it wasn't enough as I always kept thinking of that <em><strong>moment</strong></em> of you leaving."</p>
      <p>The Quarian wanted to say more, telling him she cried herself to sleep. Thinking it must've been her fault in driving him away from her and everyone else. But it would be too much on admitting it with how… angry she was feeling right now.</p>
      <p>And that's what constantly bothered her.</p>
      <p>She had known Roxas for over a month by now and yet she had forged a strong connection with him without realizing it.</p>
      <p>Thinking back to that meld that everyone got dragged into, Tali saw her "portrait" on that glass rendition of Roxas. While she didn't verbalize it, she <em>felt </em>it. How she was someone close to Roxas just had he had become close to hers.</p>
      <p>"Tali… I had to know about myself." Roxas said. "About who I am. Why I exist. Why I have <em>this."</em></p>
      <p>Roxas' Keyblade flashed into his hand.</p>
      <p>Tali looked at and had a small double take.</p>
      <p>It changed.</p>
      <p>Roxas' Keyblade wasn't like it was before.</p>
      <p>Now that she thought about it, she might've seen a glance of it beforehand when she and the others were in that odd mind meld, but she thought it was something else. When she thought about it for a second, she saw Xion wielding her own Keyblade that was exactly like Roxas' on their recent mission.</p>
      <p>Did Roxas pass it on to her?</p>
      <p>Quickly shaking her head, Tali regained her thoughts.</p>
      <p>"You lied to me, Roxas. I trusted you."</p>
      <p>Roxas was unsure as to what she was referring to.</p>
      <p>"Lied to you? Lied to you about what?"</p>
      <p>"About who you are. What you are." Tali actually didn't feel comfortable about stating this. It felt like the wrong thing to say. "You could've told me the truth."</p>
      <p>"But would you have believed me on the first few days since we met?"</p>
      <p>Tali was silent, trying to come up with an answer.</p>
      <p>"I… don't exactly know for sure. I might've… called you crazy or… something…"</p>
      <p>Roxas couldn't help but laugh lightly. "Well, I wouldn't blame you."</p>
      <p>Tali was unable to fight back the small giggle that escaped from her lips.</p>
      <p>"Ok… it's just… I hated that you left me so suddenly." Tali said softly. "I just wish you had told me or gave us some time. You left so suddenly; you scared the crew without realizing it. You scared Shepard, Ashley, Garrus, Wrex even if he denies it. You scared <em>me</em>."</p>
      <p>At that, Roxas couldn't really think of anything to dispute this statement. She had a point. He did leave without prompt and left <em>her</em> right in her face.</p>
      <p>Even he realized that he messed up there.</p>
      <p>"Just… we understand more about the place you come from." Tali stated. "So next time something comes up that means you have to leave, tell us."</p>
      <p>"I will." Roxas assured.</p>
      <p>Tali's expression brightened with Roxas seeing her eyes have that same glint that always managed to bring a smile to his face.</p>
      <p>Her posture suddenly changed, hands on her hips with a slight sassy sway to her. "In all honesty, you will need to make up to me for this. A whole lot of it."</p>
      <p>"...I understand." Roxas said with a small smile.</p>
      <p>"And first on the list: no more lies." Tali declared.</p>
      <p>He gave a firm nod, no doubt promising to make it so.</p>
      <p>Unbeknownst to him, Tali didn't mean that literally, only a means of making him more open to her.</p>
      <p>"Anything else?"</p>
      <p>"Nothing much else comes to mind… for now." Even though Roxas can't see her face, she wore the best teasing smile she could muster. "But~ you can maybe give me something that's truly memorable and I might fully forgive you for your actions."</p>
      <p>"It's a deal."</p>
      <p>"And it better be out of this world." Tali said, lightly poking his chest with a faux serious tone. "Out of <em>every</em> world."</p>
      <p>"I promise." Roxas assured, unaware that she didn't quite mean it.</p>
      <p>"Good."</p>
      <p>Tali then surprised the Nobody by pulling him into a tight hug. He didn't know how to react at first but he remembered what Shepard did.</p>
      <p>He wrapped his arms around her in return with the Quarian being quite glad he couldn't see her face right about now. She was blushing up a storm under her helmet but she refused to pull away.</p>
      <p>To her, she started to feel at peace now, or at least getting there. Some lingering feelings of her anger and sadness were still present within her but give it time and things will be right as rain.</p>
      <p>"You know, about me lying to you…" Roxas began, who still kept up with the embracing hug. "I think I only withheld the truth… and avoided-"</p>
      <p>"Roxas."</p>
      <p>"Yeah?"</p>
      <p>"Stop talking." she said softly.</p>
      <p>"...Shutting up now."</p>
      <p>
        <em>-Scene Cut-</em>
      </p>
      <p>The Normandy soon returned to the Citadel once more, needing a bit more supplies as they had endured a lot more in terms of events then they had cared to admit.</p>
      <p>Currently, a majority of the Normandy crew were out and about on the Citadel with only a few members remaining in the ship.</p>
      <p>Della Duck for obvious starters as she still was working on repairing her ship.</p>
      <p>Much as she wanted to explore the Citadel, the capital of Council space, Commander Shepard had convinced her that for the time being, it was best she remained out of sight and out of mind. Stitch was "passable" at best to be a mutated dog but even the human Spectre was pretty confident that this station wasn't ready for an anthropomorphic talking duck that was from another galaxy.</p>
      <p>Then again, with all the madness that has been growing on the Citadel and across the galaxy, Della Duck may be able to experience the Citadel yet.</p>
      <p>The last one staying behind was Liara, due to a couple of things.</p>
      <p>The first involved her <em><strong>still</strong></em> questioning Della about her home galaxy and wanting to learn everything about it and what the duck woman knows about her neighboring one, Andromeda. Liara took up the opportunity to do a proper First Contact with Della upon their original meet up for the sake of the Citadel races. And since Della didn't exactly have a data packet, composed of everything there is of the Ōkoku galaxy, Liara had to make one for her friend's sake.</p>
      <p>Asides from that, she was assisting Della in helping repair her Gummi ship in terms of payment for the requested information. More so when Liara got into the awkward territory of asking her certain questions on accident, due to her over excitedness.</p>
      <p>Currently, Roxas had at first wished to show Xion and Axel around the Citadel but one fashionista caught wind of their return and had called them over to cash in the favor they owed her.</p>
      <p>So the trio of Nobody's along with Shepard, Ashley and Tali made their way over to one Edna Mode's shop that she aptly titled, <em>The Mode</em>.</p>
      <p>"Whoa." Jane remarked at the store. "She's been busy."</p>
      <p>The store had since doubled in size and it appears the owner was having a much larger stream of customers.</p>
      <p>"How are we supposed to find this Edna person in all this?" Tali asked aloud.</p>
      <p>"Jeez." Axel looked around, taking note of the variety of aliens here with them all looking over the multiple racks and shelves of clothing.</p>
      <p>"Oh, that top looks great." Ashley murmured, eyeing a nice smoking blue shirt.</p>
      <p>"Hey." Axel pointed ahead. "That her?"</p>
      <p>The group looked ahead and spotted a short and stout lady with her looking between several clothing pieces that were being presented to her by her assistants.</p>
      <p>"Tell me darling, would a Krogan wear that?" Edna asked aloud to the Salarian holding up a rough set of clothing.</p>
      <p>"I-I am not sure."</p>
      <p>"Then I wouldn't be caught dead with it." Edna waved off.</p>
      <p>She turned to address the next piece of cloth when out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a few familiar faces.</p>
      <p>"Darling!" Edna exclaimed, small frame bounding up to Roxas while leaving her assistants behind.</p>
      <p>Once in front of him, she had somehow tugged Roxas down to her and pecked him on both cheeks, patting them a moment later.</p>
      <p>"Oh it is so good to see you once again. Come, come, come, let me get a look at you."</p>
      <p>Edna hummed in thought, going over the clothes that she herself had placed on him.</p>
      <p>"Yes, yes darling this is one of my finest works." Edna declared. "But there is always room for improvement."</p>
      <p>"There is?" Roxas asked in surprise.</p>
      <p>"Always my dear." Edna said, turning to the others. "Shepard, darling, it is wonderful to see you once more."</p>
      <p>"Edna." Jane nodded her head, looking up at the store. "You've been busy."</p>
      <p>Edna scoffed. "Please Commander, you praise me too much. I make people look like their best selves while you and your crew go out and about saving lives."</p>
      <p>"Well, wouldn't mind looking good while doing it." Shepard said with a joking tone.</p>
      <p>"Then you have come to the right place, my child." Edna said. "But first…"</p>
      <p>"Your favor." Shepard said expectantly.</p>
      <p>"Favor?" Axel asked aloud, gaining Edna's attention with the short stylist taking note of the black cloaks both her and Xion wore.</p>
      <p>"Oh, from the same place I see." Edna mused in interest.</p>
      <p>The others were confused by this comment but Axel however looks at the shorter woman in suspicion.</p>
      <p>Edna turned back to Roxas a moment later. "Come my dear, let us get to work."</p>
      <p>"What exactly is it that she's gonna do with him?" Ash found herself asking.</p>
      <p>"I'll tell you about it later." Shepard said, following after the confused boy. "Ash, Tali, make sure you have Xion here get her some clothes and Axel…"</p>
      <p>"I'm gonna go check this place out." Axel abruptly turned, walking away while waving his hand in goodbye.</p>
      <p>"Well… he's gone." Ashley said in a deadpan, turning to Xion who looked a bit nervous in being in such a crowded place without her two closest friends.</p>
      <p>Frowning slightly, Ashley quickly put on a kind smile, placing a hand on the young Nobody's shoulder.</p>
      <p>"Come on Xion." Ash said in a sisterly manner. "Let's give you your first time shopping."</p>
      <p>Xion only looked up at the Gunnery Chief curiously, craning her head back to Tali who only shrugged before gesturing her hand in an encouraging manner.</p>
      <p>Soon enough, Xion was pulled into quite the unfamiliar scenario.</p>
      <p>"Alright, let's see here." Ashley hummed in thought. "We need something that will help really bring out the <em>you </em>factor."</p>
      <p>"The you factor?" Xion said in bewilderment.</p>
      <p>"A style that works with you Xion." Ashley elaborated. "See, everyone has something unique to them when it comes to having their own look."</p>
      <p>"Like you with pink?" Xion innocently asked, Ashley's brow twitched with Tali chortling aloud.</p>
      <p>"Yeah." Ashley said through gritted teeth. <em>"Pink."</em></p>
      <p>She was rather glad right about now for being here right about now. She'd been meaning to get a new suit of armor. And surprisingly, this place sold some.</p>
      <p>"Shouldn't we get something for Xion first?" Tali asked.</p>
      <p>The Alliance marine sighed, pushing down her own wants for the time being.</p>
      <p>"Yeah, you're right." Ashley said. "Come on Xion."</p>
      <p>As they began sifting through the clothes, Xion began to notice something rather strange and off putting.</p>
      <p>Tali looked through the multiple racks of clothing but she didn't appear to be planning to get anything.</p>
      <p>That was the first thing.</p>
      <p>The second was the multitude of suspicious to outright hostile looks that the Quarian kept receiving. It didn't seem to bother Tali at all but it was starting to slightly bother Xion. Did Tali do something to those people or something?</p>
      <p>Why would they keep giving her those strange looks?</p>
      <p>"What do you think of this Xion?"</p>
      <p>No. XIV turned her head back to Ashley who was holding up a white skirt in one hand and black pants in the other.</p>
      <p>"Do you feel you're more of a skirts or pants type of gal?" Ashley inquired.</p>
      <p>"Skirts or pants?" Xion repeated in slight wonder.</p>
      <p>"Yeah, there's gotta be something that calls to ya." Ashley stated, holding out the clothing for Xion to take. "Just take these and we'll have you try them out in the dressing room."</p>
      <p>Xion only nodded along with Ash's suggestion.</p>
      <p>As this went on, several times Xion saw Tali inspect clothing before putting it back with people giving the occasional glare.</p>
      <p>She was honestly beginning to worry if she were being honest with herself. Why did they keep doing that?</p>
      <p>Upon seeing Tali put another shirt back in its place, Xion finally couldn't help herself.</p>
      <p>"Tali?"</p>
      <p>"Hmmm?"</p>
      <p>"You're not going to get anything?" Xion asked with Tali shaking her head.</p>
      <p>"No point in doing so."</p>
      <p>"Why not?"</p>
      <p>The Quarian looked at the blue-eyed girl when she realized something.</p>
      <p>Aside from their interactions on the mission and first initial meeting, they haven't really spoken much to one another.</p>
      <p>Now was the time to change that.</p>
      <p>"I can't." Tali said plainly. "I'm a Quarian. Which means I'm relegated to this suit at all times."</p>
      <p>"Why?"</p>
      <p>"Because my race has a severely weak immune system." Tali revealed. "Something that we suffered from when the Geth drove us off our home world."</p>
      <p>"Weak immune system? So you get sick easily?"</p>
      <p>Tali nodded. "Yes. It's why we have to wear these suits all the time. To prevent us from getting sick and dying. We rarely get any other suits as nowhere else sells them. So we must do careful suit repairs or risk coming down with the simplest of colds."</p>
      <p>Xion's expression became despondent. "That's terrible."</p>
      <p>Tali blinked at the young girl's response but found herself smiling underneath her helmet.</p>
      <p>"You're sweet, Xion." Tali said, wrapping an arm around her shoulder.</p>
      <p>Xion experienced something she had never felt before.</p>
      <p>Being flustered.</p>
      <p>Something that Ash picked up on as she had a beaming grin and proceeded to muss up the younger Nobody's hair.</p>
      <p>"Come on Xion, let's find you something good." Ashley said, leading the young girl over to another rack of clothing.</p>
      <p>Though it was a bit of a process, eventually Tali and Ashley found the clothing the Xion was the most drawn to.</p>
      <p>Xion now wore a sleeveless double buttoned, collared shirt with a hood attached and a black belt, a short white pleated skirt and black boots that reach her mid-shin with beige color to the upper fifth.</p>
      <p>Ashley found the hood to be a strange piece, pointing out that her own Organization cloak already had one.</p>
      <p>When asking about it, Xion simply replied with the hood reminding her of Tali's which she found pretty.</p>
      <p>To say that Tali was flattered by such a statement would be underselling it. She went and made a small squeal of her own, grabbing Xion in a crushing hug and swinging her around.</p>
      <p>Though Xion was still a bit new to the whole idea of physical interaction (not really), she happily returned the gesture.</p>
      <p>"Good to see you're all getting along so well."</p>
      <p>The group of girls turned to see a slightly amused Shepard and a completely confused Roxas.</p>
      <p>"Heya Skipper." Ashley with a two-finger salute. "What'd that fashion lady want with you and Roxas?"</p>
      <p>"Nothing special." Shepard said with a coy smile, side-eyeing Roxas. "But~ I figure our little superhuman here is gonna get <em>a lot</em> of fans pretty soon."</p>
      <p>"I don't follow." Roxas said.</p>
      <p>"Me either." Xion added with a shrug.</p>
      <p>"...Oh you two…"</p>
      <p>Tali was a bit out of the loop herself. "Shepard, what did you do exactly?"</p>
      <p>Rather than answering her, Jane opted to send Tali what it was that Edna needed Roxas for.</p>
      <p>Upon hearing a ping on her Omni-Tool, Tali gave Jane a confused look whilst she gestured for her to open up what she had just sent.</p>
      <p>Bringing up her Omni-tool, Tali blinked at the images she saw. It was of Roxas in some very nice looking clothes. Nothing to cra-.</p>
      <p>'Is that him with no shirt?!' Tali internally yelled.</p>
      <p>He may have a thin frame but to put it plainly, Roxas was defined.</p>
      <p>Steam began wafting out from underneath Tali's hood as she gazed at the last few images.</p>
      <p>"Tali… are you alright?" Roxas asked, earning a little squeak from her.</p>
      <p>The Quarian started stammering. "I-I'm f-fine. No-Nothing to worry about."</p>
      <p>Roxas, oblivious on the way she acted, shrugged and didn't push for more.</p>
      <p>The others, however, noticed.</p>
      <p>Xion was similar to Roxas' reaction as she didn't understand things all that well. Ashley and Shepard merely wore teasing smiles, knowing they got some good material to use later on.</p>
      <p>"Where is Axel anyways?" Shepard asked, looking around. "Haven't seen him."</p>
      <p>"He just kinda… wandered off, remember?"</p>
      <p>"You think he'll wait for us?" Ash asked, looking to the two that knew him best.</p>
      <p>"Despite not knowing him very long, doubt it." Xion declared.</p>
      <p>-Scene Cut-</p>
      <p>With a Dark Corridor closing behind him, Axel saw the sign reading "Flux" with a flight of stairs nearby.</p>
      <p>"This must be the place."</p>
      <p>During his whole wardrobe shopping experience, something he hasn't gone through since he was a Somebody, he got a message from some of the guys as they wanted to hit the bar for some drinks. He was quick to accept the request and once dropping off his new "civilian" attires back on the Normandy, he came directly here.</p>
      <p>"Now where would they be?" Axel murmured to himself.</p>
      <p>Before having the chance to climb the stairs, he saw a Salarian tumbling down by them. Moments later, the salamander-like alien got up and dusted himself off like it was nothing.</p>
      <p>Feeling curious, Axel approached him. "You okay there?"</p>
      <p>"Yes, I'm fine."</p>
      <p>There was a slight disbelieving look to No. VIII's face. "Then what was it that got you thrown out of there?"</p>
      <p>Axel could probably understand if the guy was harassing some people or too drunk to stay in the establishment. The first idea seemed the more likely option as the second wasn't plausible. Unless his newly learned knowledge on Salarians updated without him knowing, then the guy didn't appear drunk at all.</p>
      <p>"Doran didn't have a clue what I was doing. He assumed I was cheating."</p>
      <p>"Cheating? On what exactly?"</p>
      <p>"Just tipping the scales in my favor. Only as an experiment on the machines."</p>
      <p>It took a few moments for Axel to realize what was going on.</p>
      <p>Not only does Flux serve as a club, but a small casino as well. Nothing as large and extravagant as the one over at the Silversun Strip, if he heard correctly. But this place is quite the lucrative business.</p>
      <p>And this Salarian was doing something on their machines in order to win.</p>
      <p>"Why do you say it's an experiment? Still sounds like cheating to me."</p>
      <p>"To you, maybe. But this device I have is merely intended to simulate situations and record results." The Salarian waved off a little. "Recording losses is easy, of course. Nobody notices those."</p>
      <p>"Depends on the situation you're doing it in."</p>
      <p>"Exactly."</p>
      <p>"So why go through all this? What's the point in recording these outcomes?"</p>
      <p>"Ah~ now you're getting into the heart of it." The Salarian said with an excited gleam in his eyes. "I've spent the last five years developing a system that can accurately predict wins and losses on the quasar. I just need a few more recorded wins and I can complete the algorithm."</p>
      <p>"Really now?" Axel remarked with an intrigued look. "So you found out how to cheat the system?"</p>
      <p>"It's not that I cheated the system." The Salarian huffed indignantly. "It's just illegal to use <em>my</em> system. But I won't use it, I'll sell it to others. I just need a few more wins recorded."</p>
      <p>Feeling curious, Axel wanted to know more on this device. He didn't know where the others were so he figured he might as well kill some time.</p>
      <p>"Can it give me more wins?"</p>
      <p>"Most certainly."</p>
      <p>"How?"</p>
      <p>"The device is set to emit a frequency that will slightly increase your odds. Nothing like my system eventually will, but enough to allow you to record your wins more quickly."</p>
      <p>"Then why not sell your device as it is?"</p>
      <p>"What? No. This device is archaic. It uses brute force to achieve its goal. Besides, you saw how easily it was detected."</p>
      <p>'More like staying too long to end up getting caught.' Thought Axel, narrowing his eyes a little.</p>
      <p>"Once my system is complete, it will be far more efficient and completely undetectable."</p>
      <p>No. VIII nodded as he voiced an inquiry. "Say if I do this for you, what's in it for me?"</p>
      <p>The Salarian brightened a little. "Keep your winnings. That should be enough payment, I think."</p>
      <p>Nodding once more, Axel gave his response. "How about I do this for ya? Try it out and whatever."</p>
      <p>The Salarian nodded and handed the device over to the red haired Nobody. "Here you go. When you've recorded enough wins, it will let you know. Of course, if you get caught with the device, well, you saw what happened to me."</p>
      <p>"Only the aftermath, not what led up to it."</p>
      <p>"Right, well off you go. That data won't collect itself."</p>
      <p>Walking past the Salarian, Axel made his way into the club and saw what was going on around him. The beat of the music, the dance floor nearby and a bar at the other side of the establishment.</p>
      <p>Looking over in said area, Axel saw none of the guys have shown up yet.</p>
      <p>'Seems I'm early, or they're late.' Green eyes wandered towards the casino on the upper floor. 'Got some time to kill before they arrive, then.'</p>
      <p>Making his way to the machines upstairs, Axel came across one of the quasar machines.</p>
      <p>Not knowing what to do, he pulled up the 'help' tab to learn how to play.</p>
      <p>Essentially, the game was like Blackjack, but instead of reaching or getting close to '21' without going over, this one was with '20'. And instead of cards, it was with some buttons to add or subtract from the consecutive numbers.</p>
      <p>Getting a little understanding of this, Axel inserted some Munny that converted itself into credits and started playing with the one device turned on.</p>
      <p>Even without the given device, Axel somewhat wanted to focus on how he played. With most forms of gambling, it all dealt with predicting and counting numbers. The rest was just sheer dumb luck. And sadly for him, he wasn't all that great with the math concept.</p>
      <p>As he carefully played this quasar game out, his mind briefly wandered towards Luxord, No. X of the Organization.</p>
      <p>Outside of being in charge of the Gambler Nobodies, he seemed to have a number of quirks pertaining to his title as "Gambler of Fate". One dealt with manipulating some fights to go in his favor if he so chose. Another dealt with nearly everything coming out of his mouth, one way or another, dealt with some gambling phrases or terms being spouted out. Some were cleverly used while the rest could honestly use some work. He even had some philosophies here and there which Axel never really could "memorize".</p>
      <p>Outside of all that, Luxord was a damn lucky bastard when it came to legit gambling.</p>
      <p>Put him up on some bets, he guesses the winning outcome correctly. Get him inside of a casino, he can clear it out of nearly every bit of Munny the establishment had.</p>
      <p>That last one was honestly legit as Axel saw it firsthand.</p>
      <p>Before he could dwell down memory lane, he heard the device on his person sounding out. Taking a look, he saw he ended up going through a number of wins and got a few losses with a generous amount of credits received in the end.</p>
      <p>Seeing as he was done, Axel headed on out and checked to see if the guys had finally shown up or not.</p>
      <p>Once again, they haven't shown up.</p>
      <p>"What's taking so long?" Axel said a bit impatiently. "They forget to memorize the place they asked me to meet up at?"</p>
      <p>Heading towards the bar, he sat at one of the stools and waited for a little bit.</p>
      <p>"Hello there, can I help you with something?"</p>
      <p>Axel looked over and saw the barkeeper smiling at him. For a moment, he thought the smile she wore was out of business courtesy. Yet he looked past that and saw the little colorization on her cheeks.</p>
      <p>'Oh~' Axel mused internally. 'Well, well, haven't seen that look since Radiant Garden.'</p>
      <p>"I dunno miss." Axel said with a coy smirk. "What <em>can</em> you do for me?"</p>
      <p>He leaned forward, presenting himself with a disarming smile that seemed to fluster the barkeeper.</p>
      <p>"Is-Is there anything you'd like to drink?" She stammered out.</p>
      <p>"Well that's just it." Axel said. "I'm a bit new here so I need to be going off your suggestions, milady. What would you suggest?"</p>
      <p>The barkeeper brought up the menu, suggesting one of the finer drinks that the establishment had while pointing out a reasonably priced one for beginners.</p>
      <p>"I have some scotches, wines, vodkas and cocktails that could be of your taste."</p>
      <p>Axel nodded as he looked through the selection.</p>
      <p>"Do you have anything better, perhaps?" He asked, the barkeep nodding as she changed the menu to some of the pricier brands that she had in stock. One quickly stood out as it cost 1,000 credits for a full bottle, far less for individual glasses.</p>
      <p>"I'll have a Serrice Ice Brandy." Axel said, the name sticking out to him.</p>
      <p>"Coming right up."</p>
      <p>Retrieving the bottle, she eventually poured the contents into a small glass with some rocks. Sliding it over to him, Axel grasped the cup before bringing it up to his lips. He took a small whiff and liked the smell that came from it. Before long, he drank some of it down.</p>
      <p>"Mmm, tastes good. Not much of a chilled drink person, but this works splendidly." He said, sliding a credit chit over. When she went to do the withdrawal on it, he spoke up. "Keep what's on it. A tip for fine service with a fine lady such as yourself."</p>
      <p>The barkeeper blushed once more. "Thank you."</p>
      <p>He nodded as he proceeded to drink more of the iced brandy.</p>
      <p>"If you don't mind me asking sir…" The barkeeper looked a bit nervous. "But that coat. Where did you get it?"</p>
      <p>Axel's brow quirked upwards. "That's a bit of a complicated story but who's asking?"</p>
      <p>"It's just that… I encountered this boy who wore nearly the <em>exact </em>same coat not too long ago."</p>
      <p>It didn't take much work for him to realize who she was talking about. "Let me guess, sandy blonde, blue eyes, curious about everything?"</p>
      <p>The barkeeper blinked. "You know him?"</p>
      <p>"Roxas? Yeah, he's my friend." Axel revealed making the woman gasp in delighted surprise.</p>
      <p>"Is he doing well for himself? Do you know a Garrus Vakarian and Kaidan Alenko by any chance?"</p>
      <p>"I do, traveling with them actually."</p>
      <p>"That's wonderful to hear you are all doing so well.</p>
      <p>"In fact, I'm just waiting for them right now. Taking too long if you ask me."</p>
      <p>The barkeeper nodded. "Perhaps they're held up on something."</p>
      <p>"Who knows." Axel then asked her something. "What's your name?"</p>
      <p>"Rita."</p>
      <p>"Axel. Got it memorized?"</p>
      <p>Rita found the last comment rather strange but nodded all the same.</p>
      <p>"Hey, do you perhaps know someone named Doran?" Axel asked suddenly.</p>
      <p>"What do you need with my boss?"</p>
      <p>"Just wanna have a word with him. Nothing bad at all, I assure you, Sweet Rita."</p>
      <p>She stammered a little before heading out as he downed the rest of his drink.</p>
      <p>It took a minute later for Rita to come back with a Volus beside her.</p>
      <p>"This him, Rita?" He rasped out.</p>
      <p>"Yes sir."</p>
      <p>"Thank you."</p>
      <p>With Rita heading back to resume her work, the owner of Flux addressed the red haired Nobody.</p>
      <p>"Rita tells me you wanted to speak to me."</p>
      <p>"You Doran?"</p>
      <p>"I am." Answered the Volus. "Can I help you?"</p>
      <p>"Yeah, I've got something you might be interested in."</p>
      <p>Pulling out the device, he presented it to Doran.</p>
      <p>"Let me see… You got this from Schell's, didn't you?"</p>
      <p>"Schell's? You mean the Salarian?" Axel asked, earning a confirming nod.</p>
      <p>"I saw him using it earlier. Tossed him out on his ass for it, too. Thanks for bringing this for me."</p>
      <p>"No problem." Before he gave it to the Volus, he retrieved it back a little. "I think this tool should be worth something to you."</p>
      <p>The Volus wheezed a little. "I suppose it is. I could offer you a few tries of quasar, on the house."</p>
      <p>"Nah, I'm not a gambler at all." Said No. VIII. "Maybe give me and my pals a few rounds and we'll call it even. They aren't here yet, but I'll let you know when you do."</p>
      <p>"Sounds fair. Just none of the really expensive drinks. I'll inform Rita on the limit."</p>
      <p>"You got it. Oh and if you're looking for Schell's, he's outside waiting for me to show back up."</p>
      <p>"Then I'll send some men to take care of him."</p>
      <p>"Good to know. Guy should honestly put his skills to better use than that."</p>
      <p>"Axel."</p>
      <p>The tall red head turned to see Kaidan and Garrus walking up to him.</p>
      <p>"There you two are, what took ya? Having trouble remembering time and place?" Axel asked straight away."</p>
      <p>"Just had to buy a few things here and there." Garrus said, silently thumbing back to the bar for the trio to go and get a drink.</p>
      <p>"And where's Wrex?" Axel asked, walking by the two.</p>
      <p>"Using the restroom."</p>
      <p>Axel snorted. "Hope he doesn't break the toilet."</p>
      <p>"They're made out of strong stuff, Axel. I doubt they can break that easily from his weight." Kaidan stated.</p>
      <p>"If you say so." Axel said, making eye contact with Rita with a small wink.</p>
      <p>Rita averted her eyes briefly, before spotting the two that had come up with Axel.</p>
      <p>"Hello there Detective Vakarian." Rita greeted the Turian with a pleasant smile. "Good to see you again."</p>
      <p>"Hey Rita. Good to see you as well. Is Jenna still doing alright?"</p>
      <p>"She is, thanks for asking."</p>
      <p>Seeing this, Axel couldn't help but ask. "So what went on with you two?"</p>
      <p>"Helped her sister out as she was roped in on an investigation." Garrus summarized.</p>
      <p>"Tali, Roxas and I helped out too, you know." Kaidan added in.</p>
      <p>"And you did good work and didn't mess up like some novices out there."</p>
      <p>The lieutenant was about to say something back when a couple of glasses were placed before them with Rita pouring them drinks.</p>
      <p>"But… But we didn't order anything yet." Kaidan said in surprise.</p>
      <p>"Don't worry about it guys, the first couple of rounds are on me." Rita said with a kind smile while sending a flirtatious look in Axel's direction.</p>
      <p>"That's rather generous of you." Garrus remarked.</p>
      <p>"Not the expensive ones though." Rita quickly pointed out.</p>
      <p>"Thought as much." Alenko and Vakarian said in unison.</p>
      <p>"Of course, I got a few more for ya from me as well." Axel added in. "And like Rita said, nothing expensive."</p>
      <p>Rita shared one last wink to Axel before she went to help out the other customers in the establishment.</p>
      <p>"So… already charmed her, didn't you?" Kaidan asked in a dry tone.</p>
      <p>"I have no idea to what you are referring to." Axel played off innocently.</p>
      <p>"Didn't you say something about not having hearts and emotion or some crap like that?" Garrus pointed out.</p>
      <p>"Well, just cause I don't have a heart doesn't mean I can't remember how to show ladies a good time." Axel said in a suave tone.</p>
      <p>"I bet you had all the ladies."</p>
      <p>"Ha! I wish." Axel guffawed.</p>
      <p>"But what about that Organization you left?" Kaidan asked.</p>
      <p>"Asides from Xion, only had one other woman in the group."</p>
      <p>"And any luck on her?"</p>
      <p>Axel almost choked on his drink. "Oh god. Do not think I would want to get anywhere close to that crazy Nymph."</p>
      <p>"Nymph? Is that short for nymphomaniac?" Kaidan asked, causing both Garrus and Axel to choke on their drinks.</p>
      <p>"Spirits Kaidan, where'd that come from?!"</p>
      <p>"She's got a temper tantrum a couple miles long with a rather loose trigger that gets set off by anything."</p>
      <p>"So… she's one of those types."</p>
      <p>"Yeah, those types." Axel confirmed. "Crazy lightning bitch she is."</p>
      <p>"Lightning?"</p>
      <p>"That's her natural affinity." Axel revealed. "Like me with fire, Demyx with water, Lexaeus with Earth and all, Larxene is the lightning specialist. And bitch."</p>
      <p>"She can't be that bad, right?"</p>
      <p>"Tell that to Demyx." Axel retorted. "The few times he tried to be cordial to her, he got electrocuted badly while he was minding his own business. None of us knows what the hell is going on in her head that makes her that way."</p>
      <p>Kaidan hummed. "Perhaps brain chemistry or perhaps those lightning powers are part of the cause."</p>
      <p>The piqued Axel's interest. "...Go on…"</p>
      <p>"With her exposed to her electro-kinetic powers for so long, she probably hasn't controlled them effectively. Thus her nervous system is getting altered by the uncontrolled electrical impulses. Starts harmless enough to become worse from mild twitches to worse. With her neurons and glia degrading over time, she could become a victim to her own abilities."</p>
      <p>"Huh…" Axel rubbed his chin in thought. "Never thought of it that way."</p>
      <p>"Well, I figured that from Biotics and worked around from there." Kaidan said, knowing from experience on many biotics he interacted with over the years.</p>
      <p>"Very impressive, Kaidan." Axel praised. "But no. She's just a bitch."</p>
      <p>"But-"</p>
      <p>"Nope, she's a bitch. Let's leave it at that."</p>
      <p>Even if Axel could understand most of the scientific jargon aimed his way. But being Nobodies, they were a bit of a special case. And the way Larxene was, probably retaining that personality from her old life.</p>
      <p>Possibly. He's not entirely sure. Never bothered to ask.</p>
      <p>Kaidan couldn't help but puff a cheek out at his rather sound and reasoned explanation being thrown out the window by the Nobody. It didn't help that Garrus openly chuckled at such dismissal.</p>
      <p>"What are you Pyjaks talkin' about?"</p>
      <p>"Nothin' big guy, just women." Axel said plainly, not even turning to the Krogan Battlemaster that sat down next to him.</p>
      <p>Wrex only grunted, waved his hand over with a large glass of alcohol being slid his way.</p>
      <p>"I didn't-"</p>
      <p>"First number of rounds are on Rita and Axel." Garrus said quickly. "Red here wooed her quite effectively."</p>
      <p>"Huh." Wrex chuckled out. "Earning another few notches, Axel."</p>
      <p>"I aim to please, my good hammerlord."</p>
      <p>The four men sat around and had themselves a good time, drinking and eating some food. Shooting the shit and talking about all sorts of stories on their own personal experiences.</p>
      <p>"-Sounds like this Xigbar guy is rather dangerous to me." Kaidan commented.</p>
      <p>"Yeah, he does most of the time." No. VIII leaned back as he had to lick his fingers to clean them off from the chicken wing sauce still on them. "Old Xiggy Stardust-"</p>
      <p>Garrus snorted as he was eating through his Turian style nachos. "You got that from David Bowie, didn't you?"</p>
      <p>"What can I say, the guy has musical talent, far better than Demyx." Axel admittedly laughed out. Upon coming to this galaxy, the music here was quite diverse but to him, Bowie stood out. That and rock and roll. "Anyways, Xiggy often plays off for laughs and misdirect things, but I can tell he's just hiding something and that makes him dangerous."</p>
      <p>"Aren't the rest of the Organization?" Wrex pointed out, chewing on a large drum-stick.</p>
      <p>"True, but behind Xemnas, Xigbar is the worst of the bunch, in my opinion." Leaning back forward, Axel looked towards the Turian. "Alright, your turn Garrus."</p>
      <p>"What's there to talk about?"</p>
      <p>"C'mon, you got plenty of cases under your belt. There's gotta be something interesting."</p>
      <p>"Well… I do remember this one guy that got away." Garrus said reminiscently.</p>
      <p>"There's always a guy that gets away, buddy." Axel pointed out. "Can't be a perfect guy all the time."</p>
      <p>"Sadly sounds boring if you are." Wrex said, before belching.</p>
      <p>"So who's this guy that got away." Kaidan asked curiously before snacking on one of the last mozzarella sticks on the table.</p>
      <p>"His name is Saleon." Garrus said with a bit of a slur. "And his case was disturbing."</p>
      <p>"Sounds like a real stand up guy." Kaidan joked.</p>
      <p>"Oh you have no idea." The C-Sec detective then went on with the details. "I was following a black market trade on the Citadel. Most of it's harmless. Nothing I needed to pursue, at first. You see, during the course of my investigation, I noticed an increase in the trade of body parts. Organs, mostly."</p>
      <p>"Jesus, what the hell?"</p>
      <p>"In all honesty, we get a few of those because of Vorcha."</p>
      <p>"What, did the Vorcha have a mafia or something with <em>that</em> being their main trade?"</p>
      <p>"Actually, Kaidan, they do."</p>
      <p>"...Okay I was just joking, but <em>seriously</em>?"</p>
      <p>"What, you thought it was mostly with humans, asari, Batarians and Turians?"</p>
      <p>"...Yes."</p>
      <p>"Okay can we go back to Garrus' case already?"</p>
      <p>"Yes, please."</p>
      <p>Garrus coughed into his hand before resuming. "Well asides from the small cases, this one had numbers that were rising exponentially. A number of us detectives weren't sure if there was a new black market lab or if some freak was harvesting organs from citizens."</p>
      <p>"Sounds like a Hannibal Lecter to me." Axel suggested, remembering watching that movie the other night.</p>
      <p>"These aren't being eaten, if you were wondering."</p>
      <p>"But these labs, how many did you come across?" Kaidan inquired.</p>
      <p>"A good dozen in my line of work so far, some selling experimental stimulants and drugs, others unwanted prototypes through the black market. But they aren't as bad as the psychos." Garrus soon drank a bit more of his Turian brandy. "I remember this one Elcor diplomat we caught in my first year on the job. Hacking people up and selling their organs, had the station in a bit of a panic."</p>
      <p>"No shit it would."</p>
      <p>"And Elcor? How does that work, with their stubby limbs and all?"</p>
      <p>"You'd be surprised." Wrex jotted in as was listening to Garrus' tale.</p>
      <p>"Anyways, my one case wasn't as clear cut as we thought. We first got a hold of a sample and ran DNA tests to see who could've turned up missing and dead. The weird thing about it was the match led us to a Turian who was <em>still</em> alive and was <em>very</em> convinced he'd never lost his liver. After a bit of digging, I discovered this Turian worked briefly for Dr. Saleon, the geneticist. Tracked down his lab, hoping to find evidence of cloned organ development, given the hunch I got when interviewing the Turian."</p>
      <p>"Is cloned organs a thing here?" Axel asked.</p>
      <p>"It is, but it's rather expensive depending on the body part in question." Kaidan brought up. "Most hospitals have to do that for typical skin grafts for most species to plating for Turians, being the cheapest option of them all. Cloning an entire person, however, not only is it extremely pricy, but it's also illegal."</p>
      <p>"He's right." Garrus said, confirming Kaidan's bit of info. "Yet when I came to the lab, I found nothing. No Salarian hearts, no Turian livers, not one Krogan testicle."</p>
      <p>Axel and Kaidan formed gross expressions on their faces, glad they weren't eating else anymore at the mention of this.</p>
      <p>"You're kidding, right?"</p>
      <p>"Why the hell would anyone want Krogan testicles?"</p>
      <p>Wrex came in and filled in the little blank. "Most of my kind believe that getting another set of quads can increase their virility, hoping it'll counteract the effects of the genophage." The Krogan scoffed. "Doesn't work at all. Heard it myself in passing from a number I used to know."</p>
      <p>"And how much did they pay for them?" Garrus asked. "Cause the ones I know of usually pay up to 10,000 credits for each with 40, 000 for a full set."</p>
      <p>"Full set on the stupid Pyjaks."</p>
      <p>"Can we not talk about private parts while we're digesting? I don't wanna throw it back up anytime soon." Axel asked aloud, with Kaidan nodding in utter agreement.</p>
      <p>"So what ya do with the Salarian geneticist?" Asked Wrex.</p>
      <p>"I brought in some of his employees for interrogation. To see if I get them to talk and form something solid to put Saleon away. But when I was interviewing one of them, I noticed something suspicious."</p>
      <p>"Like what?"</p>
      <p>"It started out as a simple nosebleed, but then it couldn't stop at all. We got some medics to take care of it. When they were checking on him further, especially when his clothes started staining with blood nowhere near his head, he started freaking out. So I ordered a full examination to see what's going on. And sure enough, our medics found incisions all over his body. Some of them are even fresh, resulting in our big break when we saw the same thing on the other employees."</p>
      <p>"Which was what exactly?"</p>
      <p>"These people weren't just Dr. Saleon's employees, they were test tubes. Walking, living test tubes."</p>
      <p>"...So glad I'm not eating anymore cause I just lost any further appetite." Kaidan muttered out.</p>
      <p>Axel reeled back in disgust. "Damn, growing body parts inside his own staff? What the hell was he thinking?"</p>
      <p>"Honestly wished I knew. Him growing cloned organs, harvesting them from his employees and selling them off."</p>
      <p>"Didn't they get a say in the matter?"</p>
      <p>"They did, but they were desperate given how poor they were. He'd pay them each a small percentage of the sales, but only if the organs were good." Garrus growled with his anger slowly rising. "Sometimes he won't pay when the organ didn't grow properly or just leaves them in just for kicks."</p>
      <p>"And you said he got away, right? How did that happen?"</p>
      <p>"He ran obviously, blew his lab as a distraction, grabbed some of his test tube employees and headed for the nearest space dock. By the time I found out and got to the dock, his ship was already leaving, threatening to kill his hostages if we tried to stop him."</p>
      <p>"But you went after him anyways, right?"</p>
      <p>"Would've been too late if I tried. So I ordered Citadel defense to shoot him down, but C-Sec headquarters countermanded my order. They were worried about the hostages. Worried about civilian casualties if the ship was destroyed so close to the station. And I told them those hostages were dead anyways. He'd just use them to make more organs, but they wouldn't listen and were forced to let him flee."</p>
      <p>"It's not worth the risk, Garrus." Kaidan stated. "You could've pursued after his vehicle and disable it, that's the best choice with the least casualties."</p>
      <p>"I know, Kaidan. Even the military went out after him and he still got away in the end. They just took too long to be deployed in order to stop the bastard." Garrus leaned back in his seat as he looked towards the ceiling. "I went to Pallin, my boss, and told him what I thought of him and his policies after that whole mess. He said if I didn't like it, I could quit. I almost did."</p>
      <p>"If you didn't really care for the hostages, you might as well be stooped to Saleon's level." Axel stated, earning a small glare from the Turian. "You would just be a terrorist with a badge in the end."</p>
      <p>The glare soon ceased, having Garrus exhale a tired sigh. "You're probably right. But it still doesn't make it any easier. I just wished I could've stopped him back then."</p>
      <p>"I can understand what you're feeling. Back when I was part of the Organization, I had to do all these 'icky' jobs."</p>
      <p>"Like what?"</p>
      <p>"Some are better left unsaid." Axel said enigmatically.</p>
      <p>It was one of those rare instances where a group collectively felt a subtle shift in one of their companions and decided to go along with their last statement.</p>
      <p>Their time together went on, a few more drinks going around when...</p>
      <p>"You know, I got a favor to ask of ya, Axel." Wrex said, downing his third… Fourth? Maybe his eighth drink after the free rounds came and went.</p>
      <p>"And what would that be?" Axel asked, swirling his drink around.</p>
      <p>Wrex didn't respond at first, silently contemplating on whether or not he should say anything. But, since he began…</p>
      <p>"Got this personal 'errand' I need taken care of." Wrex said. "I figured with your help, it'll be cakewalk, as that human saying goes."</p>
      <p>"So what is it?"</p>
      <p>"There's this… armor of mine." Wrex said. "A family armor from my clan that I recently found the location of."</p>
      <p>"Need help getting it back, I take it?" Axel deduced with Wrex nodding.</p>
      <p>"Not too far from here actually." Wrex revealed. "Somewhere down in the wards. This Turian bastard by the name of Tonn Actus has it."</p>
      <p>"Tonn Actus, you say?" Garrus perked up.</p>
      <p>"Know him, Vakarian?"</p>
      <p>"He's a wanted man by C-sec due to his black market contraband dealings he's had in the Citadel for the past few years." Garrus stated. "Never worked his case but was always kept up to speed on big names in the market and he's one of them."</p>
      <p>"So then… I take it we have something to do now to work off our drinks and food?" Kaidan asked.</p>
      <p>"I'd rather not pass up the opportunity in helping the elderly." Garrus said with Wrex glaring half-heartedly at the Turian.</p>
      <p>"Watch it Garrus."</p>
      <p>
        <em>-Scene Cut-</em>
      </p>
      <p>Liara T'soni was having a grand time right about now.</p>
      <p>Though the majority of the Normandy crew had departed, Liara had opted to stay behind and provide company for one of their newest companions aboard the ship.</p>
      <p>Della Duck had become a wonderful new friend to Liara, the anthropomorphic duck regaling the Asari with tales of her many adventures from her galaxy.</p>
      <p>That was still an astonishing thought for Liara to wrap her head around.</p>
      <p>It wasn't hard to consider that there were other forms of life in the universe overall considering how much was here in the Milky Way galaxy itself.</p>
      <p>But to think someone from <em>another</em> galaxy would come to them rather than the species in her native galaxy…</p>
      <p>On top of that, Della had traversed both her own galaxy and the <em>Andromeda galaxy.</em></p>
      <p>To her, it showed how much they still had to learn.</p>
      <p>Currently, the topic of discussion was the comparison of their technology.</p>
      <p>Specifically, the Gummi Tech Della utilized compared to the Element Zero centric technology that completely dominated the way of life here in her native galaxy.</p>
      <p>"I don't know about this whole Eezo stuff, Liara." Della admitted, adjusting a flap on her ship. "Stitch, move that there. It seems so limiting."</p>
      <p>"Is it?"</p>
      <p>"Liara, I got to this galaxy with my technology." Della said, nodding at the blue fur ball who was helping her. "And I didn't even mean to do that. Once I get my ship patched up, I'll head back home and find my Uncle."</p>
      <p>Liara only nodded, mulling over the circumstances as to how Della got here. She was right. It was an accident since she had admitted that much.</p>
      <p>"Though I do need to ask this, Liara, hope that it isn't too much for you to answer." Della spoke up, breaking her out from her internal thoughts.</p>
      <p>"I'll do my best."</p>
      <p>"Okay, so it's just my personal thought but I find this galaxy to be a bit… strange."</p>
      <p>"Strange?"</p>
      <p>"For one, my galaxy is pretty populated." Della held up a finger. "Granted the majority of the planets or Worlds really can be considered dwarf planets while the rest are normal sized like my home planet, Disna. But in terms of comparison, over in Andromeda there are hundreds of sentient species populating a third of every planet they have. Here, there's maybe what fifteen that settled on a tenth. Another deals with the evolutionary diversity seems stunted with the developmental timeline seeming way too slow."</p>
      <p>"What are you talking about?" Liara questioned, pondering for a few moments before quickly coming to a possible answer. "Is it about our technology?"</p>
      <p>"That and your genetic diversity and even your cultures. They seem <em>too</em> young given how old the respective homeworlds of each species are. Even the odd branch of humanity here in the Milky Way when comparing them to the ones back in the Ōkoku and Andromeda galaxies seems rather odd." Della pulled out her data pad and started scrolling through some files before bringing up something to back up her claim. "Take for example your race."</p>
      <p>The asari blinked in confusion. "My race, what about them?"</p>
      <p>"Was your race engineered in some way by an outside force?"</p>
      <p>Liara adopted a shocked silence, not knowing how to respond to that.</p>
      <p>Della carried on. "I mean, for the life of me I can't figure out this gaping hole in your race's evolutionary development. When you look at the traits your race developed and compared them alongside Thessia's environmental conditions, even taking into account every major catastrophe and climate shift in the past hundred thousand years. I mean c'mon there's the Asari's ability to mate with any race or gender; sharing physical traits that enamors you to nearly every spacefaring culture there is. Not to mention this boggling technological leap your race took several thousand years ago. Now I'm not much of a biomechanic or anything in that field of study, but I know basic evolution. So unless your people cracked their own genetic code when they were still using sticks as tools then it doesn't make sense at all. It should only really happen over millions, if not billions of years of natural genetic evolution; not a fraction of that time."</p>
      <p>Liara stared at Della with her trying to wrap her mind around how rather well constructed of a statement and critique that was of her race and planet.</p>
      <p>"Ho-How do you-"</p>
      <p>"I gotta occupy myself with something." Della stated. "While you guys are out and about doin' your thing, I've been busy learning everything I can about your galaxy… but it's been mostly your race actually. I haven't gotten to Salarian, Turians or Quarians yet… and Krogan. Got a few with Elcor, Humans and Volus. There's everyone else but we're getting off topic."</p>
      <p>"Yes, yes." Liara said, rubbing her head as her mind felt a bit overwhelmed by Della's "comments" if that's what she could call it.</p>
      <p>"Now… with your Eezo based technology, after all these years of using them, haven't the races in this galaxy considered going beyond those limits; trying new things and expanding them?" Della continued on. "I can understand some people not liking change but this stagnant state in your technological change seems problematic."</p>
      <p>Liara nodded as she was silently digesting the information presented to her.</p>
      <p>In all her life, she never really dwelled into such topics. She probably could have, but she was just more focused on Prothean culture and never bothered focusing on anything else.</p>
      <p>Sad to say, she regrets that now as Della did in fact bring up good points.</p>
      <p>When thinking more about her race's progression, it was a little unsettling. Could her race have been manipulated in their early years of life in their central homeworld? If so, then by whom and for what purpose.</p>
      <p>Her mind briefly wandered towards the Prothean device Roxas gave to her and the details Shepard spoke to her when the artifact went off.</p>
      <p>Perhaps the Protheans were involved in jumpstarting her race's evolution by some thousand years at some point. Who knows for sure as there are no other records she was able to find.</p>
      <p>As for technology…</p>
      <p>"Hasn't there been other means of technological diversity?" Della asked. "Without the use of this Eezo?"</p>
      <p>Liara opened her mouth only to close it a moment later.</p>
      <p>"No." Liara shook her head. "Everything that has been advanced revolves around Mass Effect and Element Zero. All that we have achieved is because of what we have."</p>
      <p>"Such a shame. There seems to be so many ideas that can be done with some of the technology I was able to look up. Heck, I bet Gyro could enhance a good number of things if he got his hands on them."</p>
      <p>"With what you told me about him, I probably guess you would be right."</p>
      <p>"No kidding. Always holed up in his lab and coming up with so many odd inventions. I even remember the simplest of them being these little lightbulb droids acting as little assistants."</p>
      <p>This got Liara to voice an inquiry.</p>
      <p>"What's it like then? Synthetics in the other galaxies." Liara clarified.</p>
      <p>"From what I remember, Andromeda doesn't frown upon synthetic life as a number of them are treated equally with organics." Della informed her. "Okay, not entirely as there's still a lot who are prejudiced."</p>
      <p>Liara was confused by this statement. "I thought you didn't know about AI's until you met Shepard and the others on Earth's moon."</p>
      <p>"Mostly because AI wasn't seen as such. They were just seen as ordinary people really." Della said with a shrug. "Even my son, Huey, is friends with one."</p>
      <p>"Truly?" Liara asked in slight astonishment. "How did you all achieve this?"</p>
      <p>"I dunno." Della said, throwing her hands up. "It's just something that was always there really."</p>
      <p>"So AI is just acceptable from where you come from."</p>
      <p>"Pretty much."</p>
      <p>Now Liara really felt like her galaxy was behind in terms of technology and even societal standards.</p>
      <p>Liara rubbed the side of her head. "Somewhat glad Tali isn't here hearing this."</p>
      <p>"Why would she- Oh yeah, with her Geth problem and all."</p>
      <p>"Yes, it's still an uneasy subject to bring up towards her with how they got exiled from their home planet. Because of what occurred, studies on AI have become illegal as they're seen as destructive forces. They probably might be the same over in-"</p>
      <p>"Hey, I just have you know that not all synthetic life in both of our galaxies are benevolent. I've had to tear apart my fair share back home due to some crazy scientist or an invasion. There are even synthetic criminals out there doing who knows what."</p>
      <p>"I can understand how passionately you are defending the idea of them."</p>
      <p>"You bet I do." Della huffed out before working more on a circuit board she pulled out before inserting it into the ship.</p>
      <p>"Makes me believe your home is rather simplistic on many factors."</p>
      <p>"It's honestly not all that simple really in my home galaxy." Della admitted.</p>
      <p>"What do you mean?"</p>
      <p>"See, we have this thing called the "World Order" that's a bit of a weird thing that dominates how things work back home."</p>
      <p>"World Order?"</p>
      <p>"Back in my galaxy, there's a large number of dwarf Worlds that have never ventured outside of their atmosphere. They are too developmentally stunted or not technologically advanced to properly meet and open dialogue with."</p>
      <p>"I see, anything else?"</p>
      <p>"In case of world travel, those who go to Worlds unaware of the outside ones must acquiesce and obey the laws of that specific World unless otherwise." Della said. "Then again… it's kinda ignored sometimes. Which can be… annoying."</p>
      <p>"I take it you're not really fond of this rule then?"</p>
      <p>"Pretty much." Della chuckled. "Of course don't try to bring it up with Donald as he's always been stingy with those particular rules."</p>
      <p>Liara nodded as Della resumed back into her work until-</p>
      <p>"YES!" Della whooped in victory, jumping up in place. "I finally got it working!"</p>
      <p>"What?"</p>
      <p>Rather than answering her, Della immediately began punching in several commands.</p>
      <p>"Come on, come on." Della murmured to herself. "Work dang it."</p>
      <p>After a few seconds of baited anticipation, the static that she saw on the screen before her cleared at long last to reveal…</p>
      <p>"Uncle Scrooge!" Della said aloud in relief and triumph.</p>
      <p>"<em>Bless me bagpipes, Della!" </em>Scrooge shared her relief from his side of the transmission. <em>"What in the bloody world happened? You were travelling all fine and-"</em></p>
      <p>"Heartless, Uncle Scrooge." Della revealed by cutting him off.</p>
      <p>The aged entrepreneur, adventurer and businessman opened and closed his mouth several times until finding his voice.</p>
      <p>"<em>Glad you're alright my dear."</em> Scrooge said with a relieved sigh. <em>"Where in the blue blazes did you end up in? I've been trying to locate yer ship but-"</em></p>
      <p>"I'm in another galaxy." Della cut him off again. "The Heartless were really adamant about shooting me down and my Gummi navigations were all screwy. I'm alright now."</p>
      <p>"<em>Oh, so you over in Andromeda or-?"</em></p>
      <p>"This place is called the Milky Way, the next galaxy over."</p>
      <p>"<em>Milky- MILKY WAY GALAXY!" </em>Scrooge exclaimed.<em> "My word Della, are you truly alright?!"</em></p>
      <p>"I'm alive, my ship's being repaired and it's a long process." Della listed off. "Besides, I got good company with me."</p>
      <p>"<em>At least you aren't waiting for years until coming into contact with someone else like last time." </em>Scrooge said in a knowing tone.</p>
      <p>"Tell me about it." Della said, smirking slightly.</p>
      <p>"<em>What's it like there dear? The Milky Way is so far off and all."</em></p>
      <p>"Well there's life for beginners, getting the obvious out of the way. Humans here and all with other species and they're all for the most part, appear to be on the same technological scale."</p>
      <p>"<em>Interstellar travel available?"</em></p>
      <p>"Yeah, but not in the way we're used to." Della stated. "Also been chatting with an admiral of theirs to possibly start technological trade or whatever between our two galaxies before trying to chat with this group called the Citadel Council, the supposed leaders of this galaxy. Would somewhat say he's a leader of the human military here, but he's just more influential."</p>
      <p>"I wouldn't say Admiral Hackett is that high up in the Alliance military." Liara cut in, making Della look to her.</p>
      <p>"<em>Who would that be, Della? Are you with someone right now?"</em></p>
      <p>"Oh, right. Let me introduce you to one of my new friends." Della ushered Liara to come closer, letting the asari to be greeted with the sight of another anthropomorphic duck in a top hat, a cane and in a red outfit. "Uncle Scrooge, let me introduce you to Dr. Liara T'Soni. Liara, my Uncle Scrooge McDuck, the richest man on our home planet and possibly the Ōkoku galaxy."</p>
      <p>"Hello." Liara said pleasantly enough.</p>
      <p>"<em>It's a pleasure to meet ya, darlin'. Has my dear niece been well in your company?"</em></p>
      <p>"We've been making sure she has all the accommodations she needs here."</p>
      <p>"Liara is downplaying that, Uncle." Della said with a beaming grin. "They've done a lot for me since saving my hide from the Heartless."</p>
      <p>"<em>Oh ya bonny lass, I can't thank ye enough after hearin' such a thing." </em>Scrooge said, taking his top hat off and bowing at the Asari.</p>
      <p>"You are most certainly welcome." Liara said, smiling at the elderly duck.</p>
      <p>"Hopefully once the others return, you can give their thanks to them as well."</p>
      <p>"<em>And where would they be now, exactly?"</em></p>
      <p>"Out of the ship I'm currently living at this moment. They're on shore leave and Liara's keeping me company in the meantime."</p>
      <p>"<em>Shore leave? You're with a bunch of army folks?"</em></p>
      <p>"Somewhat. The Normandy is a military vessel and they're currently assigned in taking down this major villain and bringing him to justice, who's somewhere out in the galaxy as we speak doing who knows what."</p>
      <p>"<em>I see." </em>Scrooge thrummed his fingers over his beard. <em>"I know one thing, Della."</em></p>
      <p>"And what's that Uncle?"</p>
      <p>"<em>Next time I'm making sure you go with Balthier and Fran. I'd rather you three troublemakers stick together than going off gallivanting on yer own."</em></p>
      <p>"Of course." Della said, smirking at her Uncle's proclamation. Not that she would mind seeing her old friends again.</p>
      <p>"<em>And hopefully you'll make it back safe and soon. The others are terribly worried, yer boys especially."</em></p>
      <p>Della bore a sad smile upon hearing this. "I know, uncle Scrooge. I'm worried about them as well."</p>
      <p>"<em>Then look no further." </em>Scrooge looked off screen. <em>"Boys I have her! She's calling me now."</em></p>
      <p>"<em>What?!'</em></p>
      <p>"<em>Mom!"</em></p>
      <p>"<em>Finally!"</em></p>
      <p>The screen was soon assaulted with a trio of duckling children as they were easily distinguished with the colored apparel they wore. The one in red had a t-shirt and cap combo, the one in blue had a dual layer shirt and the one in green wore a hoodie.</p>
      <p>"Huey, Dewey, Louie!" Della said with a loving glee in her voice.</p>
      <p>However, rather than greeting their mother, the trio of ducks instead spotted Liara.</p>
      <p>"<em>Ah, sweet an alien!"</em> Dewey said with a bright smile.</p>
      <p>"<em>Wonder if she's as uptight as Penny when we first met her."</em> Louie shrugged out.</p>
      <p>"Nah, this one's more pleasant." Huey stated in a matter-of-fact tone.</p>
      <p>"Penny?" Liara muttered out. "Oh you mean Penumbra."</p>
      <p>"<em>You know her?"</em></p>
      <p>"Somewhat." Liara informed them. "You mother has been telling me and the others stories from back home."</p>
      <p>"<em>What's she said?"</em></p>
      <p>"<em>Where'd you guys go!"</em> Spoke a feminine voice.</p>
      <p>Soon enough, a little duckling girl came into the screen as she had a pink/blue attire being worn.</p>
      <p>"<em>Talking to mom." </em>Louie pointed out, causing the girl to turn over and gasp to see Della once more before noticing Liara beside her.</p>
      <p>"<em>Oh hello there, I'm Webby!"</em></p>
      <p>"<em>What's it like in… Where are ya mom?"</em></p>
      <p>"Another galaxy."</p>
      <p>"<em>WHOAAAA~"</em></p>
      <p>Eventually Liara -and Stitch, who came over soon after- was greeted with a whole number of individuals as she became entertained for goddess knows how long.</p>
      <p>
        <em>-Scene Cut-</em>
      </p>
      <p>Tracking Tonn Actus down was a bit of a challenge for Axel.</p>
      <p>Don't get him wrong and label him a racist or anything, but No. VIII was still having a hard time trying to differentiate between Turians. Garrus took no offence when this was brought up as he educated the red haired Nobody on the details like "barefaced" and "marked".</p>
      <p>After finding the man in question, Axel had followed him down to a warehouse in the Zakara Wards before reporting it in with the others for their initial raid. From some of the layout to the estimated numbers of the mercenaries that were presently there to guard the premises.</p>
      <p>What the Flurry of Dancing Flames learned more when tracking the Turian down, Wrex had been looking for his family armor for many years after the Turian Military acquired it during the Krogan wars.</p>
      <p>In Krogan tradition, the family armor was passed down from one generation to the next, adding something new to it to show family progression in some manner from the new head of the Krogan clan. With it, said head would have a better influential impact when they were back on Tuchanka in order to retrieve all lands and titles.</p>
      <p>Yet before Wrex could properly acquire it and add his own mark to it, it was taken from his family and now in the possession of a Turian who profits off of antiquities of other species. And Krogan was the most common one he sells at a very hefty sum of credits, millions in fact.</p>
      <p>Now originally the collector and black market trader was originally located in the Argos Rho Cluster -Tuntau to be exact- but from what Wrex learned when tracking him down, he moved back to the Citadel when the Rachni started showing up all over the star cluster and didn't want to part ways with his "property".</p>
      <p>Hopefully, their little raid to retrieve Wrex's family armor could be done soon before it gets moved elsewhere. Either by a new owner via purchase or before Tonn Actus relocates it at his new residence on some Turian populated world after cataloging everything. Said place would be heavily fortified with round-the-clock guards that would make things rather difficult to infiltrate.</p>
      <p>Now everything was fine and dandy on the initial planning.</p>
      <p>Yet not everything can never go exactly as planned.</p>
      <p>In fact, things were currently going sideways upon their raid at Tonn Actus' warehouse.</p>
      <p>"Can I at least say I'm sorry for not doing a more thorough inspection?" Axel called out, throwing his fiery chakrams at an unfortunate mercenary.</p>
      <p>"Maybe if we survive this Pyjak-shit of a mess, Axel." Garrus yelled over the comms, quickly firing down some deployed drones sent by the opposing force.</p>
      <p>"Oh I'm actually fine with it." Wrex said, batting a Blue Sun merc with his gravity hammer and sending the poor bastard flying across the area. "Gives me more of a thrill and has my blood racing for when I finally smash Actus' head in."</p>
      <p>"Yeah, keep that murder boner of yours down for all of our sakes." Kaidan quipped, throwing a biotic warp on a couple of LOKI mechs and tossing them to their owners. "I mean, does anyone want to see your genitals dangling out in the open once breaking through your armor?"</p>
      <p>"Fuck that."</p>
      <p>"I'd rather burn my eyes out."</p>
      <p>"I can provide the fire if you want Garrus."</p>
      <p>"Much appreciated."</p>
      <p>"You guys are no fun." Said the Krogan, slamming his weapon down to send a small shockwave out in the small area, knocking some mercenaries off their feet.</p>
      <p>"Should've realized the kind of scum we were going after." Axel muttered to himself, blasting a couple of mercs away with a large ball of Fira.</p>
      <p>"There are different kinds of scum?" Kaidan asked, firing his assault rifle from behind cover.</p>
      <p>"A good number of them." Said Garrus, tossing one of Della's EMP grenades to shut down some more mechs, along with some armors the mercenaries were wearing. "But the general rule with scum is that when they're in danger, they burrow and put everything that could stop those wanting to harm them with some obstacles while making their initial escape."</p>
      <p>"At this rate, we're most likely dealing with a whole lot more mercenaries than we initially thought." Kaidan pointed out.</p>
      <p>"And he would probably have himself fortified in some bunker here." Axel surmised. "His office or a separate safe room, most likely.</p>
      <p>"Don't forget, there's a universal factor with scum: they often hire shit for guards, believing anything the guards will tell them to get hired." Vakarian reminded the group.</p>
      <p>"So if we kill enough of these Pyjaks, they would no doubt up and leave their client behind."</p>
      <p>"Basically, yes." Garrus confirmed.</p>
      <p>"Super." Axel's fiery powers flared around his chakrams. "Let's get started."</p>
      <p>The fiery Nobody crouched down, eyes darting about the area as he observed the multiple enemies coming their way. Once a few managed to get in close despite the other three firing at them, Axel made his move.</p>
      <p>Quite literally gliding around the battlefield in an arching curve, he managed to get right behind a group of the mercenaries who didn't even register what was about to happen.</p>
      <p>"<em><strong>BURN!"</strong></em></p>
      <p>Axel threw his Chakrams forward, the spinning disk-like weapons cleaving through the grouping of mercs and completely incinerating them into ash.</p>
      <p>"Jesus." Kaidan couldn't help but comment.</p>
      <p>"Focus." Garrus said, shooting down a human merc that had moved out in the open.</p>
      <p>The group fought on, methodically clearing out the mercs though Garrus took note of the unusually powerful weaponry the mercs had at their disposal that forced them on the defensive several times.</p>
      <p>Looks like the Black Market is able to provide high end weapons and resources when one has the credits for it.</p>
      <p>"Where is this bastard supposed to be?" Axel asked, getting a bit impatient at just going around taking out mercs without the main man coming out to greet them as a good host should.</p>
      <p>"Look at what you freaks have done to my property!" yelled a furious voice.</p>
      <p>Oh, there he was.</p>
      <p>Seemed they were finally able to find the poor Turian bastard they were after. He was in a full black and red colored armor set as he stood nearby what looked like a large pile of scrap metal.</p>
      <p>Neither of the Normandy team knew if it was just garbage or just some "unique" piece of art.</p>
      <p>"You bastards are gonna pay for interfering with <em>my </em>business." Tonn Actus in an enraged manner.</p>
      <p>"How much?" Axel asked tauntingly. "Five or ten credits?"</p>
      <p>Tonn snarled like a savage animal, pulling out his gun only for him to be shot repeatedly by the group in front of him.</p>
      <p>His shields barely lasted, his body flailing until he fell over.</p>
      <p>The group stared at the body that didn't move.</p>
      <p>"Well, that was easy." Axel remarked.</p>
      <p>"Come on, let's get Wrex's armor and leave." Garrus said, the group turning to leave.</p>
      <p>As they did, they failed to see the downed Turian raise his arms with the last of his strength.</p>
      <p>On his left wrist was a tac-pad separate from his Omni-tool that held a series of immediate activation functions in case of emergencies.</p>
      <p>Typing down the sequence, he finished off his command before collapsing his arm to the floor with him finally dying.</p>
      <p>Not far away from the group, something happened with the "unique" piece of art.</p>
      <p>What was a large pile of scrap metal, turned out to be nothing of the sort. They wished they didn't dismiss it all that easily as the lights suddenly flared to life with a couple resembling its central optics.</p>
      <p>"Get back!" Warned the Nobody.</p>
      <p>The pile of scrap turned out to have been in an offline mode as it was collapsed onto the ground. Once it became active, it soon got up onto its feet, resembling some sort of crustacean-like mech. A big, ugly crab to be exact.</p>
      <p>Kaidan and Garrus got out of the way in time as the newly awakened mech fired its weapons. The band of four dove for cover, not seeing that coming.</p>
      <p>"Alright, that's new."</p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>-Insert Final Fantasy VII Remake: Those Who Fight-</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>"Where the hell did he get this thing?!" Kaidan called out, rushing towards another area for cover. "This ain't like any mech I've ever seen!"</p>
      <p>"We find out later, Alenko!" Wrex roared out, firing his pulse rifle at the mech before throwing a biotic attack at it. "Is that all you've got, you stinking pile of Pyjak shit!?"</p>
      <p>The mech rolled forward as it's armaments aimed and fired at its four opponents.</p>
      <p>"Target those legs!" Garrus pointed out, his rifle shifting into what he's dubbed high gear mode. "It's slow and if we take those out, we can have the advantage."</p>
      <p>Garrus' gun whirred to life, charging up the shot as he targeted the leg closest to him, shooting at the joint. It jolted violently but remained standing.</p>
      <p>"We can't underestimate it guys. It can be slow like a Geth Armature, but it'll pack a really hard punch." Kaidan pointed out.</p>
      <p>"Agreed." Garrus then issued out some commands. "Wrex, attack it up close with your gravity hammer and shotgun while occasionally backing off to fire with your biotics. Axel, you're our all field man here. Kaidan, you and I will have to fire from afar."</p>
      <p>The other three were quick to comply and went into action.</p>
      <p>Wrex ran forward, brandishing his hammer while Kaidan and Garrus fired at the optics of the crab-like mech to keep it blind.</p>
      <p>As the Krogan went in for the swing, Axel threw one of his Chakrams at Wrex's hammer. The hammer caught the chakram on the flat part of its surface, the top part being engulfed in a brilliant flourish of flames.</p>
      <p>The hammer/Chakram combo was brought down on the right front leg of the crab-mech, completely shattering it.</p>
      <p>As for the rest of its body, the armor was rather tough. It proved that Garrus' earlier order on the legs were proving crucial.</p>
      <p>The crab-mech unleashed a hail of bullets from the machine-guns attached to its sides along with its central turret, causing the group to disburse from their present spots on the battlefield. Once at better areas, the group resumed their assault as another leg eventually received some serious damage.</p>
      <p>When it was downed, a covering of sort opened up, revealing the Mass Effect generator, the crab-mech's central core to be precise.</p>
      <p>Seeing this, the group was quick to target it right away that once destroyed it will defeat their mechanized opponent for good.</p>
      <p>Yet when enough damage was dealt, the crab-mech was back on its feet with the cover closed back up with the lights on its body switched colors from blue to yellow.</p>
      <p>Not wanting to deal with whatever came their way, Garrus pulled out one of the last EMP grenades he got from Della and activated it.</p>
      <p>"Take cover guys!"</p>
      <p>The moment Wrex and Kaidan dove for cover, Garrus primed it and tossed it overhead. It rolled across the floor and smacked against one of its legs. Seconds later, a large EMP field went off and encompassed the mech's form, causing it to collapse.</p>
      <p>With the core exposed once more, the group went at it. Sad to say, this time of attack came to a quick end as the large mech got back up onto its feet.</p>
      <p>"Damn. Would've thought one of Della's EMP grenades could've taken care of it."</p>
      <p>It was from here did these drones pop out of the crab-mech, gilded overhead and began their assault on the band of four, causing more problems than there should be.</p>
      <p>Kaidan and Garrus were quick to switch from the large mech to the drones hovering overhead. Even Wrex had to momentarily help the pair out by throwing a biotic stasis to keep them in place.</p>
      <p>Seeing the smaller little drones proving to be a bit of a hassle, Axel called upon his fire.</p>
      <p>Hovering slightly in the air, he held one Chakram out towards the ground and the other pointed behind him in an upwards angle. Flames danced around him, entered his Chakrams and were shot up into the air and into the ground.</p>
      <p>The floor around him became molten which spread out quickly, soon encompassing the entire floor.</p>
      <p>Garrus, Kaidan and Wrex saw this and momentarily freaked out by this display of power when they realized that they weren't being burnt whatsoever.</p>
      <p>The Crab-mech however was greatly being affected by the ever present fiery floor that was now beginning to heat up the lower portion of its body.</p>
      <p>The drones now converged in on Axel which is exactly what he wanted.</p>
      <p>Jumping back, Axel literally disappeared in a flash of flames which confused the optics of the drones.</p>
      <p>A moment later, the Flurry of Dancing Flames appeared above them in a straight line with explosions of fire pillars coming out from the floor in his wake.</p>
      <p>The drones were quickly caught in the flames and melted down to a gooey metal. And from this assault, the mech was down for the count… momentarily.</p>
      <p>Sparks flared to life on its legs. Bringing most of them high as it could, the mech slammed them down and electrified the floor which clashed with the fiery surface Axel laid out. The band of four received a powerful electrical shock in response, due to them not getting away in time. And if that wasn't enough, the mech opened fire on the lot, damaging their respective shields to break, exposing them to life threatening damage.</p>
      <p>The onslaught was halted thanks to a fiery sphere that smashed into the front of the mech, stunning it.</p>
      <p>"Take it down!" Alenko yelled out, seeing the opportunity Axel gave them.</p>
      <p>Kaidan, Garrus and Wrex unloaded on the mech, riddling it with bullets whilst Axel had flames surround his body with the room slightly darkening.</p>
      <p>"Hope you're ready for this one." Axel said aloud.</p>
      <p>He began flinging his inflamed Chakrams, each one bashing against the mech before returning to their owner's hand. This went on for several more seconds until Axel finished his attack off with a dual throw that resulted in a twin pillar that erupted from both weapons.</p>
      <p>The Mech slumped over, completely overwhelmed by all the fire power it received.</p>
      <p>It lay there, unmoving with sparks flying about and small fire littering its form.</p>
      <p>Suddenly, it's yellow optics then flared with a fiery red.</p>
      <p>When it got back up, more sparks encompassed the mech and the group could hear gears whirring to life at high speeds.</p>
      <p>Without notice, the crab-mech sped forward, a whole lot faster than what they were used to.</p>
      <p>Wrex tackled Garrus to the ground while Axel did the same to Kaidan in order to avoid having them run over.</p>
      <p>"Thanks." Said the human and Turian, respectively.</p>
      <p>"No problem/You owe me one." Responded the Nobody and Krogan all the same.</p>
      <p>Seeing the mech seemingly aiming it's utter hatred at them, the group had to quickly get ready for what's to come.</p>
      <p>"Now what?" Wrex called out as he and Axel charged at the mech.</p>
      <p>"It could be a system error." Kaidan theorized firing at the mech from afar alongside Garrus.</p>
      <p>"Maybe, maybe not." Axel threw his fiery chakrams at the mech as he dived away from a hail of bullets. "The thing is busted with all the shit we hit it with."</p>
      <p>Once close enough, Wrex swung his gravity hammer around and smashed against the plating a number of times before switching out to his shotgun. Activating its special function, he fired off a couple of mines from its side barrel at some exposed parts. Backing some distance away, he set off the mines, causing significant damage onto the crab-mech.</p>
      <p>Once more electrical currents encompassed the mech as it traveled from its central body to its legs.</p>
      <p>"Oh not again!"</p>
      <p>"Break for it!"</p>
      <p>Learning from their mistake this time, the four fighters ran away just in time when the electrical discharge shocked the floor within a certain radius.</p>
      <p>When the currents died down, the group went back in and resumed their assault.</p>
      <p>"Damn, this thing is sturdy as hell!"</p>
      <p>"What do we do?"</p>
      <p>"Need to expose its core."</p>
      <p>"Leave that to me!"</p>
      <p>Charging at the mech, a trail of flames followed Axel as they were contained yet grew exponentially in heat. After a number of quickened laps around the mech, the Flurry of Dancing Flames leapt into the air and let out a roar. Flames exploded from his form as every bit of fire and heat momentarily disappeared from the surrounding area.</p>
      <p>Wrex, Kaidan and Garrus wondered what happened until they suddenly felt the temperature in the warehouse skyrocketed.</p>
      <p>Like a bomb, the crab-mech exploded as a large torrent of flames shot out from underneath. More pillars appeared around their opponent as Axel landed not far away. Slamming his chakrams together, the fiery pillars merged together into an inferno with it exploding soon after.</p>
      <p>After said explosion, the four saw the mech collapse onto the ground with its core exposed.</p>
      <p>"Give it everything you got!" Garrus ordered.</p>
      <p>The others didn't delay as they used what else they had on them.</p>
      <p>Wrex had his gravity hammer fully activated and delivered an overarching swing right towards the exposed core, or at least remotely close. Kaidan compacted as much biotic energy he could muster before throwing it as fast as he could. Garrus tossed whatever grenades he had on hand and Axel threw his chakrams one last time.</p>
      <p>With enough damage received, the power core broke and exploded, causing the crab-mech to no longer function with flames encompassing it's form.</p>
      <p>"And stay down." Garrus spat out.</p>
      <p>Seeing the mech down for the count, Kaidan hunched over and did his best to calm his beating heart. "Damn that was intense."</p>
      <p>"Almost as much as that one Heartless back at Noveria." Wrex commented, earning nods from the human and Turian.</p>
      <p>"Need some help?"</p>
      <p>The others looked and saw something tossed over their way. The three were quick to catch the incoming object and saw it was a Hi-Potion.</p>
      <p>"Thanks Axel."</p>
      <p>"No problem."</p>
      <p>Consuming the liquid from their respective bottles, the group took a moment or two to rest after that excruciating fight.</p>
      <p>With Tonn Actus dead, along with his deployed mech a permanent pile of scrap, the group made their way towards where they assumed was the man's office.</p>
      <p>And boy once entering it, they saw all sorts of paintings on display.</p>
      <p>Axel released a loud whistle from his lips. "Boy this guy sure loves scenery."</p>
      <p>Along the walls of the large office, there were all sorts of paintings hung up. Looking by the holographic plaques, the four saw they seemed to depict scenes from the different homeworlds of this galaxy's species.</p>
      <p>"Guy must've paid a hefty sum to get these."</p>
      <p>"I see one from a famous artist from Palavin. And an..." Garrus commented before gazing at another. "Spirits, I didn't know there was one that got off Rannoch before the Quarians got exiled."</p>
      <p>"Let me see." Kaidan said, walking over and was in a small state of awe.</p>
      <p>Once more Axel whistled as he saw a rocky landscape with a beautiful sunset painted on the canvas.</p>
      <p>"Damn, almost puts the sunset back in Twilight Town to shame. If only this wasn't a painting."</p>
      <p>"They look nice and all, but where exactly is it?" Wrex demanded. "I don't see my armor."</p>
      <p>Garrus briefly looked around before pointing to a far off wall. "I can give you one guess."</p>
      <p>Looking over, the group saw a metal door built into the room. It was rather sophisticated and heavily made with all sorts of hinges made on it.</p>
      <p>"I think your armor would be behind this vault door." Said Kaidan, whipping out his Omni-tool. "If you give me a minute or so, I can get it open."</p>
      <p>"Or I can just melt the hinges off and either you or Wrex can pry it out with biotics."</p>
      <p>"I think it's better to do it the old fashion way, Axel. Don't know if the guy rigged the vault to do something drastic if opened incorrectly." Garrus piped in. "Wouldn't really put it past the dead man to do so with how valuable all his more 'treasured' property is."</p>
      <p>"Your call, Wrex."</p>
      <p>Wrex nodded as he soon gave the order. "Hack the door, don't want my armor damaged because of something stupid."</p>
      <p>As Kaidan was working through hacking the vault door, Garrus made his way towards Tonn Actus' computer.</p>
      <p>"Whaddya doing?" Axel asked aloud.</p>
      <p>"Pulling up records on this place." He said, fingers flying through the keyboard with his Omni-tool out. "Need to be sure on a number of things. Record and credit transfers, emails to specific clientele, the whole nine yards as the humans say. Even want to be sure Wrex's armor is in the vault."</p>
      <p>"It better be, Vakarian." Wrex spoke out from the other side of the room, who was pacing back and forth as he waited for Kaidan to open up the vault door. "I do not want to fly across the galaxy to find it anywhere else."</p>
      <p>"I know, reason why I'm double checking here and now on Actus' computer." Garrus soon pulled up the logs and found what he was looking for. "Yup, it's here alright. Labeled as ceremonial armor for some reason."</p>
      <p>"Because it mostly is in some cases."</p>
      <p>"Not gonna argue on that." Said the Turian as he started scrolling through some emails. "Huh, seems we now have a possible lead as to where that giant mech came from."</p>
      <p>"Where?"</p>
      <p>"Some scientist who helped design it or whatever under the moniker of 'The Professor'. Sold it to Actus as a means of testing a new line of mechs for other mercenary groups to have. And he got the prototype -labeled the Crab Warden- as a last line of defense."</p>
      <p>"Damn, if that mech we fought out there was a prototype, don't wanna see how the later models work out."</p>
      <p>"Agreed. It was a tough son of a bitch." Kaidan spoke aloud as he was carefully aligning the digital tumbler and breaking through some barriers.</p>
      <p>"Now just need to download all of these other files so I can send it to C-Sec so they can-"</p>
      <p>Suddenly, Garrus stopped talking upon pulling up a peculiar email.</p>
      <p>"...You've gotta be kidding me." The C-sec detective said in disbelief.</p>
      <p>"What is it?" Kaidan said, looking over to him.</p>
      <p>"I… I think I found him."</p>
      <p>"Who?" Wrex asked.</p>
      <p>"Saleon."</p>
      <p>"Really? How?" Axel walked over and saw the recipient of the email. "It says here it came from Dr. Heart."</p>
      <p>"Dr. Heart is one of his aliases a contact of mine was able to scrounge up." Garrus informed him. "Says here on this email, Tonn was starting to experience some organ failure, due to his many years of 'getting busy'."</p>
      <p>This got Kaidan to momentarily break away from cracking the large safe. "Getting busy? Wait… you don't mean-"</p>
      <p>"Yeah he caught all sorts of diseases and they were slowly killing him. So he wanted a full organ transplant in hopes of ridding himself of his ailment." Garrus said, tone shifting. "Of course that ain't no longer happening."</p>
      <p>"Damn, that's a rather pricey procedure." Kaidan muttered out before resuming his hacking.</p>
      <p>"No kidding." Axel said. "So are you able to backtrack where Saleon is currently at?"</p>
      <p>"Unless he decides to change Omni-tool IPs really soon, then I most certainly can."</p>
      <p>"Great. We can probably tell Shepard this and do this right away once we get off the Citadel." Axel said, clapping his Turian comrade on the shoulder.</p>
      <p>"I most certainly plan on doing that." Garrus muttered out with utmost conviction.</p>
      <p>Right as this was spoken, Kaidan spoke. "Alright, I got it."</p>
      <p>The lieutenant marine went over to the handle on the vault door and pried it open. It creaked open rather loudly, before it went wide enough for them to file in two by two.</p>
      <p>Upon entering the vault, they saw a number of artifacts on display from all sorts of cultures. Something that would probably make Liara drool in utter delight of the museum-like space.</p>
      <p>There were some Asari of some old cave paintings, a couple of Drell with something pertaining to their religion apparently, and there were a number of Krogan ones that were quickly seen right away. Oh and there were a good number of Prothean artifacts as well.</p>
      <p>Yet all that seemed pale in comparison with what lied in the center of the vault room.</p>
      <p>Displayed in a glass covered pedestal was the family armor they came here for in the first place.</p>
      <p>With how it was displayed, it looked rather grand, definitely befitting of clan Urdnot as there was some regal look to it.</p>
      <p>*SMASH*</p>
      <p>Okay, despite the glass breaking -courtesy of Wrex- the armor was still intact with no further scratches whatsoever.</p>
      <p>"Give us a warning next time you do that." Garrus said in a flat voice.</p>
      <p>Using a bit of biotics to lift the armor from its placement, Wrex soon grabbed his ancestral armor before giving it a good inspection, no doubt wanting to see if everything was there. Soon enough, his hands grazed over the surface with almost a nostalgic look across his visage.</p>
      <p>He looked at his companions with a smile on his face. "Thank you, all of you. You have no idea what this means to me."</p>
      <p>Garrus smiled. "Ah~ You're not getting misty eyed on us, right?"</p>
      <p>Suddenly the smile shifted into a snarl. "Say one more word, Vakarian and I'll hit you across the warehouse with my hammer."</p>
      <p>The Turian held up his hands in surrender with the others chuckling.</p>
      <p>To further add more to the odd atmosphere around them, Axel couldn't help but voice his present thoughts.</p>
      <p>"So~"</p>
      <p>"What?"</p>
      <p>"That armor has a very… unique design."</p>
      <p>"You all have somethin' to say about it?" Wrex growled out.</p>
      <p>"It's very pink if you want me to be honest about it." Axel stated bluntly.</p>
      <p>"No one asked for your opinion, <em>Axel.</em>"</p>
      <p>"No, no, observation."</p>
      <p>"For argument's sake, Wrex, the armor was probably not kept in the best conditions." Stated Garrus. "One factor being the coloration having it from a red color to becoming… <em>lightish-red</em>."</p>
      <p>Wrex grunted, acknowledging the argued factor. "I do remember my father telling me he had painted over the armor when he first got it as some Pyjak-shit excuse of a clean slate or whatever. Became a bit of a disgrace in my clan because of it."</p>
      <p>"Do you remember what color it originally was?" Kaidan asked, looking at the armor with his head angled to get a different perspective of it.</p>
      <p>"Yeah, it was white as the sands of our grandest desert if I got it right from the old clan records." Wrex grumbled, knowing it's gonna be a pain to clean his father's stupid mess on his own and restore it in it's old, grand glory.</p>
      <p>"If it helps, I think you could take that armor to this place called <em>The Mode</em> and have the owner properly touch it up for you." Axel informed the Krogan Battlemaster.</p>
      <p>"Isn't that the place where Roxas got his new clothes at?" Kaidan asked.</p>
      <p>"Yeup."</p>
      <p>"Ah~ Yeah been meaning to go over there and check out their stuff after what Shepard and Ashley told me. Can make armor refitting's better than what Mosh did for some of ours."</p>
      <p>The Krogan hummed before voicing a thought. "In all honesty, I was just gonna get this thing cleaned up and put it somewhere secure before I head back to Tuchanka at some point. But I think it wouldn't hurt to get a proper tune up or whatever. Make it worthy for Clan Urdnot once again."</p>
      <p>Wrex carefully placed the armor on the floor before turning back to them. "Still, thanks again on what you did. I owe you a lot for this. More than you would ever know."</p>
      <p>"Hey, no problem man." Kaidan said with an assuring smile.</p>
      <p>"It's the least we could do for ya." Garrus firmly said.</p>
      <p>"Had to at least pull my contributing weight into the crew."</p>
      <p>"I say you rightfully earned it in my book, Axel." Wrex declared.</p>
      <p>"Such kind words warms my non-existent heart." Axel said in a dramatic fashion.</p>
      <p>"Been meaning to ask you about that." Garrus said, the group beginning to walk back to the Normandy. "Is this Heart business a figurative or literal thing of you not having one?"</p>
      <p>"You know, I haven't ever really figured that out." Axel admitted, the group making their way out of the vault.</p>
      <p>Before leaving the office, Axel went back to the Rannoch painting with a smirk on his face.</p>
      <p>"Wait till we bring this painting to Tali." Axel chuckled out, plucking the Quarian painting off the wall. "She's gonna flip."</p>
      <p>"You won't be wrong on that."</p>
      <p>Opening up a Dark Corridor, he carefully tossed the painting through and had it land in the Normandy's hangar.</p>
      <p>"You wanna keep dragging your armor all over the Citadel till we get back to the ship or what?"</p>
      <p>Wrex shook his head a little and handed his ancestral armor over. Yet before it left his hands, he snarled at Axel.</p>
      <p>"If you wreck this, then I'm gonna fucking kill you."</p>
      <p>"Don't worry~ it'll be good like the way we found it."</p>
      <p>
        <em>-In the Normandy-</em>
      </p>
      <p>Liara, Della and Stitch were conversing with the others on the video call when a Dark Corridor appeared next to them.</p>
      <p>They looked over to it, expecting either of the three Nobodies to appear when they saw a multitude of items come through it instead.</p>
      <p>First was an extremely gorgeous painting of a sunset as it carefully came right out of the Dark Corridor right before it plopped onto the ground.</p>
      <p>"What in the world?" Della said in utter bewilderment.</p>
      <p>The next thing that came through was a Krogan armor… as it sailed across the room and struck the crates on the other side.</p>
      <p>Before long, a number of artifacts came spewing out.</p>
      <p>Wanting to take a closer look, while pulling the painting away in the process so it won't get broken on accident, Liara almost had a very unique panic attack when she saw the number of Prothean artifacts lying in front of her.</p>
      <p>
        <em>-Back with Axel's group-</em>
      </p>
      <p>Axel was "dusting" his hands off as the corridor closed down.</p>
      <p>"Alright, all done." Axel declared. "Let's head back."</p>
      <p>Eventually, the group of four made their way out of the carnage filled warehouse with the sounds of sirens barely being heard in the air. By the time they left the area, C-Sec started showing up due to the reported commotion that took place here.</p>
      <p>Not wanting to forget, Garrus sent what data he pulled from Tonn Actus' computer and sent it over to the station and let the others handle it from there.</p>
      <p>By the time the group made it back to the docking station where the Normandy was being kept, they were soon greeted with familiar faces.</p>
      <p>"Hey Axel." Roxas said, he and Xion going over to their friend.</p>
      <p>"Hey you two." Axel said with a smirk. "Commander, ladies."</p>
      <p>"Axel." Jane nodded. "Boys. Where have you guys been?"</p>
      <p>"Oh this new place called Mercenary Avenue and we decided to take a long ass stroll through it." Axel quipped.</p>
      <p>"What now?"</p>
      <p>"Just taking care of some business for our good pal Wrexy." Axel said with a smirk, while earning an annoyed grumble from the Krogan. "Not to mention finding some stuff for Gary here."</p>
      <p>This got Kaidan to stifle a laugh on hearing Axel's little nicknames for his two companions.</p>
      <p>The Turian rolled his eyes before addressing the commander. "About that, Shepard, when we have a moment, I need to talk to you about something."</p>
      <p>"Alright. Let's get settled back on the ship and we can talk things over."</p>
      <p>Making their way through the airlock, the group waited in the decontamination chamber and waited through the grueling process.</p>
      <p>As they waited, Axel looked at the bags in the Commander's and Gunnery Chief's hands.</p>
      <p>"So what you got there?"</p>
      <p>"Aside from some new clothes, I got a new armor set." Said Shepard, gesturing to the big case in her one hand. "Gonna need to see if Mosh can get it upgraded."</p>
      <p>"Same here. And I would've gotten some of Edna's new lightweight armor clothing, but she's still trying to fine tune it for public consumption." Ashley informed them. "Though I did pre-order some of her upcoming lines."</p>
      <p>When looking over the schematics, Ashley was honestly impressed with the idea of the material being at least partly segmented into lightweight armor-like plating, shown with the intricate honeycomb like patterns seen on the cloth. Being bulletproof with the material reflexively compacts and solidifies when anything attempts to penetrate the outer layer. And it can be blast proof to some degree while reducing inflicting damage effects from blunt trauma, cutting and/or slashing attacks. And if providing more funds for customization when being made, the clothing can provide some protection from an EMP assault.</p>
      <p>"Would've ordered one as well, but I somewhat don't see myself in combat clothing. Been more used to wearing regular armor for most of my life." Said the commander. "That, and the clothing wouldn't help protect my head from any incoming bullets while filtering any airborne gases and whatnot."</p>
      <p>The others nodded as the decontamination chamber opened and let the assembled group properly enter the ship.</p>
      <p>It wouldn't be much longer when a number of things would occur. From witnessing Liara's crazy panic attack in the hangar with an odd laughter filling the air, Wrex wanting to kill Axel for his little mistreatment on his family armor, and Della happily informing them on her finally contacting home after so long.</p>
      <p>But what seemed more important to some was Tali seeing something from her home world.</p>
      <p>Upon seeing the painting, she couldn't quite believe what she was looking at until Wrex, Garrus and Kaidan all confirmed to her the authenticity of this piece.</p>
      <p>Tali practically broke down in tears and couldn't help but hug Axel and thank him profusely on one of the greatest gifts she could ever get.</p>
      <p>Axel was certainly surprised by such a gesture but even he eventually patted the Quarian softly on the back with the others looking on with their own expressions of happiness at seeing Tali in such an overjoyed state.</p>
      <p>As this went on, Roxas glanced over to the painting that evoked such a response out of his friend to the point of tears.</p>
      <p>Gazing at it intently, slowly, an idea began to form in Roxas' mind as Tali began giddily admiring her newest gift.</p>
      <p>
        <em>-Scene Cut-</em>
      </p>
      <p>Sora craned his eyes open, momentarily shutting them as his pupils readjusted themselves from the light.</p>
      <p>Sitting up from the bed he was sleeping in, he looked over to see Riku was resting as well.</p>
      <p>Vaguely, he recalled that Riku along with their friends had come to the Mysterious Tower where the King's teacher, Yen Sid, resided.</p>
      <p>Once arriving, they were greeted by the sage Wizard who had trained Mickey up to be the Keyblade master that he is today.</p>
      <p>Now, Sora and Riku were under his tutelage.</p>
      <p>At first, Sora was surprised by the hesitation Riku possessed when Yen Sid spoke of his potential of one day wielding his <em>own </em>Keyblade. Though he didn't voice it, it was clear to Sora and the others that Riku had undergone a drastic change since they last saw them.</p>
      <p>Yen Sid however was confident and adamant about having Riku be trained with Mickey and Sora convincing him.</p>
      <p>Since then, they had found themselves in relative relaxation but had the occasional lecture and "assignments" so to speak but Yen Sid left them to their own devices.</p>
      <p>That was until they were sent out to the Olympus Coliseum as the Wizard detected a growing darkness there.</p>
      <p>The five of them together encountered a large slew of Heartless in a more local area outside from the Coliseum. Much as Sora, Donald and Goofy wanted to see their old friends Phil and Hercules, the priority of the Heartless came first.</p>
      <p>Once that was taken care of, they were surprised when they had met a swordsman of considerable skill by the name of Zack Fair.</p>
      <p>He had apparently taken out a large number of Heartless himself before they arrived and asked if they were heroes in training here as well.</p>
      <p>Junior heroes.</p>
      <p>After meeting with the swordsmen, the team returned to the Mysterious Tower with Yen Sid congratulating them on eliminating the Heartless.</p>
      <p>Since then, he hadn't really instructed them in the traditional sense, from what King Mickey had told them. Rather, Master Yen Sid had stated that the trial by fire that Sora and Riku had endured in getting this far shows their aptitude for combat and being Keyblade masters.</p>
      <p>He would only instruct them when necessary, instead stating that the path before them is their next trial in their journey.</p>
      <p>So, they had been here since, traveling and fighting Heartless across the worlds.</p>
      <p>They had even returned to Deep Jungle recently and reunited with Jane and Tarzan. It was good seeing them again. Namine had even joined them, beginning to display an aptitude for magic that was on a fast track to matching their own.</p>
      <p>Donald had taken to showing her a few tricks and spells with the platinum blond haired teen taking to them after a few tries and adjustments from King Mickey's royal court Wizard.</p>
      <p>But right now, those recent memories weren't on Sora's mind.</p>
      <p>What was plaguing the Keyblade wielder's mind was the very vivid dream he just had.</p>
      <p>The vivid dream of seeing Roxas, Axel and Xion in a completely alien ship where they were speaking with several humans but the others present were anything but.</p>
      <p>And yet… somehow, Sora knew the names of each of those species. And after that dream, all of their names.</p>
      <p>The last thing he recalled and felt was a feeling of warmth spread through his chest as the alien girl who appeared to be the closest one to Roxas pulled him in for a tender, warm hug.</p>
      <p>Sora didn't know why he felt comforted by this… what was her name again? Tali, right?</p>
      <p>But the embrace just felt… nice. And… something more.</p>
      <p>There was a hue of red that appeared on Sora's cheeks which made him hold both hands up his face, rubbing it away.</p>
      <p>"Roxas…" Sora had his head down, deep in thought. "What was that supposed to be?"</p>
      <p>This honestly confused him on what he was feeling now. He never met this Tali person, yet she feels special to him like the way Kairi is.</p>
      <p>He needed to figure this stuff out before he went crazy down the line.</p>
      <p>
        <strong>AN</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Phew, alright, this one was gigantic to say the least.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>So, Axel and Xion are now beginning their stint with the Normandy crew with missions and interactions and we got Della Duck questioning the galaxy at large.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Jebest4781: And very soon, more like the next chapter, we are finally tackling Virmire!</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>FMW: And be prepared for all the insanity that is to come during and after Virmire. A reviewer said that the first set of chapters was basically the long tutorial that would set up the large story to come. You're absolutely right in that regard. While we have done a lot in these first fourteen chapters, come the next one, that's when off the wall lunacy ensues.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Jeb: Even after that, we got some more interesting surprises to help wrap up ME1 events. You'll just have to wait and see what we got planned for you readers.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Indeed. In the words of Illidan Stormrage of Warcraft.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>You are not prepared!</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Rate Read and Review and as Always Have Nice Day.</strong>
      </p>
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<a name="section0015"><h2>15. Viciously Vivacious Villain on Virmire</h2></a>
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      <p>
        <strong>To the Reviewer who came on this story, begging me to return to Infinite Wars, you're one of the reasons why I'm putting off Infinite Wars. Aside from me writing this story cause this is a passion project, those types of reviews serve only to annoy me more than drive me to write more. Once or twice is fine. But you left nearly TWENTY REVIEWS just saying update, update, update. Like seriously man, that's annoying. It doesn't encourage me to write, it encourages me to put it off.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Ok, now that I've gotten my rant out of the way, thank you to all the reviews for the excitement to come in the coming chapters. This one is gonna be huge in terms of basically the next in a long line of dominoes that have been set off.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Things are gonna get crazier and crazier and I cannot begin to express the excitement in me and J now that we're getting to the shit we've been wanting to write.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>OH MAN, you guys are gonna love it. I promise.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>So let's get to it.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Rate Read and Review and as Always Have Nice Day.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>I'm Nobody Chapter 15: Viciously Vivacious Villain on Virmire.</p>
      <p>Once more, The Normandy left the Citadel going out into the vast expanse of the galaxy with the ship repaired properly and stocked on supplies.</p>
      <p>They were out on the hunt for Saren once again and at long last, they got a lead or at least a possible one.</p>
      <p>Shepard had a transmission incoming from the Citadel Council about receiving word from an STG team within the Hoc System of the Attican Traverse. Apparently they had been tracking the rogue Spectre for some time in the background and hopefully pinned a proper location to his last whereabouts.</p>
      <p>In all honesty, Shepard wishes she was kept in the loop on this bit of information cause that seemed rather <em>vital to</em> the mission the<em> Council </em>gave her. Yet the Council's argument was that they wanted to confirm the sightings of Saren's possible whereabouts before sending Shepard to the destination. However with the STG team going dark, they had no choice but to send Shepard out to investigate.</p>
      <p>Naturally, she would go there.</p>
      <p>But first…</p>
      <p>A personal matter with a crew mate came first as they were already heading towards the Herschel system of the Kepler Verge.</p>
      <p>Garrus had approached her after the little adventure he had gone on with Wrex, Kaidan and Axel in retrieving something personal of the Krogans. The Turian spoke of a genetic Salarian doctor by the name of Dr. Saleon who he had once tracked years ago on the Citadel for black market body parts exchange with the Doctor at the center of it.</p>
      <p>So that came first.</p>
      <p>And it was on the way to Virmire, look at that.</p>
      <p>…</p>
      <p>Well not on the way <em>exactly</em>. More like, the ship would be flying, making a quick stop of Saleon's base of operations and then they'd be going over to Virmire.</p>
      <p>So… on the way in a convoluted manner.</p>
      <p>Upon finding the MSV Fedele as it was drifting through space, Shepard's small team consisting of Garrus, Xion and Axel boarded the vessel to apprehend the good geneticist.</p>
      <p>What they believed would be a "simple" enough mission in confronting and apprehending the black market doctor turned to a mad firefight.</p>
      <p>Shortly after entering the main compartment of the ship, the four were assaulted by several dozen worth of crazed, mindless clones running around from nearly every species out there in this galaxy. They acted on their instincts and attacked the four Normandy members with the intent to kill.</p>
      <p>It reminded Shepard and Garrus a bit like the Thorian Creepers that they encountered on Feros.</p>
      <p>The test subjects were disturbing to look at, to say the least.</p>
      <p>During this confrontation, a small skirmish of Heartless appeared to make things complicated. Axel couldn't go all out in the confined space, so he had to restrain himself while Xion helped take care of the rest.</p>
      <p>With them out of the way, the group searched the MSV Fedele for any possible survivors.</p>
      <p>Fortunately for them, they did find one hiding in some sort of lab.</p>
      <p>What was more fortunate was that the man they found was none other than Dr. Saleon, who tried to defend himself, proclaiming he was Dr. Heart instead.</p>
      <p>It didn't really help on his defensive pleas when the team looked at the lab they entered. All of the medical equipment was stained with a rainbow of colors, signifying them being the blood of many species. Pale blue, violet, orange, green and a couple dark red variants. Even some slabs of meat and organ sprawled about in containers or silver plates.</p>
      <p>As much as Garrus wanted to kill the Salarian geneticist right away, Shepard told him to stand down.</p>
      <p>Even if Jane wanted to kill the man just as much as Garrus for his actions on innocent life, the Spectre wanted him to be turned into the proper authorities. This caused the Turian to plead for Saleon's death instead.</p>
      <p>"<em>Dying is easy, living is harder."</em></p>
      <p>As Shepard said, the man wouldn't suffer for his crimes as Jane wanted the Salarian geneticist interrogated on his activities since his escape and live out the rest of his life in prison.</p>
      <p>Just when they were about to apprehend him, Dr. Saleon resisted arrest and tried to fight back.</p>
      <p>Yet before he could pull the trigger, a Shadow Heartless did a surprise attack and stole his heart in front of everyone else. From there, another Heartless skirmish commenced.</p>
      <p>When things died down, Garrus didn't know what the point for all that was with Saleon essentially dying anyways.</p>
      <p>But Shepard stated they needed to take the high ground as they can't just jump to conclusions all too easily. They needed to see how the man acted before they acted in their controlled response.</p>
      <p>Besides, the loss of his heart on top of fading away into nothingness and consumed by the torment of darkness seemed like more than enough of an ample punishment for the Doctor.</p>
      <p>This earned some more respect from the C-Sec detective alongside the two Nobodies towards the human Spectre.</p>
      <p>After that little errand was taken care of, the team was assembled in the comm room on Liara's behest.</p>
      <p>Reason being, she had finally gone through her mother's Omni-tool and was able to find some startling information.</p>
      <p>From what Benezia wrote down, Saren's ship -Sovereign- was of Reaper design. It had the unique characteristic in having technology that somehow innates indoctrination. Benezia wasn't able to figure out how Saren had it set to have those indoctrinated to follow him.</p>
      <p>This only unsettled the others on what they might be dealing with.</p>
      <p>
        <em>-Scene Cut-</em>
      </p>
      <p>Virmire is a flush, frontier world, an ideal place for colonization for any carbon-based species out there. It's vast seas and orbital position on the inner life zone created a wide equatorial band of humid, tropical terrain.</p>
      <p>Unfortunately, the political instability of the nearby Terminus Systems have impeded colonization efforts; due to the high risk of raids by pirates and slavers soon made the planet an unappealing homestead.</p>
      <p>Drawing closer to their destination, Joker spoke up on the comms.</p>
      <p>"<em>Commander, I'm reading a signal. Must be our Salarian infiltration team."</em></p>
      <p>As they drew in closer to the planet's surface, Kaidan spotted something on their sensors. <em>"I'm seeing some defense towers here. We can't risk the Normandy to head straight towards the salarian's origin."</em></p>
      <p>Shepard nodded and gave the order. "Drop the Mako. And Stitch, get into your cruiser. We'll go in hot and take them out. Joker, stay out of range until we take out those AA towers."</p>
      <p>The Normandy flew by the surface of the planet, the Mako being flung out and landing on the ground whilst Stitch's fighter took to the skies above having the AA towers target him specifically.</p>
      <p>Stitch cackled aloud, the bottom of his ship opening up for his rotating cannon to begin firing upon the enemies defensive towers.</p>
      <p>"Don't get too overzealous there, Stitch." Jane ordered from within the Mako. "You're our primary air support right now."</p>
      <p>The typical sound of Stitch's version of "yes" came through on the other end of the transmission.</p>
      <p>"Joker?"</p>
      <p>"<em>I know the drill, Commander." </em>Joker responded smoothly.<em> "Meet you guys at the camp once those AA towers have been cleared. Joker out."</em></p>
      <p>Within the Mako was the assembled team of Roxas, Xion, Tali, Kaidan and Wrex whilst the rest were on standby.</p>
      <p>Much as Shepard had the gut feeling of an all hands on deck type of mission, right now, the team of six plus Stitch as air support was enough while the rest was aboard the Normandy.</p>
      <p>Pressing on the accelerator, the Mako drove forward on the watery terrain of Virmire passing by various native species of the planet known as Pod Crabs.</p>
      <p>"Oh boy." Kaidan said aloud.</p>
      <p>Immediately, when rounding about one of the many tall rocky protrusions of Virmire, the team was met with several Geth Rocket Drones that fired upon them as soon as they were spotted.</p>
      <p>Kaidan quickly fired back with Shepard evading the oncoming fire.</p>
      <p>They were quickly shot down though no sooner than that did new enemies take their place.</p>
      <p>"Heartless." Tali said aloud.</p>
      <p>"I see 'em."</p>
      <p>They were primarily Wyverns, Darkballs and several large Crimson Jazz.</p>
      <p>"They look like heavy hitters." Shepard muttered.</p>
      <p>"We got 'em" Roxas said, opening the top hatch of the Mako and climbing out with Xion joining him as both called out their Keyblades.</p>
      <p>Soon as he walked out onto the top of the Mako, Roxas instantly swung and destroyed a dive-bombing Wyvern.</p>
      <p>Xion joined a second later, looking around at the Heartless that surrounded them before pointing at a Darkball and sending out a Blizzard spell, freezing and damaging it. A moment later, she jumped from the Mako and struck down the Heartless.</p>
      <p>Kaidan all the while was firing at the Heartless with Tali and Wrex popping in and out of the hatch to assist the two Key Bearers.</p>
      <p>Shepard drove around the Mako, occasionally managing to bash into one of the Heartless, stunning it enough for one of her teammates to make quick work of it.</p>
      <p>However, the Mako suddenly began to get bombarded with small spheres of fire that appeared and exploded around the vehicle, rocking and damaging the transport.</p>
      <p>"The hell?" Kaidan exclaimed, clinging onto the controls of the Cannon as the Mako jerked about.</p>
      <p>"Shepard, drive." Roxas said from outside the Mako, destroying several Darkballs.</p>
      <p>"What? We're not leaving you behind!"</p>
      <p>"We can catch up, Commander." Xion said confidently, whacking a Crimson Jazz out of existence.</p>
      <p>Suddenly, three large fiery spheres surrounded the Mako.</p>
      <p>"DRIVE SHEPARD!" Roxas bellowed out, running toward the Heartless that was the source of these fire based attacks.</p>
      <p>Shepard had no choice but to acquiesce, flooring the accelerator with the Mako's tires screeching against the watery ground until it jolted forward at top speeds. Just in time as the three spheres that surrounded it blew up.</p>
      <p>It left scorch marks on the back of the vehicle and a moment later, the smaller fire spheres returned and pursued after the Mako.</p>
      <p>"Keelah! This place we're going to must be important if <em>this</em> is what we're dealing with at the start." Tali exclaimed.</p>
      <p>"All the more of a challenge for us." Wrex said with a feral grin, slamming his fists together.</p>
      <p>There were great numbers of both Geth and Heartless as they traversed through the natural maze of rock formations with the occasional gate-houses. At least they had Stitch in the sky to help guide their way when he occasionally bombarded the AA towers.</p>
      <p>As this went on, Tali kept fumbling with her hands as she was worried for the two Nobodies she started getting close to, more so with Roxas.</p>
      <p>Seeing this happening, Wrex spoke to the Quarian. "Don't worry, runt. They'll be fine."</p>
      <p>"How can you be so sure?"</p>
      <p>"I trust them, that's what." Wrex grunted out. "They are tough ones, that's for sure."</p>
      <p>The team heard two taps from the top of the Mako and a moment later, Roxas and Xion dropped down from the top hatch.</p>
      <p>Tali let out a sigh of relief with Wrex snorting triumphantly.</p>
      <p>"See? What'd I tell ya?"</p>
      <p>"Good to have you back." Shepard said. "Try not to make a habit out of that."</p>
      <p>"No promises, Commander." Roxas said with a small grin, one that Jane returned for a second before refocusing on driving.</p>
      <p>The team kept driving with Heartless and Geth around every corner to try and stall them as much as they were possibly able to.</p>
      <p>Several times, they had to get the Mako in a defensive position or quite literally ram through both enemy types.</p>
      <p>Somehow, everyone in the Mako utilized their weaponry in constant rotation.</p>
      <p>Roxas and Xion were the best in making quick work of the Heartless though the others certainly weren't slacking.</p>
      <p>Wrex with his explosive shots, Kaidan with his Biotic burst rifle (his new name for his weapon) and Tali with her recently upgraded Omni-Tool.</p>
      <p>She had even been able to test out a new special feature that she had been working on.</p>
      <p>Once getting to a particularly large fortification of Geth and Heartless, there was her chance to unleash her new special move she dub Overload shockwave.</p>
      <p>The usage of the special move caused several Geth to begin jerking about, unmoving from their spot with electrical currents connecting to other nearby Geth and heartless. The overload would overwhelm and create internal implosions that would destroy both enemies after several seconds.</p>
      <p>It was quite effective to say the least.</p>
      <p>Once getting to the closest AA tower, Shepard made it in time to see the sight of Stitch flying rings around the gun and destroying it with a few well-placed shots.</p>
      <p>"Nice going Stitch!" Jane said with a beaming grin, hearing Stitch laugh victoriously with his ship flying ahead whilst Shepard and Kaidan dealt with the stragglers.</p>
      <p>Once driving past the first gun, the team was met with a Geth Colossus that stood in their way.</p>
      <p>"Roxas." Shepard said, gunning it forward, No. XIII wordlessly jumping out atop the Mako brandishing Oathkeeper.</p>
      <p>The Keyblade glowed with light, Roxas swatting aside several of the shots that the Geth sent their way.</p>
      <p>Once getting in close, Roxas made a horizontal slash with light exploding off of him. The Geth didn't move for several moments until the head slowly tilted forward and fell from the rest of the body which slumped down a moment later.</p>
      <p>"HA." Wrex bellowed out in laughter. "Kid's got quads the size of a cruiser."</p>
      <p>"A quad?" Xion asked in confusion.</p>
      <p>"Nothing Xion, nothing you need to concern yourself with." Tali said sweetly, sending a glare to the amused Krogan for him to remain silent.</p>
      <p>The Mako continued its drive through the rocky/watery terrain of the planet's surface. They ran into multiple Colossus and Armatures with more flight based Heartless appearing such as Air Soldiers, Wyverns, Water Cores, Surveillance Robots and Rapid Thrusters.</p>
      <p>Soon after, the group ran into their second AA tower, this one having not been taken out by Stitch.</p>
      <p>Taking out the defensive "infantry" of the gun, the team quickly piled out of the Mako, charging headfirst at the oncoming Geth and Heartless that came out from the structure.</p>
      <p>Shepard utilized a new function with her own Biotic based gun that she opted to name spiral storm.</p>
      <p>Why may you ask?</p>
      <p>It was due to the new function wherein Shepard fired four Biotic spheres that would ascend and float over a cluster of enemies. Once reaching proper elevation, the Biotic spheres would burst, forming into dozens of spiraling arrows that would rain down upon her targets.</p>
      <p>Which was what she did just now.</p>
      <p>Roxas and Xion fought side by side, Kaidan and Tali providing back up from their blind spots with Wrex and Shepard fighting as a pair.</p>
      <p>Eventually, they reached the primary controls of this AA tower and shut the gun down.</p>
      <p>Running back to the Mako, the team resumed their drive, passing by a nearby AA tower that had just been destroyed by Stitch making their path clearer.</p>
      <p>They had fought through several more waves of Geth and Heartless, occasionally spotting Stitch flying past them with Heartless Gummi ships pursuing him or vice versa.</p>
      <p>This went on until they were contacted by Joker.</p>
      <p>"<em>Normandy's touched down at the base Shepard, but it looks like we're grounded."</em> The Pilot informed the ground team. <em>"The Salarian Captain will explain once you get here."</em></p>
      <p>"Copy that Joker, sit tight, we're almost there."</p>
      <p>"<em>Roger that. Stitch, get your ass back here."</em></p>
      <p>The Mako continued her drive through mountainous range until they saw the Normandy ahead with Stitch's ship flying past them towards the SR1.</p>
      <p>"Here we are folks." Said the Commander as she drove closer to the STG base camp.</p>
      <p>"Looks like a really good vacation spot." Kaidan commented.</p>
      <p>"Sad to say we're not here to soak up some sunshine." Jane added.</p>
      <p>Soon enough once they came to a slow stop in the middle of the camp as there was a large opening. Stitch's ship landed beside the Normandy, the little guy hopping out and running straight over to the Mako.</p>
      <p>Exiting the vehicle, Roxas took a better look at his surroundings.</p>
      <p>"Is something wrong, Roxas?" Tali asked with Xion walking beside her.</p>
      <p>Roxas had a slight, faraway look to his eyes. "This place… almost reminds me of Sora's home island."</p>
      <p>Xion looked around and gave a confirming nod. "I think you're right. Only problem is, we aren't on a secluded island so far out from the mainland."</p>
      <p>"I only remember seeing some little fragments on that accidental mind meld." Tali commented. "I wonder if it's beautiful."</p>
      <p>"Maybe we can take you there after all this." Roxas suggested with a smile. "That place is… beautiful."</p>
      <p>Tali gazed upon the Nobody with a smile of her own that Roxas was able to see with her eyes.</p>
      <p>"I'd like that very much." Tali said kindly.</p>
      <p>Xion was still looking around, taking a moment to pick a small round stone out from the water lapping at her boots. She examined it from all sides, a slightly longing expression appearing as she dropped the pebble back into the water.</p>
      <p>"Wonder what kind of seashells are kept on this planet?"</p>
      <p>"What now?" Roxas looked at her.</p>
      <p>"Why seashells?" Tali asked inquisitively.</p>
      <p>Xion became a little bashful. "I've… grown a little hobby of collecting seashells from Destiny Islands sometime after you went missing Roxas. I enjoyed the sound of the captured waves inside of them."</p>
      <p>"Collected seashells huh?" Roxas murmured to himself, a wave of nostalgia hitting him. He had a brief flash of Sora and Riku hanging out with Kairi at the bent Paopu tree.</p>
      <p>"I shouldn't have left my old collection behind." Xion said, slightly dejected.</p>
      <p>"Where'd you leave them?" He asked.</p>
      <p>"My little collection is split up. Most are back at Castle Oblivion; the others are in my room at the Castle that Never Was." Xion said. "Not sure if I wanna go back for them."</p>
      <p>"Come on guys." Shepard said, walking by them. "Let's see what's the situation here."</p>
      <p>Walking up to the white sandy area, the last of the Normandy team approached a green-hued Salarian who wore white combat armor. He eyed the rest of them suspiciously as Ashley spoke up.</p>
      <p>"-So what are we supposed to do now?" Asked Ashley with her arms crossed as she spoke with the Salarian that appeared to be in charge of this operation.</p>
      <p>"Stay put until we can come up with a plan." The green hued Salarian said firmly.</p>
      <p>As soon as Shepard approached, she spoke up. "Are you in charge here?"</p>
      <p>"I am." Confirmed the Salarian. "Captain Kirrahe, Third Infiltration Regiment STG. And you?"</p>
      <p>"I'm Commander Shepard, Spectre." Jane said to the STG captain. "What's the situation?"</p>
      <p>"You and your crew have just landed in the middle of a hot zone. Every AA gun within ten miles has been alerted to your presence." Kirrahe plainly stated.</p>
      <p>Shepard hummed as she can still use the Normandy and Stitch's craft to help take care of them. Yet that soon made her voice her coming question. "What are we supposed to do in the meantime?"</p>
      <p>"Probably have your two ships go back in the air." The Salarian captain then went into detail upon seeing some confused looks. "We need to prepare for an orbital bombardment."</p>
      <p>Roxas frowned, looking at the others in confusion. "Is the Normandy even equipped for something like that?"</p>
      <p>"I doubt it." Tali muttered out. "If it were, so many missions we went through could've been handled easier."</p>
      <p>"Well it's no matter." Said the STG captain. "I imagine the fleet you have nearby will be sufficient to do what must be done."</p>
      <p>"...What fleet?" Xion said in utter confusion.</p>
      <p>"The fleet my team and I requested." Kirrahe said as if it was the most obvious thing in the galaxy.</p>
      <p>This caused the present Normandy team members to look at each other as they bore their own awkward responses.</p>
      <p>"Oh boy, this is not gonna be good." Shepard groaned out.</p>
      <p>"What are you talking about?" Asked the STG captain.</p>
      <p>Kaidan was the one to answer. "We <em>are</em> the reinforcements."</p>
      <p>This caused Kirrahe to look at them in utter surprise. "What? You're <em>all</em> they sent? I told the Council to send a <em>fleet</em> to bomb this place to oblivion!"</p>
      <p>"I'm sorry, captain, but we couldn't understand your transmission as the Council no doubt lost the part of your fleet request in the static." Shepard apologized. "They sent us to investigate."</p>
      <p>Kirrahe's eyes darkened, glaring at his reinforcements momentarily before facepalming. "It seems we are in a repetition. I lost men investigating this place to Geth and those dark creatures."</p>
      <p>"Heartless." Roxas and several other members grimly said.</p>
      <p>"Heartless?" Kirrahe repeated in confusion. "What is that supposed to be? The name of those abominable monsters I lost half my squad to?"</p>
      <p>"The very same." Xion confirmed with a somberly.</p>
      <p>"The way your teammates perished…" Roxas looked nervous. "Did you see their bodies vanish with glowing hearts leaving their chests?"</p>
      <p>Kirrahe's eyes widened drastically, indicating this to be true.</p>
      <p>"Looks like Saren really does have the Heartless on his side like Benezia implied." Kaidan said in a dark tone.</p>
      <p>"Once again, I'm sorry." Shepard said. "Should we contact the Council?"</p>
      <p>"No." Bluntly said the Salarian. "We unfortunately can't delay any further as I've already waited too long for reinforcements. So we'll have to make do with you and your crew, Commander Shepard."</p>
      <p>"What's so special about this place anyways?" Ash asked, looking up at the structure they were situated outside of.</p>
      <p>"This is Saren's base of operations." He revealed, drawing surprised looks from everyone else.</p>
      <p>"You're kidding, right?" Kaidan asked in astonishment.</p>
      <p>"I am not. This base has a research facility here, but it's swarming with Geth and… those Heartless, as you called them, that keep popping up; making it rather fortified."</p>
      <p>"What's Saren doing exactly?" Shepard asked.</p>
      <p>"I find this place rather odd for Saren to do whatever 'research' he has in mind here." Garrus added in.</p>
      <p>"He's using the facility to breed an army of Krogan."</p>
      <p>This got a surprised, curious response from Wrex. "How is that possible?"</p>
      <p>"Apparently, Saren has discovered a cure for the genophage." Kirrahe said.</p>
      <p>Upon hearing this, many of the ground team thought things over on what might occur.</p>
      <p>Not only are Geth and Heartless present here, but there's also enemy Krogan to consider. If Saren has all those under his thumb, he'd be almost unstoppable.</p>
      <p>Now that they thought about it, it would explain why there were Krogan in Saren's forces. They originally thought they were just hired mercenaries. But if Saren had a possible cure…</p>
      <p>"Now you can see how dire this situation is. We must ensure that this facility and it's secrets are destroyed." Kirrahe stated with conviction.</p>
      <p>"Destroyed?" Growled out the Krogan Battlemaster. "I don't think so. My people are dying. This cure can save them."</p>
      <p>Kirrahe argued back. "If that cure leaves this planet, your kind will become unstoppable under Saren's leadership. We can't make the same mistake again."</p>
      <p>This got Wrex to stomp directly towards the STG captain with the biggest snarl he can muster.</p>
      <p>"WE ARE NOT A MISTAKE!"</p>
      <p>With that said, he stormed off with his biotics flaring with every step.</p>
      <p>"...Is he going to be a problem?" Kirrahe said worriedly. "We already have enough angry Krogan to deal with."</p>
      <p>"I'll handle it." Shepard assured. "Leave my squad mate to me."</p>
      <p>"I appreciate it, Commander. My men and I need to rethink our plan of attack. Can you give us some time?"</p>
      <p>"Of course, Captain. Take what time you need."</p>
      <p>"Hopefully, it won't be long." Jane murmured underneath her breath.</p>
      <p>With Kirrahe departing, the present Normandy members looked at each other.</p>
      <p>"Looks like things are a bit of a mess." Kaidan groaned out.</p>
      <p>Ashley nodded in agreement. "I wouldn't be so worried if it wasn't for Wrex. He looks like he's going to blow a gasket."</p>
      <p>"What should we do?" Roxas asked aloud.</p>
      <p>"Let me talk to him." Said Jane. "I'll have to do this rather carefully or else…"</p>
      <p>"Or else what?" Xion was a bit nervous now.</p>
      <p>Shepard exhaled a sigh. "Hopefully, things won't come to <em>that</em>."</p>
      <p>"In the meantime, I'll keep an eye on him if it's all the same to you guys." Ashley volunteered.</p>
      <p>Shepard nodded, walking off to speak with Wrex.</p>
      <p>As she did, she passed by Axel who was roughly told to get out of Wrex's way since the Nobody was approaching the assembled group. The two redheads locked eyes, with the taller of the two silently asking what Wrex's deal was with the shorter simply shifting her eyes back to the group behind her. Nodding, Axel walked over to them.</p>
      <p>"Hey guys." Axel greeted with a mock salute. "What's going on here? Wrexy there looks more pissed than Saix under the moon."</p>
      <p>"What the hell are you- never mind, look, let's just say we found out one of Saren's plans here and it ain't lookin' too good for us." Ashley quickly explained.</p>
      <p>"Still doesn't explain what Wrex's deal in all this." Axel remarked plainly, crossing his arms.</p>
      <p>"The Salarian captain said that Saren is breeding an army of Krogan." Tali revealed a bit nervously. "Saren has created a cure for the genophage."</p>
      <p>"What's that supposed to be?" Axel inquired.</p>
      <p>"Sterilization of the Krogan race to keep their numbers in check." Kaidan quickly summarized for the Nobody. "It's a bit complicated."</p>
      <p>"Sterilization…" Axel repeated in slight disbelief. "You mean to tell me that Wrex's species might die out?"</p>
      <p>"What?" Xion said in surprise. "How?"</p>
      <p>"Like Kaidan said, it's complicated." Ashley said, looking over to Shepard who was speaking with Wrex. "We might have to make a few drastic decisions if Skipper doesn't calm Wrex down there."</p>
      <p>Axel's eyes narrowed at Ash's declaration, shifting towards the direction of Jane and Wrex.</p>
      <p>Roxas took a few seconds to mull over Ash's words until…</p>
      <p>"Ashley, you can't." Roxas pleaded.</p>
      <p>"What?" The Gunnery Chief asked in confusion.</p>
      <p>"You know what." Roxas said with slight aggressiveness. "How can you even consider <em>that</em>? Wrex is our friend. He'd never do that."</p>
      <p>Ashley gaped at the sandy-blond haired teen, finding herself at a loss for momentary words.</p>
      <p>If she were being honest with herself, seeing the look of anger and disappointment from Roxas was an unusually deep blow with her finding a strong feeling of guilt welling up in her gut.</p>
      <p>"L-Listen, Roxas…" Ash began, very much unsure of what she was about to say.</p>
      <p>"Wrex wouldn't turn against us." Roxas said with complete confidence.</p>
      <p>"How can you be so sure?" Kaidan asked.</p>
      <p>"Because…" Roxas paused, looking down to the ground. "I just… I just <em>know </em>he won't."</p>
      <p>The group was silent, unsure of whether or not they should respond but…</p>
      <p>No. XIII's tone had such conviction and belief in this they couldn't really find the means in which to counter his argument. All they could do was hope that Roxas's belief held strong and true.</p>
      <p>With the group dispersed amongst the camp, a number of them stayed together, positioning themselves a good distance from Shepard, who was now going up to their Krogan teammate. Said Krogan was swinging his gravity hammer and smashing up boulders left and right.</p>
      <p>"How do you think it'll go?" Garrus asked lowly to Kaidan who was by his side.</p>
      <p>"I… I don't know." Kaidan admitted nervously.</p>
      <p>They watched Wrex and Shepard converse, only hearing mumbles. As this went on, they spotted Ashley carefully walking around them so she wouldn't get spotted by Wrex.</p>
      <p>Wrex saw Shepard approaching out of the corner of his eye, the edge of his hammer smashing into the ground while he firmly held onto it.</p>
      <p>"This isn't right Shepard." Wrex growled. "If there's a cure for the genophage, we shouldn't destroy it."</p>
      <p>"I can't pretend to say I understand Wrex but think about this for a moment." Shepard said calmly. "We came here to take down Saren who we've been pursuing all over the galaxy. The same Saren that you yourself had a bad feeling about who killed an entire team of mercs you were a part of."</p>
      <p>"Situations <em>change</em>, Shepard." Wrex emphasized. "Saren has a cure for my people which you and those damned Salarians want to destroy. Help me out here Shepard. The line between friend and foe are becoming blurry from where I stand."</p>
      <p>Shepard couldn't help but scoff. "Wrex, you can't be seriously considering this? Think about it for a moment. We're dealing with someone who will use this as a weapon where none of us will be able to reap the benefits of."</p>
      <p>"That's a chance we're gonna have to take." Wrex said, getting right in the Spectres face. "This is the fate of my entire people we're talking about. I've been loyal to you Shepard. Hell, you and this team have done more for me personally then my family or race has <em>ever</em> done. But, if I'm going to keep following you, I need to know it's for the right reasons."</p>
      <p>Wrex finished by pulling out his rifle which made the team that was watching from afar tense up yet Shepard didn't even budge, her green eyes boring into Wrex's red ones.</p>
      <p>"Wrex, these Krogan are not your people, they're Saren's." Jane argued vehemently. "Think for a second, this is the same guy who uses Geth, has the Heartless now under his belt and will continue to pick up whatever tool is useful to him until he disposes of it. Is that what you really want?"</p>
      <p>The Battlemaster twitched slightly, with Shepard narrowing her eyes to go in for the kill.</p>
      <p>"Think about Roxas, Axel and Xion." She said in a low voice. "They found out they were meant to be tools for whatever Xemnas had originally planned. But they chose to walk away and choose their own lives in their 'non-existence'." Jane used air-quotes upon mentioning that, given she couldn't really see such a concept. "Do you really wanna be like the Krogan of the past?"</p>
      <p>That did it.</p>
      <p>"No." Wrex said, gun going limp by his side. "We were tools for the council once. Never again. We helped save them from the Rachni, in response they neutered us. Saren won't be any different. Alright Shepard, you've made your point… I don't like this but I'll trust in following your lead."</p>
      <p>Jane couldn't help but smile in relief. "That's good to hear."</p>
      <p>"Just one thing." Wrex held up a finger. "When we get to Saren, I <em>want</em> his head."</p>
      <p>"I could live with that but, first come first serve Wrex."</p>
      <p>The Krogan huffed in amusement, returning his gaze to the water nearby. He felt a friendly pat on his shoulder with him silently nodding in return.</p>
      <p>As the sound of one set of footsteps trailed away from the Krogan, another came up to replace them.</p>
      <p>"Wrex?"</p>
      <p>The 700 year old Krogan turned to see Roxas gazing up at him in clear concern.</p>
      <p>"What's eatin' ya, Runt?" Wrex gruffly asked, though not unkindly.</p>
      <p>"Are you alright, Wrex?" Roxas asked straight away, making the Krogan flinch slightly.</p>
      <p>He gazed forward, mind and emotions a mess if he were being honest with himself.</p>
      <p>"No kid, no I'm not." Wrex admitted, placing a hand on the teens shoulder before he had a chance to speak. "But thanks for asking Roxas. You… you're a good friend."</p>
      <p>Roxas blinked at the Krogan who patted his shoulder before walking away.</p>
      <p>"Well that was a lot less tense then Shepards'." Axel said, walking up to Roxas' side. "He alright?"</p>
      <p>"I dunno… But I think he will be." Roxas said.</p>
      <p>After things calmed down and some time had passed, the Normandy ground crew was gathered in one of the side tents at the STG camp. There, Shepard was updating them all on the assault plan that Kirrahe and his officers had drawn up.</p>
      <p>"There's going to be two main teams. An assault team from the front and a 'shadow' team that will infiltrate the facility from behind." She explained. "Captain Kirrahe is leading the assault team while I lead the shadow team. Ashley, Wrex, Liara; I want you three to join the Salarian assault team."</p>
      <p>The three chosen nodded.</p>
      <p>"No heroics, guys." Shepard stressed. "It's going to be extremely dicey and Kirrahe thinks survival isn't guaranteed. I want you three to stay alive, for all our sakes. Understand? The Captain losing half his team should be more than an incentive."</p>
      <p>"You got it, Skipper." Ashley replied grimly.</p>
      <p>Wrex was rotating his arms before slamming his fists together with a bark of a laugh.</p>
      <p>Liara, meanwhile, was performing some breathing exercises to calm her nerves. This caused Tali to reach over and grasped the Asari's hand in a gesture of comfort. Xion merely gave her a small, reassuring smile, causing Liara to smile gratefully at both the Quarian and female Nobody.</p>
      <p>Roxas looked over and noticed Kaidan's mouth was drawn in a tight line. He didn't look all that happy to not be on the assault team for some reason.</p>
      <p>Shepard continued. "Axel, Roxas, Xion, Tali, Garrus, Stitch; you six are with me. While they're distracted by the assault team, we'll infiltrate the far side of the base." The aforementioned people nodded, which Shepard returned. "Good. Now as for Kaidan, he's gonna be on the Normandy, prepping the bomb with Della."</p>
      <p>"Bomb?" Liara asked, whose curious expression was mirrored on the rest of the crew's faces.</p>
      <p>"The Salarians converted their drive system into a twenty kiloton bomb." Jane explained.</p>
      <p>"If we have a bomb like that, why don't we just drop it on Saren's base and be done with it?" Axel noted.</p>
      <p>"And miss the fun of tearing off Saren's head in person?" Wrex asked with a vicious laugh.</p>
      <p>"Gross." Tali and Xion muttered under their breath.</p>
      <p>"Wrex…" Shepard warned, which the Krogan accepted with a scoff. With him settled down, she continued her briefing. "Kirrahe's current reconnaissance of the base suggests that it's too well fortified for a nuclear drop. We have to infiltrate the base and strategically plant it by the geothermal taps. That's where the shadow team comes in."</p>
      <p>"It's never that simple, is it?" Axel asked rhetorically.</p>
      <p>Jane shook her head. "This could very well be a suicide mission. If we're careful though, we can all make it out." Seeing everybody's grim faces, Shepard tried to pump her crew up. "Saren thinks he's researching a cure for the genophage here, so that he and the Reapers can destroy the galaxy. He's in one hell of a rude awakening when we kick his front door and blast this place sky high. So everybody, stay focus, stay sharp and we'll make it all out alive. Got it?"</p>
      <p>A chorus of responses were given, some were yelled and cheered while others were quiet and reserved.</p>
      <p>Eventually the Normandy ground crew stood on the sidelines as Captain Kirrahe gave his men a rousing speech for what's to come. After that, the Salarian teams went to their positions with the borrowed Normandy members before waiting for the signal to commence the operation.</p>
      <p>"I'm not entirely sure about just sending Ash, Wrex and Liara." Shepard admitted, the crew gearing up for the assault on the base in their own separate destinations. "The Captain lost half his crew and now we're dealing with Geth, Heartless <em>and </em>an army of Krogan."</p>
      <p>"It does sound pretty bad." Tali admitted.</p>
      <p>"Think they'll be enough?" Garrus asked.</p>
      <p>Stitch only garbled out some gibberish, finishing with…</p>
      <p>"<em>Haf trust."</em></p>
      <p>"It's not that I don't trust them, Stitch." Jane said. "It's just I don't trust the situation they're running into."</p>
      <p>"Then what should we do? Call more from the ship to back up our team?" Garrus suggested.</p>
      <p>"Oh brother." Axel facepalmed. "I'm such an idiot."</p>
      <p>"Axel?" Jane said in confusion.</p>
      <p>"Saren has his army." Axel said the obvious.</p>
      <p>He then grinned, holding up his thumb and middle finger touching. "But <em>we</em> also have our own."</p>
      <p>
        <em>*SNAP*</em>
      </p>
      <p>
        <em>*SSHWWEEOOO*</em>
      </p>
      <p>Surrounding them all, plumbs of silver-grey vapors came from nowhere with a couple dozen of Nobodies appearing in their place.</p>
      <p>Asides from the Dusks, there was another kind of Nobody present.</p>
      <p>They appeared to be dressed in a baggy, light grey jumpsuit with dark grey legs with the lower portions fanning outward as it's feat are nearly featureless, black points. It's arms are very long; light grey and its hands are flat and teardrop-shaped with their heads being of similar shape. The back of each hand sports a white Nobody logo.</p>
      <p>"...There's more than a Dusk?" Tali said in surprise.</p>
      <p>"Like Heartless, there are various types. And these ones are called Creepers." Axel informed them before nudging Roxas. "C'mon, you should contribute."</p>
      <p>Nodding, Roxas merely focused and with a wave of his hand, more Nobodies appeared on the scene.</p>
      <p>Rather than calling upon the Dusk or the Creepers, Roxas called upon the special high-ranking Nobodies that were assigned to serve him personally.</p>
      <p>Nearly two dozen, distinctly new Nobodies appear around Roxas, all with what appeared to be their heads, inclined in his direction.</p>
      <p>They had distinctive cylindrical heads that are a darker shade of grey than most of the rest of their bodies. Their heads bore six diagonal slits on the front, three on each side which appeared to be their eyes of sort. The majority of them appeared to be covered in a grey jumpsuit with bell sleeves and a lighter grey seam going down the front. Each sleeve has the Nobody emblem printed on them, and only their black hands are visible. The black, featureless, pointed feet of the creature sprouts out from each of the legs of the jumpsuit.</p>
      <p>There is also a dark grey belt-like pattern that wraps around their waists, though it does not seem to have a purpose. The swords were also bizarrely floating behind their backs or near their hips without any sheath or strap to hold them.</p>
      <p>"Whoa, great idea Roxas." Axel said approvingly with a nod. "Should've started with that myself."</p>
      <p>Snapping his fingers again, Axel summoned more and like the ones surrounding Roxas, these ones did the same to him.</p>
      <p>They had vaguely humanoid bodies that's covered in a purple and grey bodysuit. It's segmented arms are each lined by four blades resembling spikes. Both the blades and segments alternate from silver to purple.</p>
      <p>"Every Organization member has their own special type of Nobody that is specifically tailored to work for their assigned member. These Nobodies serve directly under us." Axel said, clapping his hand on one of the empty shells he called upon. "Meet the Samurai and the Assassins, the Nobodies that serve Roxas and I, respectively."</p>
      <p>"Does that mean that Xion has ones of her own?" Tali asked in a curious manner.</p>
      <p>Xion had a bit of a curious look herself when thinking on the question. "I'm… not entirely sure."</p>
      <p>"We can figure that out on another day." Axel waved off, looking to the Nobodies he just summoned. "You guys are gonna help out Ash, Wrex and Liara with their team. Watch their backs and keep their blind spots covered, ya got it?"</p>
      <p>The Assassins nodded as they moved over some distance away, either by slinking their way forward with their limbs stretching or bending in ways the others didn't think possible or by quite literally diving into the ground and "swimming" towards their destination.</p>
      <p>The Samurai, however, didn't move at all, awaiting Roxas' order.</p>
      <p>"Roxas."</p>
      <p>"Oh, right. What he said."</p>
      <p>This got the Samurai to finally comply and move towards the side with the Creepers and Dusks following suit.</p>
      <p>"Keelah." Tali said in wonder.</p>
      <p>"So… they can just… do that?" Garrus asked, looking over to Axel in particular.</p>
      <p>"Hey, mine are one of a kind." Axel boasted, thumbing to himself.</p>
      <p>"Hope the Salarians don't fire on them and cause a lot of confusion." Tali said in a slight grimace.</p>
      <p>"I'm pretty sure Ash, Wrex and Liara will be able to tell the difference." Shepard said confidently. "Let's go team, we can't waste the diversion the others are gonna make for us."</p>
      <p>
        <em>-Scene Cut-</em>
      </p>
      <p>Roxas was weaving through the hail of gunfire alongside Axel and Xion, deflecting bullets and swatting incoming rockets from the enemy with Oathkeeper. His two fellow coat-wearing Nobodies were doing the same in their own respective manners; from Xion mirroring Roxas' action with her Kingdom Key Keyblade to Axel merely firing off some fireballs to destroy the incoming projectiles and conjuring a momentary firewall.</p>
      <p>The trio ended up becoming somewhat of the shadow team's vanguard as they were able to rush in and take out their opponents while the rest fired and supported from afar.</p>
      <p>"Is there an opening anytime soon?" Garrus inquired, his sniper rifle firing off round after round in quick precision to take out the opposition. "They just keep coming."</p>
      <p>"They're really eager to defend that tower!" Tali pointed out.</p>
      <p>Presently, they were being held back by a number of Geth and Heartless, which were guarding what appeared to be a communications tower. If they destroyed it, or at least deactivated it, it could help Kirrahe and the distraction teams in the front.</p>
      <p>Zooming in close, the two Keybearer whirled their weapons and struck down a number of Heartless before casting a volley of spells to help clear the flowing forces. The red haired Nobody, however leaped into the air as he swung his arms to deliver his chakrams at the Geth. His weapons acted like overheated buzzsaws which quickly cleaved them into pieces.</p>
      <p>"You know, I should have figured the first time the three of us fighting together would be like this." Axel remarked, catching his signature chakrams back into his hands.</p>
      <p>"Oh yeah, we didn't get the chance to back in Castle Oblivion." Roxas recalled, bashing a Heartless away.</p>
      <p>They saw a Geth Armature now blocking their path.</p>
      <p>"Well, now's the time." Axel declared, charging up his flames.</p>
      <p>"Xion." Roxas said, running forward with No. XIV casting a Blizzard spell that morphed into a railing for Roxas to jump and grind forward with increased speed.</p>
      <p>Once reaching the end, Roxas jumped forward and smashed his Keyblade over the head of the Armature.</p>
      <p>With the Geth stunned, Axel went in for the killing blow, flinging his fiery chakrams into the neck and head of the Armature.</p>
      <p>The two disk-like weapons were spinning as they sliced into the head and neck with the fires quickly engulfing and incinerated the Geth.</p>
      <p>"We got our opening! Move!" Shepard barked out.</p>
      <p>Garrus was quick on his feet, switching to his assault rifle to fire upon any incoming opponents as they eventually ran up the connecting ramp. Tali tossed a few tech grenades to prevent any Geth present from regrouping. As her shotgun released repeating barks at the synthetics, Stitch leaped off of the Quarian and fired his blasters to help take down the Geth and Heartless.</p>
      <p>Once making it to the tower's base, Shepard spotted an access console tucked in the back corner.</p>
      <p>"Tali, hack this tower, we'll cover you."</p>
      <p>"On it, Shepard." Said the Quarian, already on the console as her fingers flew across the holographic display.</p>
      <p>Xion stayed close to Tali whilst Jane, Stitch, Axel, Garrus and Roxas attacked the surrounding Geth, Heartless and Krogan that were hellbent on destroying them.</p>
      <p>Soon enough the tower was clear with synthetic bodies sprawled about with white "blood" staining the walls and ground.</p>
      <p>"Alright, this is indeed a comms tower." Tali informed them, once stepping away from the console. "They're using this point for triangulation. Soon enough, the virus I uploaded into their system will only disrupt the process for the next fifteen minutes or so."</p>
      <p>"Then we need to make this quick." Jane said, motioning everyone to exit the tower and continue onward. "Captain Kirrahe," she said into their shared comm lines, "we've taken out a comms tower nearby that should disrupt the enemy communications on your end."</p>
      <p>"<em>Much appreciated, Commander."</em> Replied the STG captain. <em>"Any other assistance you can provide us with would be much appreciated. The Geth and Heartless at the front gates severely outnumber us. But these… Nobodies as you call them, are of some use to help hold the line."</em></p>
      <p>"Hopefully, we'll be in position soon. Just hold on."</p>
      <p>"<em>Indeed we will, Commander. Kirrahe out."</em></p>
      <p>Upon leaving the tower, the shadow team rushed through the twists and turns of the cliffs surrounding Saren's base. Along the way, they faced major defenses, but had also taken out a get uplink station and a refueling station for the Geth bombers.</p>
      <p>Hopefully all these actions would keep the Geth off of the distraction team long enough for them to make it into the base.</p>
      <p>Soon enough, the shadow team came across a small number of Saren's Krogan, who were guarding the entrance to the base from their position.</p>
      <p>Roxas and Axel simultaneously flung their weapons forward at the same time, both surrounded by their respective affinities with Xion quickly throwing in a specially made mixture spell of multiple affinities into the mix.</p>
      <p>Once the sphere of magic and three weapons reached the Krogan, a brilliant explosion of colors and powers completely and utterly decimated the Krogan guarding the entrance.</p>
      <p>"Damn, you three are just doing everything while we're just assisting you." Garrus chortled.</p>
      <p>Axel merely gave a cocky smirk. "I'll try not to let it go to my head, Gary."</p>
      <p>Garrus groaned at the nickname. "You're the worst, flame brain."</p>
      <p>"Pfft, that's what you came up with?" Axel guffawed.</p>
      <p>Getting to the entrance, with things settled down once more, Axel looked at the Krogan which were recently slain.</p>
      <p>"I get the Heartless and Geth out and about, but where the hell are the Krogan. Shouldn't there be more outside?" he questioned, turning to the others.</p>
      <p>"Let's not tempt fate like that, Axel." Tali said with a grimace.</p>
      <p>Coming across the access console just outside of the back entrance, Tali went to work.</p>
      <p>"Shepard, I've hacked into the alarm system for the base. I can turn them off, but…"</p>
      <p>"But what?"</p>
      <p>Tali hesitated before answering. "I can also set off the alarms by the distraction team's location. This way, there'd probably be no Geth when we enter through the back."</p>
      <p>The others in the shadow team looked at each other upon hearing this, worried about what the Commander would choose.</p>
      <p>It took a few moments of self-thought before Shepard gave her answer. "Don't do that, Tali. I don't want to do anything that could endanger the distraction team up front. They already have enough to deal with right now. Just turn the alarm off, we can deal with whatever's inside."</p>
      <p>The others nodded in agreement with Shepard's decision. Tali did so as well, slightly relieved.</p>
      <p>With a few more keystrokes, Tali spoke. "Okay, I've killed the alarms."</p>
      <p>"Good job, Tali." Shepard said right before hailing Captain Kirrahe over the comms. "Captain, we've reached the rear entrance to the base. Head to your designated AA tower while we've got their attention split on both sides of the base."</p>
      <p>"<em>Acknowledged, Commander. Aegohr, Mannovai, Jaeto! Rotate. Let's hit these Geth and Heartless hard, and punch through their defenses!"</em></p>
      <p>With the buzz of gunfire, Kirrahe's radio cut out, leaving the shadow team in momentary silence.</p>
      <p>"Alright, let's keep on moving, people."</p>
      <p>Walking in through the opened pathway, they saw it was akin to a sewer, carefully moving forward.</p>
      <p>Shepard took point, having Axel and Roxas right next to her whilst Tali was in the middle with Stitch jumping on her shoulder to support her and Garrus with Xion covering the rear.</p>
      <p>They made a left at the hallway followed by a right until they found another door that would give them direct access into the base. The door opened before them and they entered only to see rapid movement coming their way with the "movement" brandishing weapons in their direction.</p>
      <p>The group were quick to attack the newcomers, effectively mowing them down with ease with their combined attack and firepower.</p>
      <p>When it came to an end, the group drew closer and saw who they just slain.</p>
      <p>What they thought to have been mercenaries, yet to their surprise, it wasn't the case as their uniforms reveal that they were part of STG.</p>
      <p>"What the hell?" Garrus looked at one of the deceased Salarians wearing said uniforms. "Why would they attack us? I thought they were on our side?"</p>
      <p>Shepard crouched down, examining the bodies. "They're STG alright. I'm afraid I don't know myself."</p>
      <p>Axel gave the corpses a look over and gave his thoughts. "I agree. They're too equipped to be mercenaries, let alone hired pirates. You think they could've turned at the last minute to Saren's side?"</p>
      <p>"I don't know everything about STG, Axel." Said Garrus. "But I can't imagine a group like this to suddenly wanting to switch sides in the middle of admission."</p>
      <p>Hearing all this, Roxas put in his theory. "Maybe it has to do with this facility. There could be something more than the whole 'genophage cure'."</p>
      <p>"What do you suggest, Roxas?" Shepard asked.</p>
      <p>"Well… don't you remember what Benezia said back on Therum? About this weird indoctrination, brainwashing thing that Saren has?"</p>
      <p>There was a disturbed feeling that was shared amongst the group at the thought of these Salarians having literally been brainwashed by Saren to work for them.</p>
      <p>Stitch snarled aloud in a savage manner, garbling out angry gibberish and proper understandable words at the mention of this concept.</p>
      <p>"We have to keep moving." Shepard said, steeling her nerves. "Whatever Saren is doing here, we <em>must </em>put a stop to it."</p>
      <p>Upon climbing up a flight of stairs that led deeper into the base, the group entered what appeared to be a cell block. Passing by some closed off cells, they saw a combined number of Salarians held within them all.</p>
      <p>"Okay~ either we suddenly entered a nut house or something is up." Axel commented, eying the babbling Salarians behind some of the glass doors.</p>
      <p>"What in spirit's name is this place?" Garrus asked, looking at the closed cells.</p>
      <p>Stitch hopped down from Tali's shoulder and crawled up to the cell doors. He sniffed a few, shaking his head in irritation and disgust before moving on to the next one. His ears perked up and he made a sound to the others, pointing to the interior of the cell.</p>
      <p>The group walked up to the cell coming across one Salarian, who appeared to be talking coherently, albeit rather rushed and worried.</p>
      <p>"Who are you? Alliance, right?" Said a Salarian commando with a hopeful tone. "I knew someone would come. It tried to break me, but it couldn't! I shut it out!"</p>
      <p>"Slow down, I need to know where you came from."</p>
      <p>"Private Menos Avot of the Third Infiltration Regiment STG, sir! Captured while on reconnaissance six days ago. Glad to answer, sir!" The now identified Menos informed the commander before continuing onward. "Never answered any questions from these bastards. Just whispers and poking and cutting. I'd have said anything to get out and get some payback. That's not too much to ask, is it? A little payback?"</p>
      <p>"What the hell did they do to you, Soldier?" Shepard asked</p>
      <p>"Experiments, but I don't know what for. The effect of incessant whispering on my shortening temper? Who knows? I just <em>need</em> out."</p>
      <p>"Somethin' ain't right here, Shepard." Stated Garrus, earning a nod in response from the others.</p>
      <p>"Setting him free could endanger the mission." Axel pointed out. "He's not right in the head. We need to keep-"</p>
      <p>"No!" Yelled Menos, interrupting her. "No. I <em>need</em> to get out. This room is too small and <em>it</em> keeps talking and I <em>really</em> want to get out of here and get some work done. Please, I need to get out. Let me out!"</p>
      <p>"I'm sorry." Jane said with a shake of her head. "We can't do that."</p>
      <p>Both Roxas and Xion were greatly confused by this decision, looking to Shepard then each other.</p>
      <p>"Shepard, wha-"</p>
      <p>"<em>Letmeoutletmeoutletmeout!" </em>The Salarian trapped inside ran at full speed towards the glass door only to slam headfirst and slide down, collapsing in his cell.</p>
      <p>"...Okay~ that just happened." Garrus remarked.</p>
      <p>"What was that?" Xion asked in concern.</p>
      <p>"Must be that indoctrination getting to him." Shepard surmised. "Let's go, everyone. Staying here feels dirty enough as is."</p>
      <p>Leaving the present cell block, the group entered through a couple of rooms filled with turned STG soldiers and a number of Geth spread out. Once taking care of them, they entered yet another cell block.</p>
      <p>It was upon walking through the area did they hear someone speak up.</p>
      <p>"Hello? Is… Is anyone out there?"</p>
      <p>Looking down, they saw a Salarian Commando trying his best to peak out from his confinement yet was failing.</p>
      <p>Approaching the cell, the shadow team greeted the captured Salarian.</p>
      <p>"...Well… you're not a Geth. And you're not wearing a lab coat." Said the commando in an even tone. "I guess I'm glad to see you, hopefully."</p>
      <p>"Who are you?" Shepard asked.</p>
      <p>"Lieutenant Ganto Imness of the Third Infiltration Regiment, captured during recon. I assume the fleet was called in to destroy the base?"</p>
      <p>The fleet is a bit of an overstatement.</p>
      <p>"I'm sorry, but the transmission wasn't clear." Said Shepard. "The fleet ain't coming."</p>
      <p>Ganto exhaled a tired sigh. "I see. Then you must be the infiltration team. I know the captain; he will want this facility destroyed. My team was… altered, <em>indoctrinated</em>. Kirrahe knew about the breeding grounds. But the indoctrination is a greater threat, and far more horrifying."</p>
      <p>Garrus leaned over and spoke softly. "Seems your theory is proving to be true, Roxas."</p>
      <p>The Salarian lieutenant continued. "I… I watched good people reduced to mindless husks. There wasn't anything left. Others died during the experiments. I… I envy them."</p>
      <p>At the mention of this, Garrus and Stitch broke off and looked at the neighboring cells. There they saw the captured Salarians and saw they weren't themselves. In all intents and purposes, they were walking brain-dead beings.</p>
      <p>Seeing Ganto before her, Shepard asked what he knew of the experiments, hoping for a more coherent answer this time. "Do you know anything about the experiments they were conducting?"</p>
      <p>"They were studying indoctrination. Symptoms, progress. Saren uses it to control his people, but I don't think he <em>fully</em> understands it." Came Ganto's answer. "I honestly don't know much else. I-I just saw what it did to the others. Turned them into empty husks. I can't end up like that. Please… Please let me out."</p>
      <p>In comparison with the Salarian they met earlier, this one appeared to be more sane. And it seems no one appears to be objecting, Shepard was about to consider, but wanted to test something.</p>
      <p>"If I let you out, how do I know you won't just attack me?"</p>
      <p>"It's obvious that I'm not crazed or drooling like the others. Let me out and I'll stay out of your way." The Lieutenant said as calmly as he was able to though there was a tremble in his voice.</p>
      <p>"Sorry, I can't take that chance. I'm not opening your cell."</p>
      <p>"No. Don't leave me here! Please!" Ganto said in terror though he remained standing. "I don't want to end up like the others! I saw what those experiments did to them!"</p>
      <p>Seeing Ganto not reacting all crazy like the previous Salarian, only witnessing the genuine fear, Shepard went to the nearby console. Typing away on the controls, the confinement opened up.</p>
      <p>"W-What?"</p>
      <p>"I needed to verify something." Informed Shepard. "Now, I can't do much now, but you're on your own."</p>
      <p>Ganto nodded. "Don't look back and hope to outrun the Geth and those <em>things</em>, hmm? A better chance than I had before you showed up. Thank you, human. And good luck, you'll need it."</p>
      <p>It was shortly after Ganto's departure did Stitch abruptly pointed to the cell right next to the one that they had just released. He was jabbering about with a growl and teeth bared.</p>
      <p>The group looked over to see multiple Salarians within this cell just… standing there. They didn't move or speak nor even make any response towards the team standing on the outside.</p>
      <p>"What the hell?" Axel murmured.</p>
      <p>"They've just been standing there." Garrus informed them. "Not even aware of our presence."</p>
      <p>"They look so… dead." Tali muttered, squirming a bit at how lifeless their eyes were.</p>
      <p>She had seen how blank and devoid of emotions certain people can be. That dream of Roxas's first day of existence was one vivid memory she won't be forgetting anytime soon.</p>
      <p>But these were different. To her, it looked as though the life had been forcefully ripped right out of them leaving them as empty husks.</p>
      <p>"What should we do with them?" Xion asked nervously.</p>
      <p>"They must be indoctrinated." Roxas said, not liking the words that came out from his mouth.</p>
      <p>"In my opinion, this ain't no way to treat a prisoner after whatever torture they went through." Garrus muttered out. "Kill them, sure, but to leave them like this…"</p>
      <p>"It ain't pretty…" Axel began. "But… I can take 'em out quick."</p>
      <p>"What? Burn them to death?!" Tali asked incredulously. "That's cruel!"</p>
      <p>"Do you see how responsive they are?" Garrus argued. "Their brains are no doubt fried due to whatever experiments Saren put them through. They probably don't feel <em>anything</em> anymore."</p>
      <p>"I'll do it fast." Axel assured. "Instant incineration than just having them burn."</p>
      <p>Shepard grimaced but nodded a second later.</p>
      <p>"I'm not gonna like this but do what you have to. Better to die than live like <em>this</em>."</p>
      <p>Axel gazed at her with a stoic face before sighing.</p>
      <p>"Always gotta do the icky jobs." Axel said, eyes trained on the group of Salarians inside the cell.</p>
      <p>"Wait, Axel, are you really going to-"</p>
      <p>"Xion…" Axel's voice was harsh and rather cold. "I have to do this to them. It's a better alternative than just leaving them to suffer."</p>
      <p>"But-"</p>
      <p>"Xion."</p>
      <p>No. XIV felt Roxas grab her hand and gently tug at it. "I don't like it either. But he's right. Their lives… you could see it in their faces. Their lives are no more."</p>
      <p>Without any further comment, Axel concentrated on the Salarians inside, the surrounding area getting heated up until he snapped his fingers.</p>
      <p>Instead of screams, they heard nothing. It was extremely eerie on what they were witnessing. The flames died down as fast as they roared to life.</p>
      <p>As the flames died down, they saw nothing but charred ashes.</p>
      <p>"How could you do such a thing, Axel?" Tali weakly said.</p>
      <p>"Do you think I enjoyed doing that?" Axel growled, his question being clearly rhetorical. "In fact, I <em>didn't</em>. I <em>never</em> enjoyed doing that. Doing it to those deserving it, sure, but…"</p>
      <p>No. VIII let out an uncharacteristically haggard sigh.</p>
      <p>"You know… I wasn't always like this. I'd like to think I was a good person in my previous life before I became… <em>this."</em></p>
      <p>Nobody responded to the Nobody until Shepard placed a hand upon his shoulder.</p>
      <p>"Come on. It's best not to dwell here."</p>
      <p>That received no arguments from the team, departing to their next location.</p>
      <p>Once entering the next room, they came upon what appeared to be a lab. Probably the lab where Saren's genophage cure was being developed.</p>
      <p>Walking a bit further in, the group was startled upon seeing a number of things.</p>
      <p>Lying on a number of examination tables, they noticed the Krogan corpses with their insides carved open by unfeeling scientists. And not far away, floating in some stasis field devices were Husks.</p>
      <p>Shortly after laying their eyes on the Husks, the stasis machines turned off, causing the Husks to drop to the ground. They quickly rose to their feet and charged right at them with some Geth appearing soon after.</p>
      <p>The shadow team were quick to action, initiating retaliating force upon them either through gunfire, biotics or bladed weapons cleaving them through.</p>
      <p>And it wasn't just the Geth and Husks they met, but whatever indoctrinated scientists that were within the lab. One of them was even a Krogan of all things.</p>
      <p>How odd it was to see a being from a war-like species wanting to go into such a field.</p>
      <p>But alas, they were wasted into such a state as this, cut down due to being on Saren's side.</p>
      <p>Heartless appeared shortly after with Husks, Krogan and Geth all rushing at the team.</p>
      <p>"Spirits dammit." Garrus growled out, the team immediately firing and attacking the next wave of enemies.</p>
      <p>Tali immediately went for her Omni-Tool, unleashing several Omni-bolts that destroyed the enemies closest to them.</p>
      <p>Stitch barked at Xion, jumping up and rolling into a ball with the girl whacking him forward with her Keyblade. The little blue fur ball sailed forward and smashed right through a husk before bouncing off multiple other foes, stunning them.</p>
      <p>Axel hovered in the air briefly, holding his chakrams over his head and conjured forth a sphere of fire.</p>
      <p>The fire ball exploded into a dozen wisps that flew forward and struck and burned the stunned enemies with Xion throwing in a Thundara for the finishing blow.</p>
      <p>Shepard called upon her Biotics though felt a strange feeling of an extra oomph which showed judging by how hard and far she flung a Krogan back into another and they crashed into one of the tables and did not get back up.</p>
      <p>After their combined efforts…</p>
      <p>"Hostiles eliminated." Garrus said aloud.</p>
      <p>Even if no other hostiles were present, the group was still ready to draw out their weapons at a moment's notice.</p>
      <p>Doing a brief check of the room, Jane gave out an order. "Tali, Stitch, hack the systems and upload everything Saren has on the genophage research. It could be useful in the future."</p>
      <p>"You got it." Said Tali with Stitch quickly saying in his native tongue before scampering to the central console in the lab.</p>
      <p>"Everyone else, check the lab for anything noteworthy."</p>
      <p>Strolling through the lab, a sick feeling welled up within the three Nobodies. And Roxas was the one to vent out his frustration.</p>
      <p>In a moment's notice, he swung Oathkeeper at a nearby console and started bashing it over and over again.</p>
      <p>"Roxas, stop!" Axel barked out. "What's gotten into-"</p>
      <p>"Everything here is just so damn sickening!" Yelled out No. XIII. "These Krogan, those Salarians! Saren manipulated their minds and-"</p>
      <p>"I know." Axel placed both hands on the Nobody's shoulders. "This makes me sick as well, but you don't see me going off the handle like what you're doing now."</p>
      <p>"I agree with Axel on this one." Said Shepard, coming up to the pair. "We can stop Saren today, but we can't do that if we're losing our cool. Reign it in and use it when necessary."</p>
      <p>Releasing a couple of deep breaths, maintaining a rather tight grip on Oathkeeper, Roxas nodded. "You're right. I'm sorry about that."</p>
      <p>As Shepard walked away, Axel leaned forward.</p>
      <p>"What was that really about?"</p>
      <p>"About what?" Roxas looked up to the Nobody who had a knowing look to his face.</p>
      <p>Before Axel could question further, their detective of a teammate interrupted them.</p>
      <p>"I think I have an idea how Saren's been getting a whole contingent's worth of Krogan." Garrus said aloud.</p>
      <p>"What you got for us?"</p>
      <p>Typing away on a console, the Turian pulled up some schematics. "This place ain't exactly a breeding facility as we thought. It's more towards cloning, flash cloning to be precise."</p>
      <p>"Hmm… Would explain the numbers." Jane remarked.</p>
      <p>"Not to mention how sloppily some of the Krogan we came across here fought." Tali added.</p>
      <p>"Then what's said so far on the cure wasn't entirely true with Krogan coming <em>directly</em> here from the outside. In fact, they were coming <em>from</em> here in order to sell a scam." Axel surmised.</p>
      <p>Roxas nodded. "Can't wait to tell Wrex this."</p>
      <p>"But where are the others?" Xion asked, looking around in case of an unwelcome surprise appearance.</p>
      <p>"Deployed somewhere else. Either out front or who knows where." Garrus stated.</p>
      <p>Shepard nodded at this bit of information before looking towards Tali and Stitch. "How's the data upload going, you two?"</p>
      <p>Stitch jabbered about with Tali shaking her head in slightly amusement, translating for him.</p>
      <p>"Just about done. There is some data about the genophage being worked on, but only some groundwork" Said Tali, having her Omni-tool out to download a server's worth of data. "And there are some small files and references I'm copying down about indoctrination as well."</p>
      <p>"That's good." Axel commented.</p>
      <p>"Take whatever you can and we'll pass this along to the Council when we get outta here." Said Shepard.</p>
      <p>As the download kept going on, Tali was quick to notice something. "Okay, seems I've hit a snag. Whatever information there is on indoctrination is classified on this level and I can't access it from here."</p>
      <p>"Then we'll need to find that access point somewhere else."</p>
      <p>With the shadow team leaving the lab, Axel lagged behind the group with him making sure Roxas did the same.</p>
      <p>"Roxas." Axel said slowly. "You never answered my question back there. What was that?"</p>
      <p>The Key of Destiny opened his mouth to answer when his eyes trailed over to the group that was slightly ahead of them. He gazed upon one person in particular.</p>
      <p>Someone that Axel quickly spotted.</p>
      <p>"Ah… Xion." Axel said in a faraway tone. "I understand."</p>
      <p>The blond teen didn't even deny it.</p>
      <p>"He was treating them just like Xemnas was treating us. Xion especially." Roxas said with a strained voice. "Like we were… expendable."</p>
      <p>"Roxas." Axel said, tone slightly disbelieving. "Are you… crying?"</p>
      <p>The younger Nobody blinked, realizing that there were indeed tears streaming down his face. Quickly wiping them away, Roxas shook his head in an effort that would clear his jumbled thoughts.</p>
      <p>"Come on." Axel patted his back. "We got a mission to finish."</p>
      <p>Sniffing, Roxas nodded vigorously in agreement jogging with his friend to catch up with the others.</p>
      <p>Vacating the lab, the group went across a walkway with a small number of Geth and Heartless present. Quickly ridding them within their sight, the shadow team entered what looked like an office.</p>
      <p>The room was vastly empty. The only thing this room had was a couple of terminals, two large windows with a view of the facility and a desk in the corner.</p>
      <p>And from under that desk was an asari hiding from whoever was coming through that door.</p>
      <p>"Don't shoot, please!" The Asari behind the desk pleaded, ducking down in case of anyone firing at her. "I just wanna get out of here before it's too late."</p>
      <p>"We're not gonna hurt you." The Spectre motioned everyone else to lower their weapons. "Who are you?" Jane inquired in suspicion.</p>
      <p>"Rana Thanoptis, neuro specialist. ." The Asari quickly introduced herself. "But this job isn't worth dying over. Or worse." Her tone was frantic and scared. "You think indoctrination only affects prisoners? Sooner or later, Saren will want to dissect my brain too."</p>
      <p>"And here we thought this place was just a cloning facility." Axel chortled.</p>
      <p>Rana shook her head and explained. "Not this level. We're studying Sovereign's effects on organic minds. At least, that's what I assumed. Saren kept us in the dark as much as possible."</p>
      <p>"You were helping Saren with all this and you didn't bother to ask why?" Tali asked incredulously.</p>
      <p>"I didn't have the option of negotiation." Rana explained even further. "This position is a little more… <em>permanent</em> than I expected. But I can help you."</p>
      <p>"How?"</p>
      <p>"This door behind me goes to an elevator which will take you to Saren's private lab. I can get you in." Rana walked over to the door by the desk. Placing her security clearance over the control pad, the door's light turned green. "See? Full access. Saren's private files. Are we good? Can I go?"</p>
      <p>Garrus snorted under his breath. "Could've had either Roxas or Xion open the doors."</p>
      <p>"Or me blasting right through 'em." Responded Axel, earning a small chuckle from the Turian.</p>
      <p>"What were you studying here?" Jane asked a moment later.</p>
      <p>"It's that ship Sovereign. It omits some kind of signal. Undetectable, but it's there. I've seen the effects. Saren uses it to influence his followers, to control them; that's where the indoctrination comes from. Direct exposure to the signal turns you into a mindless slave like the Salarian test subjects. But there's collateral damage."</p>
      <p>"What do you mean by collateral damage?"</p>
      <p>Rana took a deep breath. "Sovereign's signal is <em>too</em> strong. Spend too much time near the ship and you feel it like a tingle in the back of the skull. It's like a whisper you can't quite hear. You're compelled to do things, but you don't know why, you just obey. Eventually you just stop thinking for yourself. It happens to everyone at the facility. My first subject is the man I replaced. Now I just want to get out of here before it happens to me."</p>
      <p>"Why is Saren researching this? Isn't he the one controlling it?"</p>
      <p>"The signal comes from the ship." Rana confirmed. "It makes us obey Saren, but I don't think he controls it; not exactly. I think he's scared it might be affecting him. Indoctrination is subtle by the time the effects become noticeable, it's usually too late."</p>
      <p>Hearing this bit of news was rather troubling, furthering what information they previously knew beforehand.</p>
      <p>"But recently… it's gotten worse. Terrifying honestly." Rana said with a genuinely frightened voice.</p>
      <p>"How?"</p>
      <p>"Those dark creatures that Saren has been working with recently." Rana said. "I don't know if he's seen me but I've noticed this black shroud around him a few times whenever he brings out those creatures from <em>nowhere.</em> They're terrifying. They appear whenever and wherever their powers defy all logic. It might as well be called magic."</p>
      <p>"The Heartless." Roxas and Xion said in unison.</p>
      <p>"The Heartless?"</p>
      <p>"That's the name of those dark creatures you mentioned that Saren seems to command now."</p>
      <p>"They are drawn to the Darkness in his heart." Roxas added.</p>
      <p>"And he's playing with fire." Axel tacked on. "Sooner or later, the darkness will swallow and consume his entire being and Heart."</p>
      <p>Rana couldn't quite understand but it was enough to pile on the growing fear she had in being here.</p>
      <p>"So Saren's playing with the darkness and getting even more corrupted." Shepard said in a grim tone.</p>
      <p>Garrus released a frustrated moan. "Fuuuck! I don't want to deal with <em>another</em> Benezia."</p>
      <p>"Yes, yes." Rana muttered. "Benezia was also having unusual dark shrouds surrounding her a few times when I saw her. I thought they were Biotics but with Saren getting them…"</p>
      <p>This was reason enough for Shepard to make her decision. "There's one thing to do now. I'm going to blow this place up to hell and back." She then looked at the asari before them. "If you want to make it out alive, you better start running now and fast.</p>
      <p>This got Rana to panic. "W-What? You can't… but… I'll never-"</p>
      <p>In an instant she ran off screaming.</p>
      <p>Shepard watched as the Asari fled with all her might until she felt a weight upon her shoulder. Looking over, she saw the coy smirk of Axel.</p>
      <p>"You enjoyed that, didn't you?"</p>
      <p>"I will neither confirm nor deny this scandalous accusation." Shepard mockingly defended herself.</p>
      <p>Seeing Shepard walk off, Axel and Garrus soon look at each other and chorused the same response.</p>
      <p>"She did."</p>
      <p>"I heard that."</p>
      <p>"You were supposed to." Garrus retorted.</p>
      <p>Stitch ended up releasing a howling laughter with Tali shaking her head in amusement. Xion and Roxas, however, merely shrugged or shook their head as they couldn't really get the joke.</p>
      <p>Taking the elevator up to Saren's private lab, the group wondered what they might encounter. There could be some security that not even Rana knew about.</p>
      <p>When they entered the lab, they saw it was large enough to house two sets of catwalk balconies. The top row was filled with red illuminated computer panels attached to the wall on one rise. When they looked at the lower balcony-</p>
      <p>"Look." Garrus pointed out. "It's another Prothean Beacon."</p>
      <p>"Just like on Eden Prime." Shepard muttered out.</p>
      <p>Nearby, the Nobodies looked at what appeared to be a black obelisk, glowing faint green lines with an eerie green mist surrounding it.</p>
      <p>"Huh, so that's what a Prothean Beacon looks like." Tali noted.</p>
      <p>"Stay back everyone." Shepard ordered, moving forward.</p>
      <p>"What're ya doin?" Axel asked, confused by Jane reaching her hands out to the beacon.</p>
      <p>Rather than answering, Jane placed her hands upon the Beacons' controls and once more floated up into the air with her mind being assailed with various visions and images.</p>
      <p>This time they were harder, sharper and much faster.</p>
      <p>
        <em>Metal tearing flesh.</em>
      </p>
      <p>
        <em>Flesh being replaced by metal.</em>
      </p>
      <p>
        <em>Screams filling the air all over as things were forming.</em>
      </p>
      <p>
        <em>And once more, she was greeted with a darkness covered planet with the crustacean-styled ship she saw back on Eden Prime coming right out of it.</em>
      </p>
      <p>
        <em>Why?</em>
      </p>
      <p>
        <em>Why was this happening?</em>
      </p>
      <p>
        <em>AND FOR WHAT PURPOSE?!</em>
      </p>
      <p>"Whoa, what's happening?!" Axel asked in shock.</p>
      <p>"Is she ok?" Xion asked in great concern, moving forward to reach for her only for Garrus to hold her back.</p>
      <p>"Don't worry, she's fine." Garrus assured. "Sort of. She just needs to do this."</p>
      <p>"Why?"</p>
      <p>"We might get clues to what Saren is after." Tali answered, Shepard dropping to the ground a moment later.</p>
      <p>The team moved to surround her with Garrus and Roxas assisting her to her feet.</p>
      <p>"Are you alright, Shepard?" Roxas asked, helping Shepard to remain stable.</p>
      <p>"Yeah. This time it wasn't as bad as the first."</p>
      <p>"Did you see anything that could help us find the Conduit?"</p>
      <p>Closing her eyes, she focused with all her might, only to find some disappointment. "It's not clear just yet. There seems to be something missing." Opening her green eyes up, she looked towards Tali and Stitch. "Alright, this lab no doubt has the indoctrination data you couldn't get before. Hack it and get what we need."</p>
      <p>"Right."</p>
      <p>With Tali and Stitch heading towards a nearby console, they began to work. It took about a minute of work, but they were able to retrieve what they additionally came here for.</p>
      <p>The moment the transfer was completed, a large and red holographic image materialized over the front of the room.</p>
      <p>Spotting this, Garrus voiced his hinted concern. "I've got the feeling that something bad is gonna happen."</p>
      <p>"You're tellin' me." Axel muttered out.</p>
      <p>The rest of shadow team made their way towards the hologram. It was there that Jane saw it was rather familiar. It was the same crustacean-styled ship she saw back on Eden Prime. Now that they know what this is the actual flagship Saren traveled on with its name being Sovereign.</p>
      <p>It was from this very hologram that something unexpected happened.</p>
      <p>"<em><strong>You are not Saren." </strong></em>The voice was deep and metallic with a rumble to it.</p>
      <p>"Spirits, what is this?" Garrus murmured.</p>
      <p>"This supposed to be some kind of VI that you guys have back on the Normandy and on the Citadel?" Axel inquired, squinting his eyes at the squid-like holo transmission.</p>
      <p>"<em><strong>Rudimentary creatures of blood and flesh. You touch my mind, fumbling in ignorance, incapable of understanding."</strong></em></p>
      <p>"I don't think this is a VI." Tali said with an uncomfortable feeling welling within her gut. Stitch crawled up on her shoulder and growled savagely at the transmission.</p>
      <p>"<em><strong>There is a realm of existence so far beyond your own you cannot even imagine it. I am beyond your comprehension. I am Sovereign."</strong></em></p>
      <p>"Ah, so he's an asshole." Axel surmised in finality with Garrus snorting a moment later, all pretenses of trepidation and fear being abruptly abandoned.</p>
      <p>"A really big asshole." The Turian couldn't help but add.</p>
      <p>Shepard ignored the joking banter, which failed to relieve some of the rising tension in the lab. And it was from her did she come to a conclusion. "Sovereign isn't just some Reaper ship Saren found. It's an actual Reaper!"</p>
      <p>"<em><strong>Reaper? A label created by the Protheans to give voice to their destruction. In the end, what they choose to call us is irrelevant. We simply are."</strong></em></p>
      <p>"Well, guess we could add douche to the growing list of descriptions." Axel deadpanned.</p>
      <p>Roxas soon blurted out what quickly came to mind. "But didn't the Protheans vanish 50,000 years ago? You couldn't have been there, right?"</p>
      <p>"<em><strong>Organic life is nothing but a genetic mutation, an accident. Your lives are measured in years and decades. You wither and die. We are eternal. The pinnacle of evolution and existence. Before us, you are nothing. Your extinction is inevitable. We are the end of everything."</strong></em></p>
      <p>"There is an entire galaxy of races united and ready to face you!" Jane declared fiercely.</p>
      <p>"<em><strong>Confidence born of ignorance. The Cycle cannot be broken."</strong></em></p>
      <p>The way in which Sovereign said it was rather dismissive.</p>
      <p>"Break the cycle?" Xion asked. "What Cycle?"</p>
      <p>"<em><strong>The pattern has repeated itself more times than you fathom. Organic civilizations rise, evolve, advance. And at the apex of their glory, they are extinguished. The Protheans were not the first. They did not create the Citadel. They did not forge the Mass Relays. They merely found them, the legacy of my kind."</strong></em></p>
      <p>Shepard shook her head. "Why would you construct the Mass Relays then leave them for someone else to find?"</p>
      <p>"<em><strong>Your civilization is based on the technology of the Mass Relays: our technology. By using it, your society develops along the path we desire. We impose order on the chaos of organic evolution. You exist because we allow it and you will end because we demand it."</strong></em></p>
      <p>Upon hearing this, Shepard remembered her conversation with Liara on what Della gave on her opinion on their galaxy. The odd limits of technology, how young each species were in comparison to each world out there, their odd rates of evolution.</p>
      <p>They were good, but nothing too serious to dwell her thoughts into.</p>
      <p>But now? Now things started to surface and click together in a horrifying result.</p>
      <p>"It's you…" Shepard said in realization. "You're the one's behind it all. Why technology stagnates to a point. Why everything is relied upon the Mass Relays and Element Zero. You've been controlling it all. All of it!"</p>
      <p>"<em><strong>Do you now understand the folly of your futile struggle against us?"</strong></em></p>
      <p>"Then what the hell do you want from us? Slaves? Resources? Or are we just going to be harvested? But what for?"</p>
      <p>These Reapers seem to let them grow to a stage to their liking and at its peak, they wipe them all out in some sort of harvest. Like breeding livestock and collecting what came from them overtime before slaughtering them for whatever else they could provide.</p>
      <p>But was there any further purpose for <em>that</em>?</p>
      <p>"<em><strong>We are beyond your comprehension and understanding. Beyond anything you will ever comprehend in your meager short existence. As stated before, organics wither and die. We are each a nation. Independent, free of all weaknesses. We are eternal."</strong></em></p>
      <p>"That is the biggest pot of bullshit I think I've ever heard in my <em>non-existence</em>." Axel abruptly spoke up, voice flat and unimpressed. "What sort of abstract of answer is that supposed to be?"</p>
      <p>It was there that the Reaper oddly and somehow gazed at the three former Organization XIII members before addressing them.</p>
      <p>"<em><strong>You three… are unnatural anomalies. You do not belong in this galaxy. We are incapable of understanding </strong></em><strong>what</strong><em><strong> you are. You are the ones that have brought forth the darkness of the unknown and have disrupted the cycle."</strong></em></p>
      <p>"Oh~? Have we now?" Axel cheekily asked. "I would say we're sorry but I prefer not to lie to self-aggrandizing assholes like yourself."</p>
      <p>"<em><strong>This changes nothing. The cycle will eventually right itself back onto the course that we have always intended."</strong></em></p>
      <p>"Hang on a second, you just said we disrupted the Cycle." Roxas chimed in, a small grin beginning to form. "How can you say that everything is still going according to plan when you just told us we derailed it?"</p>
      <p>"You can't take that back." Xion tacked on with a fierce expression.</p>
      <p>"<em><strong>We have no beginning. We have no end. We are infinite. Millions of years after your civilization has been eradicated and forgotten, we will endure."</strong></em></p>
      <p>"And <em>we</em>," Axel gestured to himself and his two closest friends. "Stem from the nothingness, the endless void that all eventually return to. How does it feel knowing three <em>Nobodies</em> went and messed up your plans without even trying?"</p>
      <p>Shepard narrowed her gaze at the red hologram. "Everything has a beginning <em><strong>and</strong></em> an ending, even you. And I think I know your beginning. You say that organics are a genetic mistake, but we both know that organics had to make you and the rest of your kind."</p>
      <p>That was rather obvious now that she thought about it. Anyone could've seen it if they put their mind to it.</p>
      <p>"<em><strong>What you both claim is irrelevant. Even if I fail, the rest shall accomplish in my stead."</strong></em></p>
      <p>"Then where are the rest of the Reapers?" Shepard asked a different question. "Are you the last of your kind or are there more?"</p>
      <p>"<em><strong>We are endless."</strong></em> Sovereign answered, but his next response was extremely unnerving.<em><strong> "The time of our return is coming. Our numbers will darken the sky of every world. You cannot escape your doom."</strong></em></p>
      <p>Shepard jabbed a finger at the hologram before them. "You're not even alive. Not really. You're just a machine. And machines can be broken."</p>
      <p>"So don't give us that crap on being eternal, you overgrown douche." Axel growled out. "Sooner or later, you'll be a heaping pile of scrapheap."</p>
      <p>"<em><strong>Your words are as empty as your future. I am the Vanguard of your destruction."</strong></em></p>
      <p>"Oh my god, enough with that crap." Axel threw his hands up. "You just admitted Xion, Roxas and I fucked up your little Cycle. So that means whatever bullshit plans you got can and <em>will </em>be stopped."</p>
      <p>Rather than giving the Reaper a chance to respond, he conjured forth his Chakram and flung it forward, destroying the transmission.</p>
      <p>Even with the hologram no longer present, they could still hear Sovereign one last time.</p>
      <p>"<em><strong>This exchange is over."</strong></em></p>
      <p>"Jeez, he just couldn't help but get the last word in." Axel said, rolling his eyes.</p>
      <p>Suddenly the windows on the far right were blasted out by a powerful force, like an explosion without any flames following.</p>
      <p>As the smoke cleared from the lab, Joker's voice blared through their comms. <em>"Commander, we got trouble!"</em></p>
      <p>"What's going on, Joker?" Jane responded straight away.</p>
      <p>Joker explained with a hint of distress in his voice. "That ship, Sovereign? It's moving. I don't know what you guys did down there but it just pulled a U-turn that would shear any one of our ships in half. It's coming your way and it's coming hard! You need to wrap things up down there <em>fast!"</em></p>
      <p>"There's nothing we can do here anymore." Tali said.</p>
      <p>"Have any ideas, Shepard?" Garrus asked.</p>
      <p>"Let's get to the 'breeding facility'." Shepard ordered. "Joker can pick us up after we set the bomb."</p>
      <p>"Yeah." Axel added, fire flaring off his form. "And let's send this place straight to oblivion."</p>
      <p>As they left Saren's private lab, with the indoctrination data on hand, they encountered more Geth, Heartless and Krogan along their way to the cloning facility. The fight was long and hard, but they managed to make it to their destination.</p>
      <p>And through that area resided the intended bombsite.</p>
      <p>As this went on, the group occasionally listened in on the comms channel as the distraction team was bringing down the AA guns in order for the Normandy to deliver the intended payload.</p>
      <p>"<em>Shepard."</em> Liara called up, voice frantic. <em>"The Geth have turned tail and are headed for the base. You must've done something inside!"</em></p>
      <p>"What's the status of your group?" Jane inquired.</p>
      <p>"<em>We're holding out."</em> Liara responded. <em>"Roxas and Axel's Nobodies were Goddess-send. I nearly got overwhelmed by several large Heartless."</em></p>
      <p>The group pressed on, taking on multiple enemies and foes that were proving to be a formidable force in holding the team back.</p>
      <p>But the group's teamwork was starting to turn into a well-oiled machine with every member bouncing off each other to effectively take out that which blocked their way.</p>
      <p>Soon enough, they had reached the geothermal taps in time to see the Normandy land nearby with the cargo doors opening up. Coming down the ramp, a number of Normandy personnel along with Kaidan loaded off the make-shift nuclear device.</p>
      <p>"Alright, this baby is primed and loaded." Della said aloud from within the hangar. "Never thought I'd create something like this before but hey, saving an entire galaxy makes it worth it."</p>
      <p>"That's probably one off the bucket list, right?" Kaidan openly joked out.</p>
      <p>"Sad to say, but yes." Della snorted out. "Oh if my fellow Woodchuck scouts could see me now." The duck woman then barked out a laugh. "And Huey and Webby, H'boy they'll flip if they hear of this."</p>
      <p>As the ground team got the bomb set up…</p>
      <p>"You know this place will be swarming with Geth once they find out what we're doing, right?" Garrus pointed out.</p>
      <p>"That's what we're here for." Axel cockily said. "Army, remember?"</p>
      <p>With a flick of his hand, with Roxas joining in, more Assassins and Samurai appeared and were ordered by their masters to guard the bomb.</p>
      <p>"I just need to finish arming this damn thing." Kaidan said. "Rushed job after all."</p>
      <p>"Our Nobodies will keep you safe." Roxas assured.</p>
      <p>"I'll hold you to that." Kaidan said with an appreciative face.</p>
      <p>"We need to get moving." Shepard ordered.</p>
      <p>"Bombs in position, we're all set here." Kaidan said, smacking the bomb for added emphasis.</p>
      <p>"<em>Commander, can you read me?" </em>Ash chimed in through the comms.</p>
      <p>"The nuke is almost ready." Said Shepard. "Get to the rendezvous point, Williams!"</p>
      <p>Ashley's reply was not so optimistic. <em>"Negative, Commander. The Geth are starting to pin us down at the AA tower and the Heartless are coming in droves. We're starting to take heavy casualties. Most of the Nobodies are gone and Kirrahe lost a quarter of his men. Liara is injured too."</em></p>
      <p>This got a lot of worried looks from the others present.</p>
      <p>"<em>We'll never make the rendezvous point on time."</em></p>
      <p>That single statement filled the entire team with dread. They realized that not one or two but <em>three</em> of their friends and comrades were in mortal peril.</p>
      <p>"Not if I have anything to say about it." Della yelled out, running back to the Normandy.</p>
      <p>"What are you doing?"</p>
      <p>"Getting them outta there." Della shouted without looking back.</p>
      <p>"But your ship-"</p>
      <p>"It's all good. Only thing that needs final repairs and touch ups is my Gummi-drive. I'll get them all outta there, promise."</p>
      <p>Shepard nodded on hearing this. "Then do what you need to, Della. We're counting on you."</p>
      <p>"Do you think Stitch should go with?"</p>
      <p>This got Garrus and Stitch to chuckle a little, a means of lightening the tense atmosphere.</p>
      <p>"Something we don't know, Vakarian?" Jane asked, not really in the mood for jokes with how tense the situation is.</p>
      <p>"Oh, just something Stitch and I have been doing to her armaments." Garrus said with Stitch vigorously nodding his head in agreement. "Trust us Shepard, Della is all we'll need to send to help out our friends."</p>
      <p>"If things go sideways, this is all on you." Shepard said in a sharp tone.</p>
      <p>This got Garrus to go serious. "Believe me, I completely understand. Especially when it comes to our friends."</p>
      <p>Stitch thumped his chest for added confirmation, a look of complete belief and determination.</p>
      <p>Shepard sighed, looking to Della who had stopped and waited on the Commander.</p>
      <p>"Get them the hell out of there."</p>
      <p>Della nodded, resuming her run to the Normandy, re-entering the ship.</p>
      <p>It didn't take long before her Gummi-ship thrusted right out of the hangar, soaring in the sky with her thrusters screeching all around.</p>
      <p>"In the meantime," Shepard then radioed to Joker. "Joker. Help Della out as much as you can. After that, pick us up."</p>
      <p>"<em>You got it."</em></p>
      <p>A moment later, the Normandy returned to the skies, flying over to where the rest of their friends were fighting.</p>
      <p>"What now?" Axel asked.</p>
      <p>"Up to the AA tower, hopefully we can get there in time. Move!"</p>
      <p>However, the team didn't get far at all.</p>
      <p>"Look out!" Kaidan shouted.</p>
      <p>A large biotic sphere shrouded in darkness came down from above and struck the ground in between the team having them fly back from the small shockwave that came from the attack.</p>
      <p>Looking up, the group saw none other than Saren himself coming down via a floating platform. His body was aglow with his Biotics as well as emanating the darkness similar to that of the Heartless. The Rogue Spectre began flinging out more Dark Biotic spheres at the scattered group with the team scrambling back to their feet and barely avoiding the attacks.</p>
      <p>Roxas and Xion had managed to even swat aside the spheres with their Keyblades drawing the ire of the Turian.</p>
      <p>He unleashed a barrage of Biotics with the duo managing to effectively repel the onslaught until they were both ensnared in a stasis.</p>
      <p>The Spectre held a savage grin in place when his platform was rocked by two large fireballs that collided with it from below.</p>
      <p>It knocked the Rogue Spectre off though he utilized his Biotics to land safely.</p>
      <p>Saren barely turned around in time to throw up a means of a defensive Biotic barrier to defend himself from Axel who had glided around the area to get right behind the Turian.</p>
      <p>"<em>BURN!"</em></p>
      <p>Axel flung his chakrams forward, the flaming weapons breaking through the shield and burning Saren's armor.</p>
      <p>Letting out a strangle shout of pain, Saren unleashed a darkness powered Biotic wave that sent the fiery Nobody sailing back.</p>
      <p>Axel however landed on his feet but was immediately assailed with multiple Shadows, Neoshadows and Darkballs.</p>
      <p>"The hell?!"</p>
      <p>"He really can control them!" Xion exclaimed.</p>
      <p>Saren, in the meantime, turned to address Shepard who had just destroyed a Neoshadow and was now firing at him though it did nothing.</p>
      <p>"I must applaud this brilliant ruse, Shepard." Saren called out to her mockingly. "My Geth were completely convinced that the Salarian team was the main threat. Not at all this infiltration team that's about to meet its end."</p>
      <p>The Turian let out what was his species version of a sneer. "Of course it was all for nothing. You and your team shall not disrupt what I have accomplished here. You have no idea what's at stake."</p>
      <p>"Why do this? Why do <em>any </em>of this?" Jane asked aloud.</p>
      <p>"You of all people should already know that Shepard." Saren ranted on. "You know what the Reapers are capable of and they cannot be stopped. You petty revolts and desperate attempts to fight for freedom mean nothing. The Protheans tried and failed, ending in their extinction."</p>
      <p>"That was their attempt." Garrus shouted, popping out of his cover only for several Surveillance Robots to appear before him and force him back into cover.</p>
      <p>"We will not follow down the path of the Protheans, Shepard." Saren said with a burning passion. "Is submission that much worse than extinction?"</p>
      <p>"We just heard from Sovereign." Shepard retorted. "They've been doing this for millions of years. You think other "Cycles" hadn't tried that before?"</p>
      <p>"Yeah and in case you haven't realized it yet, but this "Cycle" of theirs has been disrupted!" Axel said allowed, jumping out from his own cover with his fiery Chakrams incinerating the Heartless that surrounded him. "By yours truly."</p>
      <p>"And us." Roxas and Xion declared, swatting away the Heartless that were close to them.</p>
      <p>"Ah, the unknown elements." Saren taunted. "Sovereign warned me about you. Of course you freaks wouldn't understand. Can you not see it? We are ruled by emotion, fighting an unwinnable battle. But if we were to work with the Reapers-"</p>
      <p>"Well that's where I think the three of us are safe." Axel said with a large grin. "We're Nobodies. We have no Hearts, thus no <em>emotions</em>. But stubbornness? You don't need to be alive to have that in spades."</p>
      <p>"Your drivel matters not." Saren said, darkness sprouting from him. "Soon, the Reapers will come and when they do, I'll make sure of our survival. I've studied their indoctrination, how they go about it. My mind is still my own and I shall be the one to deliver the Conduit to them and prevent the extinction of this galaxy!"</p>
      <p>As Saren spoke, the darkness surrounding him flared up more and more with Shadows now beginning to appear around him.</p>
      <p>"You're insane if you think working for the Reapers is gonna save <em>any </em>of us." Jane called out to him. "Haven't you noticed that every Cycle was hunted down to Extinction? For millions of years? I don't think it's impossible to consider the notion that what you're suggesting hasn't been attempted before."</p>
      <p>"And if these Reapers don't get to you…" Axel's began to call upon his fire once more. "The Heartless will."</p>
      <p>"These creatures?" Saren scoffed, gesturing to the Heartless around him that were joined by Wyverns and Darkballs. "They fought against me but now they bend to my will."</p>
      <p>"Then you're really as stupid as you look." Roxas barked out with an intense glare. "The Heartless <em>will</em> consume you no matter what you try."</p>
      <p>"Then I see there is no point in reasoning with you all." Saren declared.</p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>-Insert Vim and Vigor: Kingdom Hearts 2 Soundtrack-</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>The intensity of the Darkness surrounding Saren increased tenfold.</p>
      <p>"You shall all fall beneath my boot here and now." Saren said with a crazed edge to his voice.</p>
      <p>Behind the rogue Spectre, the purplish-black cloud wafted back and formed into a shape of its own.</p>
      <p>It began to coalesce together, two sickly yellow eyes opening within the malleable shadows. Eventually, a proper body was created.</p>
      <p>The Heartless that stood behind Saren was one with a dark purple and black body with dark magenta spikes running down its back, as well as a "mane" of dark magenta tentacles around its head. The tail has a dark magenta tip, and the Heartless sports four purple claws on each of its four legs. The Heartless also sports a jagged mouth, blue markings on its face and body, and chains around its forelegs. Its body is rather long and thin yet held a hulking mass to it at the same time.</p>
      <p>This Heartless was like a Dark Hide of its creator, a sense of malice radiating off of its form.</p>
      <p>And if this new Heartless wasn't bad enough…</p>
      <p>"Geth dropship incoming!" Tali shouted, pointing upwards.</p>
      <p>True to Tali's words, a large Geth Cruiser flew overhead and in came a rain of Geth falling in from above.</p>
      <p>Troopers, Drones, Juggernauts, Armatures, Stalker, Colossus and all.</p>
      <p>"You will all <em>fall!" </em>Saren stepped back, a new platform forming beneath his feet.</p>
      <p>"Keelah." Tali whispered in utter dread at the amount of enemies they were facing.</p>
      <p>"Alright, two can play at that game." Axel growled out and with Roxas, both conjured even more Samurai and Assassins to join the ranks that they had called for earlier.</p>
      <p>"Your will to keep fighting is to be admired." Saren taunted, holding his hand out as a gesture for his forces to charge. "Were it not so foolhardy."</p>
      <p>The Geth and Heartless ran forward with the opposing side firing everything they had at them.</p>
      <p>The Nobodies moved about in their manner, quickly taking down multiple Heartless with them targeting the Geth as well.</p>
      <p>The large Dark Hide stalked forward, with its eyes flashing red until it quite literally vanished before everyone's eyes. Water within the area splashed about to signify the Dark Hide had jumped up and landed somewhere to keep itself out of sight and sound from its enemies.</p>
      <p>"What the-"</p>
      <p>"Focus people." Shepard shouted, firing rapidly at every Heartless and Geth she could target with her Biotic rifle practically exploding with energy.</p>
      <p>The others were also utilizing their specially made weapons to their fullest effect as the Heartless and Geth attacked from all sides.</p>
      <p>The Normandy Marine personnel that were also deployed along with Kaidan were fighting to their limit. Thankfully, the Nobodies were assisting them.</p>
      <p>Until they were abruptly crushed beneath an unseen force, the force in which killed them instantaneously.</p>
      <p>Red eyes appeared and soon after, the rest of the Dark Hide materialized.</p>
      <p>Roxas immediately charged forward, brandishing his Keyblade by his side and grasped it with both hands.</p>
      <p>The Dark Hide turned to its enemy and screeched out in challenge.</p>
      <p>Getting close, Roxas instantly went for a sliding dodge as the Heartless swiped at him with his claws. Stopping right below its jaw, Roxas jumped into a rising uppercut slash which struck the Heartless dead on.</p>
      <p>It reared its head back before making the snap sudden movement to spin around in a 360 circle with the tail smacking Roxas away.</p>
      <p>Roxas grit his teeth in pain but managed a quick air recovery, going in for another attack.</p>
      <p>The Dark Hide was ready to counter when Xion cast a powerful Thundaga spell, large bolts raining down upon the Heartless to momentarily paralyze it.</p>
      <p>It could only take the hits Roxas delivered until it expunged a wave of fiery darkness that sent Roxas flying back once more.</p>
      <p>The Heartless leaped into the air, curled into itself and whirled to the ground into a crushing shockwave. This caused anything within its radius to get sent back with some receiving pain.</p>
      <p>With it back on all fours, the Dark Hide coughed out several dark energy balls and fireballs at its present combatants, causing them to either maneuver out of the way or do their best to rebound the attack back to sender.</p>
      <p>Shepard was busy concentrating on Saren, constantly trying to bring the bastard down from his flying dark platform. Stitch was assisting her, always by the Commanders side as he blasted away with his specially made weapons until he was tackled away by a dive-bombing Wyvern.</p>
      <p>Shepard wanted to turn and assist her small friend but she knew the little guy was strong and resilient so it would only be a matter of time till he gets back to her side.</p>
      <p>She failed to notice the gigantic dark fireball headed straight for her.</p>
      <p>Axel however intercepted the fire, casually holding up his Chakram and absorbed the flames with ease.</p>
      <p>Jane briefly glanced back to Axel and gave him a quick nod of thanks with him just smirking in return.</p>
      <p>Looking forward, Axel ran towards the closest Geth and Heartless cluster, several of his Assassins moving to assist him.</p>
      <p>Garrus and Kaidan fought beside each other, the latter providing their primary means of defense and crowd control to make sure they had their breathing room.</p>
      <p>The Turian in the meantime was able to test out a new trick shot he had been developing with his gun. Utilizing the scope that has been enhanced with synthesis items thanks to Mosh, he had his scope that was connected to his eye piece.</p>
      <p>Quickly marking a dozen enemies, he fired a large beam of sorts that struck a Heartless, staggering and damaging it. The shot, rather than dissipating there and then, astonishingly bounced off its first victim and went on to hit a Geth Juggernaut that had also been marked by Garrus.</p>
      <p>The beam shot proceeded to move about the area at rapid speeds, hitting every single marked target by Garrus until all twelve were destroyed.</p>
      <p>"Nice." Kaidan praised, firing his biotic burst rifle at a cluster of Heartless. The Biotic shot became a large sphere that encapsulated the small bunch and were destroyed by Tali who had unleashed a powerful upgraded set of Omni-Bolts.</p>
      <p>Roxas, Xion and Axel all the while tangoed with the Dark Hide that was proving to be a more formidable opponent then they had anticipated.</p>
      <p>It was much faster than it appeared to be, jumping about from spot to spot, sometimes leaving trails of fire in its wake. Nothing Axel couldn't take care of thankfully.</p>
      <p>The main problem was its relentless nature, constantly on the move or the attack with the trio of Greater Nobodies having to constantly switch up their means in which to fight against the Heartless.</p>
      <p>Roxas and Axel ran at it from both sides, Xion coming in from above.</p>
      <p>The boys utilized their affinities in tandem, throwing their weapons forward whilst Xion was coming down from on high, Keyblade first.</p>
      <p>Tapping in slightly to her more inner power, she unleashed a small variation of her Magic Hour, firing a multitude of tiny spears of light that were infused with Fire, Ice, Wind and Lightning.</p>
      <p>The small bombardment coupled with the dual attacks from Roxas and Axel greatly damaged the Dark Hide.</p>
      <p>But it refused to fall so easily.</p>
      <p>The Dark Hide snarled at the Nobodies, not giving them the satisfaction of defeat though they were undeterred.</p>
      <p>"Alright, if you wanna play it like that." Axel said in response to seeing the Dark Hides resilient defiance.</p>
      <p>Axel threw his arms up horizontal, Chakrams bursting into flames.</p>
      <p>A moment later, Axel threw them forward with the balls of fire circling around the Dark Hides body and burning multiple portions of it.</p>
      <p>It screeched aloud in pain, desperately shaking its body about in an attempt to rid the chakrams that were damaging it.</p>
      <p>Roxas and Xion then went on the attack once again, the former having his form briefly flashing in a white light as they charged forward in their efforts to bring the rampaging Heartless down.</p>
      <p>As this went on, the remainder of shadow team and Kaidan had to switch back and forth between fighting against Saren, the Geth and the Heartless. The lesser Nobodies were of some help to turn the tide to some degree, but with the Dark Hide Heartless fighting the three Nobodies not far away, things started to bleed into one another.</p>
      <p>Shockwaves, dark energy balls and fireballs entered their area and were making things rather difficult. The lesser Nobodies came in to defend the remainder of the Normandy party, but were quickly destroyed by the Dark Hide's assault.</p>
      <p>It was during this whole bout did their comms flare to life with their avian friend reporting in.</p>
      <p>"<em>I've got everyone I can onboard."</em> Della said over their comms. <em>"Ground team and what remains of Kirrahe's men. Though the latter ones are no doubt freaking out on seeing me."</em></p>
      <p>"Then get the hell out of there and into orbit." Shepard barked out. "Tell Joker to come to our location now!"</p>
      <p>"<em>But-"</em></p>
      <p>"NOW DELLA!"</p>
      <p>Shepard was then knocked back, courtesy of Saren's biotic attack.</p>
      <p>"You need to stop this, Saren." Shepard gritted out. "There's still time to help us!" She rolled out of the way from another biotic attack. "Just tell us what the Conduit is!"</p>
      <p>"The Conduit is the key to your destruction and my salvation. Sovereign needs my help to find it." Said the rogue Spectre, firing his assault weapon at the N7 marine. "That is the only reason why I have not been indoctrinated."</p>
      <p>"That's bullshit and you know it!" Shepard retorted, throwing some grenades as a little distraction before firing her biotic shots at him through the cover of smoke. "You've already been indoctrinated! The minute you joined him, you lost whatever free will you had!"</p>
      <p>"NO!" Saren argued, shields flaring from Shepard's recent attack on him. "Sovereign needs me. If I find the Conduit, I and those who I chose will be promised a reprieve from the inevitable. Join me and-"</p>
      <p>"Will you shut up and listen to me!" Shepard kept running all over to avoid the fight commencing around her with Garrus giving her supporting fire. "You were a Spectre, one of the best. You helped protect this galaxy from so many threats out there. You can do that again here and now and fight the Reapers off before it's too late!"</p>
      <p>Saren, however, shook his head as he threw a darkened biotic strike at her and Garrus.</p>
      <p>"The visions I have cannot be denied. The Reapers are too powerful. The only hope of survival is to join them." He said, backing away to analyze his present surroundings. "Sovereign is a machine. It thinks like a machine. If I can prove my value, I become a maintaining resource. There is no other logical conclusion!"</p>
      <p>"This isn't about logic!" Garrus barked out, tossing some grenades near Saren's location to hopefully get him off balance from the eventual explosion. "Can't you even see what you're doing?"</p>
      <p>"Of course I do. I'm forging an alliance between us and the Reapers, between organics and machines. And in doing so, I will save more lives than ever have existed." Saren thrusted an accusing finger at them. "But you and your crew are undoing everything that I'm accomplishing here! Dooming our entire civilization to complete annihilation. And for that, you all must die."</p>
      <p>Nothing else was said as their fight continued throughout this chaotic battlefield.</p>
      <p>As the fights went on, Tali was doing her best to avoid getting hit considerably by what remained of the Geth and the smaller Heartless. She had recently helped Kaidan out in taking down a couple of attackers pinning him down. And she was about to move elsewhere when her gut was struck by the Dark Hide's tail whip, sending her flailing into the air and crashing into the watery ground helmet first.</p>
      <p>Kaidan, who saw this, yelled out in alarm.</p>
      <p>"TALI!"</p>
      <p>Upon hearing Kaidan's yell, the two Keybearers broke their attention away from their larger opponent and saw what became of their Quarian friend.</p>
      <p>Seeing their reaction, Axel called out to them. "Go to her, I can hold this bastard off!"</p>
      <p>Neither of the younger Nobodies gave a verbal response as Xion was instantly by her side with Roxas being there a moment later.</p>
      <p>Flipping her over to her back, Roxas gasped in horror at the sight of seeing Tali's helmet with a very large and noticeable crack growing exponentially.</p>
      <p>A piece of her helmet fell away for Roxas to be able to see her slightly dazed but very much terrified eye as she began to regain her bearings, realizing what had happened.</p>
      <p>"R-Roxas… X-Xion." her voice was strained and weak.</p>
      <p>From what they could see from her exposed face, her skin was extremely pale. No doubt due to a lifetime sealed away from the outside world. Her soft yellow eye with a black sclera was rapidly looking between the pair. And her breathing was accelerating as her air filters are not working due to her helmet's present condition.</p>
      <p>"Don't worry, we're getting you out of here." Xion assured with her tone clearly showing she was rather distressed.</p>
      <p>Roxas on the other hand was silent, his eyes wide and body completely frozen with his mind a blaze…</p>
      <p>And without question he felt his "heart" skip a beat.</p>
      <p>The sound of battle momentarily broke Roxas out of his stupor, the Nobody slowly turning behind him to see Axel fighting the Dark Hide head on whilst Kaidan supported him from afar. As for Stitch, he was still focusing on what remained of the present Geth as the last of the lesser Heartless were destroyed for the time being.</p>
      <p>Slowly, Roxas's vision began to turn red as light began emanating off of him in a much more intense and erratic fashion.</p>
      <p>He felt power beginning to erupt from his very being and without even realizing it, he was already sprinting forward.</p>
      <p>By the time he reached the Dark Hide, Light was practically exploding off of him.</p>
      <p>"YOU'RE DEAD!" Roxas roared aloud, completely overtaken with rage.</p>
      <p>His Oathkeeper was enveloped in Light but the saber it produced was twice as large then usual with the energy practically radiating off of it in small wisps.</p>
      <p>Roxas unleashed a torrent of endless slashes and strikes that left visible gashes of light upon the Dark Hides body. It was screaming in complete agony as not only was it being assailed with Roxas' storm of attacks but after every slash came explosive pillars of light that added to the damage.</p>
      <p>It was being beaten back and whittled down with it thrashing about in a vain attempt at escaping the Keybearer who was relentless in his attack upon the Heartless.</p>
      <p>He eventually, with one mighty blow, destroyed the Dark Hide at long last.</p>
      <p>In the air, Roxas thrusted his Keyblade out and concentrated on the Dark Hide's form, which was spasming with odd overlapping colors of red, green and blue as it was rapidly trying to take him down. His form was encompassed with an aura of light, an orb of brightened light appearing at Oathkeeper's tip. Once at its capacity, he fired off whatever Shotlock attack he conjured.</p>
      <p>Instead of what he normally saw with his Ragnarok Shotlock with its multi-colored orbs, this one was of pure light and formed odd ethereal arrows.</p>
      <p>The arrows pierced through the Dark Hides body and at last, the Heartless was no more.</p>
      <p>However…</p>
      <p>It left one parting gift of its own.</p>
      <p>As this went on, the Dark Hides tail struck the nuke, sending it a good number of feet away from its planted placement.</p>
      <p>"Shit, the bomb!" Kaidan exclaimed in fear.</p>
      <p>Axel, who saw this happen, quickly came to the same conclusion that the Dark Hide's recent attack could've started the counter somehow.</p>
      <p>"Is the bomb okay?"</p>
      <p>Kaidan scrambled over to where the make-shift bomb was now at. Looking at the display, he paled upon what he got from the readings.</p>
      <p>"No, it's not! The timer started!"</p>
      <p>"Can you shut it off or at least delay it?" Axel questioned him.</p>
      <p>"I can't! It's on the emergency countdown now! We need to leave immediately!"</p>
      <p>"Where the hell is Joker with the Normandy?!" Garrus shouted.</p>
      <p>On the other side of the battlefield, Saren was stomping towards Shepard, who was scrambling towards her feet. She wasn't able to get up in time as the rogue Spectre ensnared her throat with his hands. She struggled to get free while being dragged through the water, even continuing once hoisted into the air.</p>
      <p>Saren was about to kill the human Spectre right then and there if he didn't feel this searing pain on his back.</p>
      <p>"GAH!"</p>
      <p>This caused Saren to drop Shepard as he stumbled forward. Whirling around, he saw Stitch quickly holstering his weapons before leaping right at him.</p>
      <p>The rogue Spectre was barely able to catch him yet was having an utter struggle holding him back. The little blue fur ball was snarling, thrashing and biting. It got to the point that he was overwhelmed as Stitch clenched onto his synthetic arm with all four of his arms, crushed it and ripped it off of his body.</p>
      <p>Saren's painful yell was heard within the vicinity.</p>
      <p>To add more insult to injury, Stitch was whacking Saren with his own arm a good number of times before one last one sent him flying back to the nearby wall.</p>
      <p>Gritting in pain, the rogue Spectre was glaring at Stitch with murderous intent as he was getting back onto his feet.</p>
      <p>"You little abomination!" Saren snarled, clenching his stump where his synthetic arm used to be.</p>
      <p>Stitch, however, spat out a response with a growing smirk. "Stupid head."</p>
      <p>It was then did Saren hear the beeping.</p>
      <p>Snapping his head towards the source, his eyes bulged upon seeing an explosive placed on his organic arm.</p>
      <p>"No no no no!"</p>
      <p>With no other arm to help pry the explosive off, he whacked his remaining arm against the nearby wall in hopes of breaking it. Yet that soon failed as it exploded, causing flesh, bone and armor to splatter all over.</p>
      <p>"GAAAAAAAAAAH!"</p>
      <p>With losing both arms, Saren was now bleeding from his bloody stumps and no longer had a proper means to fight back and defend himself effectively.</p>
      <p>Not wanting to be captured here and there, he willed a number of Heartless to appear and distract his attacker so he may make his proper escape onto his hovercraft.</p>
      <p>"Dammit!" Shepard cried out, being forced to fight off the Heartless that were summoned then being able to pursue Saren.</p>
      <p>It was at this point did the alarms flare to life.</p>
      <p>"Shepard!" Kaidan shouted from his position. "We need to get out of here <em>now!</em> The nukes been set to blow and I can't turn it off."</p>
      <p>"Fucking shit." Shepard growled, destroying the Heartless with Stitch moving to assist her. "Joker! We need your ass down here now! The whole place is set to blow!"</p>
      <p>She looked over to see Roxas with Xion around Tali with the sandy blond haired Nobody picking up the Quarian in a bridal carry. The Spectre's eyes widened in shock and fear at the sight of the slightly exposed face of Tali with her scared eye being visible to see for all.</p>
      <p>She didn't have time to dwell on it when she saw the Normandy come in from overhead, quickly lowering itself and the entry ramp for the team to run into the ship at full speed.</p>
      <p>Once in, the ramp closed up from behind, Shepard telling Joker to get them the hell away from Virmire whilst also telling Roxas to get Tali to Chakwas ASAP.</p>
      <p>The Nobody could only run with Xion right behind him and the Commander going straight to the cockpit, Garrus, Kaidan and Axel in tow. Stitch opted to go with Roxas and Xion.</p>
      <p>As they flew further and further away, the pilot of the Normandy received a horrifying notification.</p>
      <p>"Shepard!" Joker said in alarm. "I'm getting large radiation spikes!"</p>
      <p>The Spectre was looking over her pilot's seat, face becoming ashen.</p>
      <p>"No…" She whispered.</p>
      <p>"What's happening?" Axel asked, clearly nervous about the Commander's tone and expression.</p>
      <p>"The bomb's about to go off prematurely!" Kaidan informed, face falling. "We… we're not gonna make it."</p>
      <p>Axel was looking between the three humans, mind ablaze.</p>
      <p>"Seriously?! There's no way out of this?" Axel asked, getting no response.</p>
      <p>"Dammit." Axel threw his arm forward and concentrated though he was having a bit of a hard time. He was trying to open up a large Corridor of Darkness that would get them the hell outta here but to no avail.</p>
      <p>For one, Axel would be hard pressed in denying that he was feeling slightly exhausted from the mission they had just undertaken especially in fighting that large Heartless.</p>
      <p>Second, he had never created a Corridor so large that it would encompass an entire ship <em>filled</em> with people.</p>
      <p>And lastly, a nagging small voice of doubt made him hesitate as really, there was the serious chance of the Normandy and her crew being taken in by Darkness.</p>
      <p>So really, they were facing a no-win situation.</p>
      <p>Joker, recognizing their plight quickly spoke into the intercoms.</p>
      <p>"Everyone, <em>hang on!"</em></p>
      <p>Roxas was standing in the Medbay, being right next to Tali as she was being given multiple immune boosters by Chakwas in an attempt to keep her healthy and stable.</p>
      <p>Xion was seated at her own table, slightly bandaged up herself with Stitch in her lap. Though she acquiesced to the bandages, once she knew Tali would be alright, a quick Cura spell would handle the rest of her injuries.</p>
      <p>They had heard the message from the intercoms and could only stand there and wait when suddenly.</p>
      <p>"What the-"</p>
      <p>Roxas' Keyblade abruptly flashed into his hand.</p>
      <p>Bewildered by its sudden appearance, Roxas felt the Keyblade suddenly shift about and then pointed in a random direction angled upward.</p>
      <p>But this random direction wasn't random at all.</p>
      <p>The Oathkeeper was pointed directly in the direction of the Normandy's flight deck and it's intended flight path.</p>
      <p>Chakwas was bewildered by this sudden action.</p>
      <p>"Roxas, what-"</p>
      <p>The doctors question was cut off as the Keyblades form started to brighten, to the point of becoming blinding.</p>
      <p>From outside of the Normandy, what appeared to be a Corridor composed of white and blue swirling light, suddenly formed some distance away from the ship.</p>
      <p>"What in the world?"</p>
      <p>Seeing this, Joker didn't have a proper response time as the Normandy went right through it just as the Nuke went off.</p>
      <p>The resulting blast wasn't able to reach the Corridor of Light in time as it quickly closed itself off. The blast wave soon went past where the Corridor disappeared from and traveled onward.</p>
      <p>From Virmire's orbit, those within the Spear of Selene SR-2, who had witnessed all this, could only wonder what happened to the Normandy and her crew as they weren't able to see what became of them.</p>
      <p>All they could wonder was whether they were able to make it out alive or not as the Alliance ship wasn't seen for a long while afterwards.</p>
      <p>While most would ask what in the world that was, the pilot of the Spear of Selene recognized the phenomenon immediately and only had one question on her mind.</p>
      <p>Where in the galaxy was the Normandy sent off to?</p>
      <p>
        <strong>Alright, another one has been taken care of with a cliffhanger to boot.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Where oh where could the Normandy have gone?</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Well, that's for all of you to find out come the next chapter of this story cause I think you guys are gonna love it.</strong>
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      <p>
        <strong>Jebest4781: We won't spoil it here and now as it would be a dead giveaway. So unless you can quickly pick up on the written clues, you readers could probably guess on what occurred.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>FMW: Yeah, let's just say it's a special place in a manner of speaking that's really gonna expand the mind of all those involved save for a few. Next chapter is gonna be exciting to say the least cause it's one J and I have been waiting to do for some time. We planned it out from the very beginning. So boy and girls, tutorials over. Now we're getting into the madness of it all.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Rate Read and Review and as Always Have Nice Day.</strong>
      </p>
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<a name="section0016"><h2>16. The Etherium</h2></a>
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      <p>
        <strong>The reviews have had many guesses and suggestions as to where the Normandy had ended up in and well… it's time for the reveal.</strong>
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      <p>
        <strong>I don't think I need say much other than this is a place that I've always wanted to go to in a KH game and now, we get to do it here.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>I think for those of you who will read the opener, it'll be enough to get the message across.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Rate Read and Review and as Always Have Nice Day.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>I'm Nobody Chapter 16: The Etherium</p>
      <p>The cosmos that was the backdrop for this voyage was as endless as it was inviting. Cosmic clouds littered the landscape as did the stars far beyond in the distance.</p>
      <p>Through this cosmos, a ship drifted across the endless cosmos.</p>
      <p>"<em>On the clearest of nights when the winds of the Etherium were calm and peaceful…"</em></p>
      <p>The ship was large, looking old and Victorian in appearance. It's thrusters/engines were steady as it charted its course through the Etherium.</p>
      <p>"<em>The great merchant ships with their cargoes of Arcturian sura crystals felt safe and secure. Little did they suspect that they were pursued by…"</em></p>
      <p>Following closely behind however was a smaller, more mobile ship that quickly gained upon the larger vessel.</p>
      <p>"<em>Pirates!"</em></p>
      <p>The crew of the smaller ship were roaming about, preparing for their assault on the larger one with one individual analyzing their target.</p>
      <p>"<em>And the most feared of all these pirates was the notorious Captain Nathaniel Flint"</em></p>
      <p>The tall man was an alien with a long snout and six eyes, looking over to his crew.</p>
      <p>"<em>Fire!"</em></p>
      <p>The pirate ships blasted the large merchant vessel with its cannons, the denizens inside frightened and terrified by the sudden attack. All the while, the guards rushed to defense of the ship, firing at the pirates.</p>
      <p>"<em>Like a Candarian zap-wing overtaking its prey, Flint and his band of renegades swooped in out of nowhere."</em></p>
      <p>However, the pirates proved to be too fierce and overwhelmed the ship in a matter of minutes.</p>
      <p>Soon after, the multitude of chests that held the hordes of treasures by the merchant vessels were now being held within the manically laughing hands of Nathaniel Flint.</p>
      <p>The pirate ship pivoted away, flying at full speeds as the Merchant Vessel burned. As it flew away, a green light encompassed the ship...</p>
      <p>"<em>And then, gathering up their spoils… vanished without a trace."</em></p>
      <p>Across the cosmos, Captain Flint continued his raids, hoarding his treasures until...</p>
      <p>"<em>Flint's secret trove was never found, but stories have persisted that it remains hidden somewhere at the farthest reaches of the galaxy stowed with riches beyond imagination- the loot of a thousand worlds: Treasure Planet."</em></p>
      <p>"<em>There are nights when the winds of the Etherium are so inviting in their promise of freedom and flight that made one's spirit </em><em><strong>Soar</strong></em><em>."</em></p>
      <p>
        <em>-Scene Cut-</em>
      </p>
      <p>The Normandy SR1 sailed through the seemingly endless array of white and blue for what felt like days.</p>
      <p>In reality, it was only a few hours since entering this endless tunnel of lights.</p>
      <p>The crew of the Normandy had no idea as to what had happened.</p>
      <p>All they can surmise was that they had survived the nuclear detonation that had gone off at Virmire, otherwise they wouldn't be here right about now.</p>
      <p>Whilst everyone else was basically trying to figure out what in the world happened, Roxas was sitting by the side of Tali who was still laying in her bed and being treated by Chakwas. He hadn't moved since, watching intently at the sight of his friends face who he had never seen before.</p>
      <p>Tali's face was pale-ish white with a very slightly noticeable violet tint. She came across as looking practically completely human save for the two lines that started at the edge of her brows towards the center of her heads that trailed upwards in the opposite direction.</p>
      <p>There she remained, silent and unmoving with only deep breaths from the medical, ventilation mask to signify that she was still alive and hopefully well.</p>
      <p>It was beyond nerve racking to see someone he called a close friend in such a vulnerable state.</p>
      <p>"Hey Roxas."</p>
      <p>He tilted his head slightly to see Xion standing next to him, the girl looking at Tali with clear worry upon her face.</p>
      <p>"How is she?" She asked softly.</p>
      <p>Roxas only looked forward, expression somber and forlorn.</p>
      <p>"She's still sleeping." Roxas said in a whisper, Xion barely being able to hear him.</p>
      <p>Wordlessly, Xion placed a hand upon Roxas' shoulder which made him look up to her entirely with the two locking eyes until they both turned back to their friend.</p>
      <p>"There you two are."</p>
      <p>They didn't need to look up to know who it was that had entered the medbay.</p>
      <p>"Hey Axel." Both said in a despondent manner.</p>
      <p>"Geez, didn't know I'd get such a depressed greeting." Axel remarked, though he wasn't an idiot as to why.</p>
      <p>He walked around them both, standing on the opposite end of the hospital bed, gazing at his two friends rather than the comrade still resting and recovering.</p>
      <p>"You know she won't be going anywhere anytime soon." Axel said after a few moments of silence. "We've all seen how tough she is."</p>
      <p>"We know." Roxas muttered. "I… I just want to be there for her."</p>
      <p>Axel frowned. "She won't blame you for leaving her side. You do need to eat, rest and use the restroom at some point."</p>
      <p>"Chakwas is resting." Roxas said. "I promised I'd look after her and call her if anything."</p>
      <p>"You know, her being the ship's doctor, I'm amazed she didn't force either of you two to take a breather yourselves." Axel said with a joking tone that didn't affect either of the two.</p>
      <p>Sighing, Axel gazed down at Tali, taking in her features noting how she basically looked human for all intents and purposes.</p>
      <p>"She holdin' up alright?"</p>
      <p>Roxas shook his head. "I don't know. I'm not a doctor."</p>
      <p>Axel snorted. "That you are not. But you don't need to worry like this you know?"</p>
      <p>"What if she doesn't wake up?" Xion asked fearfully.</p>
      <p>"She will, alright. You guys will see." Axel said. "You think this is the type of crew where a light fever is gonna bring 'em down after what we've gone through?"</p>
      <p>Roxas and Xion shook their heads.</p>
      <p>"Well there ya have it." Axel declared. "Nothing to fret over."</p>
      <p>As they remained around Tali for a brief few seconds, yet another individual entered the medbay.</p>
      <p>"There ya are Kupo, I've been looking everywhere for ya."</p>
      <p>The trio of Nobodies looked over to see Mosh the Moogle in his own small variation of the Organization's black cloak floating over to them.</p>
      <p>"Mosh?" Axel quirked a brow at the Moogle that floated over to Roxas and Xion.</p>
      <p>Mosh momentarily gazed at Tali, gently floating down to land near her head.</p>
      <p>"How is she Kupo?" Mosh asked in a kind manner.</p>
      <p>"She's alive." Axel bluntly said. "We should be happy enough for that."</p>
      <p>Mosh nodded. "Agreed on that end, Kupo. But… I am unsure of whether or not this will help at all but," reaching behind, Mosh pulled out a golden teardrop glass. "Do you think this might help?"</p>
      <p>The three Nobodies blinked and recognized what was in the Moogles hand.</p>
      <p>It was an Elixir.</p>
      <p>Gently taking it out of Mosh's hand, Roxas gazed at it, looking between the item and Tali. Expression morphing into one of determination, using a sterile syringe, he retrieved some of the Elixir and injected it into Tali's IV drip.</p>
      <p>"Think this'll work?" Axel asked.</p>
      <p>"We have to give it a try." Roxas stated firmly.</p>
      <p>The transparent liquid soon shifted to a golden color as it traveled onward from the bag through the tube. It eventually entered the Quarian's bloodstream with a faint glow coming through the injection site before dying down.</p>
      <p>Though only a few seconds had passed, Tali suddenly inhaled deeply with Roxas jolting and immediately hovered over her in concern.</p>
      <p>At first, that's all that she did, exhaling calmly a moment later.</p>
      <p>However, a visibly unusual change happened right before their eyes. The pale face of the Quarian began to shift, getting a slightly prominent hue of violet.</p>
      <p>Tali's eyes cracked open, with the Quarian beginning to regain consciousness.</p>
      <p>Her medical, ventilation mask kept fogging up, due to her rapid breathing. Her head whipped around as her eyes moved frantically.</p>
      <p>"Easy, Tali, easy." Roxas's voice pierced through her panicked state.</p>
      <p>"R-Roxas?" Tali's voice was slightly raspy, panicked even. "Wh-What happened? Where are we?"</p>
      <p>"We're back on the Normandy." Roxas said calmly, a comforting hand on her shoulder to gently make sure she wouldn't sit up suddenly. "Just keep still."</p>
      <p>"Where's my mask?" She asked in fear.</p>
      <p>Xion wordlessly pulled out her damaged face plate that showed the visible crack and missing piece that had fallen</p>
      <p>"It's broken. We will need to either repair it or get a new one." Said No. XIV. "For now, you're wearing a ventilation mask as you're breathing filtered oxygen."</p>
      <p>Tali brought her hand to the mask she presently wore before nodding a little. Out of the corner of her eyes, she noticed her IV had a strange golden liquid which made her trail up to the golden IV bag she was hooked up to.</p>
      <p>"What… is that?" Tali asked in slight alarm.</p>
      <p>"Elixir." Axel answered. "Mosh here gave us one and figured it would help ya out. Suffice to say…"</p>
      <p>Tali only nodded again, still unsure as to how this Elixir works but if it's magical in nature, she's learned it was best not to question these sorts of things.</p>
      <p>"Hmmm." Mosh hummed aloud, floating over to the mask in Xion's hands and held out his own as a gesture for her to give it to him.</p>
      <p>Handing the mask over to the Moogles small hands, Mosh inspecting it on all sides before nodding.</p>
      <p>"I could fix this up in a jiffy, Kupo." Mosh stated confidently.</p>
      <p>"You can?" Tali asked in surprise.</p>
      <p>"Yup." Mosh said with a demeanor that gave off that he was smiling. "I have the proper synthesis materials to patch this up and make it more durable. If you can provide me the specs of your initial helmet…"</p>
      <p>Tali smiled, carefully holding up her hand to bring up her Omni-tool. "Of course."</p>
      <p>"Wonderful." Mosh said. "I'll have it done soon. Be back in a few Kupo."</p>
      <p>"...You think he could make me a new suit while he's at it?" Tali said aloud. "Since he's basically making me a new helmet…"</p>
      <p>Axel shrugged. "Moogles can improve just about everything. Don't see why not."</p>
      <p>"Just never bothered to do so… till now. Only have my one suit and nothing else."</p>
      <p>With that said, things were nearly silent in the medbay with the heart monitor beeping filled the air.</p>
      <p>"What… happened, by the way?" Tali questioned. "I vaguely remember us escaping Virmire but after that…"</p>
      <p>"Let's just say we're in a bit of a predicament." Axel plainly answered. "And we have no idea if it's gonna end on a good note, bad note, or in the middle type of note."</p>
      <p>Tali turned her gaze to Roxas and Xion. "What?"</p>
      <p>"The ship is alright but we're on a course we have no idea how to get out of." Roxas said plainly. "We're gonna have to wait and see what happens."</p>
      <p>"I don't understand."</p>
      <p>"Maybe it has something to do with the Gummi's in the ship." Xion abruptly spoke up. "This way of travelling feels… familiar."</p>
      <p>"The Gummi blocks did this?" Tali and Axel asked at the same time.</p>
      <p>Roxas frowned, thinking on this idea and the more he thought about it, the more plausible the idea had become. There was a serious feeling of familiarity in all of this and the more he thought about it, the more the "feeling" of the means in which the Normandy was currently traveling began to make him think he had done this before.</p>
      <p>Yet, before anyone was able to say anything else, the door to the medbay opened up having Dr. Chakwas stepping through.</p>
      <p>First thing she saw was the Quarian was wide awake now.</p>
      <p>"Ah, good to see your conscious, Miss Zorah." Chakwas said in relief. "And good coloring on your skin too. Must mean you're…"</p>
      <p>Karen then noticed the IV.</p>
      <p>"Wh-What is this?!" Chakwas asked aloud in alarm at the glowing IV bag.</p>
      <p>She then looked at the three Nobodies around the bed and saw that the redhead cringed slightly which was enough of a reason for her conclusion.</p>
      <p>"Did you all tamper with it?!"</p>
      <p>Tali blinked as she watched all three Nobodies seize up upon hearing the danger in the Doctors tone.</p>
      <p>"Er… yes…" Roxas admitted nervously after a few moments.</p>
      <p>"You are in serious trouble, young man." Chakwas said, placing her hands on her hips.</p>
      <p>"And that is my cue to leave." Axel said, quickly grabbing Xion and hoisting her over his shoulder. "If you need us-"</p>
      <p>"You're not going anywhere." Chakwas shouted at them both only for it to be in vain as Axel and Xion had already cleared out of the room leaving Roxas on his own.</p>
      <p>Roxas was ready to run only for Chakwas to round upon him with her nostrils flaring, the boy promptly plopping back down in his seat.</p>
      <p>This whole scene made Tali giggle aloud, causing to break some of the mounting tension in the room.</p>
      <p>Seeing the Quarian like this caused the Dr. to deflate slightly, letting go of that anger that had built up in that moment.</p>
      <p>"We're gonna have a serious talk after this, Roxas." Chakwas warned, going over to her desk to grab several tools with the Nobody only nodding his head. "What you did was unwarranted and had no permission to proceed with whatever you injected into Miss Zorah's cocktail of an IV drip."</p>
      <p>He suddenly felt a three fingered hand gently taking his own. Looking up, he saw Tali with a kind smile having the same spark in her eyes he usually would see whenever he was with her. Roxas couldn't help but smile back, now feeling less guilty and just glad that his friend was alright and awake again.</p>
      <p>He didn't see Chakwas watching this with the Doctor shaking her head, muttering to herself about the youth being so difficult to handle sometimes. Still, seeing the two like this, she couldn't help but let go entirely of that anger she had just a few short seconds ago.</p>
      <p>Roxas didn't need that after going through so much with the rest of the crew back on Virmire.</p>
      <p>But he was still gonna get a lecture.</p>
      <p>Of that she was certain.</p>
      <p>Elsewhere on the ship, Commander Jane Shepard stood by Executive Officer Charles Pressley as they overlooked a display of their galaxy.</p>
      <p>"Still no readings?" the Spectre asked.</p>
      <p>"Won't be able to give you a proper diagnostics report until we get out of whatever we're in now." Pressley informed the Commander. "Whatever this anomaly we're traveling through is messing with your initial readings."</p>
      <p>"Once we get out, I want the report immediately. I need to know the extent of the damage my ship went through since Virmire." Jane ordered getting a "yes sir" from Pressley as she left to the front of the ship.</p>
      <p>Stepping into the cockpit, she was greeted to the sight of Joker in his usual seat with Kaidan acting as co-pilot.</p>
      <p>"Shepard." Kaidan greeted.</p>
      <p>"Hey Commander."</p>
      <p>"Joker. Kaidan."</p>
      <p>"What are you guys up to?"</p>
      <p>Kaidan looked at the Commander in slight bewilderment at the question though Joker took it in stride.</p>
      <p>"Finding myself a little bit of entertainment."</p>
      <p>"With what?" Shepard asked in bemusement.</p>
      <p>The pilot gestured to what's happening outside of the ship. "This."</p>
      <p>"...Are you <em>that</em> bored? How does <em>this</em>," she gestured to the light travel they were presently in, "entertain you?"</p>
      <p>"I mean, whenever we use a Mass Relay, we see purple, blue, red and sometimes orange lights. This time it's just blue and white light." Joker responded.</p>
      <p>"How is it that you find this entertaining while I find it maddening?" Kaidan asked with Joker shrugging.</p>
      <p>"I'm more easily entertained I guess." Joker said. "Do you see all these pretty lights? And it's such a change of pace. Much less coloring and a lot more simple." the Pilot of the Normandy became more impassioned now. "I mean when I saw those particular lights when traveling via Mass Relays for the first time, I thought I was rewatching that psychedelic drip from 2001: A Space Odyssey for the first time again."</p>
      <p>Shepard snorted. "Right. Figured that's what you'd go to."</p>
      <p>The Commander glanced over to Kaidan who seemed a bit silent now, the Lieutenant appearing to focus more on his task then speaking with her and Joker.</p>
      <p>"Alright there Kaidan?" Shepard asked.</p>
      <p>"Hmm? Oh, oh yeah, yeah, I'm fine Commander." Kaidan quickly said.</p>
      <p>Jane gave him a flat look. "C'mon, you don't need to hide it, Kaidan."</p>
      <p>After several moments, the lieutenant exhaled a sigh. "I'm just worried. Worried about how everyone else is."</p>
      <p>Shepard blinked at that before she had a small smile appear on her face.</p>
      <p>"Really? Well go figure, I am too Kaidan." Shepard stated. "We all are."</p>
      <p>"I know it's just…" Kaidan sighed, slumping back in his seat. "Last we heard, Liara was hurt. We don't know how much. We don't even know if the others left Virmire after Della picked them up."</p>
      <p>"They did make it off." Jane said with complete confidence. "Della told us she got them all and I know she got them outta there."</p>
      <p>"But did she?" Kaidan stressed. "I just would rather know now than later."</p>
      <p>"Hey," Shepard walked over to him, making the LT glance up at her. "They're alive and well. I know it. I could <em>feel</em> it."</p>
      <p>"You could feel it huh?" Kaidan was a bit unconvinced. "How can you be sure?"</p>
      <p>"I trust them is all." Jane stated. "I know in my heart and gut they made it off Virmire. We have nothing to worry about for them."</p>
      <p>"Lotta belief going off of a feeling Commander." Joker pointed out teasingly. "Did they teach that in N7 training?"</p>
      <p>"As a matter of fact Joker, yes, they did." Shepard said in a false-haughty manner. "So while you fly boys trust your gut in the air, us ground folks know our way on the field."</p>
      <p>"Whatever you say, Shepard." Joker said with a small grin.</p>
      <p>"Asides from your 'entertainment', have you been keeping yourself busy?" Jane asked, casually leaning on the backseat of Joker's chair.</p>
      <p>"Kept running diagnostics and can't get accurate results until we get out of this <em>thing</em> we're in."</p>
      <p>"Then what can you tell me?"</p>
      <p>"That we're in a system of FTL I don't recognize? Nothing." Joker Deadpanned. "Nothing like none of us have ever seen before."</p>
      <p>Jane frowned, chewing the inside of her cheek.</p>
      <p>"Remember what we saw before we entered this thing?" Joker brought up getting a nod from the Commander. "That's the only thing that I can think of that led us in here. It was basically a portal that just opened up in front of us and we flew straight in without even realizing it."</p>
      <p>Jane adopted a thinking pose.</p>
      <p>"What if it's something else?" Shepard asked after a few moments making Kaidan and Joker look at her.</p>
      <p>"What's that Commander?" Kaidan asked for clarification.</p>
      <p>"Perhaps we're in one of those 'Lanes' Della spoke of." Shepard stated. "Remember her talking about how Gummi tech and ships operate on different means of FTL? Maybe it's one of these "lanes" that Gummi ships use."</p>
      <p>"Shouldn't we need Gummi tech integrated into our ship to safely travel through those Lanes?" Kaidan asked.</p>
      <p>"From what Della informed us, yes. But I don't know what's going on with our present situation." Joker said. "But… maybe in the last patch up, Della integrated some Gummi tech into the Normandy. She did mention that Tali collected a few over the past few weeks."</p>
      <p>"So the Normandy likely has these Gummi's in the ship now." Shepard surmised with Joker shrugging but nodding along all the same. "Wish Della was here now to help clarify things. All we can do now is guesswork."</p>
      <p>In a moment's notice, the ship lurched forward and the lights coming through the cockpit's windows darkened significantly.</p>
      <p>"What the hell was that?" Kaidan asked, quickly checking over the ship's functions and its crew.</p>
      <p>"Status report."</p>
      <p>"Ships rattled." Joker stated. "It's holding together but oh boy, ship could use one hell of a tune up."</p>
      <p>"What happened?" Shepard asked in alarm.</p>
      <p>"The systems aren't functioning to their full capacity." Kaidan added. "Whatever we just went through made the whole ship shotty to say the least."</p>
      <p>"Great." Shepard grumbled under her breath.</p>
      <p>She quickly ran back to the map, seeing Pressly work rapidly on the galactic map.</p>
      <p>"Presley?"</p>
      <p>"Nothing yet Commander." Charles said in quick response.</p>
      <p>"Shepard." Joker shouted back for her, the Spectre making an about face and returned to the cockpit.</p>
      <p>Looking from outside of the window, Jane saw a crescent moon in the distance before glancing down at Joker.</p>
      <p>"Got anything from our star charts?" Jane asked, Joker sifting through them until...</p>
      <p>"...Nope."</p>
      <p>"Nope?" Jane repeated.</p>
      <p>"Nope." Joker said with finality.</p>
      <p>"What do you mean 'nope'?" Jane asked with a frown.</p>
      <p>"I mean I can't find anything matching with our galaxy map, Commander." Joker said, turning to her. "All those stars and that moon there? None of them match anything we have in our Galaxy."</p>
      <p>"What the hell is…?" a sense of unsure realization began to dawn upon the Spectre as she took a few seconds to process what Joker had just told her.</p>
      <p>Jane had taken a guess that they had perhaps entered into a Gummi lane earlier as that was currently the only option that they could really think of. And Della has stated to them all that she is from a different galaxy. Gummi tech apparently had the capability of intergalactic travel.</p>
      <p>Did that mean…</p>
      <p>Jane shook her head, trying to stave off the oncoming headache as she looked ahead, gazing upon the crescent shaped moon far off in the distance.</p>
      <p>"Plot a course to that moon. We could figure things out from there so we can land and start repairs." She ordered out.</p>
      <p>"You got it, Commander."</p>
      <p>Joker adjusted the current trajectory of the Normandy and soon enough, the ship was making its way towards the crescent moon in the distance.</p>
      <p>Cosmic winds blew about, stars in its wake until a ship blew by and stopping with the clouds forming to spell…</p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>The Etherium</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>Reaching the destination closer and closer, Joker started noticing a few things.</p>
      <p>First off, the moon's crescent light didn't shift at all when he was coming nearer. Then came some little star specs barely surrounding the moon that seemed to move instead of being stationary. Then he started noticing the shape was all wrong.</p>
      <p>Soon enough, the pilot started to realize something.</p>
      <p>"Commander… that's not a moon."</p>
      <p>"What is it then?"</p>
      <p>"...That's a space station."</p>
      <p>This alarmed both Kaidan and Shepard immensely.</p>
      <p>Both looked out the window of the ship, straining their eyes to get a look as to what was going in, our and around the moon.</p>
      <p>As they drew nearer, the small dots from afar became much more clearer to discern.</p>
      <p>"Are those… are those sail ships?" Kaidan muttered in complete and utter disbelief.</p>
      <p>"Pardon?" Joker looked up from his controls.</p>
      <p>"Look!"</p>
      <p>Nearing the window as best as she could, Shepard blinked in surprise on what she was seeing. Closing her eyes and rubbing them with her fingers, she opened them back up and saw she wasn't imagining things.</p>
      <p>What she was looking at now was Earth's 17th-18th century styled sail boats… floating through space.</p>
      <p>"...What the hell is going on here…"</p>
      <p>"At least one thing's for sure…" Joker said, slumping back into his seat.</p>
      <p>"What is it, Joker?"</p>
      <p>"That station ain't no Death Star."</p>
      <p>Both Kaidan and Shepard gave him a deadpanned look.</p>
      <p>"Hey, this is a legitimate excuse in pointing that out. A moon shaped station, floating in the middle of nowhere and is offley deceiving upon first glance. Tell me I'm wrong."</p>
      <p>Neither of them spoke as they couldn't say it outright.</p>
      <p>"...As long as it's not gonna fire a death laser at us, then I can be fine with it." Joker added, making Jane's brow twitch a bit. "What about you two?"</p>
      <p>"But still… a space station?" Kaidan murmured.</p>
      <p>"We'll need to inform everyone else on this now." Jane stated, looking to Joker who activated the intercom.</p>
      <p>"Attention Normandy crew, this is Commander Shepard. Emergency meeting around the galactic map, stat."</p>
      <p>Jane gestured her head for Kaidan to follow, the LT simply nodding as the Normandy crew in full gathered at the galactic map.</p>
      <p>After a few minutes, a majority of the Normandy crew was here, including all of the ground team save for their three missing friends that were with Della.</p>
      <p>"Okay, everyone's more or less here. Not gonna wait for any stragglers." Jane said, clapping her hands together for all the attention to turn to her. "So some bit of news, we're out of the odd FTL anomaly for starters. Not to mention we're pulling up to a station."</p>
      <p>"That's good." Said one of the crewmembers.</p>
      <p>"Wait for it." Axel began.</p>
      <p>"Yet we can't seem to pull up communications with said station."</p>
      <p>"There it is." Garrus finished for the red head.</p>
      <p>"And not wanting everyone to rush towards the cockpit to see what station we're heading towards, given how small and cramped it can be with everyone there, I'm just gonna pull this up."</p>
      <p>Getting up towards the galactic map, Jane typed down a few commands and pulled up a holo-image of the station where they were heading towards.</p>
      <p>This ended up confusing the whole Normandy roster entirely.</p>
      <p>"Yeah, my thoughts exactly." Shepard said evenly as the murmurs soon surfaced from the ship's staff.</p>
      <p>"I've never seen anything like it."</p>
      <p>"Does anyone know what that station is?"</p>
      <p>"Beats me."</p>
      <p>"Why is it shaped like a crescent moon?"</p>
      <p>"Are those… sail ships?" Said a crew member, pointing towards some of the moving objects moving to and from from said station. "Like from the old British empire type of shit?"</p>
      <p>"All we know, is that we're here now and we need to figure out how we're gonna get out of this situation." Shepard spoke up, halting the discussion amongst the crew.</p>
      <p>"Roxas, Axel, Xion, the three of you are resident experts in… weird stuff." Jane said, feeling a bit dumb in saying that. "What do you make of this?"</p>
      <p>Roxas and Xion exchanged looks whilst Axel merely shrugged.</p>
      <p>"Another world I guess." Axel remarked. "We ain't back in your galaxy, that's for sure."</p>
      <p>Once more, murmurs started surfacing.</p>
      <p>"Okay, settle down everyone." Jane ordered slightly. "Now… I guess the idea of suddenly ending up in another galaxy is rather exciting, but we are truly in unfamiliar territory. We need to approach this cautiously and-"</p>
      <p>"<em>Commander!" </em>Joker's voice abruptly chimed in through the comms.</p>
      <p>"What is it?" Shepard asked, looking up.</p>
      <p>"<em>So… I docked at the nearest available spot and-"</em></p>
      <p>"You what?! Joker why did you- urgh, Nevermind." Jane rubbed her face.</p>
      <p>"<em>If you'd let me finish…"</em> The pilot coughed into his hand before continuing. <em>"Right, I docked and… well…"</em></p>
      <p>"Well what?"</p>
      <p>"<em>...the locals are surrounding the Normandy."</em></p>
      <p>"...Figured as much."</p>
      <p>"<em>Yeah and… wow, we really aren't as diverse as we thought."</em> Joker commented, coughing into his hand.</p>
      <p>"How much are we talkin'?"</p>
      <p>"<em>...Let's just say </em>a lot." Joker commented. <em>"Why aren't they wearing helmets? Aren't we still in space?"</em></p>
      <p>"What now, Commander?" Garrus questioned, unanimously voicing everyone's present thought.</p>
      <p>"Now?" Shepard arched a wry brow. "What else? We go greet the locals."</p>
      <p>She ordered the crew to return to their positions whilst gesturing to the ground crew to follow her.</p>
      <p>"Hey, wait for me!"</p>
      <p>The ground team turned to see Tali with a fresh new looking helmet that seemed to have a bright shine to it. Granted most of its surface was covered up from her hood, but still...</p>
      <p>"Tali." Shepard said in a warning voice. "You were just in the medbay resting from critical condition."</p>
      <p>"And she's all better."</p>
      <p>The team glanced over Tali's shoulder to see Chakwas approaching with a slightly relieved but also annoyed face.</p>
      <p>"Whatever it was these three troublemakers gave her has returned Tali to full health." Chakwas admitted begrudgingly. "Possibly even better."</p>
      <p>"What did you- you know what, not now." Jane threw her hands up. "Let's just see the situation we're in."</p>
      <p>The Normandy's ground team soon exited the ship when they all realized something.</p>
      <p>"Wait!" Kaidan said in alarm. "What about helmets? How are we supposed to-"</p>
      <p>Kaidan didn't get to finish his question as the door opened and rather than getting sucked out into space or into the space station, the team found themselves being able to breath without any issue.</p>
      <p>"What in the-"</p>
      <p>"Spirits dammit, I almost had a damn heart attack there." Garrus whispered, holding up his hand over his chest.</p>
      <p>"Huh, a breathable atmosphere." Alenko said in a low voice, still finding it stunning. "How is this possible?"</p>
      <p>"Almost was gonna consider using a stick of Oxy-chew… until you suddenly opened the damn door!" Axel said with an aggravated tone.</p>
      <p>Shepard nervously scratched the back of her head and released a chuckle.</p>
      <p>The crew then looked out onto the port and saw just how diverse the denizens of this space station were from Joker's earlier comments.</p>
      <p>"Holy shit." Several of the team muttered out, just taking not how legitimately diverse the species before them were.</p>
      <p>Outside of seeing some humans here and there… it was greatly overshadowed on the dozens of species they were seeing before them.</p>
      <p>In all honesty, it was rather hard trying to describe them all, let alone a few.</p>
      <p>The fact that there humans here was also extremely jarring.</p>
      <p>But again, there were the multitude of other species that quite literally came in all sorts of shapes and sizes.</p>
      <p>"Clear the way!"</p>
      <p>"Move along. Move along." Came an authoritative voice. "Nothing to see here."</p>
      <p>Looking over, the Normandy crew saw what appeared to be-</p>
      <p>"Synthetics?" Tali murmured in slight fear.</p>
      <p>"Why are they wearing old constable outfits?" Alenko asked in bewilderment.</p>
      <p>A pair of synthetics were moving the surrounding populous away. And indeed they were wearing what vaguely looked like police uniforms from 19th-20th century England.</p>
      <p>"Nothing to see here, people." The robotic cop said in his automated voice.</p>
      <p>"<em>Nothin' to see?</em> Are ya daft?" Said one of the many aliens in the crowd.</p>
      <p>"I've never seen a ship like it."</p>
      <p>"Where'd it come from?"</p>
      <p>"Look! There's folks comin' out!"</p>
      <p>"What do we do Shepard?" Garrus asked.</p>
      <p>The Commander was a bit unsure until Roxas walked out with Xion and Axel following after him a moment later. Stitch had gone with them since he was standing upon Roxas' shoulder.</p>
      <p>Rolling her eyes then, Jane quickly moved to catch up to the trio with the rest following suit.</p>
      <p>"Hello there." Jane said aloud, causing a moment of silence to befall the crowd of aliens. "I'm Commander Jane Shepard of the Systems Alliance. This here is my ship the Normandy SR1. We are here, well, to put it frankly, by unknown and accidental means. We're hoping that we can have a peaceful first meeting with you all and that there are no incidents from this exchange."</p>
      <p>"We're from another galaxy." Axel blurted out, causing many more manic whispers among the crowd. "So we could really use some help right about now."</p>
      <p>Jane looked back to Axel with a glare which he responded with a shrug that conveyed 'better to be honest here'.</p>
      <p>She wanted to retort on this but the robotic cops wheeled up in front of the Commander and proceeded to salute here.</p>
      <p>"Commander Shepard. I am officer TX-35 and this is my partner, HN-72." The two apparent "heads" of these robo-cops introduced themselves. "If you would come with us, we can escort you to our government officials here on the Crescentia station."</p>
      <p>"About that… Where are we exactly?" Jane couldn't believe she was about to ask this question. "Like… what galaxy..."</p>
      <p>"You're presently in the Etherium galaxy." HN-72 responded. "If you and your crew would follow us Commander."</p>
      <p>The team could only nod along.</p>
      <p>"One moment." Jane held up her hand. "I need to speak with my crew before I leave."</p>
      <p>The Cop-bots nodded understandingly as the ground team reentered the Normandy.</p>
      <p>"What do we do now while you're gone, Commander?" Joker asked, who had entered the map room after making sure the Normandy was secure in her position on this dock.</p>
      <p>"Probably start fixing up this ship, for starters." Presley said aloud for the rest of the crew to hear him. "Everyone who has mechanical experience for repairs, you will need to report to your stations immediately to get the Normandy in tip top shape. I want to have proper diagnostic reports post haste so we may get further repairs underway."</p>
      <p>"That means most of us, then." Garrus said as he looked at Tali, Kaidan and Stitch.</p>
      <p>Axel then chuckled. "Then that means the three of us," pointed towards himself and his fellow Nobodies, "are in the clear."</p>
      <p>This was true. No matter how long they've been on the Alliance vessel -Roxas more than the other two- neither of them had a proper maintenance duty to perform. All they were really tasked for, aside from ground missions, was cleaning and assisting other crew members on mild tasks.</p>
      <p>"Then that means it'll be you three coming with me." Shepard said. "This feels more like your field of expertise as is."</p>
      <p>"Yes, intergalactic travel is <em>totally</em> our expertise. Not like we were part of a group that <em>discouraged</em> interference with other worlds." Axel quipped, making Jane lightly punch him in the shoulder though even she couldn't contain her small smirk.</p>
      <p>"Do <em>try</em> to play nice, Axel." Jane implored. Heavily emphasizing on 'try'.</p>
      <p>"I sadly can't make any promises."</p>
      <p>"We'll hold him in line, Shepard." Xion said reassuringly.</p>
      <p>"Good." Shepard nodded.</p>
      <p>"Ah, already betraying me, Xion? How could you!"</p>
      <p>"Come on." Jane said in amusement.</p>
      <p>"Souvenirs would be welcomed, thank you." Joker called out to them before the foursome departed from the Normandy.</p>
      <p>Shepard, Roxas, Axel and Xion followed after the robotic officers, taking in all the sights and sounds of this new place.</p>
      <p>It felt weird for Shepard to be mostly unarmed. She figured it'd be more diplomatic if she came in as unarmed as possible with this potential first meeting with whomever it was these robots would take them to meet.</p>
      <p>But she wasn't entirely defenseless.</p>
      <p>At the moment, she only had her pistol on her and her biotics. However she was not in her armor, which made her feel nearly naked, but knowing this also to be necessary.</p>
      <p>They needed to come across as peaceful and non-threatening.</p>
      <p>Granted… They came in a stealth warship but that was beside the point.</p>
      <p>Right now, it was time to meet some government officials.</p>
      <p>Joy.</p>
      <p>She already had enough to deal with the Citadel Council.</p>
      <p>Hopefully, these ones she's about to meet will be better. Fingers crossed.</p>
      <p>The robo-cops led them to a particularly large and distinct building that appeared to be the center of this space station.</p>
      <p>Shepard took note of the clear Victorian style architecture and even clothing that seemed to be the main constant here on this space station.</p>
      <p>It was a truly bizarre sight to say the least.</p>
      <p>To Shepard, it was basically she jumped forward through time by also bringing a specific era of history with her.</p>
      <p>That was honestly as best as a description as she could come up with given their present circumstances.</p>
      <p>What was the word that she was looking for?</p>
      <p>'Steampunk.' Shepard internally mused as they were gestured by the robot officers to enter the large building before them.</p>
      <p>Once inside, they were met with a lavish atrium, far more so than the Citadel itself.</p>
      <p>Chandeliers decorated the ceilings with the Victorian style architecture truly being shown off on the inside, especially with the clothing most of the people within wore.</p>
      <p>"Are you the one they call Shepard?" Asked an individual that looked as though he was a werewolf of some kind.</p>
      <p>"Er… yes?"</p>
      <p>"Captain Gandry." The Wolf-like aliens saluted her out of respect. "This way please. The Parliamentary meeting is underway."</p>
      <p>"A meeting?" Jane was unsure. "Wouldn't it be better that we wait until it is over?"</p>
      <p>"This is a pressing matter." Gandry replied. "Besides. I believe her majesty would enjoy a distraction from her usual routines."</p>
      <p>Axel snorted at that.</p>
      <p>It didn't take long for the foursome to enter a large chamber where a meeting took place. The walls were lined with men and women of various species clamoring about, trying to have their voice heard among the rest.</p>
      <p>They were soon silenced upon Gandry's appearance with the four Normandy crew members following close behind.</p>
      <p>"Is there a reason for this intrusion on this meeting today?" asked one of those seated in the chamber.</p>
      <p>"Pardon for the intrusion, but we've had some unexpected developments in the docks." Said Captain Gandry, standing straight and hands behind his back.</p>
      <p>"And why not go through proper channels?"</p>
      <p>Jane took this as the cue to step forward.</p>
      <p>"Mostly because of my ship making an emergency dock and as compared to the rest of your vessels, mine is rather unique appearance wise."</p>
      <p>"Who is this, Captain Gandry?" a lady seated just above them inquired.</p>
      <p>"Delegates, my lady." Gandry nodded to the single woman seated in the center of the chamber. "May I introduce you all to Commander…"</p>
      <p>That was her cue.</p>
      <p>"Commander Jane Shepard." the Spectre introduced herself. "Systems Alliance N7 marines. My companions and I along with the rest of my crew have come here abruptly after we experienced a recent battle."</p>
      <p>"And where do you come from?"</p>
      <p>"The Milky Way galaxy."</p>
      <p>The woman in the center of the chamber perked up, eyes glinting with interest and curiosity.</p>
      <p>"Truly? Individuals from another galaxy? Why, we haven't had that in some time." she said in surprise.</p>
      <p>This floored Jane slightly, trying to process what she had just heard.</p>
      <p>"And… how many galaxies have you been in contact with till today?"</p>
      <p>"Quite a few but certainly, we have never met individuals such as yourselves." the lady in the center said with a pleasant smile.</p>
      <p>"But… we're humans." Jane said in bewilderment.</p>
      <p>"That means little here." The Lady said with a light smile. "We come from all corners of the universe after all."</p>
      <p>Shepard momentarily glanced behind her with the Nobodies only shrugging.</p>
      <p>She looked back to the woman she had spoken to. "And who is it that I'm addressing here?"</p>
      <p>Captain Gandry straightened up, clearing his throat while bowing slightly with his arm outstretched in the ladies direction.</p>
      <p>"Her Majesty Queen Illysa the Second of the Terran Empire."</p>
      <p>"...Oh goody, bigshot is honestly here." Axel murmured under his breath with Shepard elbowing his ribs in response.</p>
      <p>"Granted I did not expect my arrival at this parliament meeting to have something interesting to uphold for me today." Queen Illysa said offhandedly. "Usually those come up back over by Corona V."</p>
      <p>"But how is it that we are certain that they come from another galaxy?" Another member of parliament asked in a more inquisitive manner than one of disbelief.</p>
      <p>"Is there some way to clarify that you come from another galaxy?" The queen asked.</p>
      <p>"Asides from checking out my ship at the docks." Shepard soon activated her Omni-tool, earning surprised reactions from the native occupants from within the parliament room. "My crew and I have these."</p>
      <p>The three Nobodies followed suit, bringing up their own Omni-tools to add to Shepard's display.</p>
      <p>The looks of wonder and awe were littered across the Parliamentary chamber with many leaning or standing up out of their seats to get a look at the Omni-tools that were being shown.</p>
      <p>"I take it your people don't have anything like this?" Jane inquired with the queen shaking her head.</p>
      <p>"Honestly, no." Illysa said, greatly intrigued by what she was looking at. "We do have holographic technology, but it's very limited in number. Some of the more common ones we have are for our differing message log devices."</p>
      <p>"What are these things exactly?" Captain Gandry inquired, rubbing his furry chin while gazing upon the device.</p>
      <p>Before any from the group were able to answer any of these questions, another alien in a uniform burst through the doors of the chamber, his form frantic and slightly disheveled.</p>
      <p>"Your majesty! They're back!" The officer yelled aloud, ignoring everyone else within the room, looking only to the Queen in the chamber. "They're attacking once more!"</p>
      <p>"No." The Queen muttered in fear. "Not now."</p>
      <p>Those who seemed to be in the loop began whispering and moving about in fear whilst others could only look around in confusion.</p>
      <p>The group of intergalactic travelers in the chamber only looked about, trying to make heads or tails as to what they were all so worried about.</p>
      <p>"Wait, what's going on?" Shepard asked. "Who's back?"</p>
      <p>"A recent adversary that we have been facing." Gandry said in grim countenance. "Creatures of black, beady yellow eyes, people disappearing without a trace left behind. All that is last seen of them are glowing hearts and-"</p>
      <p>"Heartless!" Roxas and Xion exclaimed immediately in realization.</p>
      <p>"They have a weird shaped back and red heart emblem on some of them, right?" Roxas quickly asked for clarity.</p>
      <p>Gandry blinked. "You know of them?"</p>
      <p>That question basically confirmed it.</p>
      <p>"Where would they be at exactly?" Xion asked.</p>
      <p>Gandry gazed at them in bewilderment with his mouth opening and closing without any answer, prompting Shepard to act.</p>
      <p>"Roxas, Xion, Axel, go." Shepard shouted. "Just follow the screams. That usually works."</p>
      <p>"Got it."</p>
      <p>The Nobody trio quickly ran out of the meeting chamber leaving only Shepard behind.</p>
      <p>Seeing her left behind, the queen asked the Systems Alliance commander a question.</p>
      <p>"What do you know of these 'Heartless'?" Gandry inquired.</p>
      <p>"Far more than you can ever know." Shepard said, running out a moment later while sending a message to the Normandy.</p>
      <p>Rushing outside of the Parliament Building, the trio heard the many yells and screams of terror. Brandishing their respective weapons, they ran towards where the commotion was taking place.</p>
      <p>Soon enough, they managed to push through a fleeing crowd and saw multiple soldiers wielding flint-lock pistols that shoot energy beams at the Heartless that were terrorizing the civilians of this space port.</p>
      <p>And to Roxas, they were a very familiar, collective bunch.</p>
      <p>Pirates, Air Pirates, Aerial Vikings and several Battleships littered the area.</p>
      <p>"Well, here's the official welcoming party." Axel jokes, getting into his battle stance, spinning his left Chakram in his hand while the right one dangled idly between his fingers.</p>
      <p>"Let's get started." Roxas stated, crouching down into his fighting stance with Xion following suit.</p>
      <p>"Right."</p>
      <p>The trio rushed in, the Heartless having seen them by this point and charging straight back at them.</p>
      <p>Xion's feet left the ground by an inch, hovering slightly in the air as she threw her Keyblade up.</p>
      <p>"<strong>Thundara!"</strong></p>
      <p>Lightning bolts reigned down around and on the Heartless, destroying some while Paralyzing a few others.</p>
      <p>Roxas and Axel cleaved through the stunned Heartless, taking them out left and right while Xion took care of any stragglers they left behind or those they left for her.</p>
      <p>The Pirates and Air Pirates attacked first, the former of the Heartless swinging their enlarged swords around.</p>
      <p>Roxas clashed with multiple Pirates, swatting and deflecting their swords out of his way whilst also eliminating any Pirates that were open.</p>
      <p>Axel all the while jumped about the area, vanishing in a flurry of flames before appearing near Air Pirates and Aerial Vikings to deal devastating fiery damage on them.</p>
      <p>Xion dashed towards one of the larger Heartless, going straight for a Battleship. Jumping on high, she quickly fired a Blizzard spell at one of the cannons of the floating ship.</p>
      <p>Sealing the cannon, the fire that was supposed to come out caused an implosion, destroying the cannon. The flying ship rocked back and forth in the air until it was destroyed with Xion spinning about in the air, slashing through the head.</p>
      <p>More Heartless however appeared to replace the loss in numbers.</p>
      <p>Yet no sooner did they show did several of them get quickly destroyed by shots that did not come from the Nobody trio.</p>
      <p>Axel looked over and had a wide grin appear at the sight of Shepard rushing in with Stitch on her shoulders firing away at the Heartless. Right behind her was Kaidan, Garrus and Tali, the large group rushing in to help their friends.</p>
      <p>Kaidan immediately threw out a warp with Tali sending an Omni-bolt which broke through the new Heartless formation that had just appeared.</p>
      <p>Shepard called upon her Biotics, focusing on her fist whilst Stitch jumped up and curled into a ball.</p>
      <p>With a Biotic infused punch, Shepard sent the little blue experiment head on colliding with an Aerial Viking in the air, the force of the impact destroying the Heartless.</p>
      <p>Garrus shot out a singular beam that burst into multiple smaller ones that riddled the Heartless that were within the vicinity of the shot. In a couple of moments, he did have to switch out his sniper rifle for his pistol and rapidly fired on those trying to attack civilians. He yelled at them to flee before resuming his work.</p>
      <p>Kaidan focused on some biotic power, performing a Stasis hold on a number of enemies trying to get close to some civilians. When said vagrants saw their would-be attackers halted, neither spared any further second to wait any longer and fled. With things temporarily in the clear, Kaidan primed a grenade and chucked it into the air before pulling and throwing his captured Heartless in its intended path. The explosion destroyed the Heartless, letting Lieutenant Alenko to charge forward with his biotics flaring. With the build up at its peak, he slammed his fist down onto a contingent of Pirate Heartless and whipped them out in a single blow.</p>
      <p>With some assistance from Xion and Kaidan, Tali was able to use her shotgun skills more effectively. Both of her teammates either knocked or threw the Heartless her way and with precision timed shots, she was able to decimate them one by one. She did have some difficulty when confronting a larger group, but she back rolled out of the way once dropping an explosive where she once stood.</p>
      <p>As this went on, a woman with feline features watched the fight from afar. She was amazed by the fighting prowess coming from the three black coat worn individuals. It was rather fascinating to her witnessing what she could possibly describe as technologically advanced weapons. Yet a small part of her argued it was magic.</p>
      <p>And for the others taking part of this confrontation, she witnessed some well-oiled teamwork with experience under their belt with how coordinated they were.</p>
      <p>Shaking her head of such details, she had to act and help defend the people.</p>
      <p>Taking out her pistol, she fired a number of shots at the surrounding invaders. Her weaponry proved not as efficient at the fighters from afar, but they proved some merit.</p>
      <p>The Heartless were either stunned or, if damaged enough, destroyed.</p>
      <p>Her actions drew the attention of Kaidan and Tali, the former of which called out to her.</p>
      <p>"You need to get outta here. It's not safe-"</p>
      <p>"I can handle myself, thank you very much."</p>
      <p>To emphasize her point, she shot a Pirate repeatedly before it was destroyed. Charging right towards another one, she leaped into the air, hurled herself into a corkscrew like maneuver to shoot some more Heartless prior to landing on an Aerial Viking. She thus jammed her pistol into its head and shot several more times. Once it disbursed, she broke her landing on a Pirate Heartless and possibly breaking it's back with feline finesse.</p>
      <p>"Alright, stay back at least." Kaidan conceded. "Your weapon isn't as effective as ours."</p>
      <p>To prove <em>his </em>point, Kaidan used his Biotic burst rifle to fire a Biotic stasis field that ensnared several Heartless at once giving Tali the chance to utilize her Omni-bolts to obliterate the captured Heartless.</p>
      <p>The feline-like humanoid blinked at just how quickly and efficiently these two took care of the Heartless, making her feel like her flare for the dramatic to be sorta pointless.</p>
      <p>Shaking her head, the woman cocked her rifle and fired at her next target whilst the others continued to take out the other Heartless, keeping any nearby civilian safe.</p>
      <p>"Then perhaps you can liberate one of your weapons to me for the time being?"</p>
      <p>Alenko was about to respond when Roxas swooped in, destroying the last few Heartless with light pillars bursting around him.</p>
      <p>"Well… maybe next time." The Feline woman said disappointedly.</p>
      <p>"Maybe." Said the lieutenant. "You did good so far, ma'am. Military?"</p>
      <p>"More or less now. I mostly do commission work for the Royal Navy these days." Formally said the feline woman.</p>
      <p>"Looks clear." Garrus said aloud, the group of intergalactic visitors putting or recalling their weapons away.</p>
      <p>The feline woman gazed upon them with open intrigue and astonishment.</p>
      <p>"All of you managed to beat back these dastardly creatures with ease." She commented, gaining the attention of the entire team.</p>
      <p>"Oh, we didn't see you there." The female red headed human said, walking up to her. "Are you an officer?"</p>
      <p>"Commissionary. I am Captain Amelia Thompson." The feline woman introduced herself. "I must ask, but how is it that you are all so adept in engaging these blasted creatures?"</p>
      <p>"The Heartless?"</p>
      <p>"Is that what they are called? Heartless?" She said with a curious, thoughtful look. "Name sounds awfully appropriate with how I've seen them conduct themselves around here."</p>
      <p>"They're a bit of a specialty of ours." The other red head in the black cloak said, leaning his elbow atop the young teen girl with the black hair.</p>
      <p>"May I ask you for your names?"</p>
      <p>The group introduced themselves shortly after with Amelia humming aloud with clear intrigue.</p>
      <p>"Forgive me, but I don't recognize your two species." Amelia said, gesturing towards Garrus and Tali.</p>
      <p>"We aren't from your neck of the woods, captain."</p>
      <p>"Oh?" Amelia's curiosity was piqued. "Intergalactic travelers perhaps?"</p>
      <p>"Travelers yes, but intergalactic… we recently went into that territory." Shepard clarified. "Recent accident, mind you."</p>
      <p>"Ah, so this is truly a grand step for you all." Amelia frowned. "Pardon me, but you mentioned that these Heartless as you call them are your specialty, yes?" she received nods from them all. "So I take it that they are present in your galaxy as well."</p>
      <p>"Unfortunately." Garrus remarked.</p>
      <p>"Now if you'll excuse me, we're gonna need to get back to this one meeting some of us had to quickly leave from." Shepard stated apologetically.</p>
      <p>"Because of these Heartless?" Amelia asked.</p>
      <p>"Yeup." Axel chimed in. "Had to abruptly leave queeny Illy high and dry because of 'em."</p>
      <p>"Queeny Illy? You don't mean Queen Illysa?"</p>
      <p>"That's the one." Axel said with a nod.</p>
      <p>"Then don't let me hold you up." Amelia said with an incline of her head.</p>
      <p>No sooner had she said that did a familiar humanoid wolf run up to them.</p>
      <p>"Ah, Captain Gandry." Amelia greeted.</p>
      <p>"Amelia!" Gandry said with a large grin. "A pleasure to see you once more. I see you've met our newest visitors."</p>
      <p>"We briefly touched base on them being new, per say." Said the feline woman. "I dare say they were quite remarkable in their fighting capabilities against these Heartless monstrosities."</p>
      <p>"Perhaps you can come with us as we make our way back to the Parliament building." Gendry suggested. "No doubt the queen will want to hear your account on seeing Shepard and her people in action."</p>
      <p>"I'll be delighted to. Besides, I'm rather curious about them anyways." Amelia openly admitted.</p>
      <p>The large collection of individuals broke off with Garrus, Tali, Stitch and Kaidan being told to return to the ship for the time being whilst Shepard, Amelia, Roxas, Axel, Xion and Gandry went back to the Parliamentary building in the center of the space port.</p>
      <p>Upon their return, Queen Illysa and those within that initial meeting room received the field report from Captain Amelia on her witness accounts of the Normandy ground team combating the Heartless. How effective they were on both their combat and teamwork.</p>
      <p>When it came down to some particular details during the confrontation, Shepard had to help clarify some information like her and Kaidan's biotic capabilities to some of their weaponry and technology. And when it came down to it, the Nobody trio had to contribute as well on giving more information on the Heartless.</p>
      <p>At its end, Queen Illysa dismissed the new arrivals so they could make it back to their ship. It was no doubt for her and those within the meeting room to digest the recently received information.</p>
      <p>Shepard and co were soon back on the Normandy, the ground crew with Chakwas, Joker and Pressly being called in for a meeting.</p>
      <p>"Alright, so, we're in a bind." Shepard said. "That's the obvious. The main thing we need to figure out is what to do next and how we can get home."</p>
      <p>Neither crew member knew what was happening back in their native galaxy. Saren and Sovereign were still at large and the Citadel Council needed to be warned of the danger they greatly pose to the galaxy at large. And any further delay from making their return could spell disaster.</p>
      <p>"Ship is intact but the functions and controls are shotty." Joker said with a sad and frustrated demeanor.</p>
      <p>"I've made a few scans of the ship." Tali said, bringing out her Omni-tool. "And I had a hunch that proved to be true. Gummi Tech has been integrated into the Normandy."</p>
      <p>"So what does that mean for us and the ship?" Garrus asked, arms crossed in thought.</p>
      <p>"Good question." Jane murmured, looking to the ship specialist of the team. "Tali."</p>
      <p>The Quarian simply nodded, going over the tech of the ship and comparing it to the Gummi's she had been extensively studying for weeks now.</p>
      <p>"If we can properly install more onto the Normandy, we can have a safer chance of making it back to our galaxy. No ship problems when traversing through that FTL anomaly if we somehow encounter it again."</p>
      <p>"Do you think it's possible, Tali?" Joker asked.</p>
      <p>"I have everything Della informed me on Gummi tech and their applications. We can use that knowledge to help guide us along our repair process."</p>
      <p>"We still have a considerable amount of it in storage." Presley informed the Commander. "Originally we were going to send it back to the Alliance after this mess with Saren is done and over with for further study, but now I'm afraid we'll have no choice but to use most, if not all that we have in our possession."</p>
      <p>"See to it that it's integrated into the ship, Pressly." Jane stated.</p>
      <p>"Of course, Commander."</p>
      <p>"What about that offer that cat chick gave us?" Axel brought up, sitting on one of the chairs in a backwards manner.</p>
      <p>"What about it?"</p>
      <p>Prior to heading back to the Normandy, Captain Amelia wanted to have a discussion with Shepard on a voyage she was about to undertake two days from now. Something about a number of Normandy crew members taking part of it.</p>
      <p>Amelia said she was fine if they refused, but the offer was placed on the table with a small time window for further details.</p>
      <p>"Well, I dunno about you, but I'm not one to sit still for long in a single location." Axel admitted. "I'd rather be out doin' something then just waiting for the ship to get fixed up."</p>
      <p>"And yet getting our ship back up and repaired is our top priority at this time."</p>
      <p>"And how long would that take?" Axel shot back.</p>
      <p>"Shepard, this may take a very long process." Tali spoke up. "I'm barely starting to understand how Gummi's work even with what Della has given us. We don't know what else needs to be used to get the ship in working order."</p>
      <p>"And we're talking about integration, Commander." Joker said. "Who knows if the Normandy's original makeup will gel with these Gummi blocks."</p>
      <p>Shepard exhaled a sigh, rubbing her eyes from the bits of frustration slowly rising to the surface.</p>
      <p>"Alright, let's find Captain Amelia and have a chat with her."</p>
      <p>
        <em>-Scene Cut-</em>
      </p>
      <p>Stepping into nicely designed taverns, Shepard looked around the place to find the feline Captain.</p>
      <p>When being told of discussing things with Amelia, the human Spectre was told where she would be at for the next couple of hours.</p>
      <p>It didn't take long for Jane to find her, or rather it was the other way around.</p>
      <p>"Ah, Commander Shepard." Captain Amelia gestured her over to join her at her booth at the far corner of the establishment.</p>
      <p>"Amelia." the Spectre nodded in respect, taking a seat in front of the feline officer.</p>
      <p>"Glad we are able to meet on such short circumstances." Amelia said straight away. "I understand your need to be with your crew and take care of your matters."</p>
      <p>"Well I figure this to be important enough since it doesn't look like we'll be going anywhere, anytime soon."</p>
      <p>"It seems you are in a dire situation."</p>
      <p>"You are not wrong on that one."</p>
      <p>"You can inform me if you want, I won't hold it against you if you don't."</p>
      <p>Shepard snorted softly. "I won't bore you with all of the details. But to sum it up, my crew and I are hunting down a dangerous criminal, who is in league with a far dangerous being who is a galactic threat back home."</p>
      <p>"I see. And does this involve your abrupt arrival?"</p>
      <p>"Yeup. Had to escape what was a nuclear explosion going off." Shepard revealed. "A Twenty kiloton bomb that would have destroyed us had it not been for out "accident" in the ship."</p>
      <p>"Do you have an idea as to what caused this?"</p>
      <p>"We don't exactly know for sure what happened, but we entered this FTL anomaly and it sent us here." Jane said with her form slumping slightly.</p>
      <p>"FTL?"</p>
      <p>"Faster-than-light travel."</p>
      <p>"Really?"</p>
      <p>The two were momentarily interrupted when a waitress came on by and dropped off a fresh pot of tea on the table with a small basket of sandwiches.</p>
      <p>"Thank you." Amelia said to the tavern employee before turning over to Shepard. "Sorry. Hope you don't mind me ordering us some refreshments as I take it. We might be here for a while."</p>
      <p>"None at all."</p>
      <p>"Good. Then I hope you enjoy earl grey." Said the captain, who poured them a cup of tea. "So what's it like with this FTL travel of yours? I admit the ships we have here don't have such a luxury."</p>
      <p>"It has its ups and downs, Amelia."</p>
      <p>"There always are."</p>
      <p>Taking a sip of the tea, Jane hummed a little on the pleasant taste. "So what is it that you're requesting of us?"</p>
      <p>Amelia nodded, beginning to explain to her of a planned upcoming voyage within the next two days where an astrophysicist by the name of Doctor Delbert Doppler from the nearby planet of Montressor had funded a voyage across the galaxy.</p>
      <p>Their destination?</p>
      <p>The fabled location where the legendary Pirate Captain Nathaniel Flint stored all of the treasure he and his crew had collected many years ago. The Loot of a Thousand Worlds.</p>
      <p>Treasure Planet.</p>
      <p>Apparently, someone the Doctor personally knew had discovered a map and shortly afterwards, the person's family home and place of business was destroyed in a pirate raid. After an extensive communication with his bank, the University of Montressor -which is who the doctor works for- and the Interstellar Academy itself, he was soon referred to the Admiralty board and was given sponsorship.</p>
      <p>The Navy's side of the funding would be to supply the vessel for the expedition and it's commanding officer.</p>
      <p>This was where Amelia came in.</p>
      <p>Now normally such an expedition would be rather fascinating for Amelia to take part of. Yet she was awfully skeptical on taking part, even with being assigned as the captain of said voyage through the Admiralty Board.</p>
      <p>For one, she rarely does exploration trips anymore ever since she freshly graduated from the Interstellar Academy over at Port Ivy. She was more inclined on any other assignments ever since. Asides from assisting the Interstellar Academy in their lessons, such as participating in occasional drills and exercises, her commission work is primarily escort voyages, shipping of tender and goods and voyages of scientific significance.</p>
      <p>This odd assignment, while an odd refreshing take of things, didn't entirely sit well with her. And Amelia was even less thrilled upon seeing the roster of the ship's crew she'll be having aboard the R.L.S. Legacy, her loyal vessel for many years.</p>
      <p>Now here they were, preparing for what is basically the adventurous voyage of a lifetime.</p>
      <p>"I know what that's like, having a bad crew that is." Shepard said as she nibbled on the last bit of the one sandwich she just ate. "Had to deal with some annoying people when I was still a rookie. So what's so bad about them?"</p>
      <p>"The one who had sold me on this is quite the wordsmith." Amelia remarked. "A cyborg by the name of John Silver met our financier first and got him and his companions signed on immediately. Afterwards, I met Mr. Silver to get a good impression on him. Even if I have to fully say on the bulk of the initial crew, I wanted to at least gauge the man. At first I had believed him to be a mere finesser of words. But his fellow crewmates worked well together and when my first mate Mr. Arrow approved of them, I knew I couldn't truly deny them."</p>
      <p>"But you don't trust them."</p>
      <p>"I trust they will do their jobs well enough." Amelia said. "It's what may come after arriving at our destination is <em>what</em> I don't trust. Our goal is treasure that has the moniker of a thousand worlds. Heavens knows how much treasure we might truly find if this planet truly exists."</p>
      <p>"Then tell me, despite some of these problems, why do you want to take on this expedition?"</p>
      <p>"Asides from the little sense of adventure, I believe the treasure from our destination could be used for far better purposes rather than collecting dust. I had brought this up with the Queen herself after you and some of your crew returned to your ship. She likes the idea of having Flint's infamous treasure being used to pay off taxes across the galaxy for a good number of decades."</p>
      <p>"And you believe she'll be true to her word?"</p>
      <p>"She most certainly will." Amelia said with utter conviction. "Queen Illysa has never thought of personal gain, only the good will of her people once she took the throne from her mother, the former queen, and what nasty details went on with the previous king, Illysa's uncle."</p>
      <p>"I think I'd rather not know what details are at the moment."</p>
      <p>"Of course not, it would be a whole nother discussion that could take longer than it should if we were to talk about it here."</p>
      <p>"Right. Now what is it that you're offering?"</p>
      <p>"Two things. First, I would humbly request having you and a number of your crew join me on this expedition. It would be good to have honest and loyal men to help outweigh the distrustful lot I'm more or less forced to take on the coming voyage.</p>
      <p>"And the second?"</p>
      <p>"It would be this."</p>
      <p>Shepard gazed upon the letter that Amelia had handed to her that had the Queen's word ensuring that the Normandy would be provided for during its stay should the Commander accept the initial proposal. From food, possible shelter and supplies for repairing the Normandy… depending if some materials could be provided.</p>
      <p>Mulling over the proposition, Jane eventually let out a sigh, folding the letter up and placing it in her pocket.</p>
      <p>"When do we ship out?"</p>
      <p>Amelia blinked in surprise. "Then you'll join me?"</p>
      <p>"The opportunity is good and we need all the help we can get. The sooner my ship is repaired, the sooner we can get back home and save it from our present threat."</p>
      <p>Amelia smiled, holding out her hand across the table. Shepard was quick to grasp it as a firm handshake was made to solidify the agreement.</p>
      <p>
        <em>-Scene cut-</em>
      </p>
      <p>From one of the various ports and docks of the Montressor Spaceport, a ferry arrived with multiple individuals exiting the ship.</p>
      <p>Of these was a young human male of fifteen years with brown hair, brown jacket, greyish pants with brown boots and a bag slung over his shoulder.</p>
      <p>He was gazing around the port with wonder, taking in all the sights and sounds as this was a first for him.</p>
      <p>"Jim. Oh Jim! Wait for me."</p>
      <p>And that moment's ruined.</p>
      <p>Out from the ferry walked the canine man who was responsible for bringing him here in a rather gaudy, pressurized space suit that made him far bigger than he was with a helmet that had its own flapping lid. It was clearly unsuitable for modern spacing as compared to what's in the market these days.</p>
      <p>How quaint.</p>
      <p>This was Doctor Delbert Doppler, astrophysicist from the University of Montressor and old family friend of his mom's.</p>
      <p>"W-well Jim this should be a wonderful opportunity for the two of us to bond and get to know one another." Doppler said with awkward enthusiasm. "You know what they say, familiarity breeds… well contempt but-"</p>
      <p>"Look, let's just find the ship." Jim Hawkins interrupted the man in amusement, walking off as the lid closed on Delbert's face.</p>
      <p>Before leaving the initial dock, they saw something truly outstanding. A ship like nothing either has ever seen before in their lives.</p>
      <p>To sum it up, it was rather beautiful in its rather large, yet slick design.</p>
      <p>"Wow… What is that?" Jim whispered in utter awe as he read the ship's name across its hull. "Normandy SR-1…"</p>
      <p>"My word. I have never seen anything like that."</p>
      <p>"Do you think that's the ship we're supposed to be on?"</p>
      <p>"I don't believe so." Doppler said, much to his and Jim's disappointment. "We're supposed to board the R.L.S. Legacy."</p>
      <p>Seeing this, the doctor patted him on the shoulder. "Come on Jim, let's now dawdle. We have a ship to get to and a treasure to find."</p>
      <p>Hearing this made Jim smirk, nodding at Doppler as the duo resumed their walk trying to find their ship.</p>
      <p>Eventually, they were having difficulties finding their port so Jim opted to ask for directions.</p>
      <p>"Second berth on the right." A robot atop a ladder pointed.</p>
      <p>Down below, a short, stout and furry alien added, "You can't miss it."</p>
      <p>"Ok, thanks." Jim said.</p>
      <p>"It's the suit, isn't it?" Doppler exclaimed. "I should never have listened to that pushy two-handed saleswoman. This one said it fit, that one said it was my color. I didn't know what to do. I get so flustered- Ooh!"</p>
      <p>On accident, he bumped into his young charge, who abruptly stopped in the middle of the walkway as he was ranting.</p>
      <p>"Oh! Here she is Jim, the R.L.S Legacy!"</p>
      <p>Jim grinned at the sight of the solar Galleon, approaching the ramp that would lead them aboard the ship.</p>
      <p>Slowly climbing up the ramp, the two heard firm authoritative voice shouting orders aboard the ship.</p>
      <p>"Slow those casks forward!" Yelled out a giant of a man, who was in all intents and purposes a rock-man. He presently wore a red officers uniform jacket, a white button vestment and pants combo and a black sailors hat with a gold trim to finish off the look. "Heave together now!"</p>
      <p>"How cool is this?" Jim muttered aloud before bumping into someone on accident.</p>
      <p>"Oh sorry about that. I didn't mean-" Jim quickly said, noticing that the one he had bumped into was someone that was probably around his age though perhaps slightly younger.</p>
      <p>He wore garments that were entirely black and had sandy-blond hair and blue eyes.</p>
      <p>"Hey, it's no problem. It was an accident." The teen said pleasantly.</p>
      <p>Jim smirked a bit at the teen dismissal of his little bump in with him. "Right, uh…"</p>
      <p>"I'm Roxas." The blue-eyed teen introduced himself, holding out a hand which was taken by the brown haired teen.</p>
      <p>"Jim Hawkins."</p>
      <p>The two shook hands.</p>
      <p>Roxas blinked a moment later, looking over Jim's shoulder at the sight of Doppler in his oversized suit. Something Jim noticed, cringing slightly as he trailed a hand over his face.</p>
      <p>Dr. Doppler soon greeted the rock-man, who was still spouting out orders to the ship's crew. "Good morning, Captain. Everything shipshape?"</p>
      <p>"Shipshape it is, sir, but I'm not the captain." The rock-man looked upwards and directed Doppler to the intended direction. "The captain's aloft."</p>
      <p>At this point, Amelia -who was now in her captain's uniform- was running across the masts and performing a series of acrobatic maneuvers with her eyes making quick notes with everything she gazed upon. Before long, she landed back onto the ship's deck with a smile on her face.</p>
      <p>This earned a confused, yet amazed look from both Doppler and Jim.</p>
      <p>Amelia walked up to the rock-man with a stern look on her face when she strode past him. "Mr. Arrow, I've checked this miserable ship from stem to stern and, as usual, <em>it's spot on</em>." She finished off with a pleasant look on her face. "Can you get <em>nothing</em> wrong?"</p>
      <p>The now identified Mr. Arrow gave out a smile as he tipped his hat towards her. "You flatter me, Captain."</p>
      <p>Turning away from her first officer, Amelia came face to face with Doppler, an amused grin appearing on her face.</p>
      <p>"Ah~ Dr. Doppler, I presume." She said in a coy voice.</p>
      <p>"Uh… Yes, I-"</p>
      <p>"Hello?" Amelia cut him off by knocking on his glass face plate, figuring the large suit was cutting off his hearing. "Can you hear me?"</p>
      <p>"Yes I can, stop that banging!" Doppler exclaimed in aggravation, attempting to remove his helmet.</p>
      <p>And off course, it was stuck on. Why bother purchasing such a thing if he didn't know how to properly operate it?</p>
      <p>"If I may, Doctor," Amelia grabbed the square-like contraption with a red button on its center, twisting it. "This works so much better when it's right-way up and plugged in." She proceeded to pull the square piece, spun the doctor around, plugged it into an outlet on the back of Delbert's suit.</p>
      <p>"Lovely, there you go!"</p>
      <p>Doppler, in a fit of embarrassment, pried off his suit's helmet, whirled around and confronted the feline captain. "If you don't mind, I can manage my own plugging!"</p>
      <p>Amelia took no offence as she was in a really good mood up to this point. She ignored the statement as she quickly took the man's hand for a firm shake. "I'm Captain Amelia, late of a few run-ins with the Protean Armada. Nasty business, but I won't bore you with my scars." She then addressed the good doctor and Jim to her first officer. "You've met Mr. Arrow, my first officer. Sterling, tough, dependable, honest, brave and true."</p>
      <p>"Please, Captain." He said with a slight bashful tone.</p>
      <p>"Shut up, Arrow. You know I don't mean a word of it." Amelia jokingly said.</p>
      <p>The pair had been together for many years, working all so very well that they practically became a team. A package deal if it were. You can't get one without the other. Even says so in their contract with the Royal Navy for every voyage they must undertake.</p>
      <p>"And somewhere around here is my second officer of our voyage."</p>
      <p>"Second?"</p>
      <p>"I believe she's referring to me."</p>
      <p>The pair turned over and saw a redhead woman in a black space suit with a number of weapons strapped onto her person. There were some red highlights painted onto it with the N7 Logo placed near her collar with a symbol on the other side to signify her status as 'Commander'.</p>
      <p>"Roxas, got everything you need?" The 'second officer' said to the blue eyed, blonde teen.</p>
      <p>"Yeah, all set Shepard." Roxas nodded.</p>
      <p>"Are the others here yet?" Jane inquired.</p>
      <p>"Axel went back with Xion and Garrus to get the rest of the supplies we need." Roxas stated. "Tali's down below getting herself situated."</p>
      <p>"And Kaidan and Stitch?"</p>
      <p>"All set back aboard the Normandy."</p>
      <p>"Good, good." Shepard then looked over at Doppler and Jim. "Who are they?"</p>
      <p>Doppler coughed into his hand before introducing himself.</p>
      <p>"Right, right, the guy who made this all happen." Jane nodded. "I'm Commander Jane Shepard, Amelia's <em>second</em>-second in command. Dr. Doppler, I presume."</p>
      <p>Doppler nodded, finding his brow twitch at the similar wording this Commander had with the Captain, before placing a hand on the back of his companion.</p>
      <p>"And may I introduce you to Jim Hawkins?" The dog-man said with a grand smile. "Jim, you see, is the boy who found the treas-"</p>
      <p>Before he could continue further, Amelia quickly silenced him with her hand covering his mouth.</p>
      <p>"Doctor, please!" She hissed, silencing him with a fierce glare.</p>
      <p>Looking back, she saw a number of crew members looking towards them. Yet they quickly turned away when both she and Shepard gave them a combined fierce glare to have them return to their duties.</p>
      <p>With them leaving, the ship's captain readdressed the finance of this voyage.</p>
      <p>"I'd like a word with you in my stateroom." Amelia said, poking Doppler's nose.</p>
      <p>The feline Captain led the group away into her personal quarters aboard the ship, locking the door behind her.</p>
      <p>"Doctor, to <em>muse</em> and <em>blabber</em> about a <em>treasure map</em> in front of <em>this </em>particular crew," Amelia stressed out. "Demonstrates a level of ineptitude that borders on the imbecilic, and I mean that in a very caring way."</p>
      <p>"Imbecilic?" Doppler repeated with a scoff. "I should have you know-"</p>
      <p>"You should realize, doctor, that by seeing the unsavory looks of the crew here, most, if not nearly all of the people you hired onto the R.L.S. Legacy are dirty lowlifes." Shepard said aloud, earning nods from Mr. Arrow and Amelia. "So you best be careful on what you say or else things might turn for the worse."</p>
      <p>When discussing further details of the upcoming mission, Shepard and Amelia had to be careful on what to say. If word ever got out that there was a treasure hunt practically sponsored by the Royal Navy itself, there would be a string of pirate and merchant vessels alike shadowing their trail.</p>
      <p>The dog-man wished to find a means to retort only for Amelia to continue where she left off.</p>
      <p>"May I see the map?"</p>
      <p>"Wait, why can the crew not see it but this young man can?" Doppler asked, gesturing to Roxas who had joined them in the Captain's stateroom.</p>
      <p>"Because Roxas is a valued member of Shepard's team who <em>I </em>had personally recruited for insurance for this voyage." Amelia stated. "He is a young lad that I can trust."</p>
      <p>Unsure on what to do exactly, Jim soon pulled out the map from his jacket's pocket and tossed it over to the ship's captain. It was quickly caught and the map was revealed to be a spherical object.</p>
      <p>Taking a look over, the feline captain along with the human commander inspected the bronze/copper colored object with lines and circles spread across its surface.</p>
      <p>Amelia's eyes even dilated slightly at the shiny bronze orb in a cat-like manner.</p>
      <p>"Fascinating." Amelia said truthfully, never seeing anything truly sophisticated in all of her years of travel. Her gaze shifted back to Doppler and Hawkins with slightly narrowed eyes.</p>
      <p>"Mr. Hawkins, in the future, you will address me as "Captain" or "ma'am". Is that understood?" Amelia inquired as she opened her cabinet and placed it inside a box.</p>
      <p>She heard the man groan.</p>
      <p>"Mr. Hawkins?" The captain said sharply, patience slowly waning.</p>
      <p>Jim faced her, sighed and reigned in compliance. "Yes Ma'am."</p>
      <p>"That'll do for now." Amelia said, locking the cabinet and tucking the key into her coat pocket.</p>
      <p>"And what of them?" Doppler asked.</p>
      <p>"Mr. Arrow or 'sir' will suffice. And as for Shepard, you may call her as such or 'Commander'."</p>
      <p>"And you can just call me Roxas."</p>
      <p>"Yes, we can." Amelia quipped, pinching his cheek with him pulling away with a light pout while rubbing his face.</p>
      <p>She gave him a small grin, before speaking with Doppler and Jim.</p>
      <p>"Gentlemen, this must be kept under lock and key when <em>not</em> in use. And, Doctor, again, with the greatest possible respect, <em>zip your howling screamer</em>."</p>
      <p>Shepard snorted a little on seeing the literal fight between a cat and a dog person right in front of her. She can already imagine Joker's response when he learns about this.</p>
      <p>"Captain, I assure you I-"</p>
      <p>Yet Amelia interrupted him as she sat down at her desk. "Let me make this as monosyllabic as possible. I… don't care much for this crew you hired. They're…" Amelia then turned to her first office with a questionable look on her face. "How did I describe them, Arrow? I said something rather good this morning before coffee."</p>
      <p>"<em>A ludicrous parcel of driveling galoots</em>, ma'am." Arrow quoted, earning a smile from the captain.</p>
      <p>"There you go. Poetry."</p>
      <p>"Not to mention a few more <em>colorful</em> wordings not long afterwards." Shepard reminded Amelia as she too was present for the breakfast meeting with her and Mr. Arrow for proper introductions this morning.</p>
      <p>"Ah, yes, quite."</p>
      <p>Doppler slammed his hands onto the table as he was rather annoyed at this point. "Now see here-!"</p>
      <p>"Doctor, I'd love to chat, tea, cake, the whole shebang, but I have a ship to launch and you've got your outfit to buff up." Amelia interrupted him before he could start barraging the insults and foolish comments. She then began tapping her claw onto the poor excuse of a space suit as she said all that before addressing her first officer. "Mr. Arrow, please escort Roxas and these two neophytes down to the galley straightaway. Young Hawkins and Roxas will be working for our cook, Mr. Silver."</p>
      <p>Over on the other side of the stateroom, Jim was toying around with a chart tool when he suddenly stopped upon hearing what his assignment will be while on the R.L.S Legacy.</p>
      <p>"What? The cook?" Jim gaped in disbelief.</p>
      <p>Just before they were able to even make another step or movement, there was a knock on the door outside the room.</p>
      <p>Quirking a brow, Amelia approached the door, unlocking and opening it to reveal…</p>
      <p>"Ah, Tali, I take it your preparations are well and ready?" Amelia greeted with a small smile.</p>
      <p>Jim and Doppler stared at an alien woman who was covered in head to toe by a suit of some kind with her face being obscured as well.</p>
      <p>The only visible part of her body, and they would use visible loosely, was the glowing eyes beneath the helmet. They were unsure as to whether or not that was her natural eyes or it was just amplified like that due to the helmet.</p>
      <p>"Just about, Captain." Said the Quarian before spotting the doctor and the human teen. "Oh, didn't know you had company."</p>
      <p>"I was getting a bit more acquainted with our financier and his guest." Said the feline woman.</p>
      <p>Tali merely nodded as she stepped inside with the captain closing the door behind her.</p>
      <p>"Gentlemen, this is my assistant and one of the best engineers you will find in this or any galaxy." Amelia said gesturing to the helmeted alien. "This is Tali'Zorah Nar Rayya. My chief engineer and assistant aboard the ship."</p>
      <p>"Hello." Tali said kindly enough with Doppler and Jim nodding back to her while introducing themselves in the process.</p>
      <p>"Oh so is he the one with the map?" Tali said, gesturing to Jim making both he and the Doctor blink.</p>
      <p>"...Okay, she wasn't there when the map was brought up. How did she-"</p>
      <p>"I keep no secrets from my crew." Shepard said to the doctor.</p>
      <p>"As don't I from individuals that have garnered my trust." Amelia added. "Know that out of all the individuals aboard this crew, Shepard's have thus far displayed the one I can put my faith into absolutely. Aside Mr. Arrow of course. I need my lapdog by my side at all times of course." She then turned to her first officer. "No offense."</p>
      <p>Arrow smirked in amusement. "None taken, Captain."</p>
      <p>Tali then approached the pair with a curious expression hidden behind her helmet. "Tell me, how was it that you two were able to deduce the map to be of this infamous treasure trove? We haven't been here for long, but we've heard this place doesn't even exist."</p>
      <p>"That's just an excuse for those who are unwilling to take the risk." Doppler stated emphatically.</p>
      <p>Amelia, however, wasn't really convinced.</p>
      <p>"Actually…" She approached her cabinet, opening it up to retrieve the map that she had put away no less than a few minutes ago.</p>
      <p>"Now that I think about it, Miss Zorah does bring up a fair point. How were you able to tell if the map was genuine or not? Was it you, doctor, who opened it? You being a man of science and whatnot."</p>
      <p>Doppler snorted. "Much as I would love to take all of the credit, this accomplishment is for Jim and Jim alone."</p>
      <p>"...Young Hawkins?"</p>
      <p>"Go on Jim, show them." Doppler encouraged.</p>
      <p>Amelia gazed to the others and with a shrug from Jane, the feline officer tossed the bronze orb over to Jim.</p>
      <p>Taking a moment to look it over, he began pressing several buttons and nodes upon the sphere before twisting it around in several directions until a click and snap was heard.</p>
      <p>The attention was then carried off onto something else. To be exact, many thousands of somethings.</p>
      <p>The bronze orb glowed an ethereal green aura that spread out and encompassed the entire stateroom. Thousands of tiny little green lights, like buzzing fireflies to the natives to the Etherium galaxy. For its present guests, it was quite the holographic display.</p>
      <p>This quickly startled the captain and first officer as they watched as the holographic images took better shape to form precise models of a dozen different planets, stars and nebulae materializing before their eyes. And encompassing all this was even some illuminated gridlines, drawn out like quadrants on an old globe map.</p>
      <p>If it weren't for the open windows in the stateroom, the holograms would've been brighter.</p>
      <p>"Incredible…" Mr. Arrow muttered as Amelia's voice died in her throat.</p>
      <p>To the feline captain, this was honestly far better than any charts and maps she had studied throughout her entire life. The display she was presently looking at was far more accurate, for starters</p>
      <p>"You ain't seen nothing yet."</p>
      <p>The astrophysicist went over to the holographic model of the Crescentia space port. With a delicate tap on the hologram, the entire map <em><strong>shifted</strong></em>.</p>
      <p>There was a sudden wave and the hologram began to move. Lines formed and began attaching certain worlds to others.</p>
      <p>In an instant, the occupants in the stateroom realized they were indeed looking at a map as a chart was being drawn out.</p>
      <p>Things rushed forward, almost sweeping most of the room's occupants off their feet with planets and stars flowing past them up to a point when something prominent formed before them all with the route line coming at its end.</p>
      <p>Their intended destination.</p>
      <p>"There it is." Doppler said, gesturing to a planet that had two rings around it with the rings intersecting to make an X. "The loot of a thousand worlds."</p>
      <p>"Whoa." Roxas murmured, gazing at the planet with wonder, a sentiment shared with him by Tali and Jane the latter of whom snorted aloud.</p>
      <p>"Well, guess we can genuinely cross off the search for buried treasure off our bucket list." Shepard said with a wry grin. "Mom is never gonna believe this."</p>
      <p>Though it went unnoticed, Jim's visage became more solemn and determined at the Commander speaking of her mother. His own mom was waiting for him back home. And he wasn't gonna let her down this time.</p>
      <p>"How did you figure this out?" Tali asked, causing the others to turn to him.</p>
      <p>Just in time as the map receded back into the sphere, letting out a hiss to indicate it had resealed itself as if it were on a timer after its intended release.</p>
      <p>"I've always had a knack for machinery since I was a kid." Jim admitted. "I just picked it up, fiddled around with it and it just came to me."</p>
      <p>"Truly?" Amelia rubbed her chin in thought. It seemed to be that Jim could be some kind of engineering prodigy.</p>
      <p>Perhaps he would come to greater use than she had initially anticipated.</p>
      <p>Clearing her throat, Amelia returned to her more professional persona.</p>
      <p>"Now then, much as we would all enjoy blathering about treasures and maps to unsolved mysteries we have a voyage to undertake." Amelia said. "Mr. Arrow, please escort our newest crewmates here to the kitchen. Commander Shepard, a word with you."</p>
      <p>Mr. Arrow nodded at the captain before all but one of the group filed out of the stateroom, leaving Jane and Amelia alone.</p>
      <p>"What do you think of our financier?" Amelia asked straight away, placing the map back into her cabinet.</p>
      <p>"Hearing about him is one thing, seeing him is another." Shepard said with a shrug. "He seems good enough if not… naive."</p>
      <p>"In most cases, they often account for the same thing."</p>
      <p>"No kidding." Jane ran her hand through her red hair with a shake of her head. "Just hope his bits of arrogance get the better of him."</p>
      <p>"I agree." Amelia exhaled a sigh. "To think I was excited to be heading out on an interesting voyage for once, rather than the mundane routine ones I've grown accustomed to, only for Dr. Doppler to ruin it."</p>
      <p>"I've met worse people." Jane said. "He's just over excited. You get used to people like him."</p>
      <p>"I shall take your word for it." The Captain conceded. "But it'll take some merit for me to overlook things. After all, despite him hiring a crew, he did an insufficient job filling <em>every</em> role. I mean there's no carpenter, no purser, a boatswain, not even a <em>surgeon</em> for heaven's sake."</p>
      <p>At the mention of all this, Amelia had to rub her head to help take care of this headache that wanted to form.</p>
      <p>"You have no idea how much of a saving grace you and your men are, Shepard. You lot can be able to help fill most of those duties."</p>
      <p>"You're welcome, Amelia."</p>
      <p>In all honesty, Shepard can share the same stress the feline captain was experiencing now. What person doesn't properly hire the right amount of people to fill the right stations? A novice, that's who. Jane could scarcely imagine how bad things could be without her team's presence here on the ship.</p>
      <p>"Now then, what do you think of Hawkins?"</p>
      <p>"Troubled kid." Shepard said quickly. "I almost would've figured he was raised on the streets if it weren't for reading his file that his mother is still around."</p>
      <p>"It's something I hope will be ironed out while he's on my ship, given his attitude so far." Amelia stated, taking a seat behind her desk to look over her map and chart the course that would take them to their destination.</p>
      <p>"With the right influence, that will probably happen." Shepard said knowingly, with Amelia locking eyes with hers.</p>
      <p>"Personal experience?"</p>
      <p>"In a manner of speaking." Jane admitted, leaning on Amelia's desk. "After an… <em>incident</em> in my youth, I was more or less acting the same way as him. My mom was constantly out as she was in the military and I resented her, for the most part, due to her not being there for me. But we came to terms sometime afterwards. The only saving grace that helped mend our relationship was my father figure who was an old friend of my family, who, by the way, is also in the military."</p>
      <p>Shepard already made a mental note to have Roxas befriend him and try to get the new cabin boy to open up.</p>
      <p>"So perhaps Hawkins is not a lost cause after all." Amelia remarked.</p>
      <p>"You think Doppler won't make it far?"</p>
      <p>Amelia didn't respond though that was enough of an answer for the human Spectre.</p>
      <p>"Prior to joining my crew, Tali was just a civilian going out on her rite of passage to adulthood." Shepard abruptly revealed, making Amelia look up from her work. "Now she's proving her worth time and time again with the various assignments she took part in. One hell of an engineer."</p>
      <p>"Yes, with us knowing young Hawkins's skills, I assume you'll want him to study under Miss Zorah at some point?"</p>
      <p>"If it wouldn't be too much to ask."</p>
      <p>"Depending on how things go, I just might. And there was an archeologist you spoke of? Liara T'Soni?"</p>
      <p>"Liara is like the polar opposite to Doppler, if you could imagine at first glance. Shy, timid and rather reserved due to what she went through prior to rescuing her from the ruins on Therum. Over time she's opened up more and can hold her own when it comes to the safety of her friends." Shepard said.</p>
      <p>"Shame they are not here right now for this voyage."</p>
      <p>"Yeah… a shame. It would've put my nerves at ease knowing they were indeed alright back home.</p>
      <p>Amelia only nodded in understanding, going back to her work.</p>
      <p>"I'm not saying to expect them to quickly change right away but give Doppler and Jim some time to adjust. We might be surprised with what they might be capable of." Jane said after a few seconds of silence.</p>
      <p>Amelia paused, glancing back up at the Commander. "I'll take your advice to consideration. Along with Mr. Arrow, your insight is much appreciated to listen to."</p>
      <p>"That's all I ask." Shepard's green eyes traveled towards the cabinet where the map to Flints Trove was being kept. "So… about the map…"</p>
      <p>"You're just as curious as I am." Amelia saw the commander nod before continuing. "My family has a rich history in all kinds of exploration, travel and adventure. As a child, I remember listening to all kinds of tales from my extensive family, even up to the time of my great grandfather, who was a survivor from one of Nathanial Flint's final raids. In my family's collection in our ancestral estate, there are all kinds of objects and artifacts from all corners of the galaxy, even some from our neighbors. I am able to distinguish an object's species origin from a number of glances, even on what materials used to some degree. Yet for all my knowledge and experience, I've never come across something so <em>unique</em>."</p>
      <p>"I don't follow." Jane said with a tilt of her head.</p>
      <p>"I assumed Flint's map was made of copper or bronze when I first held it, yet it shows no sign of corrosion. It's heavier than it's supposed to be with its size, making me think there's more to it than meets the eye. And the lines and circles on it makes me believe the right button and tumbler sequence needs to be used to open up the map."</p>
      <p>"Sounds to me it would've been a toy if nothing else."</p>
      <p>"Exactly. But after seeing your Omni-tool in action, makes me think otherwise."</p>
      <p>"And when do you plan on having Jim be brought back here to open up the map to properly chart the course? Because, in all honesty, I could not keep track on the route the map gave out."</p>
      <p>"If I can't figure out how to open it soon on my own, I'll have him brought back here from whatever task Mr. Silver has for him after we sail past the Magellanic Cloud. I refuse to travel another mile further beyond it without me knowing the exact location we must undertake." Amelia said firmly as she barely recollected the route up to that point before she was lost in wonderment. "For now, I'd rather have the map be kept under wraps though I wouldn't put it past these Galoots to already have a gander at where it is we are going."</p>
      <p>"Then I'll be sure to inform my men on what to expect."</p>
      <p>All the while…</p>
      <p>Descending the steps towards the galley below, the doctor scrunched up his face in utter annoyance.</p>
      <p>"That woman! That <em>feline</em>!" Doppler cursed. "Who does she think is working for whom?!"</p>
      <p>"It's my map, and she's got me bussin' tables?" Hawkins complained.</p>
      <p>"I'll not tolerate a cross word about our captain!" Mr. Arrow said sternly towards the pair. "There's no <em>finer</em> officer in this or any galaxy."</p>
      <p>'More or less compete with certain individuals.' Roxas thought to himself as that while Captain Amelia is a good woman, he's known Shepard a whole lot longer.</p>
      <p>Tali thought along the same thing as Roxas, but more of a wider scope with some of the leaders from the Migrant Fleet.</p>
      <p>They were approaching the kitchen, the sound of a man casually whistling, their noses being hit with multiple different scents.</p>
      <p>Within the confines of the kitchen, they saw mist obscuring a large individual that appeared to be preparing the first meal for the voyage.</p>
      <p>"Mr. Silver!"</p>
      <p>"Why Mr. Arrow, sir!" The large, portly man greeted in an exuberant and jovial manner, wiping his hands on his apron. "Bringing such fine lookin' distinguished ladies and gents to grace my humble galley." As Silver said all this, he bowed down graciously with his movements revealing a set of a robotic arm, leg and eye.</p>
      <p>"Had I known; I'd have tucked in me shirt." As the cook of the ship stated, he tucked in his shirt and apron into his pants with a laugh.</p>
      <p>Roxas and Tali gazed upon the individual with wonder and intrigue, the latter of which to a must larger degree.</p>
      <p>Their new crewmate however…</p>
      <p>"A cyborg." Jim whispered.</p>
      <p>Roxas gazed upon Jim with a curious look.</p>
      <p>"This is Dr. Doppler." Mr. Arrow introduced the dog man. The financier of our voyage."</p>
      <p>"Love the outfit, doc." Silver remarked, his cybernetic eye shooting out a laser that trailed over the overly sized suit.</p>
      <p>"Yes, thank you, um… Love, love the eye." Delbert said as he covered his hand over the spots the beam trailed over.</p>
      <p>Quickly, he reached out to Jim and pushed him forward.</p>
      <p>"This young man is Jim Hawkins."</p>
      <p>Jim was unsure as to what Doppler was doing but he saw as Silver held out his multi knifed robotic hand.</p>
      <p>"<em>Jimbo." </em>Silver greeted with a mischievous look, laughing at himself as he switched his hand back to normal.</p>
      <p>Jim however gazed upon the man suspiciously.</p>
      <p>"And who are these fine two young lad and lady?"</p>
      <p>"Roxas and Tali." Mr. Arrow said to the cook. "They are personal recruits of the Captain."</p>
      <p>Silver saw Tali fidget slightly as she gazed upon his robotic prosthetics whilst Roxas looked on with a curious expression.</p>
      <p>"Now, don't be too put off by this hunk of hardware." Silver remarked with a casual grin.</p>
      <p>Walking off to the side, the cook started cooking up a meal, pulling off ingredients left and right along that were hanging from the rafters above. In a matter of seconds, his robotic arm started reconfiguring all sorts of attachments from a pair of cutters to snip away through some sea-food looking animals, a cleaver to chop away on the vegetables before seemingly cutting his organic hand off.</p>
      <p>"WHOA!" He bellowed, showing off a missing hand, only for the sleeve to roll back down to show that it was fine. He chuckled soon after with his robotic hand switching once more to several claw-like attachments.</p>
      <p>"These gears have been tough getting used to," he picked up a couple of eggs and tossed them into the air, letting the claws snatch onto them, "but they do come in mighty <em>handy</em> from time to time."</p>
      <p>Squeezing the eggs, the contents entered the dish he was working on. Tossing the pan up in the air, he switched his attachment once more into an impromptu flamethrower to quickly hard boil the skillet. With the flames dying down, he dumped the skillet's contents into a large pot set over a heater.</p>
      <p>A pinch of salt was added and he pulled out a spoon to quickly stir before tasting his concoction.</p>
      <p>"Mmmm." Silver hummed with satisfaction.</p>
      <p>"...Keelah…" was Tali's response at the display before her.</p>
      <p>The cook quickly pulled out four bowls, pouring in his soup to each of them.</p>
      <p>"Here, now, have a taste of me famous bonzabeast stew." Silver said with pride, holding out the bowl for them to take.</p>
      <p>The four were a little unsure at first, but Roxas was the first to try it out when he procured a spoon.</p>
      <p>"Hmm… tastes really good." Roxas said with a smile.</p>
      <p>"Why thank you, lad." Silver said, patting the lads shoulder.</p>
      <p>Tali was a little hesitant, not knowing if the food would exactly work with her digestion. Taking a chance, she pulled out her *cough* straw *cough* and slurped up the broth with little bits of meat into the mix.</p>
      <p>"Wow! This is really tasty!" Tali admitted.</p>
      <p>Hearing this, Doppler took a few experimental licks.</p>
      <p>"Mmm! Delightfully tangy, yet robust."</p>
      <p>"Old family recipe."</p>
      <p>Going in for a second helping, Doppler recoiled in shock at the sight of a floating eyeball in his stew.</p>
      <p>"In fact, that was part of the old family!" Silver exclaimed, bellowing out a hearty laugh, wiping a tear out of his good eye.</p>
      <p>Roxas and Tali recoiled at the sight before gazing into their bowls to see if there were any "extremities" placed in there. Yet they let out a sigh of relief when there were none.</p>
      <p>It seemed the good cook placed it in Doppler's bowl on purpose.</p>
      <p>Silver plucked the eye out and tossed it into his own mouth and swallowed it whole.</p>
      <p>"Just kidding, doc. I'm nothing if not a kidder."</p>
      <p>He then glanced over to Jim who had yet to take a taste of his stew.</p>
      <p>"Go on, Jimbo, have a swig." Silver encouraged</p>
      <p>Jim was a little hesitant, but was ready to try it out.</p>
      <p>Yet something seemed amiss when he scooped his first spoonful.</p>
      <p>The spoon's texture started shifting into something else. A bit transparent with a pink hue to it. Not to mention the eyes popping out soon after.</p>
      <p>"What the-"</p>
      <p>"Morph!" The cook said in recognition. "You jiggle-headed' blob of mischief! So that's where you've been hiding!"</p>
      <p>In an instant, Morph shifted into a straw before inserting himself into Jim's bowl and slurped it all in one go. Once done, the 'straw' reformed into the floating pink blob before plopping itself into the bowl with a satisfied look on its face.</p>
      <p>*BELCH*</p>
      <p>It was from there that Morph flew out of Jim's bowl and floated around him, Roxas and Tali as it started playfully rubbing itself against their faces.</p>
      <p>"What is that thing?" Jim asked.</p>
      <p>"<em>What is that thing?"</em> Morph quoted, right before exploding into little particles.</p>
      <p>Before their eyes, the little creature <em>morphed</em> into a miniature version of Jim.</p>
      <p>"He's a morph." Silver answered. "I rescued the little shape-shifter on Proteus 1."</p>
      <p>Morph demonstrated more of its abilities before the three by shifting into Roxas' and Tali's form and mimicked their movements.</p>
      <p>"He's rather cute." Tali admitted, stroking the little creature once it reverted back to its original form.</p>
      <p>Morph mewed under her touch before floating back to Silver's side, who cooed soon after with the little pink blob caressing his face with utter love. "He took a shine to me and vice versa. Been with me ever since. Right? Yeah. Nice boy."</p>
      <p>*Ding Ding* *Ding Ding*</p>
      <p>The sound of the ship's bell rang out, signaling that the ship was ready to launch.</p>
      <p>"We're about to get underway. Would you like to observe the launch, Doctor?"</p>
      <p>"Would I?" Doppler said excitedly. "Does an active galactic nucleus have superluminal jets?"</p>
      <p>The vice-captain only gave him a dry look.</p>
      <p>"Does it?" Roxas asked his Quarian friend.</p>
      <p>She only shrugged, not knowing what the Doctor was talking about.</p>
      <p>"I'm an engineer, not an astrophysicist." Tali whispered back.</p>
      <p>"...I'll follow you." Doppler said dejectedly.</p>
      <p>As they moved to leave, Arrow turned back lightly pushing Jim and Roxas back.</p>
      <p>"Mr. Hawkins and Mr. Roxas shall be staying down here in your charge, Mr. Silver."</p>
      <p>The moment this was said, Silver was taking another sip of the stew he prepared for later, when he started choking from utter surprise. Slamming his fist into his chest, he was able to clear himself up before addressing the first officer.</p>
      <p>"Beggin' your pardon sir, but uh-"</p>
      <p>"Captain's Orders." Mr. Arrow cut the cook off sharply. "See to it our new Cabin Boys are kept busy."</p>
      <p>As Silver and Jim were trying to talk, hoping to dissuade Mr. Silver in order to change assignments, Roxas merely kept quiet for the most part.</p>
      <p>"I don't see the problem with that." Said the Nobody.</p>
      <p>Both Silver and Jim looked to the Nobody, their mouths comically gaping at the teen with the Vice-Captain smirking in approval.</p>
      <p>"There we have it then."</p>
      <p>Tali looked between them and Roxas had managed to pick up on what she wanted to do.</p>
      <p>"I'll see ya later Tali." Roxas said with a small smile, making Tali smile back with a nod.</p>
      <p>"Try to stay out of trouble, Roxas." Tali said jokingly, quickly following Arrow out of the galley not giving him a chance to retort.</p>
      <p>After some brief moments of silence, Silver looked towards his two new charges. "So, Captain's put you two with me, eh?"</p>
      <p>"Whatever." Jim drawled out.</p>
      <p>"Yeah." Roxas simply said.</p>
      <p>Silver sighed before giving them both a disarming smile.</p>
      <p>"Well, who be a humble cyborg to argue with a captain?"</p>
      <p>"Yeah…" Jim looked over to a large barrel of purple fruits. "You know, these purps, they're kind of like the ones back home on <em>Montressor</em>."</p>
      <p>Roxas looked at Jim and wondered why he was bringing this up all of a sudden. An odd topic to start things out.</p>
      <p>"You've ever been there?" Jim asked the cyborg, grabbing one of the purps.</p>
      <p>"I can't say as I have, Jimbo." Silver said casually.</p>
      <p>Taking a bite from the purp fruit, Jim continued to speak as clearly as he could. "Come to think of it, just before I left, I met this old guy who was, um… He was kind of looking for a cyborg buddy of his."</p>
      <p>"Is that so?"</p>
      <p>"Yeah. What was that old salamander's name? Oh yeah, Bones. Billy Bones."</p>
      <p>"Bones? Boooones~?" Silver repeated with a scrunched up face in thought as he poured boiled water into a large bowl. "Mmm, mmm, T'aint ringin' any bells. Must've been another Cyborg. There's a slew of cyborgs roamin' this port."</p>
      <p>"You thought Silver would know this Bones guy, Jim?"</p>
      <p>"It was worth a shot." Jim shrugged out.</p>
      <p>"That seems a bit of a stretch really." Roxas said with his arms crossed.</p>
      <p>"Hey, he said Cyborg." Jim said defensively.</p>
      <p>"Ah, don't mind him lad." Silver cut in with a laugh, patting Roxas' back. "Jimbo's right to be suspicious of coincidental meetins'. Learned that in me travels. Will serve him well in life."</p>
      <p>Soon a loud whistling sound filled the air.</p>
      <p>"<em>Prepare to cast off!" </em>Arrow bellowed out from above.</p>
      <p>Silver smirked, lightly pushing them two towards the exit. "Eh~ Off with you two, and watch the launch. They'll be plenty work-a-waitin' for you afterwards."</p>
      <p>As the two teens left the galley, Silver looked back with an even look on his face while Morph floated beside his head.</p>
      <p>"We best be keepin' a sharp eye on these ones, eh, Morph?" He said to his most loyal companion as he fetched out a little bisket for the critter to munch on. "We wouldn't want 'em strayin' into things 'ey shouldn't."</p>
      <p>Back above deck, a multi eyed alien positioned at the crow's nest yelled out his report to the captain below. "We're all clear, Captain!"</p>
      <p>At the bridge, Amelia, Arrow and Shepard were standing by as they awaited for the R.L.S. Legacy to take off as they were given a proper clear to depart. And leaning against the side was Dr. Doppler, who kept whooshing around as he gazed in awe at the ship's navigational controls.</p>
      <p>Amelia had to restrain herself from kicking the man over the ledge for ruining her moment. The launch is one of her most personal moments of spacing.</p>
      <p>The feeling as one slips away from gravity's pull, the looming excitement of freedom and adventure, the absolute thrill as thrusters pushes you out into open space. All these things stirred an immense feeling of primal euphoria within the feline woman.</p>
      <p>The last thing she wanted was for it to be stained by the sounds of loose bolts, unoiled metal creaking and the blabbering buffoonery the astrophysicist was spouting out under his breath.</p>
      <p>Though if Amelia had to be honest, it was a little refreshing to see a financier <em>actually</em> wanting to witness a launch instead of staying in their cabin. So she can let things slide… for now.</p>
      <p>Controlling her emotions, the ship's captain addressed her first officer. "Well, my friend. Are we ready to raise this creaking tub?"</p>
      <p>"My pleasure, Captain." Arrow said evenly before bellowing out an order. "All hands to stations!"</p>
      <p>In mere moments, the ship's crew scrambled about, climbing up to the sails of the ship.</p>
      <p>"Loose all solar sails." Arrow bellowed out with the crew doing just that as the white sails with hexagonal patterns were released.</p>
      <p>Down below, Jim and Roxas watched all this action and motion with the former looking out over the edge of the ship.</p>
      <p>"Brace up!" Arrow shouted, the solar sails taking in the light of the nearby sun which began charging up the ships engines.</p>
      <p>Before long, the R.L.S. Legacy started floating up into the air. This got Jim and Roxas to rush towards the edge and peer down to see how higher they were getting. And other orders were being spouted out from Mr. Arrow's mouth as things were getting ready for the initial launch.</p>
      <p>Suddenly, everyone aboard the ship began lightly floating upwards as they were drifting away from the space port.</p>
      <p>For Jim, it honestly felt rather great. A sense of weightlessness like the times when he rode his solar sailor in the past. A little sense of freedom before any dire circumstances arose.</p>
      <p>For Roxas, it almost reminded him of initially flying for the first time when he made his brief appearance in Neverland.</p>
      <p>Now that he thought about it, he should probably start practicing his flying skills really soon with this given opportunity.</p>
      <p>"Mr. Zuff!" Amelia called out to a large slug-like alien with a swanky hat nearby a control switch. "Engage artificial gravity."</p>
      <p>Zuff saluted the Captain and responded to basically… fart language, or flatula as it was called. Pressing down on the nearby switch, a purple ray shot out across the ship with all landing back down upon the floor save for Doppler who crashed down headfirst with nuts and bolts flying out.</p>
      <p>Amelia glanced down with a slight smirk of amusement. Shepard had a bigger one with her shaking her head.</p>
      <p>"South by southwest, Mr. Turnbuckle." Amelia instructed the helmsman of the ship. "Heading 2-1-0-0."</p>
      <p>"Aye Captain." Turnbuckle replied, rotating the steering wheel of the ship. "2-1-0-0."</p>
      <p>Once the ship reached its elevation out of the space port with its energy charged up...</p>
      <p>"All set?" Shepard asked with Amelia nodding.</p>
      <p>"Full speed Mr. Arrow, if you'd please."</p>
      <p>The rock-man vice-captain spoke into a tube that connected itself to the engines down below.</p>
      <p>"Take her away!"</p>
      <p>As they were about to head off at full speed, Amelia decided to give Dr. Doppler a small warning to brace himself.</p>
      <p>Sadly, the warning went in from one ear and out the other as he merely ignored her.</p>
      <p>While the doctor ignored the warning, Shepard took it to heart. Bracing herself a little with her biotics flaring, the ship's thrusters blasted them forward.</p>
      <p>As a result, Shepard was kept in place…</p>
      <p>"AHHHHH-" *CRASH*</p>
      <p>While Doppler sailed past them and crashed to the far off wall with a clattering and rattling being heard soon after.</p>
      <p>Even though Amelia wanted to look back and see the ridiculous display of the financier, she fought the urge to do so.</p>
      <p>She wanted to keep her composure.</p>
      <p>It was briefly broken when Amelia caught a slight flash from the corner of her eye.</p>
      <p>"What was that?" She asked Jane, who had her Omni-tool out.</p>
      <p>Jane merely smiled and presented a recently taken photo to the captain.</p>
      <p>This caused the feline woman to actually snort in utter amusement.</p>
      <p>"I would like a copy of that later."</p>
      <p>When they were away, those within the bridge looked around and saw the celestial weather was perfectly clear, a good sign to start this voyage to Treasure Planet. The sunlight was strong and a gentle solar breeze carried them all out with Crescentia eventually becoming nothing more than a speck in the distance as they found themselves joining a migration of space whales.</p>
      <p>As this went on, Roxas and Jim were enthralled by the sight as they hung off the ship's shrouds.</p>
      <p>Not wanting to stay on them for too long, they got off and had their feet firmly planted on the ship's wooden floor.</p>
      <p>"Roxas."</p>
      <p>Both Jim and Roxas turned to see two other individuals, both of whom had the same black cloak that Roxas wore.</p>
      <p>"Axel, Xion." No. XIII greeted with a bright smile, going over to them. "You guys ready?"</p>
      <p>"Sure thing. Garrus got the rest of our stuff down in the barracks." Axel said with a wide grin. "This'll be a new one for all of us."</p>
      <p>"I wonder what we'll see on the way?" Xion asked aloud in open thought.</p>
      <p>"Maybe some interstellar seashells for your collection." Axel joked, mussing up Xion's hair with the younger Nobody puffing her cheeks up and beat her fists against the taller redheads chest.</p>
      <p>Chortling, No. VIII glanced over to the other teen next to Roxas who was gazing at them awkwardly.</p>
      <p>"And you are?" The Flurry of dancing flames asked.</p>
      <p>"Uh, Jim, Jim Hawkins."</p>
      <p>"Name's Axel. Got it Memorized?"</p>
      <p>"...Sure."</p>
      <p>"I'm Xion." No XIV greeted him with a friendly smile. "Have you already met Roxas?"</p>
      <p>"Er yeah, uh… we're gonna be getting to know each other a lot more."</p>
      <p>Axel quirked a brow. "Why's that?"</p>
      <p>Jim groaned slightly as he remembered his new position aboard the ship. "Cabin boys."</p>
      <p>Axel blinked before he gained a more mischievous smile. "Are ya now?"</p>
      <p>Jim didn't get a chance to say anything when Tali came up next to them.</p>
      <p>"Can you believe this?!" Tali said, waving her arms about excitedly. "I never thought my Pilgrimage would lead me to see all <em>this!"</em></p>
      <p>"Careful, Tali." Came another, more amused voice. Looking back, Jim saw an avian-plated alien in a blue space suit with a blue visor over his left eye. "We don't want you to pass out on us from sheer excitement."</p>
      <p>Tali however didn't care for the comment, simply gushing about where they were and what they were experiencing. Not to mention with everyone supposedly not choking to death from lack of oxygen while still on the ship.</p>
      <p>"Oh like you're one to talk, Gary." Axel said, nudging the man with his elbow. "I can see that twinkle in your eyes. Or is it just your visor acting up again?"</p>
      <p>"I'll get you back for that nickname one day, Axel." Garrus swore in mock dramatic seriousness. "This I swear. Get it memorized."</p>
      <p>Axel chortled. "Coming from you, Garrus? Will be hard not to."</p>
      <p>Over with Amelia and Shepard, the two were looking out into the endless expanse, the latter of which finding herself enraptured by the sight.</p>
      <p>It's not every day one could just stand out in the vacuum of space and gaze upon its brilliance without the need of assistance.</p>
      <p>Well… not from her galaxy at least.</p>
      <p>Not yet… least until they try out that Oxy-chew.</p>
      <p>"Tis a grand day for sailin', Captain."</p>
      <p>Both ladies looked down from their post to see Silver, garbed in a black trench coat and hat with the little blob Morph floating around him. Jane couldn't help but take a moment to make sure she wasn't seeing things when she gazed at the floating pink blob.</p>
      <p>"And look at you. You're as trim and as bonny as a sloop with new sails and a fresh coat of paint." Silver finished, taking off his hat to bow while giving a small grin at the captain. "And you, Ms. Shepard. Why your fierce looks would cower a raging boulder beast in an instant."</p>
      <p>Shepard's lip twitched upwards at the praise but it appeared Amelia was a hard one to flatter.</p>
      <p>"You can keep that sort of flim-flammery for your spaceport floozies, Mr. Silver." Amelia retorted, making the crew's cook slump in defeat.</p>
      <p>Morph however shifted into a miniature version of the Captain and began to tauntingly say,</p>
      <p>"<em>Spaceport floozies, spaceport floozies-"</em></p>
      <p>The shape-shifter was abruptly cut off by Silver snagging the little guy with his hat and trapping him beneath as he placed it on his head.</p>
      <p>"You cut me to the quick, Captain." Silver said in a "heartbroken" fashion. "I speak nothing but me heart at all times."</p>
      <p>As Silver said this, Morph imitated the comment as he floated up with the cooks hat before he was caught again and placed back atop Silver's head.</p>
      <p>Amelia looked up and saw the group that had come along with Shepard speaking with one another with Jim engaged in the conversation as well.</p>
      <p>"And, by the way, are those not your cabin boys aimlessly walking about and conversing with the rest of the crew in a meaningless fashion?"</p>
      <p>Silver looked over and saw he was in a bit of a tight spot now. Turning over, he addressed the captain. "A momentary aberration, Cap'n, soon to be addressed."</p>
      <p>Whipping around, Mr. Silver addressed his two cabin boys.</p>
      <p>"Jimbo! Rocky!"</p>
      <p>The two aforementioned teens looked over at the cook with confusion plastered on their faces.</p>
      <p>"...Rocky?"</p>
      <p>"Rocky!" Axel guffawed next to him, with the Normandy crew next to him chuckling at the nickname for the sandy-blond hair.</p>
      <p>"It's a start." Garrus said with a smirk.</p>
      <p>Silver ignored all the banter, addressing his two wards directly.</p>
      <p>"If you and yer friends would excuse us, I have two new friends of my own to introduce the both of you two." Silver said with a sly look.</p>
      <p>The word 'friends' echoed in Jim's head. He didn't know if the people surrounding him would be considered friends right away. But… they were friendly enough…</p>
      <p>"I'd like the two of you to meet the lovely couples of Misters Mops and Misses Buckets." Silver said, tossing both boys a mop and a bucket in each hand.</p>
      <p>Axel and Garrus laughed aloud at that with Roxas only holding up both tools in bewilderment whilst Jim gave the flattest look he could muster.</p>
      <p>"Yippee." Jim said blandly.</p>
      <p>The little group dispersed, Xion going with Tali, Axel heading up to speak with Shepard and Garrus muttering something about calibrating the ship's cannons.</p>
      <p>Roxas and Jim all the while got to work on mopping the deck of the ship.</p>
      <p>"Yeah, I got your Mr. Mop right here." Jim muttered in annoyance, leaving a moist trail with Roxas by his side who was idly doing the same task.</p>
      <p>"It can't be that bad, Jim." Roxas remarked.</p>
      <p>"Oh yeah?" Jim said in challenge. "How would you know that?"</p>
      <p>Roxas shrugged. "I've done these things before."</p>
      <p>Jim only sighed in defeat when he was abruptly shoved in a rough manner by a large four armed alien with a rather red face.</p>
      <p>"What it, twerp!" Growled the large, four-armed alien.</p>
      <p>Jim stared at the crewmate in bewilderment, sharing a look with his fellow Cabin boy as they wondered what the hell was that about.</p>
      <p>"That was rather rude."</p>
      <p>"You're tellin' me."</p>
      <p>The duo then heard some murmuring from nearby. Looking over on the other side of the deck, both saw three of the crew speaking with one another in low voices and in a rather conspiratorial manner. One was the multi-eyed alien that served in the crow's nest, a one fellow with his dreadlock beard spread everywhere and a rather plump alien.</p>
      <p>They kept chattering until the largest of them quickly saw the duo watching them, clamping his mouth shut with the others following suit as they now eyed the two Cabin Boys.</p>
      <p>"What are you looking at, weirdo?" the one with the bandanna and multiple dreadlocks asked in a challenging tone.</p>
      <p>The head suddenly <em>detached</em> itself from the body and crawled off the body with its "dreads" in fact being legs and rested on the nearby barrel. Soon after the "body" moved its arms around to reveal the face beneath.</p>
      <p>"Yeah, <em>weirdo</em>." it said in a condescending manner.</p>
      <p>Jim winced while Roxas just stared, having never seen something like that before.</p>
      <p>Both in his travels and through Sora's memories. That one was certainly a first.</p>
      <p>Hissing was soon heard, causing the pair to look upwards.</p>
      <p>Crawling down the shrouds was an arachnid-like alien with a pair of dimmed yellow eyes.</p>
      <p>"Cabin boys should learn to mind their own <em>business</em>." the Yellow-eyed alien threatened.</p>
      <p>"Why? You got something to hide, bright eyes?" Jim asked offhandedly, trying to resume his work..</p>
      <p>Roxas was quick to follow as he spoke his mind. "I mean… if you got something to hide, it's probably better to do that <em>not</em> in the open."</p>
      <p>In an instant, the scruffs of their necks were seized by the arachnid shipmate and hoisted into the air.</p>
      <p>"Maybe your ears don't work so well." the Arachnid-like alien hissed angrily.</p>
      <p>"Yeah." Jim grunted out. "Too bad my <em>nose</em> works just fine."</p>
      <p>"And if you're trying to be <em>threatening</em>, I gotta tell ya, you're doing a rather poor attempt." Roxas said evenly, glaring at the man.</p>
      <p>This made the arachnid shipmate to hoist them higher. "Why, you impudent little-"</p>
      <p>Before the arachnid could slam the cabin boys to the mast, he felt something pressed against his head.</p>
      <p>"I wouldn't do anything too hasty if I were you, Mr. Scroop."</p>
      <p>Taking a glance back, the arachnid alien saw Garrus holding his pistol against his head with the safety off. The rest of the crew was rather shocked at just how quick and sudden the appearance of the Turian was and how he went straight for his pistol rather than attempting to restrain the multi legged alien.</p>
      <p>The C-sec detective pressed his pistol harder up against Scroops head.</p>
      <p>"Now then, please put down my friends there if you would be so kind." Garrus asked in a deadly tone.</p>
      <p>Scroop let out a tiny snarl, leering at Garrus who gazed back unflinchingly.</p>
      <p>"Don't make this easy." Garrus warned, his gun making whirring sounds as he prepared to fire.</p>
      <p>"Then let's find out who's faster." Scroop snarled, preparing to tighten his hold around both teens. "Your pistol or my-URGH!"</p>
      <p>Abruptly, a metallic pincer clamped down on the hand that was holding Jim.</p>
      <p>Everyone then turned to see Silver casually holding Scroop in place with his robotic hand whilst holding a purp in the other.</p>
      <p>"Mr. Scroop." Silver began with a small smile, taking a bite out of his fruit. "You ever seen what happens to a fresh Purp when you squeeze it <em>real hard!"</em></p>
      <p>Scroop visibly winced in pain, clenching his wrist tightly. This caused him to drop the cabin boys.</p>
      <p>Suddenly the deck was silenced upon Mr. Arrow's voice cutting the tension.</p>
      <p>"What's all this, then?" Questioned the first officer, gazing at the assembly of crew mates. "You know the rules. There'll be no brawling on this ship."</p>
      <p>The crew voiced their compliance, all except for Mr. Scroop.</p>
      <p>"Any further offenders will be confined to the brig for the remainder of the voyage." Mr. Arrow warned them all before sternly glaring at the arachnid shipmate. "Am I <em>clear</em>, Mr. Scroop?"</p>
      <p>Said shipmate growled at the first officer and wanted to lash out. Yet he was stopped when his vision was met with red. Not of his own volition, but because of someone else.</p>
      <p>Gazing to the side, Mr. Scroop saw John Silver activating his cybernetic eye as the light coming from it intensified as he glared upon him.</p>
      <p>Knowing what exact threat is being silently spoken about, Mr. Scroop stood down.</p>
      <p>"Transparently."</p>
      <p>Hearing the growled response, Mr. Arrow walked away, not seeing the utter hate filled aimed towards him by the arachnid shipmate.</p>
      <p>Everyone disbursed, going on with their tasks. Before going back to his, Garrus put away his pistol and gave the two cabin bows a firm nod, which was received in kind by Roxas with a confused, hesitant one from Jim.</p>
      <p>"Well done, Mr. Arrow, sir." Mr. Silver called out to the first officer. "A tight ship's a happy ship, sir." Once out of earshot, he whirled around to the cabin boys. "Jimbo, Rocky, I gave you two a job." Silver said, pointing to the mop in his hand.</p>
      <p>"Hey, we were doing it until that spider-freak-" Jim began.</p>
      <p>"And we were just minding our own business and-" Roxas, a moment later.</p>
      <p>"Belay that!" Silver cut them off. "Now, I want this deck swabbed spotless, and heaven help you if I come back and it's not done." the cook looked behind him. "Morph?" The little blob appeared by the cyborg's side. "Keep an eye on these pups and let me know if there be any more distractions."</p>
      <p>The moment Silver walked away, Morph enlarged his eyes to comical proportions and peered down at the pair.</p>
      <p>"That's not gonna get annoying." Jim muttered out.</p>
      <p>"What happened here?"</p>
      <p>Jim and Roxas looked over to see Axel walking over to them.</p>
      <p>"Axel? Where were you?" Roxas inquired.</p>
      <p>"Talking to Shepard." Axel said. "Gonna pop over to the Normandy in a moment, see how Kaidan and the rest of the crew is holding up."</p>
      <p>Jim merely rose a brow on what they were talking about.</p>
      <p>"Uh… wait, you're leaving?" Jim surmised.</p>
      <p>"Only for a bit."</p>
      <p>"But… But we're so far out already. And using the longboats would take too long." Jim said.</p>
      <p>"I have my methods." Axel said in an enigmatic tone.</p>
      <p>This only gave Jim a little migraine. After one look from Roxas, basically telling him to drop it, the Hawkins boy complied and let it go or else drive himself mad.</p>
      <p>"Whelp, be sure to swab the poop deck properly <em>Rocky.</em>" Axel said, sly grin in place.</p>
      <p>Roxas gave him a dull look. "Can you please, not."</p>
      <p>"Huh? What's that Cabin Boy? I can't hear you over your chores." Axel mocked, laughing at his friend's plight.</p>
      <p>"Your hair is awful." Roxas shouted, making Axel halt and turn back to him slowly.</p>
      <p>"I take offence to that,<em> Rocky Mountain</em>."</p>
      <p>"Mountain? Where'd that one come from?" Roxas asked in bewilderment. "Did you pull that one out of your head or your hair?"</p>
      <p>The fiery Nobody only snorted, walking away from the two, leaving them to their devices with Morph still watching them with his enlarged eyes.</p>
      <p>"What's his deal?" Jim asked.</p>
      <p>"Axel means well. It just takes some time getting used to."</p>
      <p>Jim nodded as he swabbed the deck as several inquiries slowly formed in his head.</p>
      <p>As the two cabin boys went about their tasks, the crew's cook made his way down below.</p>
      <p>He heard light chatter coming down from the kitchen, signifying they were present.</p>
      <p>Upon entering the galley below, Silver was utterly silent. He breathed in evenly as he soon gazed upon the others present before him.</p>
      <p>"So, we're all here, then."</p>
      <p>He then heard someone scurry past him, quickly seeing it was the multi-eyed alien, Onus, who is stationed at the crow's nest. "Excuse me."</p>
      <p>Once plopped onto his seat, Silver nodded.</p>
      <p>"Fine."</p>
      <p>Silver began walking amongst the group with a calm smile though the faces of the others conveyed nervousness.</p>
      <p>"Now, if you pardon my plain speaking, gentlemen, are you all…"</p>
      <p>Silver's robotic arm then shifted into that of a cutlass blade as he bellowed out, "STARK-RAVING, TOTALLY BLINKING DAFT?!"</p>
      <p>He swung his sword arm around with those closest to him dodging his blade with Onus narrowly missing it with his hat being torn in two.</p>
      <p>"After all me finagling getting us hired as an upstanding crew, you want to blow the whole mutiny <em>before</em> it's time?"</p>
      <p>"The cabin boys were sniffing about."</p>
      <p>"You just stick to the plan, you bug-brained twit." Silver harshly said to the man who caused this bit of a mess in the first place. "As for the boys, I'll run 'em so ragged, 'ey won't have time to think."</p>
      <p>"But what about that woman's people." One of the crewmates asked.</p>
      <p>"Yeah, they look like they have some fighters on their side." Another said.</p>
      <p>"How can they match up our big guy here?"</p>
      <p>The four-armed alien huffed smugly.</p>
      <p>"Don't go doing anything idiotic." Silver snapped. "You all saw just how quickly one of them was ready to blast Mr. Scroop here in an instant. We best keep an eye on them, for now. Plan accordingly and tread lightly ya daft fools. Those individuals are dangerous to the plan."</p>
      <p>An hour had passed with night starting falling all around and the deck was fully cleaned.</p>
      <p>Roxas and Jim were no longer alone, having Xion join them though she simply sat upon the railing nearby with her gazing up at the stars.</p>
      <p>Ringing the mops overboard, they briefly saw Morph in the form of another mop as he swabbed their footwear in a playful manner. Once done, the little alien floated up and returned to normal, belching a little and releasing soap filled bubbles.</p>
      <p>"That's probably not sanitary." Roxas pointed out to the pink sentient blob.</p>
      <p>Xion only giggled aloud, hopping down from railing to walk over to them.</p>
      <p>"At least you both are done."</p>
      <p>"Well, this has been a fun day then, huh?" Jim said, resting on his mop. "Making new friends, like that <em>spider psycho</em>."</p>
      <p>In an instant, Morph shifted into a miniature appearance of Mr. Scroop.</p>
      <p>"<em>Spider psycho, spider psycho."</em></p>
      <p>Jim laughed.</p>
      <p>"Heh~ A little uglier."</p>
      <p>Morph adopted a thoughtful look before shifting his present form into an exaggerated appearance, almost cartoonish.</p>
      <p>"<em>MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"</em></p>
      <p>The trio shared a laugh at that.</p>
      <p>"...Pretty close." Jim complimented.</p>
      <p>The trio then heard someone walking up the steps. And given the little wheezing of the mechanical nature, they realized it was John Silver.</p>
      <p>"Well, thank heavens for little miracles." He walked to the side and dumped over the food waste he collected from the galley. "Up here an hour, and the deck's still in one piece."</p>
      <p>Plopping the pot onto the deck flooring, the ship's cook addressed No. XIV.</p>
      <p>"Ah, I don't think we had the time or pleasure of meeting, lass." Silver said, giving the young teen girl an elaborate bow. "It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance miss…?"</p>
      <p>"Xion." The rich brunette introduced herself in a friendly manner.</p>
      <p>"Lovely name for a lovely lass. You can call me Silver." The Cyborg said, making Xion smile slightly. "I take it you and Rocky here know each other personally then?"</p>
      <p>"Yeah, she's my friend." Roxas said.</p>
      <p>As Silver made light banter with the two black cloaked teens, Jim made an awkward cough and drew attention towards him.</p>
      <p>"Hey… Look, I… about earlier… thanks." Jim admitted after a few moments.</p>
      <p>Silver gazed upon the young lad with mixed emotions. He glanced over to Roxas and Xion who were unsure as to what to do.</p>
      <p>"Did your pop ever teach you to pick your fights a bit more carefully?" Silver asked, getting a more dour look from the brown haired teen.</p>
      <p>"Your father not the teachin' sort?" he asked a moment later</p>
      <p>"No. He was more the 'taking off and never coming back' sort." Jim said in a bitter tone.</p>
      <p>"Oooooh… Sorry, lad." Silver voiced apologetically.</p>
      <p>He looked back at the two Keybearers beside him.</p>
      <p>"And the two of ye?" Silver asked. "Did you have proper parents to show ya how to conduct yerselves and all?"</p>
      <p>There was a slightly awkward air between the Nobodies as Xion shifted about whilst Roxas looked down.</p>
      <p>"Neither of us… ever had parents." Xion shyly said, gazing away from the Cyborg with the older gentlemen now cringing at his lack of tact.</p>
      <p>"Aw, sorry me Lass." Silver said understandingly. "Didn't mean to bring up something like that for either you's."</p>
      <p>"Hey, no big deal. I'm doing just fine." Jim quickly said offhandedly, though it was clear to Silver that that wasn't quite the case.</p>
      <p>"Is that so?" Mused the cook. After a couple moments of silence, his lips quirked upward. "Well, since the captain has put you two in my charge, like it or not, I'll be pounding a few skills into these thick heads of yours to keep you out of trouble."</p>
      <p>This earned a surprised look from Hawkins, with Roxas flinching slightly at having his forehead poked. "What?"</p>
      <p>"From now on, I'm not letting either of you out of me sight." Silver cut him off. "As a matter of fact lass, whenever I catch you dallying about, you'll be joining these two in their duties."</p>
      <p>"Excuse me?" Xion asked in bemusement.</p>
      <p>"You can't do-"</p>
      <p>"You won't so much as eat, sleep, or scratch your bum without my say-so." Silver said, emphatically slamming his fist down to get his point across.</p>
      <p>"Don't do us any favors!" Jim shot back with Silver laughing as he brought in all three of the young teens and tussled with their hairs before shoving them away.</p>
      <p>"You can be sure of that, my lad. You can be sure of that."</p>
      <p>
        <em>-Scene Cut-</em>
      </p>
      <p>Where one part of the crew of the Normandy ground team was off on a literal intergalactic adventure across the cosmos, the ones that had been left behind due to unforeseen circumstances were currently standing before the Citadel Council.</p>
      <p>Their reason being here was to explain what in the hell happened on Virmire that resulted in the disappearance of Shepard, the Normandy and the entirety of her crew.</p>
      <p>Save for the trio of Ashely, Liara and Wrex.</p>
      <p>Of the three… all three really didn't want to be here right about now.</p>
      <p>Thankfully, they weren't alone.</p>
      <p>Captain Kirrahe of the STG was there with them as well as Della Duck, the oddball group standing together as they addressed the Council. And not far away was Ambassador Udina and Captain Anderson.</p>
      <p>After the initial discussion with what went down on Virmire, topics shifted onto the more <em>pressing matters</em> once Captain Kirrahe was dismissed.</p>
      <p>"What would you like us to explain, Councilor?" Ashley asked carefully, keeping her voice evenly calm. It was the best she could do with the inner turmoil and anxiety churning inside.</p>
      <p>Sparatus growled with anger at the human's impudence. "How about why you saw fit to keep the discovery of a new species to yourself?!"</p>
      <p>"Not the first time." Ashley muttered under her breath.</p>
      <p>"What was that?!" Snapped the Turian councilor.</p>
      <p>"Sparatus! Stand down!" Tevos hissed at the man beside her.</p>
      <p>The way how this was said caused everyone else present to step back. The calm and collected councilor of the trio acted in such a way that it was a little shocking. And it didn't help with the building tension the council chamber held.</p>
      <p>"Ashley." Della said towards her friend. "I can handle this."</p>
      <p>"You sure?"</p>
      <p>"Positive. Not the first time I have to deal with someone like Sparatus here."</p>
      <p>Ashley stepped back, allowing more focus to be placed on Della.</p>
      <p>"Hello there. My name is Della Duck and I come from the Ōkoku galaxy. And yes, the Normandy team did make first contact with me."</p>
      <p>"Another galaxy?" Spartacus scoffed. "You expect us to believe-"</p>
      <p>Della growled, dropping whatever bits of civility she was trying to have to act professionally. "Hey! You accept me being from out of this galaxy but the notion of Reapers, which we saw one in person, is out of the question for you?!"</p>
      <p>"You dare?!"</p>
      <p>"I'm not part of your galaxy or Council nonsense in case you haven't noticed!"</p>
      <p>The Turian Councilor was positively fuming by this point but his Asari compatriot interjected again.</p>
      <p>"Sparatus, enough!" Tevos hissed once more. "This is a first contact meeting with a species from <em>another galaxy.</em> Compose yourself for Goddess sake."</p>
      <p>Sparatus breathed heavily until he somehow managed to reign himself in, putting on a more stoic visage that failed to impress Della Duck who crossed her arms.</p>
      <p>"Okay, gotta ask this, but is he in a mood or something?"</p>
      <p>"It's typically how he is at times." Valern said offhandedly, earning a look from his Turian counterpart. "You know it's true, Sparatus."</p>
      <p>Della sighed before looking at the asari councilor. "My apologies, but I honestly don't appreciate being called a liar. Especially in this scenario."</p>
      <p>"Of course not." Responded the Salarian councilor, sending a meaningful glance towards his Turian colleague. "Please continue, Della. Would you kindly inform us how the Normandy came into contact with you?"</p>
      <p>"Thank you." Della then smirked at the Turian in the room. "See? You should take some lessons from your buddy. Can save you quite a lot of arguments."</p>
      <p>Spartacus merely growled, clenching his hands a little but had to hold his emotions down for the time being.</p>
      <p>"Right." Della clapped her hands and gave a brief summary on what happened. "So I was test piloting one of our new Gummi-ships when the Heartless attacked. A malfunction occurred in the attack and I unintentionally warped my way to your neck of the woods. I crash landed on Earth's moon, Luna, and fend them off until the Normandy was able to catch wind of my distress signal."</p>
      <p>"If you were indeed rescued, why didn't the Normandy report of your discovery, Miss Duck?"</p>
      <p>"If you mean to you three, well in my opinion, two of your species didn't exactly have a good track record on first contact scenarios from what I've read up on recently." Della retorted with a distrustful gaze. "From the Krogan on the Salarian side to the humans on the Turians. And from what I believe, the humans learned from the past mistakes and went in a <em>far</em> better approach."</p>
      <p>"You're evading the question, Miss Duck." Spartacus said evenly.</p>
      <p>"Am I?" Della snarky said. "Let me get down on a few things about the aforementioned races. With the Krogan, the Salarians uplifted them and 'knew what was best for them'." The anthropomorphic duck woman used air quotes on the last bit. "All you did was use them against the Rachni. Sure they complied but when the whole thing was settled, you used the genophage on them when the Salarians saw no longer use for them."</p>
      <p>"The genophage was the only way to keep their 'urges' in check." Valern defended, only earning a growl from Wrex not far away.</p>
      <p>"I think it's best you apologize to my friend, Councilor Valern." Della gritted out.</p>
      <p>"Sorry, but my apologies won't change the truth on the matter. My ancestors uplifted them to wage war against the Rachni. Sadly, it was all they wanted the Krogan to know." Valern said without missing a beat.</p>
      <p>Della snorted. "Your people should've thought the matter a whole lot better. I mean, was it much of a surprise the Krogan revolted on your people's actions?"</p>
      <p>"I admit, we made a rash decision back then, turning to the Krogan in our time of utter desperation."</p>
      <p>"By basically neutering them and having so many children be stillborn as an ending result. The Krogan back then paid for their mistakes, so let the ones in the present get better treatment." Della said with Wrex sneering at council.</p>
      <p>Wrex soon spoke out with his gravelly voice being heard in the Council Chamber. "One thousand, four hundred, and seventy-four years, <em>if</em> you're keeping track."</p>
      <p>Before Councilor Valern could say anything, Della continued. "As for the Turians, they should have acted more civilly instead of 'shooting first and asking questions later', which resulted in the Relay 314 Incident."</p>
      <p>"The humans should've known the rules regarding activating the Mass Relays." Sparatus said to her.</p>
      <p>"Yet they <em>didn't</em>. The humans nearly thirty years ago had no idea of your Council laws. The Turians who witnessed them about to activate the relay acted too rashly. Instead of giving out a warning, they instead attacked, resulting in the war."</p>
      <p>Tevos soon had to step in and hopefully calm things down before things go overboard. "Miss Duck, I understand what you're trying to bring up here. The Salarians and Turians didn't have a good track record on the Krogan and humans respectively with their first contacts. But can we please get back to the matter at hand?"</p>
      <p>Della sighed. "Look, the point is the Normandy had to make port back on Earth and Admiral Hackett was present to retrieve data on the tampered training facility on Luna. We met and cordially converted to have a proper bit of first contact. Granted I didn't have a data package for me to exchange with so Dr. T'Soni here has been helping me out in compiling information from my neck in the universe before giving said package to you three. And another reason why I wasn't addressed sooner was that Shepard felt it would've hindered her pursuit on Saren."</p>
      <p>"Be that as it may, this was a first contact scenario of another species." Valern insisted.</p>
      <p>"Don't you guys have ducks that don't talk here?" Della questioned.</p>
      <p>"On earth, yes, but this is a different circumstance altogether." Sparatus pointed out.</p>
      <p>"...Okay, should probably check on that when I get the chance." The duck woman muttered to herself.</p>
      <p>"You seemed awfully calm in making first contact." Tevos pointed out.</p>
      <p>"Well it ain't the first time as my galaxy had actually made contact with Andromeda." Della said with a shrug.</p>
      <p>Silence befell the chamber with it being so quiet, a pin drop could have been heard.</p>
      <p>"You mean to tell us you also made contact with <em>Andromeda</em>?" Valern said with utter interest. "Is that true, Chief Williams?"</p>
      <p>"We didn't make contact with Andromeda, councilor." Ashley clarified. "Just Ōkoku. Della's people did."</p>
      <p>"And how was that possible?"</p>
      <p>"We have our methods." Della said vaguely. "But we made better contact through our Gummi-tech. And before you ask, Gummi-tech helped us communicate and travel between galaxies in the time you travel between star systems. Worlds a fraction of the time."</p>
      <p>"So you're telling me you've achieved intergalactic travel outside of the means we are familiar with?" Valern asked in astonishment.</p>
      <p>"Do you perhaps have Mass Effect technology where you're from?" Sparatus inquired.</p>
      <p>Della shook her head. "Nope, nothing like what you all have. First time I came into contact with your tech was when I first met the Normandy."</p>
      <p>"Fascinating..." Valern muttered aloud. "What of your Gummi-tech as you call it? Is there anything else about them?"</p>
      <p>"Yeah. Despite not having a proper data package to hand out, I was willing to do the tech portion. So I was able to send schematics on your Mass Effect technology back home via transmission quite recently while I gave what knowledge I know towards the Systems Alliance with a portion of the Gummi-tech I was willing to part with."</p>
      <p>"You what?!" Sparatus yelled once more.</p>
      <p>"...Do we need to tape his mouth shut or something? Cause this is getting annoying."</p>
      <p>"Sorry, but Sparatus' behavior is unbecoming of a council member."</p>
      <p>"I will not settle down!" Sparatus roared. "Are you telling me you've been exchanging knowledge with the Systems Alliance this whole time?! Why have we not heard of this?!"</p>
      <p>"I think you reacting like this is a dead giveaway as to why." Wrex couldn't help but speak up with him receiving a furious glare from the Turian councilor.</p>
      <p>"This was a chance for the entire galaxy to get a new technological boon and humanity hoarded it for itself." Sparatus growled out.</p>
      <p>"You mean not having the tech delivered right to your feet." Udina spoke out in the chamber. "We have <em>every</em> right to see the technology just as much as you. And yet you would claim more power over them than anyone else."</p>
      <p>"We ourselves don't even understand the technology." Anderson chipped in.</p>
      <p>"Maybe you should have given the rest of us a chance at learning about this technology Ms. Della Duck has." Valern stated.</p>
      <p>"To be fair, Councilors, the materials I gave them are extremely rare in your galaxy, even in my own." Della said quickly. "I hoped the Alliance could figure out a way to make close variants to Gummi-tech through reverse engineering, but that would take a while."</p>
      <p>"She is indeed right, councilors." Anderson said in confirmation. "Our scientists and engineers are barely scratching the surface on their capabilities, and that is without discussing it all with Ms. Duck as a consultant."</p>
      <p>"Then is there a way to procure more?" Tevos inquired.</p>
      <p>"One of the easier methods is harvesting them from the Gummi Heartless as they 'drop' raw Gummi materials. Other variants of getting other raw gummi material are rather hard and time consuming."</p>
      <p>"Gummi Heartless?" Sparatus repeated. "Are you telling us these vile creatures have space fairing capabilities?"</p>
      <p>"Trust me, there's a whole rainbow of them." Ashley said in a flat tone.</p>
      <p>"Most definitely." Liara gave a quick nod.</p>
      <p>"It's not only frustrating, but also rather fun to see them get blasted out of the skies."</p>
      <p>"Once again, only you would find fighting 'em fun, Wrex." Ashley said with a sigh.</p>
      <p>"At least I admit it unlike most who honestly can't."</p>
      <p>Della sighed as discussions were starting to get off tangent. Wanting things to get back on track, she whistled loudly to get everyone's attention.</p>
      <p>"Now that I've established that I'm <em>not</em> a liar, how about we start talking about the Reapers."</p>
      <p>Even without Shepard there, Della wanted to at least put her part in-in hopes of bringing up a dire situation to the forefront of this meeting.</p>
      <p>While everyone was back out on Virmire, Della tapped into the Distraction and Shadow teams in order to know how things were progressing on their respective tasks. It was nerve racking, but it was far better than waiting in silence while helping Kaidan out with the bomb.</p>
      <p>In that time, she was able to hear a number of details over on Shadow team's end, especially upon hearing most of their conversation with the Reaper Sovereign.</p>
      <p>If Shepard wasn't here to give her report on them, Della promised to do so in her place.</p>
      <p>The asari councilor shook her head. "Della, I'm afraid it's not as simple as that. This is a very… <em>unique</em> predicament that we now find ourselves in that we have no prior precedence or protocol for."</p>
      <p>"What?! Why?!"</p>
      <p>"Despite Captain Kirrahe's testimony, we are still left hanging without Commander Shepard's side of things. She probably has more information on what was found within Saren's stronghold, but without her, things can only go so far."</p>
      <p>"That feels more like an excuse than anything." Anderson said aloud with a fierce expression. "Captain Kirrahe and his STG crew themselves can attest to seeing a Reaper on Virmire."</p>
      <p>"That begs the question, where is the Normandy? Did Shepard and the rest of her crew perish or run off?" Spartacus questioned, earning an air of frustration from the Normandy crew.</p>
      <p>"They didn't run off." Liara declared.</p>
      <p>"And where, pray tell, are they?" Sparatus asked in a condescending manner.</p>
      <p>"I know how they left or at least the rougher method of their departure." Della brought up.</p>
      <p>"Would you be so kind to enlighten us?"</p>
      <p>"Yeah, they went through a Lane."</p>
      <p>"..."</p>
      <p>"..."</p>
      <p>"...We don't follow."</p>
      <p>Della exhaled a frustrated sigh. "A <em>Lane</em> is what some of my people call some of our routes in getting around to other Worlds. Basically, it's our version of FTL. With whatever happened when the bomb that went off, the Normandy somehow entered it and is probably out somewhere in another galaxy with no way of returning immediately."</p>
      <p>"And are you sure you're correct on that matter?"</p>
      <p>"I'm pretty positive. I can recognize that little phenomenon anywhere."</p>
      <p>The Council was silent for a moment before turning towards each other for a private chat. After nearly a minute, Councilor Valern spoke up.</p>
      <p>"Miss Della… We're going to have to ask you to come with us for further questioning."</p>
      <p>Della blinked, briefly registering what was said to her.</p>
      <p>This resulted in her scoffing. "<em>Further questioning?</em> You mean interrogation? Don't insult my intelligence, bub."</p>
      <p>"Please don't misunderstand." Tevos replied hastily. "We would just like to learn more about you and your people and the galaxy you come from."</p>
      <p>The duck woman rolled her eyes. "Yeah, how about <em><strong>no</strong></em>. I've got <em>plenty</em> of experience in that scenario. I'm not gonna be put into a room where none of my friends knows where I'll be at for my stay here. And there is no way I'm gonna be picked and prodded for information for who knows how long. I have a family to get back to in Ōkoku. Your little interests in learning about me and my galaxy means nothing to me."</p>
      <p>"Miss Duck please." Tevos pleaded.</p>
      <p>Della saw that the Council wasn't going to relent on this matter so she sighed.</p>
      <p>"Look, the closest compromise I can see here is a place of my own choosing or at least some place where my friends here know where I'm at."</p>
      <p>The three councilors looked at each other with their mics off so no one else can listen in. After some bit more debate, they turned their attention back to Della.</p>
      <p>"And where, pray tell, do you suggest?" Said the asari councilor.</p>
      <p>"I was told Captain Anderson's place has a nice accommodating space."</p>
      <p>David Anderson merely facepalmed upon hearing this.</p>
      <p>"Take it or leave it. Any other place is gonna be on the Normandy."</p>
      <p>The council now looked to the Alliance Captain who only groaned before nodding slowly in defeat.</p>
      <p>"She can stay at my place if she so chooses." Anderson droned out, almost mechanically.</p>
      <p>"...Very well." Valern said relentingly. "You all may go now."</p>
      <p>Della smiled triumphantly at this before sending a thumbs up to her friends not far behind.</p>
      <p>Before moving very far, Della spoke one final thing to the council.</p>
      <p>"You do know I'm leaving as soon as I'm ready." Della said informingly. "And cause of how annoying you guys are, I'm not gonna tell you. I'll just leave. I don't owe <em>any</em> of you yahoos anything, only those on the Normandy."</p>
      <p>Once they left the Council Chamber, Wrex let out a bellow of a laugh and whipped his eye a little from a crocodile tear. "Ah~ Something I needed to hear. I owe you a lot, Della."</p>
      <p>"No problem, Wrex." Della remarked, the Normandy crew leaving the Council tower.</p>
      <p>From the far corner of the Council Chamber, Miranda Lawson ended the video recording and slinked away unnoticed in order to send this latest development to the Illusive Man.</p>
      <p>Things were definitely changing for the galaxy as a whole and she didn't know if this latest development will truly benefit humanity as a whole in the end.</p>
      <p>But for now, she was happy about it.</p>
      <p>
        <em>-Scene Cut-</em>
      </p>
      <p>The bleak and perpetual night sky of the World That Never Was hung over the castle that served as the backdrop of the Organization's headquarters.</p>
      <p>Within its many halls, a man with silvery grey hair that obscured his right eye was walking at a steady pace.</p>
      <p>Zexion had completed his initial mission earlier today, having gone back to Castle Oblivion in hopes of perhaps finding clues or picking up the trail of where the group of traitors and enemies up and disappeared off to only to come back empty handed.</p>
      <p>Though it was to be expected.</p>
      <p>Wherever it was that the wayward traitors to the Organization had disappeared off to, they were very thorough about it.</p>
      <p>So they had to do it the old fashioned way.</p>
      <p>Well… as old fashioned as they can conduct their search considering the types of beings they were and resources they had at their disposal.</p>
      <p>Making a turn into the room that was the primary laboratory of the castle, Zexion halted in his tracks at the sight of a familiar head of pink hair that stood before the main computer of their HQ.</p>
      <p>"Marluxia?" Zexion spoke up in suspicion, narrowing his eyes at the Graceful Assassin of the Organization.</p>
      <p>No. XI tilted his head before fully facing the Cloaked Schemer.</p>
      <p>"Ah, Zexion." Marluxia greeted cordially. "I didn't know you had returned from your mission."</p>
      <p>"It wasn't as difficult as the Superior made it out to be." Zexion stated, taking a few steps forward into the lab.</p>
      <p>"Good to hear then." Marluxia said, voice oh so calm.</p>
      <p>"And what of you, Marluxia?" Zexion questioned back. "If I recall correctly, Lexaeus accompanied you on your own mission today."</p>
      <p>"Indeed he did." Marluxia confirmed. "Though I am unsurprised as to why he came with me."</p>
      <p>"It's astonishing the level of arrogance you display after your failed attempt at a coup." Zexion dryly pointed out.</p>
      <p>The pink haired Nobody had one of his brows twitch in slight anger at his reminder before his calm and confident visage returned.</p>
      <p>"I admit, my intentions for overthrowing the Organization's leader had been foiled." No. XI freely stated without any shame. "But I find myself in a bit of an ironic position."</p>
      <p>"And what would that be?"</p>
      <p>Marluxia "hmphed" in amusement, his eyes closed and a smirk present for Zexion to see.</p>
      <p>"Aside from myself and Larxene, I had originally hoped to recruit Axel into our plan." Marluxia revealed, making No. VI blink at this tidbit.</p>
      <p>"What?" Zexion said in bewilderment. "Why Axel?"</p>
      <p>"Much as he would have been a risk, he would have been a calculated one." Marluxia stated. "In the time I have known him, aside from Saix, Axel hardly ever interacted with most of the other members for the most part. He was always known as being hard to read and figure out his own thoughts. A true wild card. If Larxene and I had gotten him to join our cause in getting the Keyblade master under our control, I believe we would have been unstoppable. Axel has an acute mind that is never to be underestimated. He is as wild and unpredictable as the flames he wields."</p>
      <p>Zexion wasn't exactly sure how to process this. He was certainly not expecting Marluxia to nearly flaunt his original intended plan of staging a coup against the Organization.</p>
      <p>But he did not expect that out of all the people Marluxia had planned on involving in this coup was Axel.</p>
      <p>"However," Marluxia chortled aloud with a shake of his head. "It appears that Axel beat me to it. I never would have expected both he <em>and</em> our two Keyblade wielders would up and betray us so suddenly."</p>
      <p>Zexion frowned at the mention of them, recalling how handily they had worked with the Keyblade's chosen one with the King and the hero of Darkness in defeating himself, Vexen and the Riku Replica. That defeat was still fresh on his mind.</p>
      <p>"I wonder," Marluxia mused aloud. "What could have caused such an abrupt betrayal by three of our numbers in such a sudden manner to betray the Organization."</p>
      <p>No. VI couldn't really deny his own interest in such a question. Raising a hand up to his chin, Zexion hummed aloud as he thought it over.</p>
      <p>"It may have come suddenly… but there is something that we have not truly examined that is undoubtedly a key aspect that led to where we are right now." Zexion pondered, making No. XI turn to him.</p>
      <p>"And that would be…?"</p>
      <p>"Roxas' sudden and abrupt disappearance." Zexion pointed out with No. XI's expression scrunching up into that of deep thought.</p>
      <p>"When Roxas vanished for that long month, you, aside from myself and Axel were left behind in Castle Oblivion." Zexion went on. "We stayed there for the entire duration of that time whilst Roxas was lost into the endless cosmos somewhere. Where he ended up, we could only speculate. But wherever it was had a fundamental and profound effect on him to the point that when he returned, he made sure to take both No. VIII and the Puppet Vexen had created. The fact that both Sora, Riku and King Mickey were there by happenstance didn't truly feel like such a thing. We are missing a crucial piece of information that would be able to help us figure out just where everything had gone wrong."</p>
      <p>Marluxia was silent, thinking hard on Zexion's words. Something was indeed missing here.</p>
      <p>For Roxas, a Nobody with no memory to have such a paradigm change in a literal two month span.</p>
      <p>No. XI had his eyes shift over to the computer momentarily, wishing to return to his own work that he had been conducting but it appears Zexion had plans on staying.</p>
      <p>The Cloaked Schemer approached the computer and began to pull up multiple files for display.</p>
      <p>"What's this? Personal project?" Marluxia inquired, not recognizing any of the files that Zexion was opening.</p>
      <p>"Perhaps." Zexion said vaguely.</p>
      <p>Marluxia squinted his eyes slightly, managing to read off some of the titles of certain reports that Zexion was reading.</p>
      <p>"What is all this for?" Marluxia asked in confusion.</p>
      <p>"Personal Project." Zexion retorted flatly garnering an unamused look from the scythe wielding Nobody.</p>
      <p>"What does this personal project have to do with Ansem? And what is this Radiant Garden?" Marluxia asked, having managed to catch a few of those words.</p>
      <p>Zexion looked at Marluxia out of the corner of his eyes, though it went unnoticed by the Graceful Assassin.</p>
      <p>"If you wish to know so badly, this may hold a clue to Axel's betrayal."</p>
      <p>Marluxia blinked at that tidbit, turning to No. VI. "What could you possibly find in these reports that would tell you why Axel betrayed the Organization?"</p>
      <p>"That's what I wish to find out myself." Zexion admitted.</p>
      <p>"You do not even know yourself?"</p>
      <p>"Even memories fade and delude over time, Marluxia. No one is immune to it. You should best <em>remember</em> that." Zexion relented. "There's information in my memory that perhaps holds clues to certain details; ones I do wish to remember."</p>
      <p>Marluxia felt himself twitch, a light glare being directed at the silver-grey haired Nobody who ignored him, continuing to sift through multiple files in the computer. The Flower based Nobody managed to calm himself a moment later.</p>
      <p>"So you believe at least a clue may be found here?"</p>
      <p>"Again, I am not sure myself." Zexion stated. "But…" He seemed hesitant at first to tell him this but he figured there was no harm in it. "One of the last conversations I had with Axel was about the world we came from. It was rather sudden and abrupt as to why it was brought up because… Axel never truly spoke of his past. Most of us don't yet he always seemed adamant about not referring to it. So for him to bring it up so suddenly…"</p>
      <p>"The past may hold the answers."</p>
      <p>Zexion only nodded.</p>
      <p>There were of course <em>many</em> other particular reasons that compounded on what he just told Marluxia, but he'd rather not tell the man who had planned a coup against the Organization. Though he was caught and basically prevented from this plan altogether, Numbers XI and XII were now always to be monitored and gazed at with suspicious and skewed eyes.</p>
      <p>They had lost a great deal of trust from everyone and it was already bad enough that they had three traitors running about somewhere free of consequences.</p>
      <p>Of course that would be rectified in time but still, two potential traitors in their midst were worse than three that got away in Zexion's mind.</p>
      <p>It meant that they would now have to constantly look over their shoulder for these two as these snakes remained in their den.</p>
      <p>No. VI was confident that should they step out of line, Xemnas or any other member within the Organization would put them back in their place but they're dealing with sneaks and those with ambitions not aligned with the Organization.</p>
      <p>Any number of things may happen.</p>
      <p>
        <strong>AN</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>To sum things up, we are hitting the events of Treasure Planet.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Jebest4781: If you guys are wondering about some of the details, we were mostly pulling info out from the Treasure Planet wiki as some of the expanded stuff came from it's one sequel, Battle of Procyon; a video game set 5 years after the movie. Don't hate us on this, but we were honestly trying our best here before finally getting to the good stuff.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>FMW: Yeah, essentially, a great deal of the establishment of this world was improvised and made up so it would better fit into what we have made here.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Jeb: Fun fact on a bit why we're choosing this world on this story. You see, Treasure Planet was supposed to be a planned world to visit in Dream Drop Distance with several models already made, yet the idea had to be shoved away for some reasons. It honestly would've been interesting to see what could've been done on that adaptation in the game. But for now, it'll suffice with what free man and I will do here and we'll do our best to make it right.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>FMW: In essence, this is our tribute to what could and really should have been. Treasure Planet would have been a great world to explore in the KH series which is a serious wonder as to why they never went through with it. This is undoubtedly one of our most giant chapters we have ever written and both are brains kinda fried themselves at several points but dammit, we got it done.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>So thanks again for reading this mammoth of a chapter and this large growing story.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Till next time.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Rate Read and Review and as Always Have Nice Day.</strong>
      </p>
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<a name="section0017"><h2>17. The Winds of the Cosmos</h2></a>
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      <p>
        <strong>Nothing to say everyone other than, thank you for the overwhelming positive reviews for the inclusion of Treasure Planet as a world.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Mandalorian Season 2.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Awesome shit brewing</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Rate Read and Review and as Always Have Nice Day.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>I'm Nobody Chapter 17: The Winds of the Cosmos</p>
      <p>Within the cosmic winds of the Etherium, the ship known as the R.L.S Legacy calmly drifted over clouds with the solar sails fully charged.</p>
      <p>It was "nighttime" within the Etherium, the skies around them being entirely dark save for the endless dots of stars off in the light year distances that they were.</p>
      <p>Really, it was hard to put down how the laws of physics, night, day and breathing in space for that matter functioned here.</p>
      <p>But for a man like Axel, these questions held little value to the Nobody.</p>
      <p>Atop the lookout post of the Legacy, Axel sat casually on the edge of the circular railing being completely nonplussed by the height and movement of the ship.</p>
      <p>In his hand, a bar of sea-salt ice cream to nibble on as he gazed out at the endless sea of stars.</p>
      <p>The crew was asleep for the most part with maybe several of them being awake but that didn't matter to the red head.</p>
      <p>Right now, he just needed to keep watch of anything that would cause trouble for the ship.</p>
      <p>Easy.</p>
      <p>"Surprised you're still awake, Axel."</p>
      <p>He didn't have to look back to clarify Shepard walking up to him.</p>
      <p>"In case you forgot, I'm a night guardsman tonight."</p>
      <p>With the ship's watch, at least two members of the crew needed to be present on deck at every hour to respond to emergencies and hazards ensuring that the voyage would run smoothly. Every four hours, the watchmen's shift ends with some others replacing them for the next go around.</p>
      <p>Axel knew the basics when he was back on the Normandy, but it was now being a bit more enforced now that he was on the R.L.S. Legacy as it was his turn as a watchman this night.</p>
      <p>"I know that. I'm more referring to the meal back in the galley."</p>
      <p>The Flurry of Dancing Flames chuckled. "Yeah, a lot of people were really satisfied with the meal Silver and Roxas made. Most of them are basically passed out by now."</p>
      <p>"Did you know he could cook like that?"</p>
      <p>"No I did not." Axel said. "But he did admit that Silver did most of the work."</p>
      <p>"Seems I'll be needing to thank Silver on whatever he's been teaching him." Shepard remarked, leaning against the railing.</p>
      <p>During the past, several days since leaving the Montressor Spaceport, Mr. Silver has been teaching Jim, Xion and Roxas while they weren't doing their chores on the ship. It was mostly his interpretation to iron out whatever problems they had, skill or personality wise.</p>
      <p>It started out with simple chores and tasks for the most part really.</p>
      <p>Cleaning the ship all over, looking out for clothing of the crew and such.</p>
      <p>Then came removing a whole plethora of barnacles that were all over the bottom of the Legacy.</p>
      <p>How those came onto the ship, out in space of all places, is beyond their knowledge. Only something the natives of this galaxy would really know.</p>
      <p>Then again… they were moving through space via a Galleon that would fit quite well into ancient human times during the Victorian era of Europe. A ship in space where they could breathe naturally with no problems.</p>
      <p>So what do they know?</p>
      <p>All they really knew was that Roxas and Jim were down there for hours, Xion having joined them sometime later to help out as there were just so many.</p>
      <p>Honestly, Roxas and Xion may have a great deal of endurance and stamina but even they felt a bit winded in constantly having to scrape or pry off the barnacles below the ship. They were all quite sore the very next day.</p>
      <p>"Seen that Solar Surfboard of Jim's when I was passing by Tali's station earlier." Axel noted. "Gotta say, it looks pretty interesting."</p>
      <p>"Tali has been asking a lot from Jim during his lessons under her." Shepard said. "He's quite handy with a wrench and few tools. Quick study, she told me."</p>
      <p>Axel only hummed in interest, finishing his ice cream and leaving the stick in the corner of his mouth.</p>
      <p>"How many of those can you eat in a day?" Shepard found herself asking suddenly with Axel looking at her in confusion.</p>
      <p>She silently pointed at the ice cream stick he had in his mouth with him shrugging.</p>
      <p>"I dunno, never tried to see how many I could have." Axel said, making Shepard chuckle lightly.</p>
      <p>"Course not."</p>
      <p>The two remained silent for a few seconds, idly gazing out at the endless expanse in a comfortable silence.</p>
      <p>"Comfortable?" Shepard asked after a few seconds.</p>
      <p>"Hmmm?"</p>
      <p>"Sitting there. Like that." She clarified.</p>
      <p>Axel looked down at his position before shrugging.</p>
      <p>"Meh, never bothered me."</p>
      <p>"Really this height doesn't-"</p>
      <p>Shepard was cut off when Axel tapped her shoulder, making her look to him to see him point down below.</p>
      <p>There, she saw Dr. Doppler standing towards the front of the ship with a specially made telescope that he used to observe the stars off in the distance. And on occasions, he would break away, take notes and mutter aloud on some stuff that might affect the voyage.</p>
      <p>"Our resident astrophysicist keeping himself busy, I see." Jane remarked.</p>
      <p>"Never understood the interest in stars other than them looking pretty." Axel commented. "The only time I did was when the Worlds were falling into darkness one by one."</p>
      <p>"You still sure it's not because of supernovas?"</p>
      <p>"They would happen on your end, the other occurred in mine."</p>
      <p>The Human Spectre only hummed for a moment.</p>
      <p>It wasn't long before they saw the ship's captain coming onto the deck with the two slowly conversing with each other. And by the looks of it, things were a tad tense on the atmosphere around them. But from what Axel and Shepard could barely make out, things were a little cordial in the new line of conversation.</p>
      <p>"You keep track of what number of arguments the captain and the doc are at now?" Axel inquired a second later. "I think I got ten."</p>
      <p>"Lost at about a dozen by this point."</p>
      <p>It mostly started out a little simple with Amelia having to remind Doppler on what time he needed to report to the galley for dinner when he almost missed it the first night out. Using military lingo with the twenty-four hours to signify the times of the day, which Doppler was clueless about. Then it progressed with him being informed he needed to take part of the watchmen's duty as he's a part of the ship.</p>
      <p>"<em>B-But I'm not a ship hand, Captain."</em> Doppler protested. <em>"You cannot expect me to be able to work like a crew member!"</em></p>
      <p>"<em>Everyone on board must pull their weight."</em> Amelia argued. <em>"Even with this skeleton of a crew you hired and the people I brought with, we need every set of eyes we have on watch and that includes yours."</em></p>
      <p>Thus the arguments began as the pair clashed every so often. It was a literal experience to see a dog and cat fighting against each other, even if it wasn't physical at all. Mostly detailing on who had the higher ground in terms of positions with Doppler being the financier to Amelia being the captain.</p>
      <p>It was entertaining at first, but things quickly staled as they progressed. And Shepard did have to come in with Arrow to help break up the fight once or twice when things were getting out of hand.</p>
      <p>Granted things did get better, to some degree, when the pair were on some common grounds when it came to their respective environments. Amelia asked for Doppler's opinions on his field of study when they were properly charting their course to Treasure Planet. From the "weather" reports directly from the astrophysicist to what else they could expect when going through certain bits of "terrain". And Doppler did try to make amends by asking more on the Navy and asking about her past experiences in her career from exploring the "known" cosmos.</p>
      <p>But sure enough, the fights would come back up at some point, but only to a lesser degree of heat.</p>
      <p>Silence fell upon the two as they stargazed for a while.</p>
      <p>Not much could really be talked about, until…</p>
      <p>"So what's the word with the Normandy today?"</p>
      <p>"Same as yesterday." He reported, chewing on his popsicle stick. "The crew got the rest of the initial repairs taken care of, but now are trying to integrate the Gummi-tech into the systems and the ship's hull."</p>
      <p>"And how long do you think it'll take for them to be done?"</p>
      <p>"Wish I knew, Shep. I'm not a tech wiz like Tali and Garrus. And I even asked Pressly for a brief report to give to you."</p>
      <p>"What did he say?"</p>
      <p>"Could be a couple more days in total given how delicate the operation is. And after that, there's the simulations to run to the actual testing to see if the drive core can possibly handle it all."</p>
      <p>Jane sighed, exhaling some stress as she did so. "Things are never as simple as that. Hopefully, we can be done with this voyage in time to make it back to Montressor's Spaceport to hightail it back to the Citadel and report on what happened."</p>
      <p>"If not, then Roxas, Xion and I could make a trip over there and let this Anderson guy on what happened and relay some messages."</p>
      <p>"I appreciate that, but I do need to at least need a mind meld with Liara to make a proper report on where Saren and Sovereign will be heading at by now."</p>
      <p>Axel glanced over at Shepard whose visage changed into one of a more solemn expression.</p>
      <p>"Still getting them?"</p>
      <p>"Huh?"</p>
      <p>No. VIII didn't respond at first, looking back out at the stars.</p>
      <p>"Heard you murmur a few times to yourself about not getting enough sleep. Even after you have your little morning tea sessions with the good captain." Axel revealed. "You still have them I take it?"</p>
      <p>Shepard stared at her fellow redhead, with her connecting the dots internally. She sighed after a moment, slouching against the railing.</p>
      <p>"A little bit and still can't make heads or tails on what they are, despite the clearer images."</p>
      <p>Axel nodded. "Do you wanna at least talk about them? I could help if you want. Don't know much about whatever it is you got going on in your head but I sure as hell know that it ain't healthy with how you talk sometimes."</p>
      <p>Jane was silent, taking a moment to consider Axel's proposition before lightly smiling at him and nudging him with her elbow.</p>
      <p>"I'll hold you to that, Axel."</p>
      <p>
        <em>-The Next Day-</em>
      </p>
      <p>Jim was busy rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, trying to stay awake whilst Roxas sat by him with Silver standing in front of them.</p>
      <p>Today's lesson, more cooking stuff.</p>
      <p>Jim was honestly not sure whether or not he really needed this sort of thing with his mom being a cook and all herself but Silver wasn't gonna take "no" for an answer.</p>
      <p>He glanced over to Roxas who seemed to be just as tired as he was.</p>
      <p>Normally, the sandy-blond haired teen would appear nonplussed for the most part which Silver took as a challenge.</p>
      <p>Now he and Roxas would always wake up an hour early sometimes before the rest of the crew so that both would feel the drain of the day.</p>
      <p>Hooray.</p>
      <p>Jim's routine at this point was getting out of bed, breakfast, Silver's chores, lunch, Tali's lessons, Silver's chores or lessons, dinner and off to bed. Rinse and repeat.</p>
      <p>There were a few instances of downtime, Silver didn't run him ragged.</p>
      <p>For the most part, Jim spent his time with Roxas as they were both the cabin boys so he got to know his fellow crewmate decently well.</p>
      <p>Though… there wasn't really much to go off of.</p>
      <p>Roxas didn't have any parents, in fact didn't even know of them. Same as Xion.</p>
      <p>He didn't speak much on his past for the most part though he did constantly talk about Shepard, Tali, Garrus, Xion, Axel and this other crew he always spent time with.</p>
      <p>And how he phrased it, he meant it in the most literal way.</p>
      <p>Talked about a ship called the Normandy which made Jim gape, asking him if it was the ship back at the Montressor Spaceport he saw before getting to the Legacy.</p>
      <p>His question of "oh, you saw it?" was the confirmation he needed as he blasted him with a plethora of questions about just what that ship was.</p>
      <p>Roxas answered to the best of his abilities but he really didn't know all that much save for surface level knowledge.</p>
      <p>Instead, he referred to Tali on this matter as she was their unofficial chief engineer on the ship and knew the most about it.</p>
      <p>When they were getting more into discussing the Normandy, the conversation soon shifted with Tali asking him what he knew about engineering.</p>
      <p>This led to him being tested on what skills he has. From pointing out the current systems the Legacy presently has when being directed towards them to her requesting him to build a Solar Surfboard, after hearing on what he typically maintains back home until recently.</p>
      <p>One thing led to another and he began a pseudo-apprenticeship under the Quarian.</p>
      <p>She had admitted that she did not understand how the whole Solar Sails technology worked in the beginning which Jim silently scoffed at.</p>
      <p>It was uncanny to him just how quickly she had apparently grasped an understanding of solar sails and was now thinking of ways of improving it.</p>
      <p>He wondered where exactly she came from, given she didn't know much about solar tech in the first place prior to their initial conversation.</p>
      <p>Still, she was a phenomenal teacher with her bestowing an ever growing wealth of knowledge on being a better mechanic.</p>
      <p>This reminded him of the time he built his own solar surfer only this time, he felt that he could make one even better than last time as that was made from scraps.</p>
      <p>Tali was quite the teacher and he would soon learn that others from the crew that Commander Shepard had brought on had their own little talents to teach him.</p>
      <p>One lesson yesterday involved their best sharpshooter, Garrus Vakarian, stepping in and quizzing him on a number of factors. From how the cannons worked and its armaments as well as its full capabilities. Granted, Jim wasn't entirely knowledgeable on weaponry as their mechanics are a little more sophisticated than everything else.</p>
      <p>"Do you understand all that?" Silver's voice cut through his recollections of the past few days, looking up at the cyborg who held up a vegetable of some kind.</p>
      <p>"Yes." Roxas said, Silver nodding.</p>
      <p>"Right then, get to it." The Cook said, tossing the vegetable to Jim who looked down at it in confusion.</p>
      <p>"Are we… peeling today?" Jim asked with Roxas nodding.</p>
      <p>"We're supposed to have a few dozen peeled out before he comes back." Roxas said, Hawkins internally thanking him for paying attention while he hadn't.</p>
      <p>Walking over to a bowl of the same veggies, Roxas and Jim began the process of peeling the skin off the vegetables with both taking seats atop barrels.</p>
      <p>They remained silent for the most part, just going about their assigned task since their minds haven't fully woken up.</p>
      <p>After some time, they heard light footsteps from the stairs, the duo turning to see Xion walking down into the galley with her hair frazzled and half-lidded eyes.</p>
      <p>"Roxas? <em>*Yawn* </em>Jim?" Xion murmured, rubbing her eyes. "Why are you up so early?"</p>
      <p>"Silver." the boys said in unison.</p>
      <p>Xion only groaned out slightly in acknowledgement, waking over to the center of the kitchen and grabbing a bowl of whatever it was inside the pot that Silver had made prior.</p>
      <p>It was steaming fresh and hot with Xion slumping down next to Roxas, her eyes still glazed slightly in sleep as she raised her spoon up to take a bite when she bit down on air. Blinking, Xion looked down in time to see her soup was abruptly drained of all its contents.</p>
      <p>It took a few seconds for her mind to register what had happened when…</p>
      <p>"Morph." Xion moaned out tiredly. "Not now, it's too early."</p>
      <p>What she got in response was a slobbering lick with her giggling a moment later while trying to swat at the pink blob that was now flying all around her.</p>
      <p>Jim had a small smirk at the sight with Roxas sharing the sentiment.</p>
      <p>It was strange for the cabin boy. He didn't expect that coming aboard he'd befriend those close to around his age but if Jim was being honest with himself, he was glad that he met Roxas and Xion. It felt nice to have two others on this ship around his age that he could spend time with and kinda relate.</p>
      <p>He says kinda as both are slight enigmas to him but they were very friendly for the most part.</p>
      <p>That and they suffered just as much as he did with how much Silver made sure to keep them busy at nearly all times.</p>
      <p>"Well, well, knew we'd find you three down here."</p>
      <p>The trio looked over and saw Axel had now entered the g alley with Tali coming down from the stairs right behind him.</p>
      <p>"Hey Axel." Roxas and Xion greeted their tall friend.</p>
      <p>"Looks like Silver is still keeping our two cabin boys busy." Axel noted, snatching Roxas veggie out of his hand.</p>
      <p>"Hey!"</p>
      <p>Axel ignored his friend's protest, grasping the veggie with him heating it up in his hand, steam lightly coming off of it.</p>
      <p>"Whoa." Jim whispered aloud. "H-How are you doing that?"</p>
      <p>"Hmm? Oh this?" Axel held up his freshly cooked breakfast. "Little trick of mine."</p>
      <p>With his other hand, Axel produced a small flame that made Jim stare in complete stunned wonder.</p>
      <p>"Whoa." He said in a whisper. "How…? Since when could you do that?"</p>
      <p>"Since for a while." Axel said with an intentionally vague tone.</p>
      <p>Jim continued to stare until Axel clenched his fist, snuffing the fire out. He looked to the others, seeing that they were unperturbed by the display, the cabin boy drawing the conclusion that they were all quite aware of the redheads' power.</p>
      <p>Which only drew the question of just who were these guys really.</p>
      <p>Much as he wanted to ask, he knew right now it was better that he gets back to peeling otherwise Silver was gonna hound his ass until the end of the night.</p>
      <p>Soon enough, the majority of the crew began to wake up as well, going down for breakfast whilst Silver reviewed Roxas and Jim's work and nodded in approval.</p>
      <p>"Well done lads." Silver praised. "Take the day to yerselves."</p>
      <p>"Huh?" Roxas and Jim said in unison.</p>
      <p>"You heard me lads." Silver said with a small grin. "Time you boys had a breather. I'll come find ya if anything comes up. Help around the ship if need be."</p>
      <p>With that, Silver limbered off whilst Jim looked a bit lost for the moment.</p>
      <p>All he had been doing was whatever it was Silver had instructed him to do.</p>
      <p>Glancing over at Roxas, he blinked to see that he was gone from his side. Looking towards the steps, he saw the blond teen walking up the steps with Xion, Axel and Tali and found himself quickly following after them.</p>
      <p>He climbed up the steps in time to see them going over to Garrus who, once again, was working on one of the ship's cannons.</p>
      <p>Seriously, that's all he ever really did or so it seemed.</p>
      <p>Still, Jim wondered just what the plated was working on all the time. Kinda had a bit of anticipation with just what these "calibrations" were capable of.</p>
      <p>"Hey Jim."</p>
      <p>The brown haired boy turned to see Commander Shepard standing by him.</p>
      <p>"Oh uh, hey Shepard." Jim said politely.</p>
      <p>The human Spectre smirked lightly at him, inclining her head towards the front of the ship.</p>
      <p>"Got time to talk?" Shepard asked.</p>
      <p>This was certainly a surprise. He didn't expect one of the commanding officers of the ship to wish to speak with him, lest it had to do with duties on the ship. Was he in trouble?</p>
      <p>Still, she asked nicely enough and he didn't have anything to do for the time being so he may as well.</p>
      <p>"Uh, yeah, sure."</p>
      <p>Walking towards the front of the ship, Shepard leaned against the railing with Jim doing the same, albeit hesitantly.</p>
      <p>"So, <em>Jimbo,"</em> Jane teased. "How've ya been adjusting to the trip and all?"</p>
      <p>Jim wasn't really sure why she was asking but he figured it's best to answer her then say nothing.</p>
      <p>"It's alright I guess."</p>
      <p>"Really? Silver hasn't been runnin' you and Roxas ragged?"</p>
      <p>Jim scoffed immediately. "Don't know about Roxas but I sure as hell am feeling it."</p>
      <p>Shepard chortled aloud at the boy's response. "Well least you're taking it like a man."</p>
      <p>"Am I? Cause I sure don't feel like one." Jim flatly said, getting a louder laugh out of the Commander.</p>
      <p>"Don't worry about it, Jim." Jane said with a friendly tone. "We all start somewhere in life like this."</p>
      <p>"Like this?"</p>
      <p>Jane bobbed her head about, her expression holding a reminiscent look. "Yeah, <em>like this.</em> Starting on the most basic of positions where we do the dirty jobs until you move up or move out."</p>
      <p>Hawkins didn't really respond to that, only crossing his arms and leaning his head atop them.</p>
      <p>"I guess."</p>
      <p>"Still, least you're busy then just lying about." Shepard said.</p>
      <p>The two shared a brief silence.</p>
      <p>"What do you make of the voyage?"</p>
      <p>"Hmmm?"</p>
      <p>"The voyage. Enjoying it so far?" Shepard asked with a teasing edge.</p>
      <p>Jim groaned a bit. "It's nothin' but work… but…"</p>
      <p>He momentarily looked back which Shepard saw, taking a moment to see who he glanced back to and smirking slightly.</p>
      <p>"Guess I could say I've made a few friends." Jim admitted with a small smile.</p>
      <p>"Clearly." Jane said, nudging him with the cabin boy chuckling.</p>
      <p>"Uh Commander." Jim felt a bit awkward now in asking this. "But, what about you? What's this trip been like for you?"</p>
      <p>The Commander appeared to take the question in stride with a small shrug.</p>
      <p>"Well, it's definitely a first for me, that's for sure." Shepard admitted. "First for all of us really, especially me, Tali and Garrus. Not what we're usually used to."</p>
      <p>The specification of her and the aforementioned crewmates was rather strange. What about Roxas, Axel and Xion?</p>
      <p>"What… what are you usually used to?" Jim inquired with Jane bobbing her shoulders up and down again.</p>
      <p>"Mostly a lot of running and shooting followed by <em>more </em>running and shooting with the occasional explosion and near death scenario to keep things fresh." Shepard said in a casual manner causing Jim's eyelid to twitch as he gazed at her.</p>
      <p>Was she joking or…?</p>
      <p>Cause if not, what kind of life did Shepard and her team live?</p>
      <p>"So, I've noticed you built yourself a Solar Surfer." Jane brought up. "What's that about?"</p>
      <p>"Oh, you saw that?"</p>
      <p>Shepard nodded. "Yeah in passing when I talk with Tali. She told me the two of ya have been working on it but it's mostly your project."</p>
      <p>"Yeah." Jim held a hint of pride in his voice. "Tryin' to make a better one then I had back home."</p>
      <p>"So you've made one like it before?" she saw Jim nod. "What's it like? Never tried that."</p>
      <p>Hawkins held a more fond look to his face now. "It's… exhilarating. Just being able to fly without any worries and nothing to hold you down."</p>
      <p>The boy had closed his eyes at this point, cosmic winds rustling his hair as he inhaled deeply with the memory of solar surfing being clear as day in his mind.</p>
      <p>"You must really enjoy it." Jane said.</p>
      <p>"There's no feeling like it really." Jim stated.</p>
      <p>"Clearly."</p>
      <p>Jim chuckled a bit sheepishly, catching himself getting caught up in his own memory.</p>
      <p>"Hope I didn't bore you with that."</p>
      <p>Shepard smirked, patting the teen on the back.</p>
      <p>"Nah, ya didn't."</p>
      <p>Several seconds later, the two heard a sharp whistle from behind and they both turned to see Silver standing at the front of the door to the lower decks of the ship.</p>
      <p>"Rocky, Jimbo, Xion!" Silver called out to the three.</p>
      <p>"Yeah?"</p>
      <p>"Come with me." Silver stated, turning to open the door and walk through it.</p>
      <p>Jim turned to Shepard who simply shrugged, holding her arm out as a silent gesture of 'get to it'.</p>
      <p>Over with Roxas and Xion, the two bade their friends bye for now, having Jim joining them a moment later as they quickly followed in Silver's wake.</p>
      <p>The trio soon arrived below deck to where the longboats were located. There, Silver was waiting for them as he gathered some rope.</p>
      <p>"What's going on Silver?" Roxas asked. "I thought we weren't gonna do anything today."</p>
      <p>"That's what I believed so as well, Rocky." Silver said, tossing the blue-eyed boy some rope. "That was until I remembered a very crucial lesson I had yet to teach the lot of ya."</p>
      <p>"So what's the lesson for today, Mr. Silver?" Xion asked.</p>
      <p>The cook jabbed his thumb to the small solar vessels. "Knowing how to operate one of 'ese."</p>
      <p>"What are they for?" Roxas asked, going over to where Silver gestured him to be.</p>
      <p>"This be our lifelines in case of emergencies." Silver informed. "If the ship were to be damaged or attacked and we needed a quick escape, these are our go to."</p>
      <p>The teens simply nodded in understanding as they opened up the bottom hatch whilst preparing the longboat.</p>
      <p>Jumping in himself, Silver typed in the longboats configurations just as Jim untied the last rope that held the small ship as it slowly lowered itself down.</p>
      <p>With the longboat lowering itself through the hatch as Silver saluted the trio, something stirred within Jim. It was odd with how it came, but some memories surfaced when he watched Silver sail the longboat out.</p>
      <p>It was about ten years ago.</p>
      <p>He woke up one morning and heard the faint sounds of arguing from his bedroom as he was still sleeping. It was only with the rough closing of the Benbow Inn's front door did Jim abruptly awaken.</p>
      <p>Running down the stairs, he saw his loving mother utterly distraught.</p>
      <p>He knew his parents were having troubles for years and he hoped things would have worked out over time.</p>
      <p>Yet things were not meant to be.</p>
      <p>Jim ran outside and chased after his father, who was boarding a ferry boat to parts unknown. And by the time he reached the dock, the solar vessel left.</p>
      <p>No matter how hard he yelled and cried for his father to return, he never came back, let alone looked back.</p>
      <p>Things were never the same again at the Benbow Inn after that.</p>
      <p>As Silver flew off, Roxas and Xion looked on in intrigue whilst Jim slumped slightly.</p>
      <p>Glancing up, Roxas saw the shift in his fellow Cabin Boys demeanor. "Jim?"</p>
      <p>The boy didn't respond, his eyes gazing down at the open hatch.</p>
      <p>Going over to his end, Roxas placed a hand upon Jim's shoulder and shook him slightly.</p>
      <p>"Jim, you alright?" Roxas asked.</p>
      <p>"Huh? What? Oh, uh, yeah, yeah, I'm fine." Jim said though that was clearly not the case.</p>
      <p>"Are you sure?" Xion asked, frowning slightly at the sight of her friend she and Roxas had made on this voyage.</p>
      <p>"Yeah, yeah, it's nothing." Jim murmured in a low voice when they heard thrusters down from below.</p>
      <p>In mere moments, the three teens saw Silver return with the longboat.</p>
      <p>"Silver?" Xion said in confusion at seeing him back so quickly.</p>
      <p>"What are you three waiting for?!" Silver said with a wide grin, waving them down. "Come aboard!"</p>
      <p>The two Nobodies looked at each other before taking a quick leap. The longboat shook momentarily and rebalanced. Some seconds later, the space vessel shook once more when Jim landed inside of it.</p>
      <p>They each got comfortable as Silver snapped his fingers for them to look to him as he sat at the controls.</p>
      <p>"Alright then, kiddos. These here are the basic controls on this here boat." The cook said to the levers, which bent and twisted. He then went to the meter where the levers were attached towards. "Here be your parameters. And these be the hydraulics..." Silver rattled off, unaware that one of his cabin boys had already seated himself at the controls.</p>
      <p>Jim, meanwhile, ignored the cyborg cook's little lesson and was quick to configure the solar longboat and having everything engaged with the thrusters building up power.</p>
      <p>"Okay, what you need to do now is-"</p>
      <p>"Uh, Silver?" Xion spoke up.</p>
      <p>"Yes?"</p>
      <p>"I think Jim's already getting the hang of it."</p>
      <p>Silver then saw Jim grasp both controls of the longboat and thrust them forward. "Wha- WHOA!"</p>
      <p>The cyborg barely had enough time to grasp onto his hat and the side of his boat as the longboat flew forward at top speeds.</p>
      <p>Jim appeared to be a natural, having a natural ease in steering and controlling the speed of the tiny ship.</p>
      <p>"WARN US NEXT TIME!"</p>
      <p>Jim didn't bother answering as he was in his natural element now. His smile threatened to break his face as he started to perform all sorts of tricks all in the air.</p>
      <p>Roxas found himself laughing with Xion standing up with her arms outstretched as the cosmic winds fluttered over her body.</p>
      <p>"Get down lass." Silver said anxiously. "Don't give these old bones a heart attack."</p>
      <p>Xion didn't respond either, laughing as the exhilarating feeling of the winds and speed was overwhelming with Roxas at the front of the boat leaning out whilst grasping the sides.</p>
      <p>Jim pivoted the ship into an upward climb before angling it down for a drop that made Silver clench onto his hat and the metal pole that held the Solar sail tightly for dear life.</p>
      <p>From the R.L.S. Legacy, Garrus was calibrating the other laser cannon when he heard the joyful screams in the air. Breaking away from his work, the Turian looked off to the side and saw the solar longboat sail past with the ship's cook and the three teens inside of it.</p>
      <p>"Huh, looks like fun." Garrus murmured, managing to hear the cheers and laughter coming from the ship.</p>
      <p>Seeing them go at it like that made him think back on his old hoverbike. Something he took great pride in working on in his youth with his father and left it in his sister's care when he first moved to the Citadel.</p>
      <p>'Wonder if Solana is still maintaining it back home.' Garrus mused. 'She probably is. Grew too attached to it if I remember correctly.'</p>
      <p>With the teens, they had continued their joyride on the longboat well into the night with the trio switching turns so that Roxas and Xion knew how to operate the ship. And Silver had to properly teach them outside of Jim's recklessness.</p>
      <p>At some point, it was back to Jim, the Montressor native gunning the ship forward with the group in a relaxed position.</p>
      <p>"Look at that!" Roxas suddenly pointed up above, the group looking up to see a whitish-blue comet with a long streak of cosmic rocks and winds in its wake.</p>
      <p>"It's so pretty!" Xion said with starry eyes.</p>
      <p>Hearing this, Jim grinned, flying up to glide right alongside the comet.</p>
      <p>Then without warning…</p>
      <p>"Wait, Jimbo, what are you doing!?"</p>
      <p>Soon enough, they entered the dust tail of the passing comet.</p>
      <p>There the four saw the beautiful colors of white and blue, the comet's trail peppering them with what appeared to be snow.</p>
      <p>"WOOO!" Xion exclaimed, throwing her hands up as Jim had the longboat surf along the tale of the Comet.</p>
      <p>The solar sail was furled up just as Jim maneuvers the longboat to spin rapidly within the dust tail.</p>
      <p>"Ew! I got some of it in my mouth!" Xion exclaimed, sticking her tongue and having her gloved fingers rub it whilst also hack and spitting it out.</p>
      <p>"And?"</p>
      <p>"...Bitter…"</p>
      <p>Silver bellowed out a laugh with Jim chuckling under his breath.</p>
      <p>The longboat fell out from the comet's trail, Silver still laughing as he shook his hat to clear off the dust it had gathered with the group laughing heartily as Jim sped them away from the comet.</p>
      <p>After so many hours of having their fun lesson, Silver informed them it was time for their return. He obviously had left the ship without preparing for a proper lunch for the crew earlier, which he will no doubt be reprimanded for. More so if he didn't get the one for supper ready as well.</p>
      <p>At least Roxas volunteered to help him cook again to speed things up, much to Silver's appreciation.</p>
      <p>They were pulling the longboat back up into the Legacy, slightly winded from their day of fun, still giggling and chuckling.</p>
      <p>Roxas pulled a bit ahead, causing Silver's side to be angled lower.</p>
      <p>"You having a little trouble there?" Roxas asked with a joking tone.</p>
      <p>"Get away from me." Silver laughed off, lightly bumping the teen back over to his end.</p>
      <p>The group laughed as they pulled the ropes, having the longboat set in its proper place. Once high enough, the teens secured the lines to keep it secure.</p>
      <p>"Oh, Jimbo. If I could maneuver a skiff like that when I was your age, they'd be bowing in the streets when I walked by today." Silver said, taking his hat and slumping down into the boat.</p>
      <p>"<em>Bowing in the streets."</em> Echoed Morph, who quickly shifted into Silver's form and acting the same motions.</p>
      <p>"I don't know. They weren't exactly singing my praises when I left home." Said Jim as Silver was whipping his brow with a rag. "But I'm gonna change all that."</p>
      <p>"Are you now? How so?"</p>
      <p>Jim was unsure what to say to the ship's cook. "Uh… I've got some plans." The cabin boy vaguely said. "Gonna make people see me a little differently."</p>
      <p>Silver gave the teen from Montressor a soft, yet hard look as he shook his head. "Oooh… Sometimes… plans go astray."</p>
      <p>"Not this time."</p>
      <p>Neither Silver, Xion or Roxas said anything as each were silently thinking things.</p>
      <p>Roxas was mulling over the thought of plans, in particular that of the Organizations that he and his friends had undoubtedly either foiled or thrown a serious wrench in. Them up and turning on them so suddenly undoubtedly shook up the group of Nobodies.</p>
      <p>Then came the issue pertaining to their current situation. The Normandy set in another galaxy and their initial plan on returning back to the Milky Way to stop Saren.</p>
      <p>Could their recent excursion be disrupting that plan? Could this have caused them to be too late to stop Saren and Sovereign with whatever plans they have with this all so important Crucible?</p>
      <p>The Nobody didn't have much time to think about this as he felt a weight on his arm. He looked down to see Xion having leaned over, exhaling tiredly.</p>
      <p>"Xion?"</p>
      <p>"Just let me rest here for a moment." Xion said softly with her eyes closed.</p>
      <p>He had wanted to ask but Silver lifted up his mechanical peg-leg and pulled part of his pants back to reveal some more of the cybernetics. The cook struggled a little in tightening a bolt at the knee joint.</p>
      <p>Seeing the bit of concern, Morph shifted into a wrench.</p>
      <p>"Oh~ Thank you, Morphy."</p>
      <p>Grasping onto his present tool, Silver went to work in maintaining his leg.</p>
      <p>As this went on, the three teens gazed at the mechanical leg.</p>
      <p>"How'd that happen anyways?" Jim asked.</p>
      <p>"Pardon?"</p>
      <p>"You becomin' a cyborg." Roxas added for clarity as he himself was rather curious.</p>
      <p>Silver didn't reply at first, still tightening the bolt on his cybernetic leg.</p>
      <p>"You don't have to tell us if you don't want to." Xion said quietly after a few seconds.</p>
      <p>Once done with his small task, Silver looked at the trio with a hard look. His gaze then shifted to his synthetic arm as he slowly moved his robotic digits one by one.</p>
      <p>"You give up a few things, chasing a dream." Softly said the cyborg.</p>
      <p>"Was it worth it?" Jim inquired.</p>
      <p>Silver let out a soft chuckle. "No dream doesn't have its prices. But… I hope it does. I most surely am."</p>
      <p>The three teens soon realized the man was still chasing after his dream, not knowing how long his journey will be and where it took him.</p>
      <p>But they could tell he was quite determined in reaching it.</p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>*KABOOM*</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>The ship was violently rocked by something that had come from outside.</p>
      <p>The group in the boat barely stayed in with them nearly getting thrown out by the force of whatever it was that struck the ship.</p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>*KABOOM*</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>"What was that?!" Silver yelled out with Morph clearly startled on what just occurred.</p>
      <p>"I don't know. Was there something outside the ship?" Xion asked.</p>
      <p>"Not from what we saw." Jim pointed out.</p>
      <p>"We need to check it out!" Roxas stated the obvious.</p>
      <p>With the ruckus that seemed to go on, the four quickly made their way towards the deck to see what was going on.</p>
      <p>
        <em>-Earlier-</em>
      </p>
      <p>"Do you just have a weird urge to sit on the edge of precarious spots or something?" Shepard asked, gazing at Axel who was casually laying on the long nose of the ship with his arms behind his head and leg casually dangling over the edge.</p>
      <p>"Hey, I'm comfortable." Axel stated. "Don't need to worry about me."</p>
      <p>"Kinda feel like I have to." Jane dryly said. "What with you slipping and falling into the endless abyss down there."</p>
      <p>"Well, so glad you care." Axel said offhandedly.</p>
      <p>Shepard only gave him a flat look which he didn't see since he had his eyes closed as he shifted slightly to get into a more relaxed state.</p>
      <p>Gazing at him for several seconds, Shepard shook her head with a snort, holding up her ice cream stick for a bite.</p>
      <p>Cracking an eye open, Axel saw Shepard's state. "What?"</p>
      <p>Jane looked up. "What?"</p>
      <p>"What? What is it?" Axel asked.</p>
      <p>"What are you talking about?"</p>
      <p>"I'm not an idiot, Shepard." Axel sat up, resting his elbow against his knee. "Something's bothering you. What's up?"</p>
      <p>Shepard stared at the fiery redhead before letting out a small 'hmph' with an amused look.</p>
      <p>"You know, for a so-called being who doesn't have a heart and supposedly no emotions, you sure show that you care more often than not." Shepard pointed out with a wry grin which grew upon seeing Axel tense up before the redhead scoffed with a smirk of his own.</p>
      <p>"Hey, I remember what it was like in case you forgot."</p>
      <p>"I don't think I'll be forgetting it anytime soon." Jane shot back. "Your introduction to us all was quite memorable."</p>
      <p>"So you got it memorized down I see." Axel said with a cheeky grin with Jane rolling her eyes in response.</p>
      <p>"You'll take every chance you get with that, won't you?" Jane rhetorically asked.</p>
      <p>"Guilty."</p>
      <p>"Clearly."</p>
      <p>Axel chortled with Shepard joining in a second later.</p>
      <p>"You know, because of Roxas and basically you from what he's told me, the entire crew is addicted to these now." Shepard said, holding up her half eaten ice cream bar. "We can't go two days without having one of these to ourselves."</p>
      <p>"Couldn't agree more." Axel said, taking a bite of an ice cream bar that he had in his hand.</p>
      <p>Shepard stared for a few moments, mind trying to figure out what she had just seen.</p>
      <p>"Did… did you just pull that out of your ass or something?" Jane asked. "Where'd that even come from?"</p>
      <p>"I have my ways." Axel said with a sly smile which garnered a flat look from the Commander that turned into a small chuckle.</p>
      <p>"Hey there you two."</p>
      <p>Both individuals looked over to see Garrus coming up to them both.</p>
      <p>"Garrus." Axel greeted the Turian. "Did you finally get bored of calibrating?"</p>
      <p>"Or did calibrating get bored of you?" Jane chipped in.</p>
      <p>"Calibrating and I have a unique and loving relationship." Garrus said, gesturing his hand at Axel and wordlessly, the Nobody seemingly produced another sea-salt ice cream bar and tossed it to the Turian who caught it with ease.</p>
      <p>"Becoming seriously addicted to these." Garrus stated, biting into his bar.</p>
      <p>"That's what I just said." Jane said.</p>
      <p>"Don't know what's in these that's making me want more."</p>
      <p>"You're the detective, you can figure it out in time."</p>
      <p>"I'll be sure to get on it as soon as I can." Garrus said, seating himself on the rail of the ship though not out towards the infinite cosmos as Axel tends to do.</p>
      <p>"So how've you been on this fine voyage thus far, me matey Garrus?" Shepard asked in a pirate accent.</p>
      <p>"What's that supposed to be?" The Turian inquired in amused bewilderment.</p>
      <p>"Pirate talk." Jane answered.</p>
      <p>"Pirates don't talk like that."</p>
      <p>"Human pirates of ye old stories do, arrr." Jane said, diving in full to the outlandish accent with one eye closed and a curled grin.</p>
      <p>"That sounds dumb."</p>
      <p>"You're dumb." Shepard shot back in an almost petulant manner.</p>
      <p>"...I get the feeling I need to catch up on this pirate topic once we're back on the Normandy." Axel dryly said, feeling left out in not knowing the concept Shepard was enjoying.</p>
      <p>"Hey, this voyage makes it appropriate." Jane remarked. "Anyways, Garrus?"</p>
      <p>"I admit, I can somewhat say I'm glad being here at this moment." Said the Turian. "We honestly have never gotten this kind of chance of just stargazing without a helmet in the way. Even without a ship to restrict ourselves from seeing the true endless expanse around us. Nothing to limit our vision, nothing holding us back."</p>
      <p>"Wonder if Della felt the same way when she was marooned on her one moon for about ten years." Jane said, twirling with her now finished ice cream stick.</p>
      <p>"Probably did, at first, before going insane. I sure know I would if I were in her shoes."</p>
      <p>The trio agreed as that was probably the case. Asides from knowing what she primarily did in that time, with repairing her ship and all, Della would've been off her rocker with how limited things were.</p>
      <p>"What were you like Axel?" Garrus suddenly asked, changing the subject out of the blue.</p>
      <p>"What now?"</p>
      <p>"I remember you and Roxas talked about how you both had previous lives before becoming what you were right now." Garrus clarified. "Not gonna lie, it's been something that's been on my mind for a while."</p>
      <p>Shepard nodded with a grin on her face.</p>
      <p>"You really wanna know before I became this roguishly handsome man before you?"</p>
      <p>"Hardy har, Axel." Jane deadpanned, lip twitching up. "But come on, what were you like?"</p>
      <p>Rather than answering straight away, Axel's demeanor abruptly shifted with him turning away from the two with his eyes looking out at the cosmos.</p>
      <p>"I guess I was the same more or less." Axel said in an aloof manner.</p>
      <p>Garrus and Jane blinked at hearing that lack of an answer.</p>
      <p>"Oh please~ Sounds boring."</p>
      <p>"There has to be something else."</p>
      <p>Axel however appeared resolute in staying with his answer. "No, not really much. Just… same old same old."</p>
      <p>The Human and Turian shared looks of confusion now, no longer in a joking mood.</p>
      <p>"Axel?" Jane said slowly. "Did… did something happen in your previous life?"</p>
      <p>No. VIII blinked, looking to them both.</p>
      <p>"What? What are you talking about?"</p>
      <p>Garrus and Jane shot him a disbelieving look.</p>
      <p>"Come on matchstick, you can't seriously just leave us with that." Garrus said.</p>
      <p>"In case you forgot, we're military." Jane said, gesturing her hand between herself and Garrus. "And we usually have a knack for spotting when something is bothering someone. So spill."</p>
      <p>"And why should I tell ya anything?" Axel asked in a faux defensive manner.</p>
      <p>"Cause we're friends." Shepard shrugged. "<em>And</em> I'm your commanding officer."</p>
      <p>"Not military, Jane." Axel shot back.</p>
      <p>"You're living under my roof… ship… you know what I mean."</p>
      <p>"I could just leave."</p>
      <p>"And go where?" Garrus challenged.</p>
      <p>"Hey, I got two galaxies now to explore." Axel countered. "Lots of places to be. Sights to see."</p>
      <p>"Sure~" Jane drawled. "But come on Axel, you gotta tell us something at least."</p>
      <p>"Alright then, how's about this." Axel said. "You guys tell me something of your pasts and I'll do the same for you, how's about that?"</p>
      <p>Garrus hummed in thought whilst Shepard tilted her head before nodding, Garrus doing the same a moment later.</p>
      <p>"Deal."</p>
      <p>"You first Gary." Axel said, making Garrus's head jerk at the name, which only made it worse with Shepard laughing at the nickname.</p>
      <p>"Thanks for the support,<em> Commander." </em>Garrus grit out.</p>
      <p>"No problem detective."</p>
      <p>Garrus sighed before turning to Axel. "Don't know if you know this, Flame-brain, but I was raised in a pseudo-military lifestyle all my life before going into basic training. In fact, all Turians are raised like that."</p>
      <p>"And how did that work out?" Axel questioned before reigning in a mock-gasp. "Is that how you got that stick up your ass?"</p>
      <p>"Hardy-har-har. You're such an original, Axel." Garrus said dryly before chuckling lowly to himself.</p>
      <p>"To tell you the truth, most of my people never really liked that. It was just one of the many problems when the Turian Hierarchy was founded. It was decided that when a Turian turns fifteen, they get drafted into temporary service when the developmental stage begins." Garrus looked at Shepard. "Your concept of basic training, Shepard, is breaking them down and building them up, right?"</p>
      <p>"It is."</p>
      <p>"Turian recruits are built up from the beginning and we can slowly adjust that Turian recruit over a span of four years during our version of basic training."</p>
      <p>"Basic training lasts four years?" Axel asked rather bewildered.</p>
      <p>Jane merely whistled. "Mine lasted for four grueling, long months in order to weed out rookies not qualified to really join."</p>
      <p>"And was it because you signed up with that N7 program of yours?" The Turian asked.</p>
      <p>"N7 came afterwards." She clarified before looking back at Garrus. "And what else was there on your training?"</p>
      <p>"Whereas your human training is supposed to 'break them and make them' under a short period of time, our training is designed over far longer in a slow burning process where the lethargy and idleness are driven out of the recruits."</p>
      <p>"Sounds harsh."</p>
      <p>"It was designed to work efficiently; at least that's what our leaders claim it does."</p>
      <p>"And we see a fine example right in front of us."</p>
      <p>Garrus rolled his eyes on Axel's comment.</p>
      <p>"Train up a child in the way he should go; <em>and</em> when he is old he will not depart from it."</p>
      <p>The two men blinked as they bewilderedly looked at the commander.</p>
      <p>"Where'd you get that from?" Axel inquired.</p>
      <p>"Ashley." Responded Shepard. "Something her father crammed into her head along with her sisters -among other things- with their pseudo-military training when they were growing up."</p>
      <p>No. VIII hummed a little. "I can probably see where that's going. Having proper guidance and all that. Only problem with that is having the 'child' reluctantly comply with it."</p>
      <p>Garrus nodded in agreement.</p>
      <p>"I do admit, despite the best of what our military has done for each Turian, there are always going to be those who don't want anything to do with the service. Often they're the ones who end up creating the most trouble for themselves and others. Getting dishonorably discharged and their records tagged, making it hard to find a decent job. And all those Turian criminals you often run off to the Terminus Systems like pirates and mercs are typically the ones who were booted out as it's the only work they can get."</p>
      <p>"At least they weren't forcibly drafted into service. With the Alliance, we volunteer as we're motivated to serve." Shepard informed. "People who are conscripted aren't so driven, hence they hate the military until their fifteen years are up… or are just dishonorably discharged for whatever negligence there is."</p>
      <p>Garrus hummed as he finished off his frozen treat. "Wish that option was available for the Hierarchy. Could've made things a bit simpler when growing up."</p>
      <p>"Then what would've you done with all that free time?" Axel asked aloud.</p>
      <p>"Honestly... I have no clue."</p>
      <p>Satisfied with getting info from Garrus, he turned his attention more towards the female redhead. "Alrighty, Shep, your turn."</p>
      <p>"Yeah, your right."</p>
      <p>"So what ya got to share with us?"</p>
      <p>Jane began her answer by looking at Garrus. "It seems we have something in common."</p>
      <p>"And what's that commander?" Asked the Turian.</p>
      <p>"On my end, I somewhat grew up to serve the military as well."</p>
      <p>"With the Alliance." Axel clarified. "How so?"</p>
      <p>"I'm a military brat as my parents were ones themselves. While my mom still serves… my dad… left that life."</p>
      <p>"By… what exactly?"</p>
      <p>Neither Garrus or Axel wanted to assume the worst and ruin whatever pleasant mood Shepard was in on accident.</p>
      <p>"Honorably discharged after fifteen years of loyal service." Came Jane's response. "He wanted to be a farmer after his time in the service. A means of settling roots for all of us when the time came."</p>
      <p>"Sounds like the life to possibly have."</p>
      <p>'Yeah… it <em>would've</em> been.' She thought before quickly composing herself.</p>
      <p>"Alright Axel, we had our stories." Shepard stated. "Your turn."</p>
      <p>"And none of that edgy aloof crap from last time." Garrus said quickly after.</p>
      <p>"Alright, alright, lay off, will ya?" Axel said, waving his hand down.</p>
      <p>He became silent, gazing down as the other two waited for him to speak.</p>
      <p>"Well… before I became," He gestured to himself. "<em>This</em>, I lived in a world called Radiant Garden."</p>
      <p>Garrus and Shepard found themselves leaning forwards as the fiery Nobody went on.</p>
      <p>"Lived a simple life for the most part really." Axel said with a shrug. "Had my share of friends, my own aspirations and all that."</p>
      <p>"What was your World like?" Jane asked.</p>
      <p>Axel rubbed his chin. "I always thought it wasn't anything <em>really</em> special. There were some unique individuals in my World here and there; even with having my own thrills along the way. But… that all changed when I lost my World to the Heartless."</p>
      <p>A momentary air of silence permeated around them for the briefest of moments.</p>
      <p>"Course… once I lost myself, when I woke up a Nobody with all this… <em>power."</em> Axel said with a sharp edge to his tone that genuinely caused a shiver to go down Shepard's spine. "Made me realize just how more special my World was. The first eight members of Organization XIII came from a single World."</p>
      <p>That certainly was a rather… frightening thought when Garrus and Shepard thought about it. And the more they did, the more a feeling of dread began to fill up from within.</p>
      <p>For all intents and purposes, there were still eleven of these supremely powerful beings that each have a unique ability and affinity to themselves that were equally as powerful if not more so than Axel, Roxas and Xion.</p>
      <p>"Before all that…" Axel now had a faraway look to his eyes. "My old friend Is, I mean Saix, met someone in the main castle of our World. Asides from… Saix… I had one other friend that I was close to. And… it's been hard to know if she's alright out there."</p>
      <p>There was a long pause between the trio.</p>
      <p>"I never found out what had happened to her." Axel said in a dejected manner. "I don't think I should tell you this at all, Shepard. Life ain't always sunshine and rainbow. It wasn't easy."</p>
      <p>"<em><strong>I couldn't agree more."</strong></em></p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>-Insert Kingdom Hearts II: Organization XIII-</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>The three were startled upon the voice calling out.</p>
      <p>Whereas Garrus and Shepard whirled around to find where it came from, Axel bolted onto his feet.</p>
      <p>"That <em>voice</em>." He growled.</p>
      <p>In an instant, Axel threw his arms up horizontally with fire swirling in front of his hands with his Chakrams appearing a moment later.</p>
      <p>Right after, a Dark Corridor appeared.</p>
      <p>The moment it formed; the Flurry of Dancing Flames threw his Eternal Flames forward.</p>
      <p>When they came close to the Dark Corridor, it quickly dispersed with a pink-colored blade knocking the chakrams away. They flew back into their owners hands who stood defensively in front of Garrus and Shepard who had their own weapons drawn.</p>
      <p>"Marluxia." Axel growled in recognition.</p>
      <p>Standing before the trio was a man around their age, garbed in the same black cloak of the three Nobodies that were a part of the Normandy crew. There were some differences here and there with his sleeves being more baggier of sorts compared to the thin, nearly skintight ones that Axel has.</p>
      <p>His slightly curly-ruffled rose pink hair reached his shoulders with cold blue eyes and his lips were a pale pink as well.</p>
      <p>In his hand was quite the unusual-looking scythe. The rose pink blade was rather menacing as it connected to the pastel green long handle. The connection between them was yellow as they resembled pieces of the Nobody icon. Asides from that, it had the vague resemblance of a deformed flower.</p>
      <p>"Well~ <em>well~</em> It clearly took time to find you."</p>
      <p>"Organization XIII?" Jane said though she knew it was foolish to even ask.</p>
      <p>Of course it was them.</p>
      <p>"How'd you find us, Marluxia?" Axel queried, stance at the ready with him grasping his chakrams tightly.</p>
      <p>"It was rather difficult at first." Marluxia said, his scythe vanishing in a flutter of rose petals. "Hearts have been streaming into our World at a more constant rate with the Hero of the Keyblade and the King with their companions going through the worlds that we had unleashed the Heartless upon and taking them out. Granted, this helps in the plans of the Organization but we had no idea as to where the hearts Roxas and Xion were harvesting." The Scythe wielding Nobody then gave off a sinister smile. "It just took some time to track where the specific ones originated from."</p>
      <p>Jane and Garrus gripped their weapons tightly, keeping them leveled at the Nobody.</p>
      <p>"And then… I found an influx of Hearts from a rather isolated World far beyond the usual confines of our reaches." The Graceful Assassin stated as he slowly walked towards them.</p>
      <p>"Take another step and we'll shoot."</p>
      <p>"Or do what?"</p>
      <p>In an instant, Marluxia blurred out of existence, startling the two Normandy members.</p>
      <p>Axel was quick to move.</p>
      <p>"Duck!" Axel shouted with the two listening to him without hesitation.</p>
      <p>Axel's weapons met with a pink crescent curve that he cut through before jumping at Marluxia who merely teleported away and returned back to his original spot.</p>
      <p>No. VIII was also quick to make sure he stood before Jane and Garrus as their protector. Both had stood up as well, weapons once again pointed at Marluxia who smirked in a condescending manner.</p>
      <p>"What good will those <em>toys</em> do for you?"</p>
      <p>"I don't know, asshole, why don't you come here and find out?" Shepard growled, Biotics flaring up with Garrus's gun changing shape into its advanced form.</p>
      <p>There was a tense standoff between them until No. XI began chuckling to himself.</p>
      <p>"You know, I never would have thought <em>you </em>Axel, of all of us, would be the first to betray the Organization." No. XI declared.</p>
      <p>"Oh right, your big, doomed to fail original plan." Axel mocked. "How'd that turn out for ya?"</p>
      <p>"Plans don't always go as intended." Marluxia admitted. "But perhaps I can remedy my original plans. Now tell me, where is Roxas and the Puppet?"</p>
      <p>"And we're supposed to just tell you?" Garrus asked rhetorically.</p>
      <p>"If you value your own existence." Marluxia said dangerously though they stood strong.</p>
      <p>"You'll have to do better than that little bad guy threat shpeal." Shepard fired back, the aura of her Biotics intensifying.</p>
      <p>The Graceful Assassin merely chuckled darkly. "Hmm… It appears I'll need to draw them out."</p>
      <p>With a snap of his fingers, a large Dark Corridor appeared not far away from the R.L.S. Legacy.</p>
      <p>Passing through it was what appeared to look like a ghost warship as it floated through space with fog surrounding it. The sinister aura the vessel possessed was not pleasant at all. And seeing the Heartless emblem plastered on the ship's central flags was a further giveaway on what manned them.</p>
      <p>It was only once the fog dissipated, the three took note of its titanic size which resembled a dilapidated sailing ship.</p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>-Insert Kingdom Hearts 358/2 days: Fight and Away-</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>The hull of the ship appears to be made of dark brown wood with faded red additives and yellow highlights. It had two sails on its main mast, and two more, one toward the bow and another toward the stern. The sail closest to the bow of the ship has the Heartless emblem printed on it, and all four of its sails were tattered and discolored. The crow's nest is silver, with yellow highlights, and a bent, yellow spike in its center. This spike is also present on the tips of the bow and stern masts. The bow is decorated by a large, yellow, angular spiral on either side, resembling eyes. It also has a large, silver "jaw" on its lower half, with black and white zig-zagging markings. There are three long, thin, silver engines on either side of the ship's aft end.</p>
      <p>The bowsprit of the ship is silver, conical, spike-like with the "mouth" covering and protecting what looked like an enormous skull</p>
      <p>The deck of the ship was packed with a number of cannons and Heartless. A large wheel is present on either side of the middle of the ship's hull. Both wheels are colored in dark shades of black, silver, and grey, and both have silver shafts in their centers. Two more wheels, identical to the others save for their smaller size, are placed near the ship's rear.</p>
      <p>"Seriously?! Spirits sake, what the fuck is that supposed to be?!"</p>
      <p>"Given you're on a ship, I brought one of darkened proportions." Marluxia said with an amused sneer, a dark corridor teleporting him away.</p>
      <p>"Real amusing." Jane snarked, just as the Heartless ship fired its cannons upon the Legacy.</p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>*KABOOM*</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>The ship rocked violently, Shepard running at full speed towards Captain Amelia's stateroom with the feline officer bursting out of her door, Mr. Arrow right behind her.</p>
      <p>"What in the blazes is going on out here?!" Amelia cried out.</p>
      <p>"We're under attack." Shepard shouted.</p>
      <p>Just as she said that the ship was once again struck by another flying Heartless cannon.</p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>*KABOOM*</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>From below deck, Silver stepped out.</p>
      <p>"What in the devil?" The Cook said in bewilderment.</p>
      <p>"All hands to stations!" Mr. Arrow shouted. "Prepare for battle!"</p>
      <p>Silver whipped his head around at the sight of the large Pirate ship looming close by to the Legacy.</p>
      <p>"Devils help me, what in the cosmos is that?!" Silver exclaimed.</p>
      <p>"It's the Heartless!" Roxas shouted, both he and Xion proceeding to shock Silver and Jim as they called forth their Keyblades.</p>
      <p>"Keep back." Xion said, running forward with Roxas.</p>
      <p>Both Silver and Jim's eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets at the sight of Roxas and Xion jumping forward off the ship.</p>
      <p>The duo sailed forward towards a large cannonball with a jagged mouth and large yellow eyes. Both struck the cannonball back with such force, it careened back to its sender, the explosion destroying one of the cannons aboard the enemy Heartless ship.</p>
      <p>With their strike, they had also used it to propel themselves back onto the ship just as the rest of the crew was now on deck.</p>
      <p>"All hands to stations!" Mr. Arrow shouted, holding a rifle. "We're under attack."</p>
      <p>The crew was quick to spring into action though they were still trying to figure out what in the name of the Etherium was attacking them.</p>
      <p>Shepard was firing her weapon rapidly at the fly Air Pirates and Aerial Vikings that were flying towards the ship.</p>
      <p>Tali had joined her with Garrus manning his modified calibrated cannon, blasting away at the flying Heartless.</p>
      <p>Silver changed up his robotic arm into that of a cannon and began firing at the oncoming Heartless.</p>
      <p>"What in the blazes are these blasted invaders?" Silver cried out, cybernetic eye spotting smaller pirate ships with enemies brandishing large, curved swords.</p>
      <p>"They're Heartless." Roxas said, landing next to Silver. "Keep your distance and shoot their heads."</p>
      <p>"Heartless?" Jim asked in bewilderment.</p>
      <p>"Stay behind me lad." Silver said, managing to shoot several of the Pirates off the ship before the smaller Battleships could deliver the Heartless onto the ship.</p>
      <p>Jim's eyes were darting about the madness that had completely taken over the situation. All around, the crew was fighting off these Heartless to the best of their ability with very few managing to hold them off.</p>
      <p>The ones who appeared to have the most success with these new enemies were the crew that Shepard had brought along.</p>
      <p>The Spectre with the three Nobodies and two aliens of unknown origins were fighting back with abilities and firepower Jim had never seen before.</p>
      <p>They were fighting them off while he just stood behind Silver for protection. It took a moment after for him to scoff at this thought before he bolted towards the engine room.</p>
      <p>"Jimbo!" Silver yelled out in surprise.</p>
      <p>The boy simply ran through the chaos, managing to get by thanks to either one of Shepard's crew destroying the Heartless in the way or one of the other crewmates serving as a distraction to the Heartless.</p>
      <p>"Blasted boy." Silver groused, hearing something behind his back and turning with his robotic arm raised.</p>
      <p>He slouched though at the sight of Xion cleaving through several Heartless at once, looking back to him.</p>
      <p>"Are you alright Silver?" She asked in concern.</p>
      <p>The old cyborg blinked before huffing with a small smirk gracing his features.</p>
      <p>"Aye lass, I am thanks to ya." Silver said with a grateful grin.</p>
      <p>Xion smiled up at him only for head to perk up and dash past the cook.</p>
      <p>Some of the crew broke through the storage room not far away in order to properly retrieve some weapons in order to fend off the new opposition. As they tried, a few were ambushed by the Heartless and were about to be killed if it weren't for Xion quickly taking care of them.</p>
      <p>Instead of saying their thanks, the crewmembers merely ran past No. XIV in order to fight the Heartless.</p>
      <p>"...You're welcome." Xion drawled out.</p>
      <p>"Xion." Axel said aloud, drawing her out of her annoyed state and making her turn to Axel who was being attacked on numerous sides.</p>
      <p>"Hold on Axel!"</p>
      <p>All the while, Roxas was combating several Air Pirates, Aerial Vikings and Pirates with Tali assisting him. He was the main offensive fighter with Tali providing him the support.</p>
      <p>Since her Omni-tool upgrade, she was able to stun or paralyze Heartless she targeted for a short amount of time which was more than enough for No. XIII to go in for the killing blow.</p>
      <p>He took out an Air Pirate in the air, landing on the ground.</p>
      <p>Whirling about, Roxas was ready to take on the next set of flying Heartless when the sound of thrusters came from the side.</p>
      <p>Turning to his left, he saw Jim Hawkins fly his newly made Solar Surfer straight into the neck of an Aerial Viking. With his speed and momentum, he drove the Heartless into the ground, the tip of his board nearly cleaving through the Heartless.</p>
      <p>"Whoa." Roxas said aloud. "Jim, isn't that-?"</p>
      <p>"Yeah, it is." Jim said, already moving again as he flew and swung his surfer with his legs to bash an Air Pirate away.</p>
      <p>The Air Pirate stumbled in the air before it was destroyed by an Omni-bolt from Tali.</p>
      <p>Grinning, Jim pressed on the accelerator at the back of the surfer and accelerated forward to help out Silver, Shepard and Garrus that were fighting together.</p>
      <p>The rest of the crew was trying their best in fighting these unusual foes, with Scroop managing to outmaneuver most of the Heartless and the big four-armed alien man handling the rest.</p>
      <p>"These bastards are relentless." Amelia exclaimed, riddling a Battleship with holes until it was destroyed.</p>
      <p>"My word!" Doppler, who had come out in the commotion, stuck closely to Amelia and Arrow who were fighting together. "What are these ghastly beings?"</p>
      <p>"Shepard called them Heartless." Amelia revealed, shooting a Pirate in the head that Arrow grabbed by its neck. "They are quite a tenacious bunch."</p>
      <p>"Quite." Doppler stated, wincing at the pillars of flames that Axel had produced around him in a short burst to destroy the Heartless surrounding him.</p>
      <p>The dog man looked over to see Roxas fling his weapon forward at a cluster of these Heartless. The weapon destroyed the dark adversaries before it vanished in a flash of light, reappearing in Roxas' hand and the boy proceeded to toss it once again.</p>
      <p>"Fascinat-ING!" Yelled out the doctor, being pulled out of the way by the captain.</p>
      <p>Amelia soon pulled out a spare pistol and handed it to him. "You know how to use one of these?"</p>
      <p>"Oh? Uh, yes I've studied these on many-"</p>
      <p>Doppler inadvertently fired the pistol with it scorching the railing next to her.</p>
      <p>"Uh, no. No, I do not."</p>
      <p>The feline captain briefly sighed before firing her pistol at an incoming Air Pirate. "Then you'll be getting plenty of experience today."</p>
      <p>Doppler quickly nodded and did his best to help take care of these invaders.</p>
      <p>"Roxas." Axel stood back-to-back with the sandy blond Keybearer. "We aren't gonna make any headway with these guys unless we destroy that ship or their head honcho Heartless."</p>
      <p>"Right."</p>
      <p>"But how are we gonna get over there? It's not as if we can fly." Shepard said.</p>
      <p>Upon hearing that statement, Roxas' vision changed into that of Sora's.</p>
      <p>He wasn't in Neverland but… he appeared to jump and proceeded to glide across with the greatest of ease.</p>
      <p>Snapping out of that trance, Roxas looked up at one of the pillars of the ship and ran towards it.</p>
      <p>"Roxas?" Axel called out to him just as No. XIII got to the closest mast.</p>
      <p>Proceeding to run straight up, casually defying the artificial gravity on the ship, he reached the top and with a high jump took out several Heartless along the way.</p>
      <p>Rather than fall, Roxas adjusted his body and…</p>
      <p>Proceeded to quite literally glide towards the enemy Heartless Pirate Ship with many of the crew aboard the Legacy stopping what they were doing for a moment to gaze upon the literal flying Nobody.</p>
      <p>The boy reached the Heartless Pirate Ship and dropped down with his Keyblade raised, slicing right through one of the remaining cannons aboard the ship.</p>
      <p>Back on the Legacy, several of the crew were still trying to make heads and tails as to what they had just seen.</p>
      <p>"Did… did you know he could do that?" Jane asked Axel who only shook his head.</p>
      <p>"That's a new one." Axel said, rushing to the edge of the ship.</p>
      <p>"Axel!" Shepard yelled out to him to stop.</p>
      <p>Charging up one of his Chakrams, Axel hovered in the air and flung one with all his might at the Heartless ship.</p>
      <p>Once it sailed over the deck of the Heartless ship, Axel vanished in a blink of fiery whisps.</p>
      <p>He reappeared over his thrown Chakram, grabbing it in the air and falling to the deck's surface. Upon landing, a large plume of fire erupted around him to clear the area around him of Heartless.</p>
      <p>"Axel." Roxas said, running over to him.</p>
      <p>"Hey buddy." Axel greeted casually, also incinerating a Heartless in the process. "I just got a question I need you to answer for me."</p>
      <p>"What's that?"</p>
      <p>"...Since when the hell CAN YOU FLY?!" Axel's question was punctuated by him throwing up his Chakram with one of the blades around it piercing through the body of an Air Pirate that attempted a divebomb.</p>
      <p>"Just before finding you and Xion at Castle Oblivion." Roxas answered with a grit of his teeth as he deflected several Pirate swords and destroyed their owners.</p>
      <p>"And you never bothered to bring that up?"</p>
      <p>"No one ever asked."</p>
      <p>Axel's left green eye started to twitch. "...You… can't always use that as an excuse, Roxas."</p>
      <p>"Why not? You know it's true." Roxas said, casting a quick Thunder spell to clear their surroundings.</p>
      <p>His friend only rolled his eyes before huffing with a small smirk appearing on his face.</p>
      <p>"You're a strange one Roxas. And that's saying something." Axel stated, charging up his fire.</p>
      <p>Back on the Legacy…</p>
      <p>Seeing Roxas take off earlier, Jim hesitated for a moment until he took off after him with the thrusters blasting off. He'd rather not leave the two to fight aboard an enemy ship on their own.</p>
      <p>It was shortly after takeoff did he feel something landing on his Solar Surfer rather harshly. Looking back, he reeled back in surprise.</p>
      <p>"Xion, what-"</p>
      <p>"Not gonna leave you alone on this, Jim." Xion said, placing a hand on his shoulder to keep herself steady.</p>
      <p>As much as he wanted to refute, he chose not to at this time. Besides, she appeared to know how to defend herself a bit better than him in this situation.</p>
      <p>It was at this moment did Silver take notice of their departure.</p>
      <p>"Jimbo? Xion?" He gritted out. "What in blasted hell are 'ey doing?"</p>
      <p>Along the pathway, Jim stirred his surfer while Xion spun around to attack the incoming aerial opponents. Left and right, they were extinguished.</p>
      <p>"Thanks for the assist."</p>
      <p>"You are my ride after all."</p>
      <p>Jim smirked as he pushed the thrusters harder to get to the Heartless ship even faster.</p>
      <p>Once there, Xion leapt off and struck down a Pirate from behind. And soon after, Jim came in as he spun his Solar Surfer around to cleave through a couple of aerial Heartless.</p>
      <p>With their entrance known, the duo joined in on the fight to draw out the "captain" of the vessel.</p>
      <p>The four fought valiantly aboard the Heartless ship, greatly outnumbered yet they fought on with their abilities and constant maneuvering giving them the edge for the time being.</p>
      <p>Back aboard the Legacy, Amelia jumped, flipping multiple times in the air before landing on the deck and shot at a Pirate that Tali was fighting as well.</p>
      <p>The engineer nodded in appreciation at the Captain with Amelia returning the gesture before she turned to the Heartless Pirate Ship. her keen eyes spotted the four that had managed to come aboard the enemy vessel and were currently fighting through the Heartless aboard it.</p>
      <p>"Blasted reckless youth." Amelia said, though she couldn't really hide her smirk, admiring the quartet that so brazenly moved to attack the enemy ship.</p>
      <p>"We need to clear this deck of Heartless and help them out." Shepard said, her Biotics catching several Heartless with her and Garrus shooting them into oblivion.</p>
      <p>"Agreed." Amelia said, ducking under a sword of a Pirate</p>
      <p>"Mr. Turnbuckle steer us towards that ship! We'll cover you!"</p>
      <p>The tentacled alien hesitantly nodded as he complied with the order.</p>
      <p>On the Heartless ship, the team of four were slowly beginning to dent the sizable force of Heartless aboard the ship.</p>
      <p>They were whittling down the more lesser Heartless until...</p>
      <p>A trio of darkened flashes appeared overhead, sending a small team of Heartless diving towards the group.</p>
      <p>"Seems the captain has finally come aboard." Axel stated with a grin.</p>
      <p>"With friends." Xion added.</p>
      <p>The new trio of Heartless wore something akin to a captain's uniform with the jacket and bicorn hat combo. The jackets had grey feathers around their collars with gold and black pads on the shoulders with additional feathers. Their right hands were replaced with a prosthetic anchor as it was attached into a long chain within its left was a large cutlass.</p>
      <p>While one wore a red jacket, the other two wore blue, signifying some sort of rank amongst them.</p>
      <p>"Yeah, he's the Captain alright." Axel said, gesturing to the red one.</p>
      <p>A moment later, the Heartless went on the offensive.</p>
      <p>Spinning their anchors around, the trio of Anchor Raiders hurled their one weapon at the four interlopers on their ship. The group quickly avoided getting hit and didn't stick around when the Heartless retracted back to their thrown anchors.</p>
      <p>Jim took to the skies, solar surfing around the Heartless. He really needed a weapon right about now. He couldn't just ram right into them all willy nilly and expect the same outcomes from before.</p>
      <p>"Jim, you idiot." The cabin boy palmed his forehead before pivoting his surfer back towards the direction of the Legacy.</p>
      <p>'Oh, it's coming right for us.' Jim thought upon seeing the ship angle around.</p>
      <p>Least the trip was shorter now.</p>
      <p>Slamming his foot on the accelerator, Jim rocketed forward towards the Legacy.</p>
      <p>"Hang on guys, I'll be back in a second." Jim muttered to himself, flying right at the Legacy.</p>
      <p>Back with the Nobody trio, each one was paired off with an Anchor Raider of their own with these Heartless proving to be a greater challenge than the usual fodder they have faced.</p>
      <p>Roxas jumped back as the anchor from the Raider he was facing slammed down on the ground where he stood. Landing on the ground, Roxas immediately jumped forward and got his foot on the anchor before running up the chain.</p>
      <p>The Anchor Raider, seeing this, quickly retracted its anchor though this proved to be a miscalculation. Lightly jumping off the chain, Roxas "landed" on the returning anchor which drew him in directly towards the Heartless itself.</p>
      <p>With a powerful swing, Roxas struck the Anchor Raider in the head which stunned it momentarily until it performed a retaliatory 360 spin. The shockwave it produced sent Roxas flying back though he recovered in the air and glided right back at it for another attack.</p>
      <p>As this went on, Xion weaved through the opposing sword slashes and anchor smashing's. Despite her limited capacity in comparison to Roxas, she had to try and be a little creative to make up for it. Casting Aerora to boost herself to quickly get behind the one Heartless before delivering a volley of blows. Before retreating, she fired off a couple of Blizzards prior to performing a backwards roll to deliver a Thundara strike.</p>
      <p>Axel, meanwhile, sprinted to another part of the ship as he occasionally chucked his Eternal Flame chakrams. The pair struck the Anchor Raider a number of times as they quickly returned to sender before being delivered again and again. Soon enough, he lit them up for additional damage before dashing in to jab his bladed weapons a number of times. Once done, he leaped back before setting off his own version of Firaga at the floating Heartless. It was quite a large fireball.</p>
      <p>As the battle raged on, aboard the Legacy in the crow's nest, Marluxia observed it all with an analytical expression.</p>
      <p>"Figured those two wouldn't be far from him." The Graceful Assassin said to himself. His attention then went towards some other interests back over at the R.L.S. Legacy.</p>
      <p>Spotting Shepard, Garrus and Tali did make No. XI wonder about a few things.</p>
      <p>The first came to mind with how <em>familiar</em> those the red headed woman and avian-based alien he met earlier were with the traitors. If he were to guess, it had to be quite for quite some time.</p>
      <p>The next pertained with how their weapons, along with the girl in the odd helmet, were able to take down the Heartless. They clearly didn't belong to whatever territory they were presently in and there's not a lot of armaments which can take out the Heartless easier than other methods; asides from the Keyblade itself as well as those that contain the proper power to do so.</p>
      <p>No doubt a number of inquiries will be resolved rather soon.</p>
      <p>Back on the deck, the Legacy was at last cleared of the Heartless with the ship now swinging by the Heartless Pirate Ship.</p>
      <p>Jim by this point had managed to snag a rifle of his own, returning back to the three Nobodies that were still fighting the Anchor Raiders.</p>
      <p>He saw the one Xion was fighting fling its anchor forward.</p>
      <p>She rolled out of the way, the anchor embedding itself into one of the Pirate Ships' masts.</p>
      <p>Jim took the opportunity to fly down, grinding his surfer against the chain which rattled the Raider whilst firing at it with his new rifle.</p>
      <p>The Anchor Raider flinched once or twice but it did have its bell rung when Jim flew right up to its face with his Solar Surfer and smacked the bottom flat part of his board right in its face.</p>
      <p>Roxas, all the while, clashed with his own Anchor Raider several times now.</p>
      <p>During their engagement, Heartless sent its anchor once again as a projectile at the Keybearer only for him to jump and perform a corkscrew in the air and cut the chain in two.</p>
      <p>The Anchor Raider had to resort to using its large sword it carried though it was effective all the same.</p>
      <p>Clashing with Roxas several times, it pushed the smaller opponent back several times though Roxas's own swordsmanship and strength had him parry several swings that stunned the raider.</p>
      <p>The Anchor Raider however was proving to be quite the resilient foe. And to make matters more difficult, the Anchor Raider slammed its chain down upon the ground and it appeared to be a call to arms as more Pirate and Air Pirate Heartless appeared.</p>
      <p>"Oh come on." Roxas said in annoyance.</p>
      <p>"We can't let up here, guys." Axel said, grunting a bit as he deflected his Raider's sword.</p>
      <p>Roxas glared back at the new wave of Heartless that stood before him when the sound of thrusters followed by his name being called out by a familiar voice came from above.</p>
      <p>Looking up behind him, he saw Jim flying down towards him with his arm outstretched.</p>
      <p>An unusual feeling welled up inside both cabin boys as Roxas leapt up to grab Jim's hand.</p>
      <p>To the native of Montressor, this was a bizarre and new feeling with a strange surge of what he could describe to be… power. Or some kind of energy.</p>
      <p>To Roxas however, this one… he had felt this before!</p>
      <p>Where?</p>
      <p>He blinked as the image of Jane giving him a confident smile appeared.</p>
      <p>'That's right!' Roxas internally thought, swinging round behind Jim and standing on the solar surfer. 'With Shepard!'</p>
      <p>A flash of light enveloped the two for a brief moment before subsiding.</p>
      <p>Jim throttled the accelerator, speeding up towards the large swath of Heartless.</p>
      <p>Wind started to swirl around the pair as they started to go faster and faster. And the thruster's flames started to build up with each passing second.</p>
      <p>As they drew near the batch of Heartless, the two separated, another surfer of hard light appearing under Roxas's feat. The two made a large circular arch around the cluster of Heartless, firing beams of light and energy before reconnecting on the other end.</p>
      <p>Instantly, Jim angled his Surfer up for the two to arch up in a ninety degree angle and sailed above and over the cluster going in for another reign of light and energy beams.</p>
      <p>Once reaching the other side, the two split off once more.</p>
      <p>Roxas thrusted his hard light surfer around, smacking the Heartless left and right before landing on the ledge of the Pirate Ship. As if directed, Roxas rode along the edges as he thrusted his Keyblade at their opponents and fired off a volley of energy bolts from Oathkeeper's tip.</p>
      <p>Jim followed suit on the opposite end, firing off repeated shots that got increasingly larger whilst also slamming into any Heartless along the way.</p>
      <p>"Jim!"</p>
      <p>"I got ya!"</p>
      <p>Kicking off the railing, the pair soon met near the center, grasping each other's forearms before their thrusters sped up their rotations. More and more they went with the wind batting against the Heartless as if they were combating a miniature tornado.</p>
      <p>Soaring high into the air, they disconnected from one another and fell down with an avalanche of light energy that decimated the multitude of Heartless with the two landing aboard Jim's Surfer once more.</p>
      <p>The newly constructed board glowed alight with powerful Light itself as the two sailed forward and jumped off into simultaneous backflips as the light infused solar surfer sailed directly into the Red jacketed Anchor Raider.</p>
      <p>The surfer collided with the Heartless, a brilliant flash of light that turned into an explosion of one that utterly annihilated the Anchor Raider.</p>
      <p>Roxas and Jim landed on the deck with a slight stumble, both breathing heavily.</p>
      <p>No less than a moment later, Jim's solar surfer magically appeared under his arm completely intact.</p>
      <p>"...Whoa." was all Jim muttered out. "What was that?"</p>
      <p>"I'll tell you later." Roxas said, fetching an ether out from his pocket. "Here Jim, crush this in your hands and help Xion."</p>
      <p>Hawkins only had time to blink as he saw a blue cube of some kind that he instinctively caught in his hand.</p>
      <p>"What's this supposed to be?" Jim asked aloud, looking up in time to see Roxas had already run off towards Axel.</p>
      <p>Rolling his eyes, Jim held up the strange cube, an unusual hum coming from it.</p>
      <p>Roxas told him to crush it in his hands.</p>
      <p>What was supposed to happen?</p>
      <p>Shaking his head, Jim scrunched up his face in confidence, choosing to believe in Roxas's word. Tightening his grip on the cube, Jim struggled momentarily until cracks appeared and it cracked apart. Rather than falling apart in his hands, the shards of this ether disintegrated and washed over his entire body.</p>
      <p>Jim inhaled sharply, a swell of recharged energy coming over him.</p>
      <p>"Whoa."</p>
      <p>As much as he'd want to know what exactly occurred to him, he shoved such questions aside and took note of his current surroundings.</p>
      <p>He saw Xion was still combating her Heartless and quickly ran forward.</p>
      <p>Without even thinking, Jim threw his surfer in front of him and jumped, landing on it. In an instant, his small sail popped out with his thrusters activating. He flew forward at top speeds towards Xion, announcing his arrival by angling his surfer where the Anchor Raider got a faceful of a solar charged thruster in its face.</p>
      <p>Xion grinned in appreciation at the sudden return from Jim, rushing forward to capitalize on this moment.</p>
      <p>Calling upon a new trick she had been wanting to practice, Xion held her Keyblade in a downward diagonal angle towards the ground. Charging up some Fire laced with Light magic, she used the expulsion of the sphere she shot out to send herself flying in the air.</p>
      <p>She flew right over the Anchor Raider and with all her might, cleaved straight the head of the captain based Heartless.</p>
      <p>Over with Roxas and Axel, the duo were relentlessly assaulting the last remaining Anchor Raider with both their attacks being intense, powered by their affinities.</p>
      <p>A moment later, with a combined attack, the two at long last destroyed the last of the Anchor Raiders.</p>
      <p>The quartet would have reveled in their victory had it not been for the Pirate Ship jolting violently, slightly throwing them off balance.</p>
      <p>"What the-"</p>
      <p>"Guys!"</p>
      <p>The four looked over to see the Legacy make its appearance off on the side of the Heartless ship.</p>
      <p>Tali was waving at them with Shepard by her side. Over at the cannon, Garrus was manning his newly calibrated child, firing at the Heartless ship.</p>
      <p>"Come on, get back over here!" Tali said, gesturing her hand rapidly.</p>
      <p>"Hiya, Shepard." Axel said cheekily. "You missed out on all of the fun over here."</p>
      <p>Jane rolled her eyes and moved her arm back. "Come aboard, guys. We need to get outta here before more show up."</p>
      <p>"Don't have to tell us twice." Jim said aloud, activating his surfer's thrusters to propel himself forward to get back onto the Legacy.</p>
      <p>The three Nobodies followed suit as they leaped off of the Pirate Ship's deck and landed onto the other.</p>
      <p>Once clear, Amelia ordered Mr. Turnbuckle to get them out of there and he couldn't have complied any faster as he wanted to be far away from these Heartless like the rest of them.</p>
      <p>Reaching a certain distance away, the presence of the Heartless Pirate Ship was no longer there as it was consumed by a Dark Corridor.</p>
      <p>"You think that's the last we'll see them?" Jim asked hopefully.</p>
      <p>Others from within the crew more or less thought the same thing.</p>
      <p>Sadly, that wasn't meant to be as they saw those from Shepard's party shake their heads.</p>
      <p>"We'll see more of them at some point now." Roxas said in a grim tone.</p>
      <p>"Surprised we saw them after a number of days now." Garrus muttered out. "Must be a new record."</p>
      <p>"Don't tell me you fight those… constantly?" Mr. Arrow asked hesitantly.</p>
      <p>"Nearly daily." Xion admitted.</p>
      <p>The entire crew heard this statement with many looking at one another in slight anxiousness.</p>
      <p>'These guys fight monsters like these on the daily?' was the collective thought of the crew that was still relatively unfamiliar with the team that comes from the Normandy SR-1.</p>
      <p>However, before anyone could say or ask anything more…</p>
      <p>
        <em>*Clap, clap, clap*</em>
      </p>
      <p>Clapping soon filled the air, making everyone present confused as to where it was coming from. Soon enough, they looked towards the nearby flight of stairs towards the bridge.</p>
      <p>"You did quite good there."</p>
      <p>From the top of the steps stood none other than a smirking No. XI of the Organization, Marluxia.</p>
      <p>"Who are you!?" Amelia practically hissed at the intruder. "How'd you get onto my ship!?"</p>
      <p>"Stay back, Captain." Roxas said, instantly calling upon his Keyblade once more.</p>
      <p>Axel, Xion, Shepard, Tali and Garrus followed in his gesture with their weapons drawn as well.</p>
      <p>"Keep your weapons on this guy." Shepard shouted to the rest of the wary crew. "He's the one that summoned those bastards that attacked the ship."</p>
      <p>"Are you serious?" asked one of the crewmates.</p>
      <p>"Do as she says." Captain Amelia barked out, leveling her rifle at the pink haired Nobody.</p>
      <p>After her previous encounter with the Heartless, she wasn't going to take any chances; especially with this person who supposedly can control these monstrosities.</p>
      <p>Now the Graceful Assassin had practically every single weapon that the crew had all pointed directly at him.</p>
      <p>Rather than being tense or nervous, Marluxia's expression remained cocky and unperturbed by all these guns pointed at him.</p>
      <p>"It's over Marluxia!" Axel said fiercely, where fire began to emanate off him in small wisps.</p>
      <p>"Is it?" he asked in a condescending manner.</p>
      <p>"We do have you surrounded." Garrus pointed out.</p>
      <p>"So you have." Marluxia then scoffed. "Yet that's not going to stop me."</p>
      <p>"It's off to the brig with him." Said Mr. Arrow with a ferocious glare.</p>
      <p>"The brig's not gonna be good enough to hold him." Roxas stated.</p>
      <p>Marluxia held up his hand in a placating manner.</p>
      <p>"See, there is your problem." Marluxia said, tone leveled and controlled. "You are quick to rush into judgements about the purpose of me being here."</p>
      <p>"You just called forth a gigantic Heartless Pirate Ship." Garrus pointed out in a voice so dry, deserts would be jealous of it.</p>
      <p>"Yes I did, but I did come here with an ulterior motive outside the Organization." Marluxia freely admitted. "They are unaware of my presence being here at the moment. Though, there is a likely chance of that changing after this."</p>
      <p>"What are you talking about, Marluxia?" Xion questioned, getting a bit impatient now with how aloof and avoidant he was being on answering their questions.</p>
      <p>The Graceful Assassin was about to say something, yet it was halted when he sensed something. Quirking his head to the side, his cold blue eyes went elsewhere. After a couple of moments, he broke his gaze away, letting out a darkened chuckle.</p>
      <p>It was greatly unnerving for the crew to hear.</p>
      <p>"What's so funny?" Shepard asked, keeping her rifle pointed at the Nobody.</p>
      <p>"I believe you all have <em>other</em> concerns to attend to."</p>
      <p>"What does that mean?" Roxas demanded.</p>
      <p>No. XI soon voiced an inquiry to the young Keybearer. "Tell me, have you ever bothered to learn what my <em>element</em> is?"</p>
      <p>"What does that have to do with-"</p>
      <p>"Humor me."</p>
      <p>"I… don't know. I wasn't told what yours was other than something involving flowers."</p>
      <p>Each member of the Organization had their own respective element that balanced things out with the Nothingness and Darkness that each Nobody is composed of.</p>
      <p>Xigbar had Space, Vexen commanded Ice, Lexaeus was earth, Zexion wielded illusions and so on and so forth with each member having a specific affinity and specialty.</p>
      <p>Whereas each member is unique in their own right, Xemnas was outright the most powerful of them all. Reason being is that his "element" or "affinity" is another dosage of Nothingness, making him all the more stronger than the rest of the Organization.</p>
      <p>Yet for the "life" of him, Roxas was outright confused on what Marluxia's was all about.</p>
      <p>"Hmm… pity." Marluxia was about to ask Xion the same question, but he figured the puppet was more or less knowledgeable as Roxas. "What about you Axel, mind filling in the blanks?"</p>
      <p>Axel narrowed his eyes in suspicion but complied nonetheless. "I never got a clear idea on it, but it has to deal with the transient nature of Life and Death or whatever, for some damn reason. Also, a lot of flowers."</p>
      <p>"Flowers?" Tali questioned.</p>
      <p>"Don't look at me. It's a thing with him."</p>
      <p>"Correct. Now while I won't spoil <em>too</em> much of myself, I can give you a small sample. You see, I can sense when something is about to <em><strong>die</strong></em>. And right now, I sense something truly spectacular is about to die in mere moments." Marluxia's tone was outright sinister with hints of amusement.</p>
      <p>A moment later, a corridor of darkness enveloped and teleported No. XI away.</p>
      <p>It certainly left a feeling of complete and utter confusion befell the crew as they began murmuring between one another as to what had just happened.</p>
      <p>"What the hell was he talking about?" Shepard said, turning to their three specialists when it comes to this sort of thing. "What does he mean he felt something die?"</p>
      <p>"You think it's just a trick?" Tali asked nervously.</p>
      <p>"Knowing Marluxia, deceptive as he tends to be, I don't think he'd lie about his element." Axel stated, keeping one Chakram out just in case.</p>
      <p>Garrus could only groan. "Oh please tell me we won't get any more action anytime soon."</p>
      <p>In mere seconds and coming from out of nowhere-</p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>*KRACKABOOOOOOOOOOOM*</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>It was honestly the largest explosion any person on the Legacy has ever heard in their entire lives. Almost deafening upon mere sound alone.</p>
      <p>Right after, a shockwave was felt, causing everyone to almost lose their footing as the entire space vessel was knocked a good mile away from their recent position.</p>
      <p>Xion couldn't help herself when she turned to the Turian "You were saying?"</p>
      <p>More and more light appeared within the vicinity, causing everyone to grow intensely worried.</p>
      <p>"What the devil?" Silver asked.</p>
      <p>Doppler however looked out to the side and gasped in absolute horror.</p>
      <p>"No, no, no!" Doppler exclaimed in total dread. "Good heavens. The star Permusa, it's gone supernova!"</p>
      <p>Tali, Shepard and Garrus had their jaws on the floor, witnessing what most would consider an astronomical unlikeliness back in their galaxy. Utter horror and dread completely filled their entire beings as their blood ran cold and hearts skipped a beat or two.</p>
      <p>Amelia gaped though she composed herself a moment later, running towards the helm of the ship.</p>
      <p>"Evasive action, Mr. Turnbuckle!" She shouted.</p>
      <p>"Aye-aye, Captain!" the multi-tentacled alien began rapidly spinning the wheel in the direction away from the exploding star.</p>
      <p>"All hands, fasten your lifelines!" Mr. Arrow bellowed out.</p>
      <p>Everyone made their way to the central mast and retrieved some rope for themselves before tying themselves off.</p>
      <p>"I don't think rope's gonna cut it here!" Garrus yelled out, seeing no way such material could work.</p>
      <p>"You got any brighter ideas for alternatives?" Axel said, hastily tying himself up around his waist.</p>
      <p>"I-"</p>
      <p>"Garrus, shut up and tie yourself up!" Shepard shouted at the top of her lungs.</p>
      <p>"Keelah, it's a <em>Supernova!</em>" Tali exclaimed in a screech, her mind still trying to make sense as to what they were witnessing while fumbling through her rope and securing it around her waist.</p>
      <p>Right behind the ship, an oncoming tidal wave of cosmic waves was coming straight for the Legacy while the ship flew at top speeds.</p>
      <p>Small pieces of flaming debris, the leftovers of the star began cutting right through the solar sails of the Legacy.</p>
      <p>"Mr. Arrow, secure those sails!" Amelia commanded from the bridge.</p>
      <p>"Secure all sails!" Arrow yelled out. "Reef them down, men!"</p>
      <p>"Garrus!" Shepard shouted, pointing to the cannon with the Turian scrambling onto it.</p>
      <p>The trio of Nobodies, all the while, had their lifelines secure and their weapons out.</p>
      <p>They were jumping about, using everything they had in their power to swat away any meteorites that came in close or that Garrus didn't shoot down.</p>
      <p>Some were successful as they broke apart quite easily, some needed more work. More so with how fast they were propelled from where the Permusa star was once located.</p>
      <p>From the masts above, the other crew members quickly furled the sails and did their best to secure the lines as fast as possible.</p>
      <p>"<em>Keelahkeelahkeelah." </em>Tali rapidly whispered under her breath as she worked fast to secure the sails with Shepard.</p>
      <p>"Stay calm Tali." Shepard said aloud. "Much as I hate to say that!"</p>
      <p>Tali only shook her head, breath still erratic as she reeled the sails in.</p>
      <p>And from the bow of the ship, Jim and Silver did their best to fulfill their task. Whereas Jim was able to take care of his, Silver was about to finish when-</p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>*KRSSH*</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>A stray piece of debris struck near where Silver was in tightening his portion of the sail, the cyborg crying out in shock and fear as he flailed about and fell.</p>
      <p>"SILVER!" Jim cried out, heart stopping as he desperately jumped forward and grabbed hold of Silver's lifeline.</p>
      <p>With all his might, he pulled the old cook back aboard with the cyborg letting out a shaky laugh of relief whilst patting his shoulder. "Whoa. Thanks, lad."</p>
      <p>Jim smirked as he helped the cook back to the bow when he saw something out of the corner of his eye that made his face pale into a ghostly white hue.</p>
      <p>A far larger piece of debris was sailing directly towards the Legacy, clearly dwarfing them by a large margin as it would be impossible to break down by the ship's cannons alone.</p>
      <p>Garrus slumped in his seat with Tali barely managing out a sound.</p>
      <p>Roxas, Axel and Xion also had pale faces of abject horror but they shook it off.</p>
      <p>Everyone scrambled for safety where the Nobody trio were ready to jump in and do their best to protect the ship.</p>
      <p>That was… until…</p>
      <p>"...Why is it being pulled back?" Tali asked in a quiet voice that somehow was heard by everyone.</p>
      <p>The answer was soon given when they saw the unimaginable.</p>
      <p>"Oh, spirits…"</p>
      <p>"My God."</p>
      <p>To the crew of the Normandy, this was simply within the realm of impossibility.</p>
      <p>"Captain, the star!" Onus cried out from the crow's nest.</p>
      <p>From the bridge, Amelia narrowed her gaze at the sight before her, all the while Doppler widened his.</p>
      <p>It was not just from the bridge, but everyone else saw the two swirling cosmic clouds and materials were being swallowed up into a massively dense sense of gravity.</p>
      <p>"Oh, Keelah! It's… It's…" Tali lost her voice.</p>
      <p>Doppler gasped, finishing the Quarians statement. "It's devolving into a… BLACK HOLE!"</p>
      <p>Everyone could only stare, mouths agape as they were staring at what was quite literally the definition of an endless void with no end. The swirling accretion disk was beating with the clouds disappearing as the halo effect was shown to physically show how intense the gravity is; lensing light from the other side and pulling it up and around.</p>
      <p>Garrus soon began reciting a prayer of his people under his breath with Tali quickly doing the same.</p>
      <p>"We're getting pulled in!" Turnbuckle yelled out, straining with all his might to keep the helm steady but he was flung aside.</p>
      <p>Amelia, however, was quick to rush in and grasped the helm with her barely managing to keep it straight.</p>
      <p>"No, you don't you…!" The Captain grunted, feeling her muscles strain under the pressure.</p>
      <p>Suddenly, from the black hole itself, a large fiery red wave expunged out from the inside, rocking the ship even more so.</p>
      <p>"Blast these waves! They're so deucedly erratic!" Amelia said, barely keeping a hold of the helm.</p>
      <p>"No, Captain. They're not erratic at all." Doppler shouted over the commotion. Gazing at the console on the ship's bridge, he was quickly calculating from what he was able to read from the cosmic event. "There'll be one more in precisely 47.2 seconds, followed by the biggest magilla of them all!"</p>
      <p>Rather than fall apart at the news, Amelia gained a look of fierce determination with a wild smirk appearing. "Of course! Brilliant, Doctor!"</p>
      <p>Tali, who was nearby, overhead this.</p>
      <p>"Captain say what now?!"</p>
      <p>"We'll ride that last magilla out of here!" Amelia exclaimed.</p>
      <p>Roxas, having ran up to check on Tali heard that last comment in time, stopping momentarily cold in his tracks.</p>
      <p>"...I don't know who's crazier now, her or Shepard with the ship and mako, respectively." Roxas said in the blandest of tones.</p>
      <p>"They're probably more or less the same." Tali said, voice losing any semblance of fear or joy. Just dreaded acceptance.</p>
      <p>"All sails secured, Captain!" Mr. Arrow reported from the deck.</p>
      <p>Amelia smiled as she gazed back at her first officer. "Good man! Now release them immediately!"</p>
      <p>The rock man only gazed at her in bewilderment for a moment, not exactly sure if he heard her correctly.</p>
      <p>"...Aye, Captain." The first officer whirled around and barked out the order. "You heard her, men! Unfurl those sails!"</p>
      <p>It was at this moment did the crew from the masts above just got down to the deck below, only to respond accordingly.</p>
      <p>"What?"</p>
      <p>"But we just finished tying them down!"</p>
      <p>"Make up your blooming minds!"</p>
      <p>The crew once more began scaling up to the sails, Mr. Arrow joining them this time.</p>
      <p>From the helm, Amelia called out to the resident Solar Surfer, who was just about to go to the masts above to help with the present task..</p>
      <p>"Mr. Hawkins, make sure all lifelines are secured good and tight!"</p>
      <p>"Aye-aye, captain!" Jim said, rushing to the lifeline mast.</p>
      <p>The crew reached their respective positions atop the masts, beginning to unfurl the sails one at a time as rapidly as they could.</p>
      <p>Down below, Jim tugged on every single lifeline.</p>
      <p>"Lifelines secured, Captain!"</p>
      <p>Amelia gave a firm nod as she gripped the wheel even tighter. "Very good!"</p>
      <p>It was at this moment did the ship get knocked back as they were hit by the recent magilla blast.</p>
      <p>After the recent one, everyone had to regain their bearings and get back onto their feet.</p>
      <p>"Captain, the last wave!" Doppler howled at the top of his lungs. "HERE IT COMES!"</p>
      <p>"Hold onto your lifelines, gents! It's gonna be a bumpy ride!"</p>
      <p>As the ship fell into the endless abyss, every crewmate clung onto their lifelines and a part of the ship as their visions darkened into eternal black.</p>
      <p>Shepard, Tali, Garrus, Roxas, Axel and Xion were all huddled near one another with Silver and Jim right by them with the group just clinging on for dear life.</p>
      <p>Xion held onto Axel and Roxas, Tali doing the same with the latter whilst Shepard managed to have herself wedged in between Axel and Garrus.</p>
      <p>Jim looked over to Roxas the two sharing fearful looks with one another before they both closed them and waited for the inevitable.</p>
      <p>The Legacy fell in, swallowed up by the black hole.</p>
      <p>…</p>
      <p>…</p>
      <p>…</p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>*BMMMMMM*</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>Then, from the depths of the collapsed star, the final magilla was unleashed with the ship at the center of it all.</p>
      <p>The solar sails absorbed all of the cosmic radiation that came from the explosion, the ship propelling itself at speeds unreachable less than a few moments ago.</p>
      <p>Everyone who wasn't clinging onto something hard or sturdy was thrown all over the place, almost smacking against the ship's railings or about to be thrown off the ship if it weren't for their lifelines.</p>
      <p>When the accelerating moment came to an end, everything seemed to slow down for the Legacy crew as they were now far away from where the Black Hole was once at.</p>
      <p>Not long after, the crew was cheering and yelling at the top of their lungs from surviving the cosmic event.</p>
      <p>"Holy spirits…" Garrus rasped out, eyes bulging as he was holding his chest. He can almost feel his heart beating out of his armor at this point.</p>
      <p>Suddenly, he felt something rise from his stomach.</p>
      <p>"Urp." The Turian then ducked his head over the side and felt his entire lunch drain out of his stomach.</p>
      <p>Tali was trembling, having fallen back into Roxas' arms who was equally as rattled as he was.</p>
      <p>"Keelah." Tali was clutching Roxas with both her hands, still shaking erratically. "Keelah, we… we…"</p>
      <p>"We're alive." Axel said, slumping against the railing looking down to Shepard was sitting on her ass. "You alright there Commander?"</p>
      <p>Jane held a dazed look in her eyes, head shifting about as she tried to find her voice.</p>
      <p>"We… can honestly… say…" The Spectre couldn't quite believe what she was about to say. "We had outlived a blackhole and lived to tell the tale."</p>
      <p>"Don't care if we didn't get any video or image footage of that." Tali whispered, barely being heard.</p>
      <p>"The others might call bullshit on us." Axel stressed out, plopping downright next to the Commander.</p>
      <p>"Granted, but with the situations we've been through so far, they'll be more or less jealous." Roxas tried to lighten the mood.</p>
      <p>"Will they?" Garrus bemoaned, arms draped over the railing he still felt a bit queasy. "I wouldn't even want Wrex to give this a whirl."</p>
      <p>"Do you think they'll even believe us?" Xion asked, voice muffled as she was basically lying flat on her front with her face planted firmly on the wooden deck of the ship.</p>
      <p>"I don't give a fuck." Shepard declared. "I will challenge anyone otherwise to top what we just went through."</p>
      <p>Axel couldn't help it as he began laughing uproariously.</p>
      <p>"That'll be a sight to see." Axel said, wiping a tear out of his eye.</p>
      <p>"Wonder what new elements were formed from that explosion." Tali muttered aloud.</p>
      <p>The only thing that came to be back in their galaxy as some result from a supernova has been the extremely rich Eezo deposits. Asides from that and anything else from their galactic periodic table, there was nothing else that seemed different.</p>
      <p>In this new galaxy, on the other hand…</p>
      <p>"You wanna go back there and find out?" Roxas couldn't help but ask in an incredulous manner.</p>
      <p>"...No."</p>
      <p>"Good. Then you can just lay there on top of Roxas for a while longer." Axel cheekily said.</p>
      <p>"Until I can stand again." Tali said, completely unbothered by the comment, slumping her head back. "Because in all intents and purposes, I think my legs are completely numb for the time being."</p>
      <p>"I don't blame ya, lass." Silver said, pulling out a handkerchief and wiping the sweat off his brow.</p>
      <p>Jim said nothing as he was lying on his back and trying to control his rapidly beating heart.</p>
      <p>"You alright, Morph?" Xion said, laying on her stomach with her hair a complete mess and expression practically vacant.</p>
      <p>The pinkish blob was more or less a puddle with swirls for eyes.</p>
      <p>From the bridge, Doppler was standing back up and cracking his back, due to how he landed moments ago. Even prying the loose rope off of him.</p>
      <p>Upon seeing Amelia walking past him, the doctor couldn't help but unleash his ragged chuckles.</p>
      <p>"Captain! That… Oh, my goodness. That was… That was absolutely…! That was the most…!"</p>
      <p>"Oh, tish-tosh." Amelia cut him off, soon retrieving a telescopic device to more or less help chart their new path with what just occurred this night. "Actually, Doctor, your astronomical advice was most helpful today."</p>
      <p>"Well, uh, uh, thank you." Doppler was certainly caught off guard by such praise. "Thank you very much. Well, I have a lot of help to offer anatomically… amanamonically… astronomically…"</p>
      <p>This resulted in Doppler slapping his face in utter embarrassment.</p>
      <p>Reaching the bottom of the steps of the deck, Amelia regarded Silver, Jim and the rest of the Normandy crew. "Well, I must congratulate you, Mr. Silver. It seems your cabin boy did a bang-up job with those lifelines."</p>
      <p>Silver smiled at the young lad, the two nudging each other back and forth which ended with the old Cyborg rubbing his hand in Jim's face to make the boy laugh.</p>
      <p>"And Commander Shepard?"</p>
      <p>"Huh?"</p>
      <p>Amelia chortled at the response. "I can't thank you and your crew enough after what happened tonight."</p>
      <p>Shepard only smiled weakly, saluting her lightly. "No problem, Captain."</p>
      <p>"Though do be sure I'll be asking a number of things later."</p>
      <p>The commander nodded, knowing full well on what Amelia was implying with Marluxia's presence prior to the star Permusa imploding.</p>
      <p>"All hands accounted for, Mr. Arrow?" Amelia asked aloud, turning to the crew.</p>
      <p>No response.</p>
      <p>"...Mr. Arrow?"</p>
      <p>Again, nothing.</p>
      <p>A moment later, the crew turned back and saw Mr. Scroop approaching with a forlorn expression. In his clawed hands, he held a familiar black hat.</p>
      <p>"I'm afraid Mr. Arrow has been lost." The arachnid based alien said with a sorrowful look, handing the hat over into the hands of a disbelieving Captain. "His lifeline was not secured."</p>
      <p>Many who knew Jim gaped and turned to him who's eyes widened in shock.</p>
      <p>"No! I checked them all!" Jim said quickly, rushing to the lifelines post.</p>
      <p>Upon getting there, he was met with the horrifying sight of a missing lifeline.</p>
      <p>"I… I did. I checked them all. They were secure. I swear…" Jim's voice cracked.</p>
      <p>Garrus broke away from looking at Jim. He could see the genuine look on the cabin boy's face as he indeed took care of the assigned task earlier.</p>
      <p>Being a detective, he had learned to read people's emotions and intentions based on facial expressions. Humans have always been one of the most emotive species he has ever come across.</p>
      <p>And Jim was conveying nothing but sincerity.</p>
      <p>Shaking his head a little, he paused before looking a bit further to the side. There he saw something that seemed… <em>off</em>.</p>
      <p>Mr. Scroop smirking.</p>
      <p>Moments ago, the arachnid sailor was sorrowful. Yet now… now it was the complete opposite.</p>
      <p>This caused the Turian to narrow his eyes as his mind slowly went to work.</p>
      <p>The Captain, however, was unaware of this with her hands tightly holding her dearest friend's tricorne hat.</p>
      <p>"Mr.… Mr. Arrow was…" Amelia cleared her throat as she tried to compose herself. "...a fine spacer, finer than most of us could ever hope to be." Her voice started to crack a little, only noticeable by some. "But he knew the risks, as do we all. Resume your posts. We carry on."</p>
      <p>The Captain turned away, slowly climbing the steps up to her stateroom with the crew now silent as they slowly returned to their posts.</p>
      <p>Returning to her cabin, Amelia was fighting long and hard to keep the tears at bay, but the feeling was too strong to hold back. All she could do was grit her teeth and close her eyes, letting muscle memory carry her back to her quarters.</p>
      <p>As this went on, Doppler saw what was going on and went to check after her.</p>
      <p>Everyone else simply dispersed.</p>
      <p>Time has passed with the excitement from earlier dying down. Almost everyone was resting at this point with a number of people were still awake. Either due to performing their watchmen duties or still disturbed on the fact that Mr. Arrow is no longer amongst them now.</p>
      <p>Down in the decks below, one lone Turian was inspecting a piece of rope he had found as the bow of the ship. He held up the edge and narrowed his eyes at the end.</p>
      <p>The clearly cut end.</p>
      <p>The snap of a rope was clearly different from a cut. He had to learn of this on some of his training back during basics. More so during some of his trips with his father and sister afterwards.</p>
      <p>It would normally have been stretched or pulled apart for the most part. The rope strands would be uneven all over. But this was a cleanly cut rope.</p>
      <p>And from the looks of it, depending on what was around, there was a limited number of options on this ship.</p>
      <p>Like say a sword…</p>
      <p>Or a very sharp pair of pincers belonging to one Mr. Scroop.</p>
      <p>Much as he wanted to confront the arachnid sailor and put a bullet in his head, Garrus needed to be professional about this and report his findings to not only Shepard but Amelia as well.</p>
      <p>Now, however, he had to leave the area and watch his back more until they can properly apprehend Mr. Scroop for Mr. Arrow's murder.</p>
      <p>He wanted to bring this to Captain Amelia but right now, she needed a moment to herself.</p>
      <p>Last he saw, Dr. Doppler was still with her, the astrophysicist having made her some tea to soothe her and basically not leaving her side.</p>
      <p>Hopefully, this trip won't have anything bad in store for them.</p>
      <p>Yet knowing their luck so far, <em>something</em> is bound to happen.</p>
      <p>Up on the deck, one lone cabin boy sat upon the ropes of the ship, mood as down as it can be after today.</p>
      <p>Earlier, Roxas and Xion had tried in vain to speak with him and even Commander and Shepard had their go though he remained silent and just asked to be left alone.</p>
      <p>So here was.</p>
      <p>Alone.</p>
      <p>'Probably better this way.' Jim thought to himself.</p>
      <p>Though his solitude was not to last.</p>
      <p>The telltale sounds of mechanic limbs came up from below followed by the exhale of a tired sigh.</p>
      <p>At the bottom corner of his eyes, he saw Silver leaning on the edge of the ship with pipe in hand.</p>
      <p>Taking a deep breath with the smoke filling his lungs, the cyborg exhaled. The smoke coming out from both his mouth and nostrils with the feeling giving him a comfortable warmth on this cold night.</p>
      <p>"It weren't your fault, you know." Silver said in a casual manner.</p>
      <p>Jim's expression hardened as he gripped the rope he had in his hands, wrapping it around his hand.</p>
      <p>"Why half the crew would be spinning in that black abyss if not for-"</p>
      <p>Jim threw the rope he had in his hands out towards the cosmos and dropped down to Silver's level.</p>
      <p>"Look, don't you get it?" Jim cut the cyborg cook off. "I SCREWED UP! For two seconds, I thought that maybe I could do something right, but-AAGH! I just… Forget it… Forget it…"</p>
      <p>The young lad leaned against a nearby mast, shoulders slumped and mood simply in the gutter.</p>
      <p>"Roxas… Xion… they were more useful than a mess up like me." Jim said quietly, blinking tears out of his eyes. "Why'd a useless felon like me even go on this journey?"</p>
      <p>Eyes hardened for the briefest of moments before they softened. Reaching forward, Silver spun the young cabin boy around with a firm voice that was mixed with hope and a few other things that Jim had a hard time picking up on.</p>
      <p>"Now, you listen to me, James Hawkins." Silver said, pointing his pipe at him. "You got the makings of greatness in ya, but you gotta take the <em>helm</em> and chart your own <em>course</em>. Stick to it, no matter the squalls. And when the time comes you get the chance to really test the cut of your sails and show what you're made of. Well… I hope I'm there catching some of the <em>light</em> coming off ya that day."</p>
      <p>Silver held his arms out while his head was up with his eyes closed as if picturing that moment clear as day.</p>
      <p>Jim, listening to all this could only feel tears stream down his face as he leaned his head against Silver's chest as he wept quietly.</p>
      <p>In all honesty, this felt rather awkward on what position he was presently in right now. All that he could do was pat the poor lad a couple of times.</p>
      <p>"There, there, lad. It's alright, Jimbo. It's all right."</p>
      <p>Soon enough it transitioned into a light hug.</p>
      <p>After a manner of moments, Silver broke away and did his best to compose himself.</p>
      <p>"Now, Jim, I… I best be getting about my watch, and you best be getting some shut-eye."</p>
      <p>Silver ushered the young teen towards the barracks below whilst he stayed behind with only Morph to keep him company. Just before going down, Jim momentarily glanced back at the old cyborg and gave him an appreciative smile which Silver returned, gesturing him to go down already.</p>
      <p>Seemingly alone on the deck now, Silver felt Morph hover by his organic ear. Out of reflex, the old cook gently caressed his little blob-like companion, who cooed from his touch.</p>
      <p>"Getting in too deep here, Morphy." Silver said un-surely. "Next thing ya know, they'll be saying I've gone soft."</p>
      <p>Saying his little peace, he walked off in order to properly begin his watchman duties that night.</p>
      <p>Unbeknownst to the cyborg cook, he was being watched by Mr. Scroop from the masts overhead.</p>
      <p>The arachnid alien sneered in disgust at what he had just seen, unbelieving that Silver was the captain he had chosen to follow</p>
      <p>After all these years, that rough, unflinching edge that had garnered him such a crew is being completely undone by this cabin boy.</p>
      <p>Scurrying off, he didn't notice two things.</p>
      <p>One, the dark aura emanating off his form.</p>
      <p>The second being Marluxia gazing down from the crow's nest above. He had watched this entire scene play out and hummed to himself in thought.</p>
      <p>"Hmm… How to proceed with him now."</p>
      <p>At first, he had thought about targeting the ringleader of the crew that apparently had more ulterior motives than simply finding whatever it was this ship was journeying to find. But then, he detected traces of… <em>light</em> within the cyborg's heart. While there was a hardened darkness in the cook of the ship, there were traces of light that were beginning to appear and only grew the more he focused on him.</p>
      <p>After witnessing the display earlier, all done by this Mr. Scroop fellow… some ideas are shifted. It was clear to the Graceful Assassin that this Silver would not do in his plans.</p>
      <p>But the crab-spider alien.</p>
      <p>A sinister smirk appeared upon the Nobody's face.</p>
      <p>"Yes, he'll do."</p>
      <p>A moment later, No. XI of the Organization vanished in a Corridor of Darkness.</p>
      <p>
        <em>-Scene Cut-</em>
      </p>
      <p>Sora furiously slashed through a Fat Body Heartless before rolling over to take out another bunch of Heartless in rapid succession.</p>
      <p>Jumping up, the Keybearer sliced through an Air Soldier and fell down to take out a Shadow.</p>
      <p>He whirled around, ready to take out another oncoming bunch when thunder reigned down in front of him.</p>
      <p>"Alright, that's <em>enough!</em>" Quacked an aggravated voice.</p>
      <p>Turned around he saw his friend Donald stomping over to him and whacking his knee.</p>
      <p>"Ow!" Sora whined out in pain, hopping on one leg while clutching his other. "Donald?! What was that for?!"</p>
      <p>"For running off like that again!" Donald yelled, hopping up and down in annoyance.</p>
      <p>"I haven't been running off." Sora retorted with his cheeks puffed.</p>
      <p>"Oh really?" said a familiar disbelieving voice.</p>
      <p>Sora looked over to see Riku with his arms crossed with a very much unamused expression.</p>
      <p>Beside him was a very much concerned Namine and Goofy.</p>
      <p>Rather than wearing his old garments, Riku has changed into a new outfit since their group arrived at Yen Sid's tower.</p>
      <p>They all have for the most part.</p>
      <p>Donald and Goofy were back in their old getup that they had when they first met Sora and Namine retained her white aesthetic with her dress reaching down midway to her thighs and a pair of light blue shoes that reached past her ankles. She wore a yellow vest over her dress with the sleeves being able to cover her arms entirely to retract entirely. Right now, they were pulled back entirely.</p>
      <p>A small white bracelet on her right wrist completed her slightly changed up look.</p>
      <p>Riku however, had a complete overhaul.</p>
      <p>Riku wore a white vest with a large black collar, a yellow back, and a black stripe along the bottom as well as around each arm hole. It is closed with a zipper that is closed just a bit below his collarbone and slightly above his belt. He also wears loose fitting jeans and a black belt with a large silver buckle and a pair of white sneakers.</p>
      <p>Sora had also gone through a slight wardrobe update now wearing a black V-neck t-shirt with an incomplete white X across the stomach, the center being left blank. Red shorts that are black below the knee with both built-in pockets and external pockets, and a blue belt. The only thing he retained from his old outfit was his white gloves with the single strap, his shoes and his crown necklace.</p>
      <p>"Cause the Sora <em>I </em>know almost <em>never </em>gets angry." Riku said, walking right up to his best friend and jabbing him in the forehead. "Spill it knucklehead, what's been egging you?"</p>
      <p>Sora only swatted his friends hand away halfheartedly with a very much force smile.</p>
      <p>"Come on, Riku, there's nothing to worry about." Sora said, though it was clear to see that his friends didn't really believe him all that much.</p>
      <p>"Gawrsh, Sora, has something been botherin' ya lately?" Goofy inquired.</p>
      <p>Sora was about to brush it aside when he felt a firm hand upon his shoulder, looking up to see Riku's eyes boring into his own.</p>
      <p>"Sora," Riku's voice held one that wasn't one to be disputed. "What's wrong?"</p>
      <p>The Keybearer opened his mouth only to shut it. The others stared at the duo for a few seconds, unsure as what to say now until the spiky brown haired teen hung his head.</p>
      <p>"Sorry guys. I just… don't know what's happening to me."</p>
      <p>"No kidding. It seems so unlike you acting that way." Donald stated.</p>
      <p>"Donald." Namine said, gently nudging him.</p>
      <p>"No, no, Donald's right." Sora admitted. "Just… have had a light on my mind lately."</p>
      <p>"What's bothering you Sora?" Namine asked softly.</p>
      <p>"He's probably hitting puberty already." Goofy suggested. "Maxie was like that when he was Sora's age."</p>
      <p>"Wha-What?!" Sora blinked. "N-no, no, Goofy, it's not that <em>at all!</em>"</p>
      <p>Riku chuckled aloud. "Yeah, pretty sure it's not that but good guess."</p>
      <p>The rather tense mood evaporated as the group shared a small laugh with one another.</p>
      <p>It was a much needed one in hindsight.</p>
      <p>Since they had met Yen Sid, they had learned a great deal of news that wasn't exactly something that would uplift their spirits.</p>
      <p>Much as they had restored the Worlds lost to the Heartless, they were not at peace nor in balance.</p>
      <p>They had learned about a new, more powerful and dangerous threat that had the Heartless under their control along with an advent of newer foes they would undoubtedly encounter on their new journey.</p>
      <p>Organization XIII and the Nobodies.</p>
      <p>Empty husks and shells that retained a lingering will of the one who had lost their heart. Beings that were not meant to exist yet still are.</p>
      <p>It didn't take a genius for them to figure out just how dangerous one of those members were.</p>
      <p>Before Mickey had departed on his own separate journey, he along with Riku told them about their own personal encounters with three of their members, each one just as dangerous as the last.</p>
      <p>And there were eleven of these powerful individuals.</p>
      <p>Eleven because thankfully, they had met the trio of Roxas, Axel and Xion who had defected from the group with Roxas in particular being the one who brought this news to them all.</p>
      <p>So they have three more allies to help them out when they would undoubtedly clash with the Organization once more.</p>
      <p>But on the thought of the trio of Nobodies that defected…</p>
      <p>"Look," Sora began, rubbing the back of his head. "I can't… exactly explain what I'm going through cause I don't understand it at all to be perfectly honest with you."</p>
      <p>"Like what?"</p>
      <p>"That's just it." Sora said exasperatedly. "Every time I think about it, it just gives me a headache. I don't think you guys would understand.</p>
      <p>"Try us." Riku said, crossing his arms.</p>
      <p>"...I've been having these weird dreams lately." Sora recalled. "I thought they were nothing, but… they feel different."</p>
      <p>"Like how?" Namine inquired.</p>
      <p>"Like I'm there." Sora emphasized. "It's not a dream but a vision of some kind. Or something, I dunno, something else."</p>
      <p>"Like you're there?" Donald said in bewilderment.</p>
      <p>"Yeah and… it's to places I've never been to before."</p>
      <p>"What are they like?" Goofy asked.</p>
      <p>"Super spacey and alieny." Sora said making the boys slump over.</p>
      <p>"What's that supposed to mean?" Riku inquired, flicking his friend's forehead.</p>
      <p>Sora took it in stride, rubbing his head whilst deep in thought.</p>
      <p>"I dunno, that's what I've been seeing." Sora said with a frown. "And what I also think they weren't exactly dreams is because I've been seeing Xion and Axel in them as well."</p>
      <p>"Xion and Axel?" Namine said in surprise.</p>
      <p>Goofy hummed aloud. "Wasn't there a third person with them?"</p>
      <p>"Yeah, Roxas." Sora said straight away.</p>
      <p>"What of Roxas?" Namine asked. "Have you seen him?"</p>
      <p>"...That's the strange thing, I've hardly seen him at all, yet I occasionally heard his name."</p>
      <p>The group was silent for the most part, thinking of what Sora just told them.</p>
      <p>"I think we should take this to Master Yen Sid." Goofy said after a few moments. "If there's anyone who may have an idea what you're going through Sora, it's him."</p>
      <p>Sora blinked before smiling a moment later and nodding in agreement.</p>
      <p>"Right. He should know."</p>
      <p>"Well let's head back then." Riku announced. "We've already taken care of the Heartless here and frankly, I've worked up an appetite."</p>
      <p>A small rumble was heard, everyone looking to Namine who was blushing up a storm in embarrassment.</p>
      <p>The platinum blond haired girl only looked down as the others couldn't help but laugh at her expense.</p>
      <p>"A-hyuck, looks like you're not the only one, Riku." Goofy said good naturedly.</p>
      <p>"Let's go." Donald declared, the rest simply nodding along and beginning their walk back to the Gummi ship.</p>
      <p>Sora, however, lagged behind slightly and stopped for a brief moment.</p>
      <p>He looked down at the ground and then closed his eyes a moment later.</p>
      <p>"Roxas… I don't know what's going on but… I get the feeling you might be going through the same thing." Sora said quietly. "I don't know what I'll accomplish by doing this but… if you do hear these words, then please come meet with us and maybe you can help us figure out what's going on.</p>
      <p>"Sora."</p>
      <p>The brown haired teen looked up to see Riku standing there waiting for him with the others slightly ahead of him.</p>
      <p>"Come on, think about this stuff later when we're back at the tower." Riku said, thumbing behind him.</p>
      <p>Sora only nodded, quickly jogging to catch up to him before resuming their walk together back to the Gummi ship.</p>
      <p>All he can do now is hold off on his own until things can be figured out on this whole mess.</p>
      <p>Cause, in his honest opinion, it's been ruining most of his nap times.</p>
      <p>
        <strong>AN</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Alright folks settled another one and things are picking up on multiple ends.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Roxas, Axel and Xion continue their journey across the Etherium, Marluxia is making his movies and Sora, Riku and Co have met with Master Yen Sid to begin the next part in their journey.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>In essence, a lot of shit to cover.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Jebest4781: On other news, given there is honestly not much else for the time being… Mandalorian Season 2 has finally come and it's start has been glorious!</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>FMW: They brought back the fucking KRAYT DRAGON! MY GOD IT WAS AMAZING!</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Jeb: Holy hell it was epic on what they did with it on the first episode of the new season. And sure most people are rolling their eyes on the whole "giant sand worm" concept in recent years, more so with the Dune film coming out next year and a big thing is their own "giant sand worm". But to us, the Krayt Dragon was a bit more epic from what was done in Star Wars Legends.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>FMW: So in that time, we process the episodes while waiting for the next one. Not gonna lie, there's a part of me that kinda enjoys the whole weekly release thing then the usual binge. It's like the old where I have this specific time during the week where I could say Nobody bother me, I have something I need to watch undisturbed. Bug me at your own risk.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Jeb: Ah~ the good old days when Saturday morning cartoons or late weekday nights all over again on new episodes.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>FMW: So yeah, Mandalorian is back, we're still on a roll and a lot of madness is brewing in the story.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Stay tuned for more.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Rate Read and Review and as Always Have Nice Day.</strong>
      </p>
    </div>
  </div>
</div>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0018"><h2>18. Treasure Planet</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p></p><div class="xcontrast">
  <p></p>
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    <p></p>
    <div>
      <p>
        <strong>The concluding the chapter to the Treasure Planet arc.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Nuff said.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Rate Read and Review and as Always Have Nice Day.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>I'm Nobody Chapter 18: Treasure Planet.</p>
      <p>
        <em>-Montressor spaceport-</em>
      </p>
      <p>The crescent shaped space port was busy as per its usual multitude of scheduled arrivals and departures of ships that went in and out around the station.</p>
      <p>Out of the hundreds, if not thousands of ships here, one had remained stationary since its arrival a few days ago now nearing weeks really.</p>
      <p>The ship from another galaxy, the Normandy SR-1.</p>
      <p>It had been stationed at the port it had docked at since its arrival to the station.</p>
      <p>Presently, one of the Queen's representatives was on board the Normandy as he helped oversee some of the first contact protocols. Not only to help exchange bits of information between the two galaxies, but to be informed on what else the Normandy needed for the duration of their stay at this station. All due to the previous arrangement Commander Shepard had agreed upon to take part on a voyage Captain Amelia was presently on.</p>
      <p>Today it was the wolf-man, Captain Gandry.</p>
      <p>"How goes your… integration, if I remember it correctly, Lieutenant Alenko."</p>
      <p>"Well nothing's blown up yet, so that's a positive." Kaidan said straight away, looking through his Omni-Tool. "Engines should be primed and ready to go, life support at a hundred percent, hull integrity stable."</p>
      <p>"How soon do you figure you should be ready to sail once more?" Gandry asked, taking a moment to look over the astonishing ship that genuinely felt alien to him in comparison to the ships he had seen.</p>
      <p>In all honesty, this was more sophisticated than any vessel he had the pleasure of serving on. More advanced, even.</p>
      <p>"Hopefully sooner than later." Kaidan said. "This whole new technology that we're working with is still taking time getting used to."</p>
      <p>Before they could speak with each other further, the duo heard two voices up ahead close to the pilots deck of the ship.</p>
      <p>"No, no Stitch, remember what happened last time." Came the voice of the Normandy's pilot, Joker.</p>
      <p>"Gebbabababa." That was the gibberish of the Normandy's… pet? Muscle? Weird mascot?</p>
      <p>Stitch.</p>
      <p>"That is bullcrap and you know it." Joker refuted. "And for the last time, no more cake. How many comas do I gotta find you in."</p>
      <p>"Cake good!"</p>
      <p>"In small doses!"</p>
      <p>The unusual pairing continued chattering with one another whilst Captain Gandry listened on.</p>
      <p>"I see those two are getting along as per usual." Gandry noted.</p>
      <p>"Yeah, yeah, they're keeping themselves entertained." Kaidan remarked, putting away his Omni-Tool and gesturing to the Captain to follow him.</p>
      <p>The duo walked through the ship, Kaidan nodding or making brief small talk with the crew aboard the ship as they went about their duties.</p>
      <p>"It is heartening to see such a crew in high spirits considering the… jarring ordeal you all must have gone through." Gandry complimented.</p>
      <p>"They're focused." Kaidan said. "Which keeps their minds off of dread and despair at the thought of possibly not returning home."</p>
      <p>"Do you truly believe in that notion?"</p>
      <p>"No, I know we'll get back." Kaidan answered with no doubt in his voice. "Considering the constant weird shit that goes on with us on the daily, we're either getting back home intentionally or accidentally. Or both. An intentional accident."</p>
      <p>"That seems astronomically unlikely." Gandry said in good jest.</p>
      <p>"We're used to those odds." Kaidan shrugged, smirking in amusement. "I'd be more surprised if something normal were to happen or something went according to plan. Then I'd know something possibly might have gone wrong."</p>
      <p>Gandry chuckled aloud at the Lieutenants comments, the two entering into the meeting room of the Normandy.</p>
      <p>Upon entering, Gandry was met with the surprising sight of a familiar man in a black coat and flaming red hair.</p>
      <p>"Axel, you're back." Kaidan said, approaching the man who perked his head up upon seeing Alenko.</p>
      <p>"Hey Kai." Axel greeted, getting up out of his chair and straining himself to crack his back. "How are ya?"</p>
      <p>"Busy but we're getting there." Kaidan stated, the two exchanging a small handshake. "Normandy should be good to go within the next-" The Lieutenant brought out his Omni-Tool. "-Three or four days."</p>
      <p>"Good, Sheppy will be glad to hear it."</p>
      <p>"Sheppy?" Kaidan snorted. "Did you come up with that one?"</p>
      <p>"Just did right now. How's it sound?" Axel asked with a small grin.</p>
      <p>"Meh, not sure it'll catch on but depending on whether or not it annoys the Commander…" Kaidan left the unfinished statement hanging.</p>
      <p>"We'll just have to see." Axel said, looking to the wolf-man beside Kaidan. "You're Gandry, right?"</p>
      <p>The Captain blinked in slight surprise. "Pleasure to know you remember me. Though I have the unfortunate situation of not being familiar with you even though we've already met."</p>
      <p>"Axel, get it memorized." the Red head said, tapping his temple.</p>
      <p>"I shall be sure to do-" Gandry then paused, frowning in thought. "Pardon for me being rude but, I do recall, were you not one of the individuals that were selected by your Commander to accompany her and Captain Amelia aboard the Legacy?"</p>
      <p>"Oh yeah, I know that."</p>
      <p>"Then… How is it you are here?" Gandry asked. "Did you choose not to accompany your crew?"</p>
      <p>"No, no, I was there." Axel said. "I'm just dropping in to give Kaidan a quick heads up on where we are and he's supposed to tell me, so I can tell Shepard everything's A-Okay here."</p>
      <p>"How is this-"</p>
      <p>"You'll see in a sec." Kaidan said to Gandry before looking back to Axel. "How are things on the Legacy?"</p>
      <p>Axel sighed, going over and slumping back down into his seat.</p>
      <p>"The Heartless have been a severe pain in the ass since Permusa went supernova." Axel said.</p>
      <p>Kaidan was still trying to wrap his mind around the fact that the Legacy had bore witness to the collapse, explosion and formation of a black hole. But then again… they were in another galaxy.</p>
      <p>"How bad?"</p>
      <p>"Every day of every other hour." Axel said. "We've been running into them more and more along the way. In all honesty, my instincts keep telling me that we may be getting close to our destination."</p>
      <p>"That bad huh?"</p>
      <p>"Could be worse." Axel shrugged. "Could be fighting literal armada of Heartless, oh wait, that's exactly what we've been doing."</p>
      <p>"Well, we quite literally survived a nuclear explosion." Kaidan stated. "I'm quite confident you guys will survive this trip. And the Heartless along the way."</p>
      <p>"Here's to hoping." Axel said. "How are things here? Normandy still in one piece?"</p>
      <p>"You're sitting in it."</p>
      <p>"Yeah, but for all I know, this could be the only part of the ship that's intact." Axel rebuked. "The rest of the ship could be in tatters and these walls around us are just propped up to make it look like the Normandy's meeting room."</p>
      <p>Kaidan chortled aloud. "You have little confidence in us, huh?"</p>
      <p>"Your words, not mine."</p>
      <p>The LT let out a 'hmph' of amusement.</p>
      <p>"Anything else you wanna tell me so I can report to Shepard?"</p>
      <p>"Other than a few Heartless Stitch and I have taken care of on the occasion, nothing else that you already don't know."</p>
      <p>"Right."</p>
      <p>Captain Gandry, who had been relatively silent for the most part, finally spoke up.</p>
      <p>"So, I must ask, how is it that Axel here is back from the Legacy?" Gandry questioned the Alliance lieutenant.</p>
      <p>"Our Omni-tools can message each other, even receive calls. But without Mass Relays to help bounce off the signals, it's really hard for us to communicate over long distances. So Axel volunteered to keep both parties up to speed."</p>
      <p>Gandry nodded. "But I still am unclear as to how he got here."</p>
      <p>"Right, well, since Kai has given me what I need to know and Vice-versa I could head back." Axel said with a two finger salute before stunning Gandry as a dark ovular dome shrouded over the man in black before vanishing with Axel going with it.</p>
      <p>"What was that?" Gandry asked in complete astonishment.</p>
      <p>"A Dark Corridor." Kaidan explained. "He, Xion and Roxas are the only ones that can operate them and travel anywhere there is out there. As long as they have a clear destination, they can make it there in one piece… without winding up at some random place in the universe."</p>
      <p>"Astonishing…" Gandry muttered in awe. "Can the rest of your people do that?"</p>
      <p>"Like I said, only those three can operate them. The rest of us can't, due to how dangerous the Dark Corridors are." Kaidan informed the captain. "I mean, they did say their coats can help protect them from venturing inside and if there were more on hand, then the rest of us could probably travel through with no harm towards us."</p>
      <p>As the Wolf-man Captain processed this piece of information, a series of rather specific thoughts began to form and connect within his mind.</p>
      <p>"Pardon me for asking, Lieutenant, but what you're telling me is that these three individuals you mentioned have the capacity of teleporting virtually <em>anywhere</em> they want should they know where to go?" Gandry asked.</p>
      <p>"Yes, that's right." Kaidan nodded.</p>
      <p>"And I recall you have told me that you have had no means of contacting your own home galaxy and letting your friend and superiors know of you being alive and well here."</p>
      <p>Kaidan frowned, nodding slowly. "Yes… they don't."</p>
      <p>"So if what you're saying is true then shouldn't he have, I don't know, popped back up to the galaxy you were previously at and reported things accordingly to your superiors?"</p>
      <p>…..</p>
      <p>…..</p>
      <p>…..</p>
      <p>…..</p>
      <p>"Lieutenant?"</p>
      <p>"SON OF A BITCH!"</p>
      <p>
        <em>-Scene Cut-</em>
      </p>
      <p>From within the barracks of the R.L.S. Legacy, Jim was curled in his hammock and was trying his best to prolong himself from getting up due to all of the loud snores and the flatulent noises the crewmate sleeping above him was giving out.</p>
      <p>In all honesty, that last one was truly despicable.</p>
      <p>He had been dead tired for a couple of days now ever since the star Permusa blew up and Mr. Arrow's death. Rather than having time to recuperate from such a loss and attack, it's been nothing but a hectic pace of madness now.</p>
      <p>The Heartless have been popping up consecutively, making everyone go on edge with their bodies aching with how they're being pushed to their limits. That gigantic Heartless Pirate Ship they had fought aboard the day of the supernova was now constantly harassing them at any given time during the day.</p>
      <p>When that would happen, the crew would spring into action and fight off the Heartless with a great deal of ferocity.</p>
      <p>Jim was certainly getting a workout.</p>
      <p>Since then, he has felt a swelling of energy he did not know he was aware that came with a litany of astonishing abilities.</p>
      <p>One of them was the extraordinary ability to call upon both his newly made Solar Surfer and an upgraded version of the energy flintlock rifle he had on him during his first bout with the Heartless.</p>
      <p>During these skirmishes with the Heartless, Jim had constantly fought alongside Shepard and her team with him having teamed up with the trio of the black cloak almost every time. There were a few instances of Jim fighting along with Tali, Shepard and Garrus several times but for the majority it was with Roxas, Axel and Xion.</p>
      <p>Silver had even participated a few times, showing his prowess with his cybernetic cannon.</p>
      <p>Even though they fought off the Heartless valiantly at every step of the way, they were relentless in their attack against the Legacy.</p>
      <p>Delbert was even carrying a pistol with him at all times, working usually with Captain Amelia.</p>
      <p>It was like they were going through a war.</p>
      <p>Whatever spare time there was in between these skirmishes was honestly a luxury by this point. Sleep was amongst them.</p>
      <p>A nap was honestly like a pleasant experience, a full night's sleep with no interruptions was like utter paradise. And no one complained about that.</p>
      <p>Presently, that latter case is what they were going through right now.</p>
      <p>All except for Jim, due to the noise around him.</p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>*PFFFFFFT*</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>One of Mr. Zoff's tentacles had fallen off the hammock above and came directly into his face. The puff of air and the noise following it caused Jim to fall out of his hammock and fall onto the cold floor.</p>
      <p>Jim reeled away from Mr. Zoff's appendages as he didn't want to deal with any more of the flatulating nature the alien had.</p>
      <p>With the abrupt awakening, Jim gazed around in order to retrieve his boots. As he did, he noticed a number of individuals were not present in the barracks.</p>
      <p>Jim didn't exactly care right now that he figured they were still up from having to perform their watchmen duty for the duration of everyone's sleep time to just needing to perform their original tasks on the Legacy. For instance, Mr. Silver has to prepare breakfast for the ship's crew as he's required to wake up far earlier than the standard norm.</p>
      <p>The cabin boy previously knew this, given what days he had to get up to help assist his mom to get the Benbow Inn ready on most occasions.</p>
      <p>Finding where his boots were, Jim slipped one on and went to retrieve the other. Reaching out for said footwear, it "jumped" away from him.</p>
      <p>"Morph?" Jim muttered, seeing the "boot" scamper off into the corner of the barracks.</p>
      <p>Dragging his feet across the floor, he went to the large pile where Morph went into as he'll need to find where his other boot was located. Leaning himself forward, the cabin boy went to look where the shapeshifter is probably at while trying to find his other boot.</p>
      <p>"Morph, knock it off. It's too early for-"</p>
      <p>Suddenly, he was blown wide awake when he felt a swift kick on his butt.</p>
      <p>"OW! HEY, MORPH!"</p>
      <p>Whirling back, he saw the "boot" floating in the air as it blew a raspberry at him before shifting back to Morph's original state. Diving onto the side, the little pink blob retrieved Jim's other boot and flew right out of the barracks.</p>
      <p>"Hey, come back here!"</p>
      <p>"<em>Come back here!"</em></p>
      <p>Jim chased after Morph as he flew across various parts of the deck. Jumping over a ledge, Jim was able to snag his boot and pried it away from Morph as he landed near where the galley's entrance was.</p>
      <p>The Hawkins boy was about to slip his boot on and start his morning routine on the ship until he saw Morph shifting into a pufferfish. He didn't know what for, but he soon found out as he received a harsh amount of spit and air hitting his face.</p>
      <p>"That's it, you little squid."</p>
      <p>"<em>You little squid. You little squid."</em> Morph sounded out as his little body morphed into Jim's head and was soon disappearing and reappearing in and out of the galley's gated entrance.</p>
      <p>Jim repeatedly used his retrieved boot as a blunt weapon to hopefully smack Morph when it came back up, yet he was all over the place now.</p>
      <p>It was suddenly over when seeing Morph not appear once more.</p>
      <p>Wanting to punish the little pink blob, Jim went into the galley below once he got his retrieved boot back on. Once below, he saw the kitchen was not flared with life as it was empty and somewhat dark in there.</p>
      <p>'Now where could he be.' Jim thought on not just Morph, but also Silver. The cook was normally here at this time of day.</p>
      <p>Putting such thoughts away, Jim had a small idea where the floating blob was hiding.</p>
      <p>Peering inside of the purp barrel at the far end of the galley, he saw a pair of eyes forming from one of the pieces of fruit.</p>
      <p>"Hah! Busted!" Jim exclaimed, jumping into the barrel.</p>
      <p>In an instant, Morph returned to normal and started floating around as Jim tried to catch the wild critter. He did catch him and started to gently tickle the little thing when a voice was heard from outside of the barrel. Jim was on alert with his playful side quickly fading away.</p>
      <p>"Look. What we're saying is we're sick of all this waiting." Hushly said one of the crew members as they were walking into the galley.</p>
      <p>Taking a gander, Jim peered into the one hole along the barrel's side and saw that just about everyone was down here.</p>
      <p>"Outside of Shepard's men, there's only three of them left." Said another.</p>
      <p>"We are wanting to move!" Croaked the fat alien with horns rather urgently.</p>
      <p>To his shock, Jim saw Silver approach that crewmember. "We don't move until we got the treasure in hand." He ordered.</p>
      <p>"I say we kill 'em all now." Scroop suggested with a gleeful smile.</p>
      <p>All he got in return was his snout to be harshly grabbed by Silver.</p>
      <p>"I say?! What's this, I say?!" Silver snarled. "Disobey my orders again like that <em>stunt</em> you pulled with Mr. Arrow and so help me; YOU'LL BE JOINING HIM!"</p>
      <p>The cook threw Scroop at the barrel where Jim was at, causing it to rattle.</p>
      <p>The cabin boy kept his mouth shut as he didn't want to get exposed at this time. Even grasping onto Morph's form to keep him quiet as well.</p>
      <p>Composing himself, Jim slowly recollected what Silver just said as shock overwhelmed him.</p>
      <p>Scroop was the one to kill Mr. Arrow? And he put the blame on him?!</p>
      <p>He should've known better since they first departed from the Montressor Spaceport. Scroop and Arrow had been at each other's throats since that fight on the first day. Yet he didn't expect the arachnid alien to actually commit the crime.</p>
      <p>"Strong talk. But I know otherwise." Scroop says, reaching into the barrel to retrieve a purp.</p>
      <p>Jim's heart stopped beating for a moment because he thought he was caught. That didn't seem to be the case as Scroop was trying to retrieve a purp without looking into the barrel. Acting quickly, he picked up a purp and held it where the claw was at. Moments later, the fruit was snagged and pried out.</p>
      <p>"You got something to say, Scroop?" Silver questions.</p>
      <p>"It's those boys and that girl." Scroop answers sinisterly as he plays with the fruit before piercing it with his claw. "Me thinks you have a <em>soft spot </em>for them."</p>
      <p>Silver's eyes raised for a moment as the others around him gazed at him. The cook composed himself as his eyes quickly became serious.</p>
      <p>"Now, mark me, the lot of ya." Silver snarled to everyone present in the galley. "I care about one thing, and one thing only! Flint's trove! You think I'd risk it all for some nose-wiping little whelps?"</p>
      <p>At that moment, Jim' stomach churned and his heart started to break. Blue eyes widening in shock as he couldn't catch his breath.</p>
      <p>"What was it you said?" Scroop questioned before speaking into a higher pitch, clearly mocking the cyborg. <em>"Oh you have got the makings of greatness in ya."</em></p>
      <p>"Shut your yap! I cozied up to those three to keep 'em off our scent. But I ain't gone soft." Silver tells the crew, making Jim feel even worse.</p>
      <p>"PLANET HO!" Onus' yell could be heard from outside of the galley, causing everyone to flee right out of the area and get onto the deck above.</p>
      <p>Once they were gone, Jim felt a flurry of emotions within him.</p>
      <p>With the sickness he felt, anger was slowly mixed in as well. He was feeling distraught with what trust he had on the cyborg and it was thrown back into his face.</p>
      <p>Seemed Silver's actions was all just a fake facade, hiding whatever betrayal he had in store for-</p>
      <p>Jim's eyes widened on realization. They were planning a mutiny!</p>
      <p>The others were in danger! He needed to warn them immediately!</p>
      <p>Getting out of the purp barrel, Jim ran to the galley's stairway.</p>
      <p>Making halfway up, he saw Silver standing at the top of them, making the cabin boy widen his eyes in utter shock.</p>
      <p>"Jimbo?" Silver said in surprise and looked around for a moment or two. He then starts to come forward towards the cabin boy, who started walking backwards. "Playing games, are we?"</p>
      <p>"Yeah. Yeah, we're playing games." Jim replied, bumping into a table and held himself up on it.</p>
      <p>It was unsafe to be around Silver and he needed to get away from him.</p>
      <p>"Oh." Silver only nodded along. "I see. Well I, never was much good at playing games."</p>
      <p>From behind, Silver changed his robotic arm into that of a pistol with a barely noticeable click being heard.</p>
      <p>Behind Jim, he felt around, grabbing a sharp utensil and grasped it tightly.</p>
      <p>"I always hated to lose." Silver said in a grim tone.</p>
      <p>"Yeah. Me too!" Jim shouts, diving towards Silver's mechanical leg and piercing it with the object he retrieved from the table.</p>
      <p>Silver screamed from the pain with steam hissing out of his leg.</p>
      <p>Jim bolted not a moment too soon and ran as fast as he could, sprinting towards Captain Amelia's stateroom.</p>
      <p>Banging on the door, it soon opened up as Jim jumped inside and slammed the door shut.</p>
      <p>"Mr. Hawkins?! What's the meaning of this?" Amelia's voice demanded.</p>
      <p>Looking around him, he saw Dr. Doppler, Amelia, Shepard and her men present.</p>
      <p>"Silver!" Jim cried out, locking the door behind him. "He and the rest of the crew are pirates! And they're about to mutiny!"</p>
      <p>"What?!" Roxas and Xion said in unison, stunned by this.</p>
      <p>No sooner did he say this did they hear a loud whistle coming from outside the room.</p>
      <p>And they heard the voice of one Silver loud and clear.</p>
      <p><em>"We move </em>now!<em>"</em></p>
      <p>This caused everyone else present within the stateroom to get into immediate action.</p>
      <p>Rushing towards the cabinet, Amelia pried the doors open. "Pirates on my ship? I'll see that they all hang!"</p>
      <p>Amelia retrieved the pistols from the cabinet with a number of magazines as she soon loaded up her weapon.</p>
      <p>Loading up another, she tossed one of the pistols to Doppler, who fumbled with the loaded weapon.</p>
      <p>"Doctor, try not to shoot anything that doesn't need to be shot."</p>
      <p>"I've been practicing, Captain." Doppler said in a mock affronted manner.</p>
      <p>Of course he accidentally fired the weapon, causing a shot to destroy a nearby world globe hanging off the wall.</p>
      <p>"That one doesn't count."</p>
      <p>Rather than roll her eyes like she would have a week or so ago, Amelia found her lip quirking up in slight amusement.</p>
      <p>"Well, they won't know what-"</p>
      <p>"Keelah, NOW?!"</p>
      <p>Everyone turned to Tali who was staring out the back window of the room, the group now looking ahead.</p>
      <p>There they saw the damned Heartless Pirate Ship reappear off the starboard, coming right at them and going to the ships side.</p>
      <p>"Just our luck." Shepard said, banging her fist on the desk. "We can't stay here; we're surrounded on both sides now."</p>
      <p>"Won't the Heartless just attack us all?" Doppler asked.</p>
      <p>"Maybe but we'll just get caught in a crossfire." Garrus said. "We need to retreat and regroup on that planet we just arrived at.</p>
      <p>"It will have to do." The Captain of the ship declared, reaching into her cabinet for one last item.</p>
      <p>Amelia opened up the small chest containing the Map Orb. "Mr. Hawkins. Defend this with your lives!" She said, tossing the map to Jim.</p>
      <p>The moment it got into his hands; Morph suddenly grabbed it before he could put it in his pocket.</p>
      <p>"Morph! Give that back!" He yelled, prying the orb away from Morph, who whined soon after.</p>
      <p>With a quick look, they saw the door starting to turn bright orange.</p>
      <p>"They're trying to break through."</p>
      <p>"We need to get outta here."</p>
      <p>"On it."</p>
      <p>Both Roxas and Xion brought out their Keyblades before slamming them into the floor. In an instant, a large hole was made for them all to fall into.</p>
      <p>Amelia didn't question the actions as this was not the proper time to do so.</p>
      <p>They all jumped into the hole, one by one. Just as the last of them got through, the stateroom's door burst open with the pirates having made their way through.</p>
      <p>"Quickly, we're not far from the longboats." Amelia ordered.</p>
      <p>They all began sprinting forward.</p>
      <p>Along the way however, they were met with Pirate Heartless appearing before their path.</p>
      <p>"Blasted scoundrels!" Amelia yelled.</p>
      <p>"We've got it Captain." Xion said as she along with Roxas and Axel rushing forward to slash through them all.</p>
      <p>As this went on, Amelia and Tali were working the systems to get the Legacy's hatch to open up so they could quickly depart from the ship.</p>
      <p>Just when Jim got into the longboat, Morph grabbed the map out of his pocket.</p>
      <p>"Morph! No!" Jim yells, trying to grab the map from him.</p>
      <p>He was forced to leave the boat and retrieve the map, given how fast the little floating blob was.</p>
      <p>As this all went on, Silver was displeased with how things were suddenly turning out.</p>
      <p>Everything seemed great for the most part with them finally reaching the fabled Treasure Planet. It was utterly beautiful like the stories of old depicted.</p>
      <p>Yet things drastically went south as he made his way back down to the galley to retrieve his spyglass in order to get a better look. Once there, he saw Jimbo was trying to leave.</p>
      <p>One thing led to another, causing Silver to start the mutiny right away.</p>
      <p>It wasn't long after till the Heartless appeared and was ready to cause a ruckus just when things were about to go underway.</p>
      <p>"Captain." the multi-eyed watchman of the pirate crew warily spoke up.</p>
      <p>Silver looked behind him and saw the deck of the Legacy being occupied by a litany of Heartless that had yet to make their attack on them.</p>
      <p>"What is this?" Silver questioned cautiously, his more advanced cannon arm.</p>
      <p>"Why aren't they attacking?" questioned Turnbuckle with a nervous look.</p>
      <p>The crew then heard the pleased hiss from one Mr. Scroop who looked on at the Heartless in glee.</p>
      <p>"Me thinks they realized the benefits of working together." Scroop declared with one of his clawed hands clenched in victory.</p>
      <p>Silver turned to the spider/scorpion based alien and nearly double-take at the literal wisps of black darkness emanating off of him.</p>
      <p>"Captain!" The alien pairing of the head and body were pointing down. "They're getting away!"</p>
      <p>The pirate crew rushed over to the edge to see a longboat falling away from the Legacy.</p>
      <p>Aboard it were the nine individuals that got away from them with the map in hand.</p>
      <p>"Parameters met. Hydraulics engaged." Amelia typed away on the longboat's controls with Tali doing the same on the other. Both ships were quickly powering up before they soon took off towards the planet down below.</p>
      <p>Back aboard the Legacy, Silver mind raced at the means in which he could use in getting the map from them.</p>
      <p>A stray dark thought came to mind with him utilizing his arm cannon to shoot them out of the sky but as soon as that thought came in did the Cyborg squash it down.</p>
      <p>Scroop was right.</p>
      <p>He couldn't bring himself to hurt those three aboard the longboat.</p>
      <p>Luckily, or unluckily, depending on perspective, that decision was made for him.</p>
      <p>"That's it! Come to papa!" Said the fat alien with horns, peering through the cannon's sights.</p>
      <p>Seeing this happen, Silver rushed over and tried to stop the pirate from harming the longboats. "Hold your fire! We'll lose the map!"</p>
      <p>Yet it was too late as the cannon was fired off.</p>
      <p>"Captain! Laster balls at 12 o'clock!" Doppler exclaims, ducking out of the way.</p>
      <p>Nearly all of the two longboat occupants looked back and saw the laser balls were coming right towards them.</p>
      <p>In an instant, Shepard reacted quickly and used as much biotics she could muster and throw up a biotic shield around them.</p>
      <p>Granted it wasn't strong enough on the rush job as the first laser ball broke the barrier. Before she could form another, the laser balls struck the longboats, causing an explosion to happen on both airborne vessels.</p>
      <p>The impacts had taken out the backs of the longboats, causing them to abruptly fall towards the planet below due to the hydraulics being destroyed.</p>
      <p>They crashed through the trees during this whole encounter. Amelia and Tali tried their hardest to render control of their longboats but the damage had already been done. Soon enough, they ended up flipping over completely and slid on the ground for a couple of seconds.</p>
      <p>Once everything settled down, the longboats were pushed off.</p>
      <p>There were groans of pain from both boats as the group slowly rose up or remained where they were on the ground.</p>
      <p>"Is everyone alright?" Shepard asked.</p>
      <p>Everyone more or less sounded out after the crash landing.</p>
      <p>"Well would you look at that, Gary? Your own work has turned against us." Axel remarked, hands on his hips as he gazed up at the Legacy high above in the air.</p>
      <p>"Shut up, Axel." Garrus grumped.</p>
      <p>"I mean what's next, the Mako?"</p>
      <p>"Shut UP AXEL!"</p>
      <p>"I mean by that point, you might as well go through with it, you team killing-"</p>
      <p>Shepard clamped a hand over the mouth of her fellow redhead with an aridly dry look to her face.</p>
      <p>"Thank you, Shepard." Garrus sighed out. "Don't know if he's worse than Joker on his good days."</p>
      <p>"Oh my goodness. That was more fun than I want to have." Doppler sighs, standing up.</p>
      <p>Amelia chuckled. "That's not one of my… gossamer landings."</p>
      <p>She went to move forward, but immediately grunted aloud, almost falling to the ground. She grabbed her side as she fell to her knees in pain.</p>
      <p>"Captain!" Doppler said, helping her stand up.</p>
      <p>The others came over to check on her as well.</p>
      <p>"Oh, don't fuss. It's only a slight bruising. That's all. Cup of tea and I'll be right as rain." Amelia assured them all as she got back up. She pushed her frazzled hair back and tried to compose herself.</p>
      <p>"Ah, Amelia…"</p>
      <p>"What?"</p>
      <p>Shepard gestured towards her hand, causing Amelia to look down.</p>
      <p>Instead of the pristine white gloves she wore, they were now stained in blood. Her blood in fact.</p>
      <p>And it didn't take long for her to feel the slight droplets of blood falling down her forehead, due to unintentionally using her blood to slick her hair back.</p>
      <p>"Bullocks." Was all she said before collapsing once more.</p>
      <p>At this time, Roxas was wondering where Tali was at. Looking back at the crashed longboat, he moved things over again. Soon after, he came to a startling sight.</p>
      <p>"Tali…"</p>
      <p>The Quarian grunted as she laid there on the ground, a piece of shrapnel had pierced her chest as she was bleeding out.</p>
      <p>Roxas's eyes widened in complete shock, instantly by her side.</p>
      <p>"Keelah again." Tali said in a rather lighthearted tone, despite how faint it was. "I can't seem to catch a break can I."</p>
      <p>No. XIII all the while grasped the piece of shrapnel tightly, looking up at her with the Quarian gazing back into his eyes.</p>
      <p>"Don't worry, I got you." Roxas assured Tali with her smiling faintly under her mask.</p>
      <p>Firmly grasping the foreign object with one hand, he held Tali's hand with the other. Getting the firm squeeze from her, she slowly nodded to show that she was ready.</p>
      <p>With a hard yank, he pried the object right out of Tali, who grunted out in pain. Blood spewed out from the wound, having some little droplets hit his face with some more staining parts of his black leather garments.</p>
      <p>The Quarian let out a small cry of pain, the feeling overwhelming her for the briefest of moments.</p>
      <p>Roxas threw his hand forward over the wound, his arm glowing a brilliant ethereal emerald color.</p>
      <p>"<strong>Curaga!"</strong></p>
      <p>Roxas felt his magic reserves be dealt a mighty blow, feeling it drain halfway down.</p>
      <p>But it didn't matter as he saw the wound had closed up in an instant.</p>
      <p>She was alright.</p>
      <p>"Thank you." She said weakly, breathing a little shallow.</p>
      <p>"You're welcome."</p>
      <p>Tali couldn't help herself when she instinctively placed her hand against his cheek.</p>
      <p>"That's three times now you went and saved my life." Tali said in a soft voice.</p>
      <p>Before Roxas had a chance to respond, the others came over to them both.</p>
      <p>"What's going on here?" Shepard asked in concern.</p>
      <p>"Tali was hurt." Roxas answered straight away.</p>
      <p>Jane's eyes darted back and forth to the Quarian and a particularly large piece of shrapnel that had a portion of it coated in what was clearly blood. Quarian blood, in fact with the purple substance staining it.</p>
      <p>The Spectre's eyes widened in shock as the dots connected in her mind. Something the rest of the crew picked up on.</p>
      <p>"Tali! Are you alright?" Jane was on the other side of the Quarian, kneeling down to her, taking her hand.</p>
      <p>"A little." Tali said meekly.</p>
      <p>"A little? You were fucking pierced!" Garrus exclaimed, going into his armor to retrieve some medi-gel.</p>
      <p>"Nothing new there." Tali said with the Turian giving her a nearly murderous look.</p>
      <p>"Tali… don't."</p>
      <p>"Sorry." She said with a coughing chuckle. "I couldn't help it."</p>
      <p>The Turian sighed, though a small grin found its way onto his face.</p>
      <p>"What about your suit?" Xion questioned, bordering on a slightly panicked tone.</p>
      <p>"I'm gonna need to do a patch job." Tali said. "I've already got a small kit on me to get things started."</p>
      <p>"Hang on Tali." Roxas pulled out a golden tear drop from his coat and saw that the Elixir liquid was nearly empty by this point.</p>
      <p>Holding it up in front of her, Tali stared at it for a moment before nodding.</p>
      <p>With the amount there was, she couldn't use her *cough* straw *cough* to slurp the remains. So she had to do it the old fashion way.</p>
      <p>Carefully, she removed the faceplate of her helmet with Roxas seeing her face once again.</p>
      <p>Surprisingly, unlike last time where she had a tube in her nose, now she only had one in her mouth though there was a trail of blood coming trailing out from said mouth. She still had a pale complexion though it was noticeably lighter than last time.</p>
      <p>Slowly, he tilted her head back and placed the Elixir to her lips.</p>
      <p>She inclined back and drank down the literal golden nectar and exhaled softly when she drank the last of the liquid.</p>
      <p>Instantly, she felt a swell of energy and relief wash over her in her entirety with her face gaining a bit more complexion.</p>
      <p>"Well shit, that takes care of one heart attack." Shepard said aloud as Tali slipped her face plate back on.</p>
      <p>"How's Amelia?" Tali asked</p>
      <p>"She's alright." Jane said. "Garrus already applied some Medigel on her to help with some of her wounds and Xion went a little overboard on using a healing spell soon after."</p>
      <p>"Now she's just all hopped up as a result." Axel revealed. "I think the healing spells and medi-gel might have overloaded her senses."</p>
      <p>Roxas quirked a brow. "And how hopped up is she?"</p>
      <p>"...Well…" Jim began, not really sure how to summarize it properly. "I'd say she's a tiny bit loopy."</p>
      <p>"And she's not gonna be on her feet for a while as she's resting up. But Doppler's with her for the time being." Shepard stated.</p>
      <p>Roxas nodded as Shepard turned to the Hawkins boy.</p>
      <p>"Do you still have the map?" She asked.</p>
      <p>Jim pulled the Map Orb from out of his pocket.</p>
      <p>Everyone sighed out of relief that it was still in their possession.</p>
      <p>Sadly… it didn't last long.</p>
      <p>The map floated out of Jim's hand, startling everyone in the process.</p>
      <p>"I didn't do anything." Jim defended.</p>
      <p>In an instant, the map broke apart and revealed that he had Morph all along.</p>
      <p>The little pink blob laughed at everyone present.</p>
      <p>"Morph?! Where's the map?!" Jim cried out, feeling dread wash over him.</p>
      <p>Morph suddenly turns into a rope pile with another section shifting into the Map Orb. The "orb" entered the "pile", causing Jim to realize what happened.</p>
      <p>"Are you serious?! It's back on the ship?!" Jim explained, pointing up at the sky where the Legacy and now the Heartless Pirate Ship were hovering side by side.</p>
      <p>"What are we gonna do?" Xion asked, startled on this newfound bit of information.</p>
      <p>Shepard looked in the sky and frowned. "You can start by getting down."</p>
      <p>Upon hearing her say this, they all heard the sound of an engine whining from above.</p>
      <p>"We got company." Garrus said, quickly ducking towards one of the damaged longboats. With his sniper rifle out, he looked through its scope and saw the pirate's longboat going towards where they were hit in the first place; given the smokestack reaching the sky.</p>
      <p>"Can't stay here for long." Axel said as he was beside Garrus in a crouched position.</p>
      <p>"Axel, why don't you just teleport up there and get the map?" Roxas asked.</p>
      <p>"Right now, it's too hot up there." Axel said, pointing up to the Legacy and sure enough they saw the large Heartless Pirate Ship that has been harassing them for their entire journey situated right nearby. "Let's have things settle down up there for a moment and then I'll swoop in and grab the map."</p>
      <p>"Agreed. We need a more defensible position." Shepard gazed at Roxas, Jim and Xion. "You three, scout ahead." She then pulled out her pistol and handed it over to Jim.</p>
      <p>The Hawkins boy nodded as he slipped the weapon into the back of his pants.</p>
      <p>"We'll stay close to ya Jim." Xion said. "Don't know if there'll be any Heartless that'll come out on our search."</p>
      <p>"You got it."</p>
      <p>Roxas hesitated from leaving Tali's side, but she felt her place her hand on his.</p>
      <p>"Go, Roxas. I'll be okay."</p>
      <p>He nodded as he soon left her side to join the two scouts.</p>
      <p>Departing from the crash site, the three of them, along with Morph, walked down into a deeper part of this unfamiliar territory they were in. All they could hear was Morph chattering behind them as the wind softly blew.</p>
      <p>It was a little anxious for them, but they had to keep their guard up.</p>
      <p>When they came into a weirdly dense, tube-like forest, they heard some rattling sound coming from behind.</p>
      <p>"You hear that?" Roxas asked quietly.</p>
      <p>"Heartless?" Jim asked, quickly pulling out the Commander's pistol and having it at the ready.</p>
      <p>"They aren't subtle on their approach." Xion said to him.</p>
      <p>"For all we know, it could be pirates." Roxas added in.</p>
      <p>As cautiously as possible, they crept over to the bush and peaked over.</p>
      <p>In what felt like an hour to Jim, nothing really happened.</p>
      <p>All of a sudden, something shot out of the bush and screamed in their faces.</p>
      <p>"Aah!" Screamed the three teens, more so in Jim's case as he was tackled to the ground.</p>
      <p>"Oh, this is fantastic!" Said the attacker. "Three carbon-based life forms come to rescue me at last!"</p>
      <p>"Hey, get off him!" Roxas demanded as Xion was trying to pry the being off of the Hawkins boy.</p>
      <p>The attacker ignored them as he exclaimed in joy. "I just want to hug and squeeze you all!"</p>
      <p>In an instant, the attacker let go of Jim and latched onto Xion as he rubbed his face onto hers.</p>
      <p>Xion couldn't handle the sudden weight placed on her, causing her to collapse onto the ground.</p>
      <p>"Would you let go of me?!" Xion pleaded, doing her best to push the hugger away.</p>
      <p>Once more, the guy did, but then went after Roxas. And once more things were at repetition as he too was hugged.</p>
      <p>Roxas groaned from the embrace and with him now really up close to the serial hugger, he saw the person wasn't organic at all…</p>
      <p>But in fact a synthetic being. A being of complete machinery.</p>
      <p>The person hugging him in utter glee was a rusted bronze robot with green pixelated eyes.</p>
      <p>"Would you knock it off?" Roxas said irritated, now getting a bit impatient with how touchy the robot was.</p>
      <p>Not that he was against hugs or anything, no, no. He rather enjoyed them.</p>
      <p>But these weren't hugs.</p>
      <p>The robot finally got the message and calmly got off of him. Once backing up a bit, he quickly apologized. "Oh, sorry, sorry, sorry. I've been marooned here for so long. I mean solitude's fine. Don't get me wrong but after being out here for over 100 year,<em> you go a little nuts!</em>" He rambled as he soon wrapped his metal arms around the two present male teens.</p>
      <p>Seeing their weirded out reactions, the robot unwrapped his metal limbs from their shoulders. "Oh, I'm sorry. Am I…" The robot stutters, stepping back from them. "I am… Uh… My Name is… Uh…"</p>
      <p>Hanging over from Jim's shoulder, Morph then Morphed into a more cartoony version of the robot with a yellow cuckoo clock bird popping out of his head. Amusing as that was, Jim clamped his hand over Morphs head and made him revert back to his usual blobby self.</p>
      <p>"B.E.N.!" The rustic robot blurted out. "Of course, I'm B.E.N. Bioelectric Navigator." He says with enthusiasm before turning towards the three. "And you are?"</p>
      <p>"Jim."</p>
      <p>"Roxas."</p>
      <p>"Xion."</p>
      <p>"Nice to meet you all. Jimmy, Rocko and Shyanne."</p>
      <p>"Wh-Wha-? No, none of that was right." Roxas pointed out.</p>
      <p>"...Why am I with the butchered name this time?" Xion pouted.</p>
      <p>Jim was about to speak when his hands were ensnared with the synthetic being as they were roughly shook. In mere seconds, the same happened to the two Nobodies beside him.</p>
      <p>"Oh, what a pleasure to meet you all!"</p>
      <p>"Right." Roxas said slowly.</p>
      <p>"Look, the three-" Morph expanded his eyes. "<em>Four</em>, of us are in a bit of a hurry right now. We've gotta find a place to hide and there's pirates nearby just waiting to rain down on us."</p>
      <p>The three walked away from the nutty robot in order to continue on with their search for a hiding place.</p>
      <p>"Oh, pirates! Don't even get me started on pirates! I don't like them!" B.E.N. exclaims, I remember Captain Flint. This guy had such a temper." The name caught their attention rather quickly. In mere seconds, they looked at each other before switching over to the synthetic.</p>
      <p>"Wait." Roxas paused. "You mean, Flint?"</p>
      <p>"Captain Nathaniel Flint?" Xion added for clarity.</p>
      <p>"You knew him?!" Jim asked, now grasping B.E.N.s shoulders.</p>
      <p>Jim knew robots can have a longer life expectancy in comparison to organics, depending mostly on what field they are programmed for. Other times, they are just destroyed for other reasons.</p>
      <p>With Roxas and Xion, it was a little different as they were encountering the only synthetic being in their short existences that wasn't out to outright kill them. So it was a little strange this one wasn't attacking them -outside of hugging- let alone having a conversation.</p>
      <p>"I think he suffered from mood swings, but I dunno." The android said conversationally as he sat on a rock with one leg crossed over the other. "I'm not a therapist but let me know if I'm rambling."</p>
      <p>"Well that means, b-but wait, then that means you gotta know about the treasure!" Jim surmised excitedly.</p>
      <p>"Treasure?" B.E.N. repeated in confusion.</p>
      <p>"Yeah, the treasure, you know." Jim egged on. "Flint's trove. The loot of a thousand worlds."</p>
      <p>Morph changed into a chest filled with gold to emphasize Jim's point.</p>
      <p>"It's- well… it's all a little- little- fuzzy." B.E.N. says, starting to spark out a little. "Wait… I-I r-r-remember. I do. I- treasure! Lots of treasure! Buried in the centroid-centroid of the mechanism!"</p>
      <p>The three teens jumped back at B.E.N. who was starting to glitch out.</p>
      <p>"And there was this big door opening and closing and opening and closing!" The robot's eyes shifted into a triangle as his chest piece popped back and forth. "Captain Flint wanted to make sure that… nobody could ever get to his treasure so… so I helped him…" B.E.N. then starts to massively glitch out, sputtering his words.</p>
      <p>"B.E.N.? B.E.N.?" Roxas said before the others joined with by shouting. "B.E.N.!"</p>
      <p>"And <em>rebootrebootrebootreboot.</em>"</p>
      <p>Suddenly Xion quickly slapped the robot across the face as hard as she could in order to get him to calm down.</p>
      <p>B.E.N appeared to recompose himself with that.</p>
      <p>"...And you three are?" B.E.N. says, narrowing his pixelated eyes at them.</p>
      <p>"Wait, wait, what about the treasure?!" Jim asked desperately.</p>
      <p>"And the centroid of the mechanism and all that?" Roxas a moment later.</p>
      <p>"I wanna say Larry, Lucy and Luka."</p>
      <p>"...That is <em>far</em> away from our names!" Xion blurted out.</p>
      <p>"I'm sorry, my-my memory isn't what it used to be." The Robot stated. "I've lost my mind." B.E.N. laughed a moment later with his tone becoming whackier. "I've <em>lost my mind."</em></p>
      <p>"Have you three have found it, by any chance?" He said, whirling them around and patting them down as if he's looking for something.</p>
      <p>Xion was the first to resist as she pushed the robot off. "Hands off."</p>
      <p>"Right, right. Sorry."</p>
      <p>"What do you mean by that?" Jim asked</p>
      <p>"Your <em>mind</em>, that is? We just got here?" Roxas clarified.</p>
      <p>"My missing piece?" B.E.N. answered them by questioning them. "My primary memory circuit?" He turned around to reveal that aforementioned piece he's talking about is gone from the back of his head. All that was shown were a number of wires sticking out with bits of rust creeping into the exposed area.</p>
      <p>"Look, B.E.N. Roxas, Xion and I need to go find a place to hide. C'mon guys, let's get outta here." He said, starting to walk forward with the two Nobodies following not long after.</p>
      <p>"Oh, uh, so, well, then… I guess this is goodbye then." B.E.N. says forlornly.</p>
      <p>The three teens stopped walking and looked back at the android, who was on his metal knees.</p>
      <p>"Sorry for being so dysfunctional." B.E.N. sadly said, looking down. "So um… you three go ahead. I understand. I do. Bye-bye."</p>
      <p>The three looked at each other for a minute while Morph whined at them.</p>
      <p>They felt sympathy for this lonely but nutty robot and didn't exactly know what to do.</p>
      <p>Whereas Jim was ready to voice something, he looked at Roxas and Xion as they pulled them aside for a little moment.</p>
      <p>"Something wrong?"</p>
      <p>"We know what you wanna do, Jim, but are you sure you want him to come?"</p>
      <p>"Why not?"</p>
      <p>"He's… not entirely in the head."</p>
      <p>"He could be fine one moment and short circuit out the next."</p>
      <p>"Or attack us." Xion admitted.</p>
      <p>"Attack us?" Jim blinked at that comment. "Why would you think he'd attack us?"</p>
      <p>Roxas rubbed his head as he exhaled a sigh. "We haven't had the best of encounters with synthetic beings for a while now. Being hostile and all."</p>
      <p>"What does that mean?"</p>
      <p>Xion was a little sheepish at this point. "Sorry. It's a long story. We're just being precautious."</p>
      <p>"I can understand that." Jim stated. "Just trust me on this."</p>
      <p>The two Nobodies nodded as the Hawkins boy turned back to B.E.N. "Hey, B.E.N. You can come. But you need to stop-"</p>
      <p>B.E.N. interrupted Jim as he leaped into the air and exclaimed in joy. "Hazzah! Ha ha ha! This is fantastic!" He them jumped on them and oddly enough wrapped his limbs around the three of them, who somewhat struggled in his odd embrace. "Me and my best buddies are looking for a-"</p>
      <p>"Quiet place." Roxas completed.</p>
      <p>"Right." B.E.N. said, motioning his mouth like he's closing up a zipper.</p>
      <p>"And another thing. Stop touching us." Jim told him directly.</p>
      <p>"Touching and talking. The big no-no's." B.E.N. says, getting off of them.</p>
      <p>"Now let's go before the pirates find us." Xion said, wanting to get a move on with the others.</p>
      <p>With the pirates and Heartless present and on the lookout, they needed to find shelter immediately.</p>
      <p>Before getting far, B.E.N. started to fidget a little. "Say, listen, before we go out on our big search, would you guys mind if we make a pit stop at my place? Kind of urgent."</p>
      <p>"Your place?"</p>
      <p>B.E.N. pulled back some of the odd tube-trees to reveal a rusty, spaceship shaped structure with a giant opening in the front.</p>
      <p>Jim, Roxas and Xion widened their eyes in surprise upon seeing it.</p>
      <p>"B.E.N., I think you solved our problem." Jim said with a smile.</p>
      <p>"Thank you." Roxas smiled as he patted the robot in the back.</p>
      <p>"You just helped us considerably." Xion finished off.</p>
      <p>"Oh, well, shucks it's not much but…" B.E.N. said in a bashful manner, kicking his feet on the ground.</p>
      <p>At the moment, they found the perfect place to hide out from the pirates and an impromptu fort from the Heartless.</p>
      <p>Xion had stayed behind with B.E.N. while Jim and Roxas went back to retrieve the others. In no less than an hour, the entire group was able to get over to B.E.N.'s place all in one piece.</p>
      <p>Said place appeared quite good as a defensible position as it was located in a secluded area. And with the wide open field surrounding the place, it's easy to spot anyone who would approach them from the one opening. Said can't exactly be said if they were drawing from behind, yet they would have to contend with the large slope leading up to the entrance.</p>
      <p>Doppler had to carry Amelia inside because she was still bedridden from having her injuries mended. And Roxas had to perform the same act with Tali with Garrus hanging not far behind just in case if he struggled to keep the Quarian upright. Luckily for him, the young Nobody had no problems.</p>
      <p>"Pardon the mess, people. You'd think after a hundred years, I would've dusted up a little more often." B.E.N. said, trying to clean up his messy home. "But you know when you're batchin' it, you tend to let things go."</p>
      <p>It was a little unsettling for Shepard and Garrus when seeing the synthetic talking to them. And sure they were lightening up a little as B.E.N. wasn't a Geth, but after being at the Crescentia station for a while they were forced to interact with other synthetics, even for a little while.</p>
      <p>When Doppler and Roxas came into the place with Amelia and Tali in their respective arms, B.E.N. immediately gushed over them. "Aw~ isn't that sweet? I find old-fashioned romance so touching, don't you?" B.E.N. rattled on.</p>
      <p>From behind a curtain, the android produced several cups of oil with gears and tools in each.</p>
      <p>"How about some drinks for our lovely couples."</p>
      <p>The surrounding people reared back in disgust upon seeing the offered… drinks.</p>
      <p>"Uh no… No. We're good. And sorry, but we're not a couple." Doppler defended, taking off his jacket and bundling it up to serve as a pillow for Amelia's head.</p>
      <p>Amelia smiled a little as her head was gently moved to accommodate the cushion she'll rest upon for now.</p>
      <p>Tali, however, sputtered a little as she was gently placed down by Roxas. "W-W-We're not dating, you Bosh'tet!"</p>
      <p>Whereas the other Normandy members were somewhat lightening up towards the synthetic, Tali was going to have a little harder time to try to get acquainted. With her people's history with synthetics, it'll be quite a while to open up to the idea of remotely getting <em>familiar</em> with them… without reducing them into scrap metal.</p>
      <p>But while the idea of dating Roxas is rather pleasant at this point, she had to deny such a thing is actually going on right now. Not to mention she doesn't know if Roxas would consider dating a girl like her.</p>
      <p>"You sure you're not dating?" Axel chimed in, leaning down towards Tali with a wide grin. "Looked pretty comfortable in your boyfriend's arms there."</p>
      <p>Tali opted not to respond as steam rose out from her hood and her helmet was fogging up.</p>
      <p>"Boyfriend?" Roxas asked. "I'm a boy and I'm her friend, but what's that got to do with-?"</p>
      <p>Shepard only sighed good naturedly, throwing an arm around his shoulder.</p>
      <p>"I'll tell you when you're older kid." Shepard promised, pinching his cheek with him swatting it away with a pout.</p>
      <p>"So now what?" Garrus asked. "We have our fort."</p>
      <p>"Plan accordingly for one." Shepard surmised.</p>
      <p>Doppler, in the meantime, observed the unique cravings and ruins on the walls of their new hideout.</p>
      <p>"Look at these markings. They're identical to the ones on the map." The astrophysicist noted. "I suspect these are hieroglyphic remnants of an ancient culture."</p>
      <p>"No doubt they are." Axel said, pulling out his Omni-tool and started taking photos of them.</p>
      <p>"What are you doing?" Asked the doctor while noting the hard light construct along the red haired Nobody's arm.</p>
      <p>"What's it look like? I'm taking photos. Bet a number of people would just love to take a crack at them."</p>
      <p>Seeing this happen, Amelia nodded as she'll no doubt guess her people's government will want to see all of this. Especially since these metal imprints are extremely old.</p>
      <p>Pushing this thought aside, she looked at Jim and Shepard's people. "While we're here, you all need to stop anyone who tries to approach-" Amelia hissed as her side still felt sore, despite the medigel and the Cure spell applied on her earlier.</p>
      <p>"Yes, yes, we heard you. Now listen to me. Stop giving orders for a few milliseconds and lie still." Doppler scolded, readjusting the makeshift pillow as she tried to get back up.</p>
      <p>"Very forceful, Doctor. Go on, say something else." Amelia chuckled, looking at the dog man with a slight mischievous glint.</p>
      <p>Witnessing this, Axel, Garrus and Shepard snorted and hid their own bits of laughter in their own manners.</p>
      <p>Tali giggled at the display right beside her. And the three teens merely smiled as they saw things were getting a little better for the time being.</p>
      <p>Yet the moment was short lived.</p>
      <p>"Hey, look guys! There's some of your buddies!" B.E.N. shouted, quickly snapping everyone's attention towards the entrance where the synthetic stood. "Hey fellas! We're over here, fellas!"</p>
      <p>In an instant a volley of enemy fire came at the android, causing him to swiftly maneuver around from the incoming assault.</p>
      <p>In mere moments, Jim rushed over and pried B.E.N. down from the entrance. Once clear he started firing at the opposition down below.</p>
      <p>Garrus and Shepard soon joined Jim and opened fire, especially since from what they noticed, there were Heartless amongst the pirates.</p>
      <p>"Heartless!" Garrus yelled out, Roxas and Xion now appearing behind him with their Keyblades summoned.</p>
      <p>"We'll take care of them."</p>
      <p>Leaping out of the elevated entrance, the two Nobodies dived towards the commotion below and went to work. Hacking and cleaving their way through, there wasn't much the Heartless can do against the pair.</p>
      <p>A moment later, a fireball sailed over them, exploding and incinerating a cluster of Heartless coming their way.</p>
      <p>"You thought you could leave me out of this, did you?" Said Axel, twirling his Eternal Flames chakrams in his grasp before throwing them at some Mega Shadows stomping their way towards them.</p>
      <p>"Not at all."</p>
      <p>The trio of Nobody's back by the trio inside the circular structure fought off the Heartless whilst firing at the Pirates situated down below.</p>
      <p>Suddenly the fire ceased just as they destroyed the last of the Heartless, causing confusion to come towards everyone else within B.E.N.'s home.</p>
      <p>"Why'd they stop firing?" Garrus asked cautiously.</p>
      <p>The answer was soon given soon after.</p>
      <p>"Hello, up there!" Silver's voice echoed; a small white being waved in his hand.</p>
      <p>"That might answer our question."</p>
      <p>A wave of anger and nausea washed over Jim's stomach as he saw Silver coming up the hill with a white flag as if to surrender. But he wouldn't let his guard down after what previously happened.</p>
      <p>"What is it you want, Silver?" Asked Xion, still having her Keyblade out.</p>
      <p>"All I want is to do is speak with Jimbo."</p>
      <p>"Yeah, doubt he would want to talk to you now." Roxas said with his arms crossed, staring at the cyborg in front of him.</p>
      <p>"What if this is a trick?" Axel pointed out.</p>
      <p>"No tricks, just a little palaver."</p>
      <p>Silver saw the trio of Nobodies standing on the slopes of the androids home, gazing at Roxas and Xion in particular.</p>
      <p>"Rocko. Xion." Silver said with a kind tone with an underlying sense of pleading. "Is that too much to ask?"</p>
      <p>The two only stared blankly at him before they both turned away and walked back into their current shelter, not seeing Silver's expression fall.</p>
      <p>The Cyborg glanced over at Axel who had his arms crossed with an unreadable expression before he too turned to leave the robotic Pirate captain.</p>
      <p>Once the Nobodies were back inside...</p>
      <p>"Come to bargain for the map, doubtless. Pestilential…" Amelia scowled as she tried to rise once more. Yet Doppler pushed her back down with a scowl.</p>
      <p>Jim rubbed his chin and quickly voiced his thoughts. "Wait a minute, he doesn't know… that it's still on the ship."</p>
      <p>Shepard smiled a little. "Yeah, you're right. He thinks we still have it."</p>
      <p>"So what should we do then?" Tali asked with a small grunt.</p>
      <p>"Staying here is alright for the time being even though they have our position now." Garrus said, sending a not so subtle glare at the robot who saw this and turned away in an innocent whistle.</p>
      <p>"One way in, but one way out." Jim murmured. "Guess we'll have to give it a try then."</p>
      <p>"Jim, are you sure you want to go down there by yourself?" Doppler asked worriedly.</p>
      <p>"I'm sure."</p>
      <p>"If anything goes wrong, we'll be there to get your ass out of the fire." Shepard said to the Hawkins boy.</p>
      <p>Nodding, the teen made his way out of the hideout-</p>
      <p>"Hang on." Roxas spoke up. "I'm coming with you."</p>
      <p>"Roxas? Are you-"</p>
      <p>"Better to have two of us than one." No. XIII said. "They have the Heartless with them now. So that means things can get crazy down there in an instant."</p>
      <p>Jim thought about it for a brief moment before nodding in agreement.</p>
      <p>"You better bring him back in one piece." Shepard warned teasingly.</p>
      <p>"I'm hurt." Roxas said with faux-hurt in his voice. "Do you even doubt me?"</p>
      <p>"Just be careful is all." She said, patting him on the back.</p>
      <p>Once meeting Silver down the elevated slope, Morph flew over to the cyborg happily.</p>
      <p>"Ah, Morphy! I wondered where you was off to." The cyborg cooed as the floating pink blob played against his finger.</p>
      <p>When Jim got in close, he saw Silver switch out what appeared to be a metal cane attachment to his default hand as he sat down on a rock. He rubbed his metal leg that Jim stabbed earlier that day.</p>
      <p>Roxas tilted his head at that, unsure as to what had happened to the old Cyborg.</p>
      <p>"Oh, this poor old leg's downright snarky… since we had that game attack in the galley." Silver chuckled out.</p>
      <p>Remembering what he said back there, Jim glared at the cyborg with a look of anger and disgust. After hearing that, the Hawkins boy lost all trust with Silver.</p>
      <p>"Ahh… look… Whatever you heard back there, at least the part concerning you and your friends, I didn't mean a word of it." Silver said, leaning forward before struggling to stand back up once more. "Had that bloodthirsty lot found out I've gone soft on you three, they'd have gutted us both."</p>
      <p>'Not without a fight.' Jim thought to himself, given what fighting experience he'd gotten these past few days.</p>
      <p>Not knowing what was going through the boy's head, Silver put his cybernetic arm around him. "Listen, if our cards are played right, we can all walk away from this rich as kings." Silver said to him.</p>
      <p>Jim held his chin for a moment with a small smile breaking out. "Yeah?"</p>
      <p>The cyborg chuckled. "You bring the map to me and a good portion of the treasure is yours to keep. You can split it up with your new friends and the galaxy is ripe for opportunity for you all." He declared, holding out his metal hand to seal this deal.</p>
      <p>All that Jim did was stare at it for a minute.</p>
      <p>Roxas, meanwhile, looked at the Hawkins boy, wondering what he'll do as he's the one negotiating the terms.</p>
      <p>"Boy." Jim finally said. "You are really something." He began to walk around the cyborg. "All that talk of <em>greatness</em> and <em>preaching</em> about the light coming off my sails, what a joke."</p>
      <p>Silver recoiled at that. "Now, just see here, Jimbo-"</p>
      <p>"I mean, at least you taught me one thing, stick to it, right? Well that's what I'm gonna do." Jim cut him off, becoming angrier by the second. "Well, that's just what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna make sure that you never see one drabloon of <em>my</em> treasure!"</p>
      <p>"That treasure is owed me, by thunder!" Silver yelled.</p>
      <p>"Well, try to find it without my map, <em>by thunder!" </em>Jim rebuked with a bellow.</p>
      <p>"...Oh, you still don't know how to pick your fights, do you, boy? Now, mark me. Either I get that map by dawn tomorrow, or so help me, I'll use the ship's cannons and that Heartless ship to BLAST YA ALL TO KINGDOM COME!" Silver shouted at him, soon turning his back at Jim.</p>
      <p>"Morph, hop to it." Silver said to the floating pink blob. "NOW!"</p>
      <p>Morph quickly hid behind Jim, shaking at Silver's raised voice.</p>
      <p>With a grunt, Silver turned and limped away from the hill.</p>
      <p>"Hey." Roxas' sharp voice made the Cyborg halt in his tracks, turning back to the boys. "Why are the Heartless working with you?"</p>
      <p>Silver blinked, looking back not to his crew below but up to the Legacy above with the Heartless Pirate Ship floating nearby. He grimaced at the sight of it, his gut twisting slightly in a knot.</p>
      <p>"I'm as confused as you are, Rocko." Silver grunted out. "Blasted devils haven't attacked us yet. I'll take the small blessings that I can get."</p>
      <p>Without saying another word, Silver resumed his walk down the hill.</p>
      <p>Jim gave the cyborg one last look before heading back inside the hideout.</p>
      <p>Roxas stayed in his spot for a moment, catching sight of Silver pausing in his limp and appearing to look back for a moment before continuing back down.</p>
      <p>Both Cabin boys were back inside B.E.N.'s home and informed the others on what was discussed.</p>
      <p>"Sounds like what Silver said is rather personal now." Axel said, leaning against the wall near the only entrance/exit of this place.</p>
      <p>"Did you ask about the Heartless?" Xion inquired.</p>
      <p>Roxas nodded. "I did, he's confused just as much as we are now."</p>
      <p>"You sure it wasn't a ploy?" Tali asked nervously.</p>
      <p>No. XIII frowned, rubbing his chin in thought.</p>
      <p>"I don't believe he was lying." Roxas said. "He didn't have any of that usual darkness that's affiliated for those who can control the Heartless."</p>
      <p>"Then that begs the question, if he's not controlling them, then who is?" Shepard stated.</p>
      <p>"I noticed him looking back at the Legacy… or the Heartless Pirate Ship. Hard to tell with how close they are. But whoever has the reigns is up there." Jim pointed out.</p>
      <p>"Could it be Marluxia?" Garrus asked with a tense tone.</p>
      <p>"Who knows at the moment. At least we can confirm the source is back up there." Axel said with a shrug, nodding his head up in the direction of the two ships.</p>
      <p>"What are we gonna do now?" Asked Jim.</p>
      <p>"How is it that we'll be able to get the Map?" Doppler inquired. "Silver and his men no doubt have the only longboats to get off this miserable pile of rock."</p>
      <p>"Not to mention that even if we do confiscate the longboats, there's no way we could possibly deal with that Heartless ship docked beside the Legacy." Tali added.</p>
      <p>Jim then summarized their current predicament. "Without the map, we're dead. If we try to leave, we're dead. If we stay-"</p>
      <p>"<em>We're dead! We're dead! We're dead! We're dead!"</em> Morph repeats, then whines in concern.</p>
      <p>Jim honestly felt his head pounding from thinking so much.</p>
      <p>There was no way they could get the map now.</p>
      <p>It was then that one fiery redhead cleared his throat aloud to garner everyone's attention.</p>
      <p>"I got an idea." Said Axel.</p>
      <p>"You do?" Xion looked to him with Axel nodding.</p>
      <p>"Yeah, it's simple really." Axel confidently stated. "Roxas, Xion and I can use a Corridor, get up there, get the map and help take care of the Heartless ship up there."</p>
      <p>"That sounds easy enough." Roxas muttered in thought.</p>
      <p>"But when it comes down to it, it never really is." Shepard said in a dry voice.</p>
      <p>"We cannot separate." Amelia grunted aloud, clutching her wound. "If we do, it will be divide and conquer for those vagrants."</p>
      <p>"Pardon, but what is this Corridor you spoke of?" Doppler asked.</p>
      <p>"Right, you lot don't really know what it is." Jane said. "You'll see in a second, first we gotta handle this. Axel." Her fellow redhead turned to her. "Much as your idea sounds good, Captain Amelia has a bit of a point. I'd rather you not risk yourselves going up to the ship alone even if you guys can handle the Heartless. Who knows what may happen up there."</p>
      <p>"Then it's better we go for a snatch and grab." Garrus stated. "Have at least one or two of them at most go in and get the map. Right now, I gotta agree, I'd rather not see you guys take on a Heartless Pirate Ship bigger than the Legacy on your own."</p>
      <p>"There's also Marluxia lurking around." Roxas pointed out. "He could be anywhere."</p>
      <p>"True. Though I do wonder if he has even bothered to get the rest of the Organization to come here."</p>
      <p>"Doubt it." Axel said bluntly. "If he did, we would've gotten basically every one of them here and that would be a whole mess to contend with. No, old Marly is still playing his own old game. Before I got assigned to Castle Oblivion, Saix spoke of possible traitors in the group that I was being sent off with. He hinted at Marluxia and Larxene rather blatantly."</p>
      <p>"So there's even more dissension among this Organization." Jane noted.</p>
      <p>"We should be lucky we're only dealing with one member right now." Axel muttered.</p>
      <p>"Ok then, so, who is gonna get the map then?" Doppler asked.</p>
      <p>"I will." Axel said straight away. "My idea, I'll go through with it."</p>
      <p>"When would you plan on doing that?" Jim inquired.</p>
      <p>"Perhaps after sunset, take the boys up there by surprise in the cover of night." Axel said. "These coats work real mighty well in that regard."</p>
      <p>"Even then, that won't help us find a way out of this place. With that Heartless horde outside, it's gonna be hard to leave without guns blazing." Shepard pointed out, peeking outside their shelter to see Silvers pirates set up a camp within the trees of the planet not too far away from where they are situated.</p>
      <p>With this going on, B.E.N. decided to walk off.</p>
      <p>"Where you going?" Jim silently asked, not wanting to disturb the discussion not far away.</p>
      <p>"Oh nowhere." B.E.N. waved off. "Just wanted to give you guys some space. No need for someone who can't contribute to a plan. So I'll just get out using the back door."</p>
      <p>This caused the conversation to halt, having everyone to perk up on what the robot said.</p>
      <p>"Back door?" Several of them repeated in bewilderment.</p>
      <p>Running over to where B.E.N. was at, they saw him roll a spherical object in the far side of the space that had a hole in the center. Light was protruding from it's opening.</p>
      <p>"Oh yeah, I get this delightful breeze through here… which I think is important because ventilation among friends..."</p>
      <p>Peering inside, a lot of people saw an incessant cycle of machines, piping and wiring.</p>
      <p>"Whoa! Are you guys seeing this?"</p>
      <p>"Yeah, what is all of this?"</p>
      <p>"You mean the miles and miles of machinery that runs through the entire course of this planet? Not a clue." B.E.N. answered, leaning on the sphere.</p>
      <p>"B.E.N." Xion said cheerfully. "You're a lifesaver!"</p>
      <p>"I am? Oh… I am. How?"</p>
      <p>"I think we got our ticket outta here." Shepard declared with the others smiling.</p>
      <p>"Right so we," Axel gestured to himself and Xion, "go get the Map. Once we're back, we slip through this back door and find the treasure."</p>
      <p>"To sum it up, yes."</p>
      <p>"Hopefully, we will be able to get the Legacy to help pick us up where Flint's trove is located and flee like the dickens." Amelia stated, earning nods from the rest.</p>
      <p>"If nothing else, this back door will serve as our emergency exit if things go south."</p>
      <p>"And what of later?" Roxas questioned. "At some point we'll need to take care of the Heartless outside."</p>
      <p>"And properly securing the ship and getting it to the trove site." Axel added in.</p>
      <p>"I highly doubt you or Xion can pilot the Legacy." Amelia said to the red haired Nobody.</p>
      <p>"No arguments there, captain."</p>
      <p>It was from there that further discussions and planning took place amongst the group until it was finally time to commence it.</p>
      <p>
        <em>-Scene Cut-</em>
      </p>
      <p>A Corridor appeared at the far end of the Legacy's deck. Once Xion and Axel stepped through, the doorway closed behind them.</p>
      <p>"What's the plan now?" Xion asked before taking note of the present surroundings. "Ship looks deserted."</p>
      <p>"Don't be fooled." Axel chastised them. "There could be some Heartless lurking about outside of their ship beside us. Or pop in if they want."</p>
      <p>The two quietly moved towards the staircase that would lead them to the lower decks of the ship.</p>
      <p>"Alright, Jim said that the map is below deck next to the longboats in a pile of rope." Axel recalled. "Xion, go down to where Jim said the Map is at. And be careful."</p>
      <p>Xion nodded and almost made her way below deck. "What of you?" She asked.</p>
      <p>"Gonna secure the place and raise some commotion while I'm at it." Axel stated.</p>
      <p>"You sure?" Xion didn't really want to leave him by himself.</p>
      <p>Axel only grinned, messing up her hair in a comforting manner. "Yeah, need to put attention away from you while I have some fun."</p>
      <p>Xion nodded as she ran down below and made her way towards the ship's hangar to retrieve the map.</p>
      <p>Axel, all the while rotated his shoulder and cracked his neck a few times.</p>
      <p>Looking around, the redhead frowned before he held up a hand and shot up a small fireball that erupted into a flare.</p>
      <p>No less than a few seconds later did multiple Heartless appear all around with a loud hissing coming from above.</p>
      <p>"Well hello there, Mr. Scroop." Axel greeted in a casual manner. "I was wondering where you were."</p>
      <p>"You." Scroop regarded the fiery Nobody in suspicion, crawling down the mast like the spider freak he was. "I was expecting one of those cabin boys."</p>
      <p>"Sorry, but they're busy at the moment. You'll have to chat with them later when they are openly available." Axel narrowed his eyes a little soon after. "Until then, you got me."</p>
      <p>From what he learned prior to commencing their plan, Axel -along with the others- was questioned by Jim on something that was somewhat bugging him since this morning.</p>
      <p>When asked why they were all in the stateroom in the first place, Shepard told the Hawkins boy they were discussing a number of details. From theorizing how to excavate the illustrious treasure trove to properly detaining Mr. Scroop. When asked why on the latter, Garrus revealed he suspected the arachnid crew member was involved in Mr. Arrow's death.</p>
      <p>It was from there did Jim confirm the suspicions when he bluntly heard it from the galley before the mutiny commenced.</p>
      <p>Scroop was cautious, as he wasn't going to just recklessly charge at this man.</p>
      <p>He had seen just what he was capable of and it was not to be scoffed at.</p>
      <p>This man was dangerous and lethal with his combat skills being greatly above his own. So that meant he had to play it smart.</p>
      <p>Luckily for him, he wasn't alone.</p>
      <p>In mere moments, a dozen Pirate Heartless appeared in plumbs of dark vapors. With a silent snarl and wave of his hand, Scroop ordered the new arrivals to attack.</p>
      <p>Their cutlasses cleaved the air to strike down the red haired Nobody, yet he was able to quickly maneuver around the blows. Hardly even using his Eternal Flames chakrams to block and parry the attacks before burning his opponents into cinders.</p>
      <p>A couple more came their way as they tried to get him from behind.</p>
      <p>Axel rolled his eyes at the oncoming attack, crouching down with his Chakrams hovering over his knees.</p>
      <p>Just as the Pirates drew near, Axel instantly glided around them and threw his chakrams forward, destroying the Pirates in an instant.</p>
      <p>Scroop winced upon seeing that though he snarled a moment later, throwing his arms forward.</p>
      <p>More Heartless appeared, Pirates, Air Pirates, Aerial Vikings and even several Pole Cannons.</p>
      <p>"Wow, is this it?" Axel looked around unimpressed at what he was seeing. "This is the best you could come up with? Rehash?"</p>
      <p>"And what would you know, dead man." Scroop hissed, leveling one of his claws at him.</p>
      <p>Axel only shook his head, completely non-threatened by the arachnid like spider. "You know, you are rather pathetic."</p>
      <p>"What?" Scroop snarled.</p>
      <p>"Your darkness ain't all that strong to fuel these Heartless here." Axel chortled. "I think they're just grabbing at scraps with how much you're putting out for the amount coming out." He leaned forward with his hands at his hips with a cheeky smirk. "Tell me, have you had performance issues as of late or was this before the voyage?"</p>
      <p>Scroop's already red face became an indescribable deeper shade with him now seething in rage.</p>
      <p>"Then again, a newbie like yourself can't even comprehend just what he's gotten his hands, sorry, claws on." Axel said, picking his ear slightly.</p>
      <p>"Maybe you shouldn't celebrate your victory when I could so easily <em>kill </em>you."</p>
      <p>"You? Kill me? That's adorable." Axel guffawed. "Don't worry, all the pretty insectoid and arachnid ladies out there will be thankful for me taking care of ya."</p>
      <p>"Oh, really and how are you gonna do that?" Scroop scoffed. "I have these <em>fine</em> folks protecting me at a moment's notice."</p>
      <p>Axel merely blinked before snorting out a chuckle at the man's arrogance.</p>
      <p>"What's so funny?!"</p>
      <p>"You really don't know me at all."</p>
      <p>Raising his hand a little, he focused on the arachnid alien and the surrounding Heartless before snapping his fingers.</p>
      <p>In an instant, the alien combusted into a plumb of flames as his screams could be momentarily heard. And it wasn't long before he was reduced to ashes.</p>
      <p>The Heartless suffered the same fate with all of them being destroyed in bursts of flames. A moment later, the deck was clear.</p>
      <p>"Good riddance."</p>
      <p>With Scroop taken care of, Axel stood upon the deck of the ship by his lonesome.</p>
      <p>There he stood for a few moments before letting out a sigh, walking over to one of the masts and leaned upon it with his arms crossed.</p>
      <p>"Alright Marly, enough drama. Come out already." Axel said aloud a moment later.</p>
      <p>He got nothing in response for a prolonged number of seconds until…</p>
      <p>"Ah, there we go." Axel said as a Corridor of Darkness appeared a few feet away from him to reveal the Graceful Assassin.</p>
      <p>"Axel." Marluxia greeted cordially.</p>
      <p>"Let's not beat around the bush here, Marluxia." No. VIII said straight away. "I'm just gonna cut to the chase. Why haven't you called upon the rest of the Organization?"</p>
      <p>Marluxia didn't reply at first, gazing upon the turncoat member of the Organization with an analytical eye before he turned and walked over to the railing of the ship.</p>
      <p>"I believe you should already have an idea as to why you have seen me and <em>only</em> me." Marluxia stated, with Axel letting out a small 'hmph'.</p>
      <p>"Well <em>I believe</em> you should speak a bit more plainly with me then your typical intellectual bullcrap." Axel retorted.</p>
      <p>Marluxia chortled to himself, looking back at the redhead.</p>
      <p>"I still have ambitions of my own, Axel." Marluxia said without an ounce of regret. "I had long wished to unbind myself from Xemnas' clutches and rid myself of the shackles he's imposed upon us. Larxene shares in this sentiment and we had originally intended to conduct our plans with Sora in Castle Oblivion with the assistance of Namine."</p>
      <p>"Assistance?" Axel repeated in a disbelieving manner. "You can maybe fool most people with that word Marly, but you're not gonna fool me. Never saw a girl happier than her when she found out you weren't running the Castle no more."</p>
      <p>"Hmmm?" Marluxia's brow rose up upon hearing the way Axel spoke with his eyes narrowing a moment later.</p>
      <p>A few seconds passed by until realization dawned upon No. XI's face.</p>
      <p>"Ah~ I see now." Marluxia said in understanding.</p>
      <p>"You got something to say, Marluxia?" Axel asked with an edge to his tone.</p>
      <p>The pink-haired Nobody raised a hand in a placating manner.</p>
      <p>"I did not wish to antagonize you, Axel."</p>
      <p>"Really? Well you've done a bang up job so far." Axel sarcastically remarked.</p>
      <p>"I had originally intended to include you into our coup." Marluxia admitted, catching Axel slightly off guard.</p>
      <p>"Say what now?"</p>
      <p>"You heard me, Axel." Marluxia went on. "Larxene was the one who suggested it and when I took some time, I saw what she saw."</p>
      <p>A sinister grin appeared on the Assassin's face whilst Axel's was emotionless and unreadable.</p>
      <p>"You were discontent within the Organization as well." No. XI revealed though No. VIII kept up his unmoving expression. "I am unsure as to whom else you had spoken to in regards to your position within the Organization but you yourself had your own plans. It took some time to divulge just who else could it have possibly been that you would be working with but then it came to me. Saix."</p>
      <p>Though he remained unphased via his face, Marluxia caught the tightening fist out of the corner of his eyes.</p>
      <p>His grin grew with a slight manic gleam in his eyes.</p>
      <p>"I see." Marluxia said in validation. "It was indeed Saix. I found it difficult to believe at first but then I recall a fascinating disclosure of information that I believe Xigbar mentioned. Of how you and No. VII knew one another in the time before becoming Nobodies."</p>
      <p>Axel's silence only enabled No. XI to continue his little monologue.</p>
      <p>"And then, No. VII began moving up the ranks until at long last he was second in command." Marluxia said, holding out both his arms. "Imagine my surprise when I overheard our new secondary leader conversing with No. VIII about plans of their own."</p>
      <p>That got a reaction out of the Flurry of Dancing Flames.</p>
      <p>"Alright, I've heard your little spiel." Axel said. "What do you want?"</p>
      <p>"Did I not tell you my ambitions?" Marluxia rhetorically asked.</p>
      <p>"Yeah but a lot of good that did you." Axel countered. "Once again, you're back under the thumb of Xemnas while I got off Scott free for now."</p>
      <p>"For now?"</p>
      <p>"I'm not an idiot, Marluxia." Axel retorted. "Sooner or later, I knew we'd have to face the Organization after betraying them. Case in point."</p>
      <p>"But it doesn't have to be this way." Marluxia implored. "Think Axel. With you, Roxas and the puppet working with me and Larxene, overthrowing Xemnas is attainable. Perhaps even having Saix join in our coup."</p>
      <p>Axel was silent after hearing this, closing his eyes, deep in thought.</p>
      <p>"You know Marly, I could understand your desire to overthrow Xemnas." Axel began. "Guy was a lying sack of shit who bullshitted us all into joining for the crappiest of reasons."</p>
      <p>This statement intrigued Marluxia. The Superior's plans were a falsehood?</p>
      <p>"But here's the problem..."</p>
      <p>No. XI noticed an immediate uptake in temperature as he saw Axel's expression visibly darken.</p>
      <p>"See, from the way Namine described it, you were basically forcibly making her do things she wasn't exactly comfortable with." Axel gazed at him intently. "And I would hate to see what would happen if you truly went on with your plans when that Sora kid was to show up at Castle Oblivion before Roxas went missing."</p>
      <p>He pushed himself off the wall and held out one hand in Marluxia's direction with one of his Chakrams appearing.</p>
      <p>"Let's not forget that Roxas and Xion have their own Keyblades." Axel said darkly. "Something you crave and desire. What's to stop you from doing the same to them?"</p>
      <p>Marluxia held a neutral expression as he saw wisps of fire float off Axel's form.</p>
      <p>A moment later, Marluxia chuckled aloud with a shake of his head.</p>
      <p>"You are far more intelligent than I give you credit for, Axel." Marluxia said, momentarily glancing over to the spot where Scroop met his demise.</p>
      <p>Discreetly, he shifted his hand and clenched his fist a moment later before a Dark Corridor swallowed the Graceful Assassin's form, leaving Axel all by his lonesome on the deck.</p>
      <p>It was sometime after did his Omni-tool flare to life.</p>
      <p>"<em>Axel, I got the Map."</em></p>
      <p>"Good to hear, Xion." Axel said to his hard light device. "Hope you didn't have any difficulties down there."</p>
      <p>"<em>Only a little, nothing I couldn't handle."</em></p>
      <p>"Good girl." He chuckled out. "Now come on up and meet me on the deck. We need to take care of the next step of the plan."</p>
      <p>Ending the call, Axel looked at the Heartless Pirate Ship docked not far away from the Legacy.</p>
      <p>It was then something open up from the sides of the dark vessel. Plumbs of darkness formed with a volley of Heartless shooting out one by one.</p>
      <p>"Great… the flies..."</p>
      <p>He recognized the type of Heartless appearing out of the enemy ship. They resembled flying bug-like creatures with largely round and metallic bodies. There were several metallic cones on the side of its face and one at its proboscis. Along the body were the occasional bits of rust, even on the insectoid wings as they buzzed about. And to finish off their appearance was the spinning anchor like stingers on their rumps.</p>
      <p>These were the Vaporflies, and like ordinary flies, they were utterly annoying and came in droves.</p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>-Insert Kingdom Hearts III: Vim and Vigor Theme-</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>Moments after they drew close, Axel unleashed a volley of Fire attacks at the incoming Vaporflies. Each was knocked out of the sky before they were struck down for good when chakrams pierced their bodies to incinerate them.</p>
      <p>At some point, Xion came running out from down below to see the battle commenced all over. Seeing her friend needing help, she rushed in with her Keyblade in hand. Leaping into the air, she struck down a few of the Heartless before performing a Thunder spell to help vaporize them.</p>
      <p>"Axel." Xion rushed over to her friend. "What's happening?"</p>
      <p>"Whaddya think, Xion?" Axel said, his weapons returning to his hands after he tossed them. "These bozos as usual."</p>
      <p>The said "bozos" however were soon joined by something even bigger than any of them combined.</p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>"RRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAA!"</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>The loud roar filled the air, making the two Nobodies whip their heads towards a higher area in the sky. There they saw a giant Heartless was gliding through the area.</p>
      <p>It was mechanical and wooden in style with the theme of its vulture-like appearance. The wings of the Heartless were mechanically composed with cannons embedded at the joints. Three chained anchors dangle on the Heartless by its neck and two wing joints.</p>
      <p>"That's not good." Axel said with a grim face.</p>
      <p>"How are we supposed to get up there to it?" Xion asked, hand over her eyes as she gazed at the large flying Heartless.</p>
      <p>"Either we get it to come down to us or…" Axel's eyes shifted about at the multitude of flying Vaporflies. "We try getting to it ourselves."</p>
      <p>She looked up at Axel quizzically before she noticed what he was looking at himself.</p>
      <p>Nodding in a determined expression, Xion ran forward and jumped off of the ship with her landing atop a Vaporfly.</p>
      <p>Pivoting it around, she saw Axel had remained aboard the ship.</p>
      <p>"Axel?"</p>
      <p>"Someone's gotta stay behind to protect the ship." Axel said plainly.</p>
      <p>"Right."</p>
      <p>Thrusting herself forward, she commanded her commandeered Heartless to fly towards the vulture Heartless gliding all over the place.</p>
      <p>Seeing some other Vaporflies coming her way, she saw them fire out some sort of bullets from their mouths as they tried to shoot her down. She hurled her ride to avoid getting hit before twisting the antennas on its head. This got her to go faster as she zoomed out of the way.</p>
      <p>Wanting to properly shoot them down, she glared at the Heartless and popped it's head. In mere moments, bullets were propelled out of its mouth. Smiling to herself, she whirled her ride around to shoot down the opposing Vaporflies.</p>
      <p>Once clear, she headed straight towards her target. Getting close to it, she kept firing at the giant Heartless to hopefully immobilize it, somehow. When it flailed a little, Xion leapt off her Vaporfly and landed into a run on this Raging Vulture's wing.</p>
      <p>Just as the Heartless flapped its large wing, she used its own motion to propel herself onto one of its spikes on its back, grabbing onto the one closest to its head.</p>
      <p>The Heartless appeared to detect her behind him, twisting its head around and screeching at the Keybearer.</p>
      <p>"Yeah, hello to you too." Xion grimaced.</p>
      <p>She proceeded to smack her Keyblade several times against the Raging Vultures beak in defense as it tried jabbing itself at her.</p>
      <p>Xion put all her strength into one of her swings, managing to land a powerful blow on the Heartless with the Raging Vulture's beak visibly cracking.</p>
      <p>That seemed to rather piss the flying Heartless off as Xion noticed a visible glint in the Vultures eyes.</p>
      <p>Halting her assault, she defensively held up her Keyblade up and casted one of her newer spells that she had been attempting to pull off.</p>
      <p>A hexagonal barrier surrounded her just in time when the Heartless unleashed a stream of fire from its opened maw. It's heat encompassed the magical shell and Xion held on as long as she could.</p>
      <p>"It worked." Xion cheered for her success, wincing slightly as she felt a small hit on her magic.</p>
      <p>'Figures.' No. XIV internally mused. This was still a new spell to her after all.</p>
      <p>When the steam of fire ceased, Xion brought the barrier down before resuming her assault. Clubbing it's beak with all her might. And at one point, she unleashed a Thundara spell to complete the combo.</p>
      <p>Feeling drained, she was forced to vacate her spot on the Heartless and dived towards a passing Vaporfly. Just in time too as another stream of fire was unleashed where she was once at.</p>
      <p>As this went on, Axel was attacking the diving Vaporflies as he tried to be sure they wouldn't damage the ship all that much.</p>
      <p>Looking up, he saw Xion free falling down below with the Raging Vulture pivoting down to pursue after the falling puppet.</p>
      <p>Rushing over to one of the cannons, Axel was turning on the weapon and got things primed and ready. Using what stuff he learned from Garrus while on this ship, he was able to operate the cannon to some marginal effectiveness.</p>
      <p>Seated in the gunner's chair, Axel took aim at the Raging Vulture and fired off a laser cannon round at its belly once Xion was in the clear.</p>
      <p>The projectile zoomed across the sky before it eventually struck it's underside-</p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>"RRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAA!"</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>-resulting in an explosion with the Heartless screeching in utter pain.</p>
      <p>Chucking to himself, the red haired Nobody saw the Vulture turning its attention towards him. Narrowing his gaze, Axel primed the cannon once more as the giant Heartless was flying towards the Legacy.</p>
      <p>"Come on you blasted thing." Axel cursed, seeing the cannon wasn't fully effectively charged for maximum damage like before.</p>
      <p>Xion, having commandeered yet another Vaporfly, she flew after the giant Heartless firing at it as she drew closer.</p>
      <p>Bopping the Heartless' head even harder, missiles shot out from its rear and zoomed across the sky. The payloads were successfully delivered as they collided against the Raging Vulture's form, resulting in yet another loud painful screech.</p>
      <p>With the cannon fully ready, Axel took aim and fired the cannon once more as the laser ball quickly zoomed through the air. Instead of the belly, it struck the Vulture's head as yet another screech filled the air.</p>
      <p>Coming in close, Xion leaped off the Vaporfly and landed on the Vulture's back as it was momentarily flailing. She carefully pulled herself forward to somersault across it's back right up to the neck area. Once more, like before, she drew in the Heartless' attention by striking it's head.</p>
      <p>Once the bird's head turned back around, Xion resumed her blows one by one with the Heartless flailing each and every time. Soon enough, seeing the glint in its eyes once again, Xion got ready for a stream of fire about to be fired.</p>
      <p>Yet this wasn't meant to be as the Vulture let out a screech once more, this time from yet another laser ball to its chest courtesy of Axel with it beginning to thrash about in the air.</p>
      <p>The thrashing launched Xion high into the air, her expression comical as she flailed her arms about trying to get control of her situation.</p>
      <p>Gritting her teeth, No. XIV performed an aerial recovery and looked down at the Raging Vulture.</p>
      <p>Hovering over the Heartless for a brief moment, she summoned her affinity of Light, concentrating on her Keyblade.</p>
      <p>A momentary aura of light surrounded her that went into her Keyblade that soon crackled with magical infused energy.</p>
      <p>It was time for the Magic Hour.</p>
      <p>Holding her Keyblade overhead with both hands, she flung herself down, spinning rapidly in the air as she drew closer to the Raging Vulture.</p>
      <p>As she drew closer to the Heartless, her form began glowing with the elements of fire, lightning, blizzard, air and gravity, utilizing the last element to increase her speedy descent.</p>
      <p>The Raging Vulture detected the incoming attack and reared its head up at the projectile-Xion. Opening its mouth, the Heartless unleashed a torrent of flames that Xion had quite literally cleaved right through the fire.</p>
      <p>In a burst of power and speed, Xion cut right through the Heartless with it jolting at the attack.</p>
      <p>The Raging Vulture seemingly froze in the air for a monochrome of a second, trembling before beginning its fall.</p>
      <p>And where did the giant bird Heartless fall?</p>
      <p>Straight through the center deck of the Heartless Pirate ship that caved in and both vanished a moment later with two gargantuan Hearts floating up into the night sky before they too disappeared.</p>
      <p>Witnessing this, Axel let out a bellow of a laugh, holding his head back as he watched all this in slight disbelief but great amusement.</p>
      <p>"Holy shit, that was convenient." Axel said aloud.</p>
      <p>Diving from the skies above, No. XIV steered herself to properly land on the ship and not miss her shot.</p>
      <p>She reached her mark by landing on the masts before landing on the Legacy's deck. Steadying herself, Xion leaned forward as she placed her hands on her knees. Breathing in deeply a couple of times, she soon pulled out a Hi-Potion, uncorked the bottle and started chugging its contents.</p>
      <p>It was at this point did she hear Axel come towards her.</p>
      <p>"You okay there?" Axel said with a wide grin.</p>
      <p>Xion merely held up her finger, silently saying "one moment please". Once the liquid was down her throat, she pulled out a Hi-Ether and crushed it, feeling her magical reserves be restored.</p>
      <p>"Need to stock up after all this." Xion remarked with a small smile, Axel chuckling as he messed up her hair again.</p>
      <p>"No kidding." Axel said. "Atta girl, Xion."</p>
      <p>His young friend could only beam at the praise.</p>
      <p>Opening up a Dark Corridor, the pair went through it in order to rejoin the others.</p>
      <p>
        <em>-Scene Cut-</em>
      </p>
      <p>It was honestly boring for the Hawkins boy as he was on watch, keeping an eye at the pirate camp near the forest's edge. He did have an important task while the group was waiting for Axel and Xion to return. No one wanted to be sure the pirates broke away and tried to sneak their way towards their little stronghold. There was no exception with the Heartless, who stood guard of the encampment</p>
      <p>To somewhat pass the time, the others were getting things ready for their eventual departure from B.E.N.'s humble abode. From Shepard and Garrus checking on their weapons and gear, Roxas and Tali conversing with each other (even dragging Jim into a few topics), to Doppler checking up on the still drugged up Amelia.</p>
      <p>"How's she holding up, Doc?" Jane asked, looking over to the two.</p>
      <p>Doppler held up a hand as he leaned in intently to listen to her struggle out her words.</p>
      <p>"Gentlemen… We must stick together and… and…"</p>
      <p>"Yes, yes, stay together and?" Doppler encouraged. "We must stay together and what?"</p>
      <p>Amelia gazed at Doppler with a soft, dazed smile broke out. "Doctor, you have wonderful eyes."</p>
      <p>"..."</p>
      <p>"..."</p>
      <p>"...SHE HAS LOST HER MIND!"</p>
      <p>"You gotta help her!" Jim called out from the stronghold's entrance.</p>
      <p>"Dang it, Jim. I'm an astronomer, not a doctor. I mean, I am a doctor, but I'm not <em>that</em> kind of doctor. I have a doctorate. It's not the same thing. You can't help people with a doctorate. You just sit there and you're useless!" Doppler rambled on, putting his fists up to his temples.</p>
      <p>"Honestly, she should not be this entirely woozy after so long." Garrus said. "Tali isn't all loopy like she is."</p>
      <p>"I think it's because Roxas used two things that you could say … familiar with each other, if that works." Tali said, not entirely sure of her own words.</p>
      <p>"Huh?"</p>
      <p>"I think Roxas using his Cure spell and the last of his Elixir were kinda familiar substances in a way because of them being magical in nature." Tali clarified, now having a better idea as to what she was trying to say. "But I guess when Xion did it to the Captain and Garrus followed up with the Medi-gel, it had an adverse effect."</p>
      <p>"Okay… note to self: don't mix medigel with healing spell." Roxas muttered quietly to himself.</p>
      <p>"Yeah, don't wanna complicate a field mission because of that." Tali said, looking up at him in amusement.</p>
      <p>"So what should we do about her then?" Jim asked the others.</p>
      <p>"I guess all we could do is just wait for her to ride it out." Jane admitted, gazing outside with her eyes lingering at the now lone Legacy.</p>
      <p>"Hey." Shepard's voice caught everyone's attention. "Look. The Legacy. It's by itself!"</p>
      <p>Rushing towards the entrance, they saw the Heartless ship was no longer there.</p>
      <p>"Looks like they did it."</p>
      <p>It was moments later that a Dark Corridor appeared some distance behind them. Soon after, Xion and Axel stepped on through with the Corridor disbursing soon after.</p>
      <p>"Mission accomplished, Shepard." Said Axel.</p>
      <p>Xion only smiled proudly, with her pulling out the map and tossing it up and down and held it in her hands.</p>
      <p>"We got it."</p>
      <p>"Yes!" Jim pumped his fist several times in victory. "You guys are the best!"</p>
      <p>Xion tossed the map over to the Hawkins boy, who effortlessly caught it.</p>
      <p>"Huh?" they heard the sound of the Captain stirring, her ears flicking up and down as her eyes cracked open.</p>
      <p>"What on earth is all this racket?" Amelia asked in a soft voice.</p>
      <p>"Oh, good to see you're getting out of your dizzy spat, ol' Cappi-tan." Axel chuckled out.</p>
      <p>"Axel?" Amelia blinked, reaching a hand to rub her eyes. "Commander, Doctor?"</p>
      <p>"We're here, Captain." Doppler said softly. "Are you alright?"</p>
      <p>Amelia groaned as Doppler helped her sit up. "I could go for a strong cup of tea with a pint to wash down this bloody headache."</p>
      <p>"Well, at least you're back to your usual self." Jane said, walking over to the Captain.</p>
      <p>"What's the word?"</p>
      <p>"We got back the map and the Legacy is more or less back in your hands." Xion reported to the feline captain.</p>
      <p>"We just need to get back to it and prep it for departure." Garrus said.</p>
      <p>Amelia groaned but managed out a small smile of satisfaction.</p>
      <p>"Good, they're secured. Well done all of you." Amelia said before gazing at Jim. "Mr. Hawkins, if you would be so kind…"</p>
      <p>With the Map Orb in his possession once more, he made quick work in opening it back up.</p>
      <p>In an instant, the green light flowed out of the map and formed a holographic image of Treasure Planet.</p>
      <p>"Okay, now what? We're on the planet..."</p>
      <p>The hologram then disbursed and turned into a thick green line that led outside, pulsing with every other second.</p>
      <p>"Okay, seems we now have a direct course-"</p>
      <p>Before anything else can be said, the line retracted and went back into the map.</p>
      <p>"...I gotta say, but glad we don't have to go through this entrance. Don't wanna risk being spotted by Silver, his men and the Heartless."</p>
      <p>"Think they might have seen it?" Tali asked worriedly.</p>
      <p>"Might have, but I don't wanna stick around to find out." Shepard said. "We need to move."</p>
      <p>"Then to the back door we go."</p>
      <p>
        <em>-Scene Cut-</em>
      </p>
      <p>In all honesty, it took them an hour to find where the map line was leading them. The group had to venture through the mechanized planet's tunnel system before ending up more or less a mile away from where Silver's camp was located. From there, they traversed through the planet's surface with the volley of odd forestation here and there. It could've taken them a fraction of a time to reach their inevitable destination if they procured one of Silver's longboats, but they didn't want to risk alerting the pirates and the Heartless.</p>
      <p>It would've been a bit more of a struggle if Tali, Amelia and Doppler were still with them. With the two mentioned women, they were still recovering from the last leg of their injuries. And Doppler was just a civilian who wouldn't do all that well in trekking through the planet's surface.</p>
      <p>Once leaving B.E.N.'s residence and making it a safe distance away, Axel opened up a Dark Corridor for the three aforementioned people to traverse to. He did temporarily relieve himself of his coat by letting them wear it in order to safely pass on through. Each time they got through the Corridor; the coat would be thrown back to the other side to repeat the process until they were no longer there.</p>
      <p>Tali, Amelia and Doppler needed to get the Legacy up and running in order to properly head on out at a moment's notice. And both Axel and Xion had to be there with them in case any Heartless were present to cause any further problems.</p>
      <p>Once the group was separated, they went on with the next leg of the operation.</p>
      <p>Presently, the assembled group was traversing through a thick grove of bamboo-like trees as they were blocking their way. Occasionally, Shepard and Roxas would cleave their way through with their Omni-blade and Keyblade, respectively.</p>
      <p>Jim walked in the middle with the Map Orb in hand as Garrus covered the rear in case anything were to come their way. And B.E.N. tagged along as well as the group figured the robot might prove useful later to possibly give any further clues as to find the treasure trove.</p>
      <p>After all, this little trek of theirs did have them run into an occasional Heartless skirmish.</p>
      <p>When the holographic green line pulses ever stronger, faster and brighter; showing the group that they were starting to get close.</p>
      <p>Morph was peeking out of Jim's pocket, making a scared whimpering sound.</p>
      <p>"It's okay, Morph. It's okay." Jim said, comforting the scared blob.</p>
      <p>"It'll be alright." Garrus said assuringly.</p>
      <p>B.E.N. then cuts in between them, getting Jim's attention.</p>
      <p>"Jimmy, I don't know about you, but I'm starting to see my life passing in front of my eyes." Said the robot, grabbing his own head. "At least I think it was my life. Was I ever dancing with an android named Lupe?!"</p>
      <p>B.E.N. had raised his voice a bit too high for comfort, causing the group to jump in their present spots.</p>
      <p>"Damnit, B.E.N." Garrus hissed. "It's already tense as it is. Don't want you to make it even worse with your outbursts."</p>
      <p>The rusted robot gave out a nervous chuckle. "Sorry." He said, lowering his voice in the process.</p>
      <p>Cutting through the last leg of foliage, the group had a far clearer pathway when the green light got extremely intense.</p>
      <p>It was only moments later the pathway was clear did the group come to a startling discovery.</p>
      <p>"Okay… Where is it?" Shepard asked bluntly.</p>
      <p>What they were looking at now was a cliffside with the green light ending right at it's very edge. There wasn't anything beyond that, just a barren valley with an extremely deep cavern down below.</p>
      <p>The group was left confused and lost about where the map led them towards.</p>
      <p>It was at this moment did the green light retract back into the map orb. When Jim was trying to open it back up, hoping things could be figured out, it wouldn't budge, not even the buttons.</p>
      <p>"Any ideas on what's going on Jim?" Shepard asked, turning to him as he began pressing the multiple buttons but to no avail.</p>
      <p>"I don't know. I can't get it open." Jim says, still struggling.</p>
      <p>"Here, let me have a go at it." Roxas said, ready to catch it.</p>
      <p>The Keybearer figured that if the map can't be opened the traditional way, he could use the Keyblade to force it out.</p>
      <p>Jim complied with the suggestion and tossed it to Roxas.</p>
      <p>Unfortunately, he overshot the toss, causing it to land and roll towards the cliffside.</p>
      <p>"I got it!"</p>
      <p>Chasing after it, Roxas was able to stop the Map from falling over the edge by diving towards the ground and catching it.</p>
      <p>When he went to get back up, Roxas noticed something odd with the moss covered ground.</p>
      <p>"What's this?"</p>
      <p>"Is something wrong?" Shepard asked, coming up to the young Nobody along with everyone else.</p>
      <p>Roxas brushed away the moss to reveal a circular indent on the ground with markings identical to the map's surface. No. XIII gazed at the circular hole and held up the map in his hand for a moment.</p>
      <p>Taking a gander, Roxas inserted the map orb into the hole, causing the entire ground to glow into a bright green color.</p>
      <p>"What the hell was that?"</p>
      <p>Roxas stood up with some of the others standing back. From where the map presently laid, a green holographic sphere rose from the ground.</p>
      <p>Jim was about to reach out and touch it, but soon heard a loud rumbling could be heard.</p>
      <p>Looking onward, the group saw a dozen glowing lines quickly travel from the cavernous floor down below and reach towards their location. It wasn't long before a long pillar of light shot into the sky before it spread out to form a triangular portal of sorts.</p>
      <p>And by portal, it was one quite literally as they were seeing a swirling constellation of blue, purple and orange clouds mixed together with stars speckling the nebula.</p>
      <p>"Spirits."</p>
      <p>"Holy…"</p>
      <p>"What is that?"</p>
      <p>"The Lagoon Nebula?" Jim said, identifying the cosmic location before them. "But… But that's halfway across the galaxy."</p>
      <p>In mere moments, Garrus and Shepard pulled out their Omni-tools and held it right in front of the holographic map and portal, respectively.</p>
      <p>"Damn, the readings I'm getting are off the charts."</p>
      <p>"Same here."</p>
      <p>The gazes of both Roxas and Jim shifted from the portal to the holographic sphere.</p>
      <p>Jim was the one to properly approach it before touching a random spot on the map. It was at this moment did he remember what B.E.N. said to him, Roxas and Xion on their first encounter.</p>
      <p>"A big door…" Jim said aloud before the portal momentarily closed and showed a brightened environment where floating structures were present with a perpetual sunrise of colors. "Opening and closing."</p>
      <p>"What?" Shepard said, briefly breaking away from her scanning further on the portal.</p>
      <p>"What did you do, Jim?" Garrus questioned the human teen.</p>
      <p>Roxas was about to say something when Jim continued to press different spots on the map.</p>
      <p>In mere moments, the portal switched onto a windy desert climate somewhere out in the galaxy.</p>
      <p>"Let's see… Kinapis." Jim muttered out before catching onto a familiar crescent shaped space station. "Montressor Spaceport."</p>
      <p>The moment the icon was pressed, the portal suddenly shifted to the Crescentia Station, making everyone else in surprise amazement.</p>
      <p>"So that's how he did it."</p>
      <p>"That's how who did it?" Roxas questioned his friend.</p>
      <p>Jim smiled as he regaled part of his childhood lessons on the infamous pirate. "Flint was impossible to catch, due to him vanishing without a trace." He then continued to press more and more holographic icons as other worlds flashed before them through the portal. "I think he used this portal to roam the universe, stealing treasure."</p>
      <p>"But where'd he stash his horde?" Garrus questioned.</p>
      <p>"I agree. There must be some clue as to where it's kept." Shepard turned over to B.E.N., who presently looked at the portal in silent amazement. "You got any ideas where the treasure's at?"</p>
      <p>"Treasure. Treasure!" He clenched his head. "Buried in the-"</p>
      <p>"Buried in the centroid of the mechanism." Roxas finished off.</p>
      <p>Jim smiled even more. "Remember Tali mentioned something about crazy energy readings back at B.E.N.s place while we were waiting for Axel and Xion? If what Tali said is true, then this whole planet is the mechanism and the treasure is buried in the very center of it."</p>
      <p>"If that's true, then how can we reach it? We honestly can't dig our way or traverse miles upon miles of machinery to reach it." Shepard pointed out. "It could take days."</p>
      <p>Jim merely went back to the holographic orb. "We just open the right door." He said, pressing the icon that was in the shape of Treasure Planet itself.</p>
      <p>In mere seconds, the portal shifted once again, showing a lit space beyond them with metal cylinders jotting down from some ceiling.</p>
      <p>Cautiously, Jim reached out with his hand when Roxas grabbed his shoulder.</p>
      <p>Looking back at him, Roxas gave him a concerned look with the sandy-blond haired teen grasping his hand with his own nodding his head forward.</p>
      <p>Getting the silent message, Jim gave his friend an appreciative smile and stuck his hand through the portal. When not feeling anything amiss, Jim turned back to the others and nodded.</p>
      <p>Carefully, the group then walked through the portal and stared at the much more clear metal cylinders that continually fired energy beams to whatever it was below.</p>
      <p>Before traversing very far, Shepard clasped on to Jim's shoulder and kept him still.</p>
      <p>"What's going on?"</p>
      <p>"Do you hear that?"</p>
      <p>Jim looked around and pointed towards the metal cylinders up above.</p>
      <p>Shepard shook her head.</p>
      <p>"Not that." She brought her hand down towards their feet. "That."</p>
      <p>Looking down, Jim saw a small device with a small laser light hitting his leg. And coming from the device was a faint series of beeping's.</p>
      <p>Pulling out her Omni-tool, Shepard was able to connect with the device.</p>
      <p>"What are you doing?"</p>
      <p>"Seeing what this thing is for." She said. "Could be a bomb as a last line of defense on intruders."</p>
      <p>Not far away, Garrus nodded. "Wouldn't put it past this Flint guy in being precautious. Blowing someone or some people up as a form of insurance."</p>
      <p>Jim blanched. "A bomb!?"</p>
      <p>"At least I'm taking care of this now." Said the Commander as she kept typing away on her device. "Okay, I disabled it… and boy it was on a timer."</p>
      <p>"How long?" Roxas asked.</p>
      <p>"A couple of minutes." Shepard said, Omni-Tool fading away.</p>
      <p>"Minutes? Not seconds?"</p>
      <p>"Your guess is as good as mine on the amount of time."</p>
      <p>With the trap disarmed, the group traversed even further before hearing someone coming up from behind.</p>
      <p>"Well, well."</p>
      <p>The entire group rounded about to see none other than Silver and his gang of Pirates right behind him as he gazed upon them all with a smirk.</p>
      <p>"Mighty fine job you all did us, leading us right to where we needed to be." Silver said, arm morphed into its pistol form.</p>
      <p>Roxas, Shepard and Garrus held up their weapons with Jim pulling out his own pistol and they all held it up at the pirate.</p>
      <p>"Now, now." Silver held up his hands, his robotic one shifting back to normal. "No need for such hostilities among fellow adventurers and explorers, eh? How's about a ceasefire?"</p>
      <p>"And what in God's name makes you think we can trust a <em>word</em> any of you have to say?" Shepard shot back, her Biotics flaring up around her body.</p>
      <p>"Yes, yes, we wanted to mutiny cause we wanted the treasure." Silver openly admitted. "But see, we're not idiots nor are we fools. We know none of us can hold a candle to what you all are capable of. So a parlay perhaps?"</p>
      <p>"I find that hard to believe in you wanting to parlay now of all times." Garrus said. "Then again, pirates and treasure. Should be a bit obvious really.</p>
      <p>"I speaks nothing but the truth in me heart, Mr. Vakarian." Silver said, overdramatically as he took off his hat and bowed with a small grin in place. "We won't be interfering with any of what you'll be doing and you don't disturb us."</p>
      <p>"How can we even trust you?" Roxas asked in suspicion.</p>
      <p>Glancing at the boy, Silver's expression visibly softened, something Shepard and Garrus saw before the pirate captain steeled himself once more.</p>
      <p>"You do or do not. It's all up to you." Silver stated calmly.</p>
      <p>There was a tense standoff between the two groups before it was Shepard who lowered her weapon first.</p>
      <p>"Any funny business and you'll get a bullet between the eyes."</p>
      <p>"Wouldn't dream of it." Silver promised.</p>
      <p>With that, the standoff ended but the tension remained as they all turned back to the cylindrical metal tubes on the ceilings above.</p>
      <p>Stepping at the metal ledge, everyone soon saw a true sight to behold.</p>
      <p>In front of them was a large pool of gold coins and different colored jewels amongst many other valuable chests and other items that were piled atop of each other on the floor. It reached as far as their eyes could see.</p>
      <p>In mere moments, almost every pirate rushed past through Jim and Shepard's men as they cheered with glee, diving towards the treasure all around.</p>
      <p>"The loot of a thousand worlds." Silver said in utter awe.</p>
      <p>Roxas and Jim stared, completely blown away at what they were seeing with Shepard blinking owlishly with how shocked she is.</p>
      <p>"...We're gonna need a bigger ship." Garrus surmised.</p>
      <p>Shepard couldn't help but laugh aloud. "Holy fucking shit. We found a literal planet of treasure. Pirate treasure. Can cross that off our bucket list."</p>
      <p>Looking back, Roxas and Jim saw B.E.N. holding his head.</p>
      <p>"Hey, you okay there?"</p>
      <p>"I… I think so. I don't… know why." Responded the robot. "Something is… familiar about this place. Like something is… missing."</p>
      <p>"Commander." Garrus spoke up, the Spectre looking at the Turian and then turned her head in the direction he was staring at.</p>
      <p>The two teens and the robot followed the same action as they looked onward to see a pirate ship situated on a large hill composed of treasure.</p>
      <p>Jim's eyes widened in shock and excitement. "No way… Flint's ship… The Sabre."</p>
      <p>"That's our way back to the Legacy." Shepard declared, the group of five now walking towards the ship whilst ignoring the pirates that were still joyously celebrating at the find of the century.</p>
      <p>Traversing through the dense flooring composed of treasure, the group made their way to Flint's ship. They did have to take turns getting hoisted up, due to how awkward it was climbing aboard the infamous pirate ship.</p>
      <p>Unbeknownst to them all, a man in a black coat stood at the entrance of the portal with his eyes upon Flint's ship.</p>
      <p>He detected a lingering darkness in the air and located the source. It was the decomposed body of the infamous pirate, Captain Nathaniel Flint.</p>
      <p>Grinning to himself, Marluxia waved his hand towards the space vessel, a coat of dark flames erupted from his hand with darkened rose petals falling down from his sleeve.</p>
      <p>Once done, Marluxia was swallowed up in a Dark Corridor and disappeared from the present world.</p>
      <p>"I swear, Shepard, you need to lay off the snacks." Garrus grunted out, pulling Jane onto the deck.</p>
      <p>"Is there something wrong with my weight Vakarian?" Shepard threatened.</p>
      <p>"Maybe."</p>
      <p>Jim and Roxas hoisted B.E.N. up, who was babbling on a number of things, as they struggled with the amount of weight the robot had on him.</p>
      <p>Once they were all on board the ship's deck, they looked around before coming upon a startling sight.</p>
      <p>Sitting on a throne on top of more treasure was a decomposed body of a six eyed alien in a pirates garb.</p>
      <p>"Captain Flint?" Jim whispered in utter shock.</p>
      <p>B.E.N. sprung up and looked at the slumped over skeleton. "In the flesh! Well, sort of, except for skin, organs… or anything that resembles flesh. That's not there."</p>
      <p>Jim gazed at the skeleton intently when he looked down at his curled up hand. Squinting his eyes, Hawkins reached forward and pried it out of the boney hands.</p>
      <p>It was a curved device of some kind.</p>
      <p>A memory circuit to be exact.</p>
      <p>"-And yet it's so odd, you know? I mean I remember there was something horrible Flint didn't want anyone else to know, but I just can't remember what it was." B.E.N. rambled on.</p>
      <p>"Was it perhaps the bomb trap at the entrance?" Roxas asked.</p>
      <p>"Maybe." Said the android rather unsurely.</p>
      <p>Without warning, Jim grabbed B.E.N and whirled him around. "Hang on a second, B.E.N. I think I found your missing piece."</p>
      <p>B.E.N. flinched at Jim's sudden touch. "Ha, ha! Jimmy, your hands are very, very cold-"</p>
      <p>In an instant, sparks flew with the open circuits at the back of the robot's head flared to life once the memory circuit came close. They suddenly reattached themselves and prying the piece out of Jim's head and back into place into the robot's head.</p>
      <p>"Whoa." B. voice slightly warbled as the color of his pixelated eyes changed from green to blue.</p>
      <p>As this went on, Garrus and Shepard were working on the controls, trying to see if they could get this pirate ship up and running.</p>
      <p>"Man this thing is so unmaintained." Shepard groaned out.</p>
      <p>"Well, hasn't it been here for a hundred years or something?" Garrus pointed out. "Who here can maintain it?"</p>
      <p>Jane nodded before giving Garrus an even look.</p>
      <p>"What?"</p>
      <p>"I swear if you try to calibrate this ship like the cannons back on the Legacy…"</p>
      <p>"Oh for the love of- will you and Axel let it go!?"</p>
      <p>The Android gasped aloud. Feeling everything about him is complete after so many years.</p>
      <p>"Wait, it's all coming back to me." B.E.N said happily. "All my memories! Right up until Flint pulled out my memory unit to make sure nobody would know about his booby trap!"</p>
      <p>"So there was a booby trap. What for?" Roxas questioned the robot.</p>
      <p>"Flint wanted to make sure that nobody could ever steal his treasure, so he rigged this whole planet to blow higher than a Kalepsian kite."</p>
      <p>Overhearing this, Jane chuckled to herself. "Man, so glad I picked up on that."</p>
      <p>"Or else we'd all be screwed." Garrus finished off.</p>
      <p>Suddenly, Captain Flint's Skeleton became engulfed in darkness.</p>
      <p>Seeing this, Roxas stepped back and alerted the others. Looking back at the corpse, they became alarmed.</p>
      <p>"B.E.N." Jim said wearily. "Are you sure there wasn't something else?"</p>
      <p>"Uh… No… it was only the bomb." The android said in confused concern. "Not <em>this</em>."</p>
      <p>The darkness around the skeleton swelled and was soon encompassed entirely with the dark glob morphing and shifting into a larger shape.</p>
      <p>The dark glob raised itself up with two legs being clear to see and out from the mass came three dark blue balls of fire.</p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>-Insert Kingdom Hearts II: The Corrupted OST-</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>The darkness dispersed to reveal a large Heartless three times larger than all of them with a cannon for an arm, sword in the other hand, eyepatch on the right eye, a blackish-purple coat and the Heartless emblem on the pirate captain hat it wore.</p>
      <p>A Closehanded Captain.</p>
      <p>How appropriate that this would be the Heartless of Captain Nathaniel Flint.</p>
      <p>"It's the trap we're used to." Roxas said, Oathkeeper in hand.</p>
      <p>"Unfortunately." Garrus said, holding up his rifle.</p>
      <p>Rearing its large cannon arm at them, it proceeded to fire at the group though Roxas dashed forward and swatted the blast away.</p>
      <p>A moment later, he barely held up his Keyblade in time to block the sword the Closehanded Captain swung at him.</p>
      <p>Roxas visibly winced as he felt his bones creak as he held back the large sword.</p>
      <p>A moment later, Jim had summoned his Solar Surfer and flew up to the head of the Heartless and gave it a face full of his thrusters.</p>
      <p>It was enough of a maneuver to get it to remove its sword off Roxas with the boy charging up his affinity of Light.</p>
      <p>With a powered strike, Roxas sent the giant Heartless out of Flint's ship and to the treasure trove below. It crashed hard down onto the ground, gold coins and jewels flying up into the air.</p>
      <p>Roxas jumped onto the railing of the ship and jumped after the Heartless.</p>
      <p>Jim momentarily hovered there in the air, pivoting around to help Roxas.</p>
      <p>"Jim wait!" Shepard called out to him, watching as the duo ran towards the Heartless that stood back up.</p>
      <p>"Shepard." Garrus called out to her, making her look back to him. "Come on, we need to get this ship up and running. Roxas can handle himself."</p>
      <p>Shepard was torn for the briefest of moments before slamming her fist against the railing in frustration, turning back to go and help get the ship working.</p>
      <p>In the field of gold, the pirates saw the fight that was about to take place with many of them rushing away towards a safer location as both Jim and Roxas moved to engage it.</p>
      <p>Jim flew overhead with his solar surfer whilst Roxas ran at full speed, brandishing his Keyblade.</p>
      <p>By this point, the Closehanded Captain had already recovered and had its cannon arm raised. Charging up a shot, it fired a large cannonball and it was joined by several streams of fire that came from the floating fire spheres above its head.</p>
      <p>Roxas instinctively pulled off a reversal while throwing out his Keyblade to unleash several shots of Water to douse the flames.</p>
      <p>Jim was flying around the Heartless, firing at it with both pistol and rifles in hand, making constant circles to keep it off of him and Roxas.</p>
      <p>The Closehanded Captain swung its sword around irritably before it threw both arms up with his weapons clashing together.</p>
      <p>Above the Heartless' head, the three spheres of blue fire flared and a moment later, multiple smaller fireballs began shooting out rapidly all around them.</p>
      <p>Jim's eyes widened, hastily using his surfer as a shield to absorb the oncoming stream of attacks.</p>
      <p>Roxas spun his Keyblade rapidly in front of him to deflect a number of shots before he dove behind a small hill of gold for cover.</p>
      <p>The Heartless then took aim at Jim once the fiery onslaught subsided only for Roxas to jump out of cover.</p>
      <p>"<strong>Thundaga!"</strong></p>
      <p>Large bolts of lightning cascaded down upon the Heartless with the Closehanded Captain spasming in its momentary paralysis.</p>
      <p>Jim grit his teeth and had his Surfer fly straight down with its sharp nose pointed straight at the exposed eyes of the Heartless. Firing rapidly at the Closehanded Captain, Jim recalled his sail with him angling himself to increase his velocity.</p>
      <p>Once getting in close, Jim back flipped off his solar surfer that crashed straight into the Heartless in a brilliant explosion that staggered the Heartless. A moment later, Jim's surfer reappeared back under his feet with him taking to the skies once more.</p>
      <p>Roxas ran forward at the opportunity Jim got for him, proceeding to land a series of successive strikes against the Heartless which further damaged it.</p>
      <p>His strokes of attacks were not to last as the Closehanded Captain appeared to recover, beginning to counter swing Roxas at every turn with the Nobody deflecting every sword swing sent his way.</p>
      <p>However, with every clashing of blades the two shared, beams of fire shout out from the small spheres hovering above the Heartless that went after both Roxas and Jim.</p>
      <p>Managing to push Roxas back, it leveled its cannon arm at the young Nobody only for Jim to fly in and smack its face with the flat bottom part of his board.</p>
      <p>It lurch back, cannon arm raised upwards now and fired.</p>
      <p>The cannonball sailed through the air and struck one of the circular tubes, rattling it slightly.</p>
      <p>The explosion caught the attention of the pirates who were far from the action.</p>
      <p>Silver looked up and then turned to see Roxas and Jim combating the Heartless together.</p>
      <p>"Jimbo." Silver whispered in concern which turned into dread upon seeing Roxas flying back from a nearby explosion that he had dodged only to be caught in its shockwave.</p>
      <p>The Pirate captain looked back and forth between the treasure he had in front of him and over to the two lads he had grown so attached to since the start of this voyage.</p>
      <p>It was implausible to think that less than a few weeks ago that Silver would be doing this but damned if he would just leave those two by themselves.</p>
      <p>"Oh… blast this old Cyborg for a fool." Silver roared aloud, shoving his left arm into his mechanical leg and pulling it out to its more advanced cannon form. "Hang on you two."</p>
      <p>Roxas sliced an oncoming fireball in half, throwing his Keyblade up as the Closehanded Captain brought down its sword on him.</p>
      <p>He grunted before pushing back against the Heartless' blade.</p>
      <p>It reared back for another attack when suddenly, an explosion went off in its face causing it to fall onto its back while inadvertently firing its cannon.</p>
      <p>Roxas and Jim turned to see Silver rushing over with a large grin plastered on his face.</p>
      <p>"That's how ye bring down one of these over bloated hogs." Silver gloated. "Not going to let the both of you just have all the fun to yourselves now."</p>
      <p>The boys could only blink before they couldn't help but smile at the sight of the man who had been a teacher to them these past few days.</p>
      <p>However, their happiness was short lived as multiple explosions came from above making them look up in surprise.</p>
      <p>One of the Heartless' attacks struck one of the laser machines up above. A series of explosions soon went off, causing it to break away from the ceiling and crash landed on the treasure trove below, the ground now beginning to break apart.</p>
      <p>It was there that things went utterly chaotic with the other laser cannons beginning to cut everything in its path.</p>
      <p>Rushing towards the edge of Flint's ship, Shepard and Garrus felt their blood drain from their faces.</p>
      <p>"Oh fucking hell."</p>
      <p>"We need to get this ship up now!"</p>
      <p>"I can help!" B.E.N. said aloud.</p>
      <p>"What can you do?"</p>
      <p>"I was Flint's navigator and leading engineer of the Sabre. I know this ship like the back of my hand!" The android looked at one of his hands and curiously gazed at it. "Oh, that's new."</p>
      <p>"B.E.N.!"</p>
      <p>"Oh right, sorry!"</p>
      <p>Garrus saw Jane looking back to the two boys fighting valiantly against the large Heartless with all their might. It was quite obvious what she wanted to do.</p>
      <p>"Commander."</p>
      <p>"I know, Garrus, I know." Jane said, returning her attention to the matter at hand.</p>
      <p>Back with the trio, they were combating the Heartless with a combined effort.</p>
      <p>With two of them now utilizing projectile based attacks, the Heartless was constantly being struck from multiple sides, being unable to focus on just one of them.</p>
      <p>It was getting rather frustrating.</p>
      <p>Without warning, the Closehanded Captain proceeded to thrash about with multiple cannons and fireballs being sent off in multiple directions.</p>
      <p>Multiple miniature explosions went off all around them with the trio trying desperately to avoid them all.</p>
      <p>One stray fireball knocked into Jim's solar surfer, straight through its thruster, flinging him off his board and landing hard on the ground.</p>
      <p>"Jimbo!" Silver yelled out in concern, instantly rushing over to him.</p>
      <p>Jim grunted, holding his side in pain and looked up in time with his eyes widening at the Closehanded Captain taking aim directly at him.</p>
      <p>Before he could even process what was happening, Jim felt someone grab on to the back of his shirt and flung him away just as he heard a fiery explosion go off where he was a moment ago.</p>
      <p>Roxas, who was dodging all this time, glided forward and smashed his Keyblade across the face of the Heartless.</p>
      <p>"SILVER!" he heard Jim's shout from behind.</p>
      <p>Roxas whirled around with his eyes widening in shock at the severely hurt Silver who was laying on the ground with his white shirt blackened.</p>
      <p>Inhaling sharply, Roxas sprinted over to them, screeching down to his knees as the cyborg groaned in pain.</p>
      <p>"I think this comes close to the time when I lost me arm." Silver groaned out in an amused pained grunt.</p>
      <p>"Silver." Jim's voice cracked.</p>
      <p>The Cyborg looked up at the two with him only smiling.</p>
      <p>"It's not all bad, me lads." Silver said. "After all, I got to see it in the end didn't I?"</p>
      <p>Roxas clenched his teeth and threw up his Keyblade. "And you'll see it through."</p>
      <p>Calling upon all of his magical power, Roxas concentrated with Light surrounding him as he poured everything he had into this one spell.</p>
      <p>Firing a beam above that was an ethereal bright green, the energy coalescing into a singular sphere above Silver's body before it slowly lowered itself into the chest of the Cyborg.</p>
      <p>A moment later, Silver inhaled a great sigh of relief whilst Roxas fell to his knees with his breath being heavy.</p>
      <p>"Rocky?" Silver said in concern.</p>
      <p>The boy gave him a weak smile. "Just gotta catch my breath is all."</p>
      <p>Before they could do anything else, they heard several stomps on the ground behind them, whirling to see the Closehanded Captain approaching them with its weapons raised.</p>
      <p>"Oh come on!" Jim bemoaned, having had enough of the Heartless already. "Can you please just-"</p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>*BVVVVZZZZZ*</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>Jim's little rant got cut off when a stray purple beam from the ceiling came down and completely annihilated the Heartless. It was even strong enough to release a giant floating Heart into the air.</p>
      <p>The three stared at their fortunate turn of events.</p>
      <p>"I'll take it." Roxas said, shakily getting back up with the other two not arguing with that.</p>
      <p>Sprinting out of the portal, the trio momentarily stopped to catch their breath.</p>
      <p>"Silver, you-"</p>
      <p>"No need to make a fuss of it, Jimbo." Silver brushed off. "I lost me footing is all, think nothing of it."</p>
      <p>Jim couldn't help but smirk upon hearing such a convoluted means of an excuse when-</p>
      <p>"Aloha, Rocky and Jimmy!" B.E.N. shouted from above.</p>
      <p>The trio looked up to see both the Legacy and the Sabre lowering down to them. And from the Sabre, the robot leaned over the edge to look down at them while holding a panel connected to his chest.</p>
      <p>"Hurry, people! We got exactly two minutes and thirty-four seconds til planet destruction!" He informed them.</p>
      <p>The trio looked at each other with panicked demeanor.</p>
      <p>On the Legacy's bridge, Doppler was manning the helm as he was trying to fly the ship.</p>
      <p>Yet it was becoming an utter struggle with his backseat driver constantly pointing out every single detail!</p>
      <p>"-You're doing fine, Doctor." Said Amelia. "Now ease her over gently… Gently!"</p>
      <p>The Legacy was closer to them, due to it momentarily crashing to the platform the trio were standing on, causing them to hastily get aboard the space vessel.</p>
      <p>Once aboard, Xion signaled they made it onboard from the Sabre.</p>
      <p>Hearing this, Amelia looked over to Tali and gave the order. "Take us out of here, Miss Zorah!"</p>
      <p>"Right!" Said Tali, pulling out her Omni-tool and radioing in Garrus. "Let's get out of here, now!"</p>
      <p>"<em>On it, Tali."</em> Garrus' voice said over the line before it went out.</p>
      <p>Once done, the two ships propelled themselves forward with the mechanized planet slowly coming apart with flames erupting from down below.</p>
      <p>Roxas and Jim ran up the stairs, passing by Silver as he spoke with Amelia with Morph floating beside his head.</p>
      <p>"Captain, you dropped from the heavens in the nick of-"</p>
      <p>Amelia cuts him off rather angrily with a hiss in her voice. "Save your claptrap for the judge, Silver."</p>
      <p>The cyborg let out a nervous chuckle, unsure if he should've just gone aboard the Sabre instead of the Legacy.</p>
      <p>Then again, he would more or less receive the same treatment.</p>
      <p>The ships seemed to possibly have a smooth sailing course right off the dying planet.</p>
      <p>Yet it is never easy.</p>
      <p>Suddenly, a piece of exploded debris collided with one of the Legacy's masts, causing part of it to fall down and crash onto one of the deck's generators and cannons.</p>
      <p>The R.L.S. Legacy slowed down, causing the Sabre to momentarily slow down as well.</p>
      <p>Suddenly, Shepard's voice could be heard over one of the Omni-tools. <em>"What just happened, guys?! Why are you slowing down?!"</em></p>
      <p>Tali to look at the screen before her, causing her to gasp.</p>
      <p>"Mizzen sail is demobilized!" Said the Quarian. "By my readings, the thrusters are at only 30% of capacity."</p>
      <p>B.E.N.'s voice then came over the line. <em>"By my calculations, you guys won't be able to clear the planet's explosion in time!"</em></p>
      <p>Everyone onboard the Legacy became filled with utter dread, not knowing what to do.</p>
      <p>Running over to the rails of the ship, Jim looked back at the portal before shifting his gaze to the wrecked generator and cannon on the deck with an idea forming in his mind.</p>
      <p>Coming up to the Hawkins boy, Roxas saw the look on his face.</p>
      <p>"Please tell me you got an idea."</p>
      <p>"I do." Jim whirled around and spoke to Amelia and Doppler. "We need to turn around!"</p>
      <p>"What?" Amelia exclaimed.</p>
      <p>Jim jumped down to the deck, with Roxas following, and ran towards the broken laser cannon as he told her. "There's a portal back there! It can get us outta here!"</p>
      <p>Doppler was quick to cut in. "Pardon me, Jim, but didn't that portal open to A RAGING INFERNO?!"</p>
      <p>"Yes! But I'm gonna change that!" Jim grunted out, prying out a broken sheet of metal from the rubble with a hefty tug with Roxas' help. "I'm gonna open a different door!"</p>
      <p>Doppler tried to reason with the commanding officer of the Legacy. "C-Captain, really, I don't see how this is possible-"</p>
      <p>"Listen to the boy!" Silver roared out, rushing over to help Jim with whatever he has in mind.</p>
      <p>"<em>One minute, twenty-nine seconds till planet's destruction!"</em> B.E.N.'s voice said over the comm lines.</p>
      <p>Roxas was helping Jim out to try and attach the thick metal sheets to the broken laser cannon in order to make a solar surfer.</p>
      <p>Suddenly, Silver kneeled beside them.</p>
      <p>"What do you need, Jim?"</p>
      <p>"Some way to attach this." Jim tells Silver, gesturing to the front parts.</p>
      <p>"Alright. Stand back. Stand back now." Said the cyborg, switching his metal hand to a welding torch, wielding the board together.</p>
      <p>Once attached, Roxas and Silver helped Jim lift the board onto the railing of the ship. Jim hopped onto the board with Roxas standing on the ledge.</p>
      <p>Before taking off, the pair looked at Silver.</p>
      <p>"Okay, no matter what happens, keep the ships headed straight for the portal." Jim said seriously.</p>
      <p>"<em>Fifty-eight second!"</em></p>
      <p>Looking away, Jim stepped on the power button to make the rocket-powered sailboard, launching him away from the ship. And not long after, Roxas jumped off and flew through the sky and went after his friend.</p>
      <p>Gazing back, Silver barked out Jim's instruction. "Well, you heard him! Get these plasted heaps turned around!"</p>
      <p>In mere moments, both the Legacy and the Sabre indeed turned around and went directly towards the triangular portal.</p>
      <p>The pair rode through the destruction, flying in between, over and under all sorts of flying debris. As Jim sailed all around, Roxas glided behind him, slashing through multiple pieces of debris that would be in the way of the ships behind them.</p>
      <p>Xion was doing her part, jumping about with light coming off her as she swatted away the chunks that were still in the way of the ships.</p>
      <p>At every other moment, Jim's rocket solar sail slowed down to some degree, causing him to step on the power button to propel himself even faster.</p>
      <p>Both had to keep their eyes at their target as adrenaline rushed through them.</p>
      <p>At one point, Jim had to grind against a large mechanical mass while Roxas ran with all his might along the surface. Soon enough, they pushed themselves away and resumed their flighted trek.</p>
      <p>Over on the Legacy, Amelia was barking out orders to Doppler, who was feverishly working the helm to maneuver away from the floating debris.</p>
      <p>"Go to the right! The right!"</p>
      <p>Doppler then snapped, rearing back and snarled at Amelia. "I KNOW, I KNOW! WILL YOU JUST ME DRIVE!"</p>
      <p>Back on the Sabre, Shepard was doing her best to man the helm in staying remotely close to the Legacy.</p>
      <p>"I don't know how Joker does it, but I'm not giving him any more crap about piloting after this." She gritted out.</p>
      <p>"To be fair, he's on his ass all day, every day with the controls ever so simpler rather than a helm's wheel." Garrus pointed out.</p>
      <p>B.E.N. wanted to comment about this Joker person when he noticed their current timetable on their current predicament. "Twenty-five seconds!" He yelled out.</p>
      <p>Back over with Jim and Roxas, they were so close to the portal that they could practically taste it.</p>
      <p>Suddenly, the rocket powered solar surfer started to slow down. Jim pressed on the power button to make it go faster, yet to his feigned shock, it wasn't going.</p>
      <p>"No, no!" Jim cried, still stepping on the button feverishly as he started to plummet down into a crevice with lava at the bottom.</p>
      <p>"JIM!" Roxas yelled out, diving downward to save his friend.</p>
      <p>Seeing this from the respective ships, some of the passengers gasped in utter worry.</p>
      <p>"Come on you two." Silver muttered out.</p>
      <p>"<em>Seventeen seconds!"</em></p>
      <p>It didn't take long for Jim to figure out how to spark up the rocket engine.</p>
      <p>Whirling his board around, he slammed the rocket part to hit the wall. As he slid down its length, the friction caused the rocket to quickly heat up. It sparked back to life, and he was propelled upward with a sudden thrust.</p>
      <p>Meeting Roxas halfway, they grasped onto each other's arms as they glowed a bright light.</p>
      <p>Once reaching the surface, the pair exited out of the crevice with Roxas riding an ethereal solar surfer as they raced towards the portal with the two ships right over them. Wanting to make themselves faster, Roxas casted Aeroga, propelling them even faster to get ahead of the Legacy and the Sabre.</p>
      <p>"<em>Seven seconds!"</em> B.E.N. yelled out the final countdown. <em>"Six! Five!-"</em></p>
      <p>"Roxas! Montressor Spaceport!" Jim shouted, who reached for the holographic globe.</p>
      <p>"Right!" Roxas replied, mirroring his friend's actions.</p>
      <p>"<em>-Three! Two-"</em></p>
      <p>The two friends then pressed the Crescentia Station icon at the same time.</p>
      <p>The portal changed to their destination with only one second to spare and they all flew through the portal as Treasure Planet exploded from behind them. Soon enough, bits of debris breached through right when the portal suddenly collapsed.</p>
      <p>Their success in saving everyone had them all cheering and jumping in utter joy.</p>
      <p>"Whoa-ho, yeah!" Jim cracked with excitement.</p>
      <p>"We did it, Jim!" Roxas laughed out in joy as they rode alongside each other.</p>
      <p>They soon gave each other a high five as they soon rode alongside the Legacy and the Sabre.</p>
      <p>The two teens sailed over a number of individuals like Silver, Axel and Garrus who gave them their own high fives.</p>
      <p>"Didn't I say they had greatness in him?" Silver asked as the others cheered on with Morph shifting into some firecrackers going off.</p>
      <p>Soon enough, Roxas and Jim landed on the Legacy's deck as their respective rides either disbursed into motes of light or just crashed some feet away. The two teens then high fived each other once again as they shared happy smiles on their faces.</p>
      <p>"Can you believe it, Roxas? We saved everyone!" Jim laughed aloud.</p>
      <p>"Yes I can, Jim!"</p>
      <p>Seeing this from the bridge, Tali rushed down to the deck as she left Amelia and Doppler hugging each other in utter joy.</p>
      <p>Getting in close, Tali tackled Roxas to the ground and hugged the living daylights out of him as Jim was being assaulted by Morph's lick-like kisses.</p>
      <p>"Unorthodox, but ludicrously effective." Amelia said to Jim, once she and Doppler came over to greet their saviors.</p>
      <p>"It did get the job done, Captain."</p>
      <p>"Quite." The feline woman said with a smile. "I'd be proud to recommend you to the interstellar academy. They could use a man like you."</p>
      <p>"What about Roxas?"</p>
      <p>"As much as I'd like him to join, he's got his own route to take."</p>
      <p>Doppler then greeted his young charge. "Just wait until your mother hears about this!" He tells him proudly before leaning in a little close. "Of course, we may downplay the life-threatening parts."</p>
      <p>Jim snorted with an obvious nod.</p>
      <p>If his mother were to hear about all of that, she would have a heart attack while wanting to kill them both for what they went through.</p>
      <p>Once Doppler went back to Amelia and wrapped his arm around her shoulders, the Sabre arrived beside them. Xion and Axel jumped on over and rushed over to join in on the little hug fest while B.E.N. happily greeted Jim.</p>
      <p>The trio of Nobodies with Tali hugged each other tightly, Axel messing up Xion and Roxas' hair to the point of absurdity yet they didn't care.</p>
      <p>Until…</p>
      <p>"Wait, who's driving this ship?"</p>
      <p>Tali, who is now wide eyed, broke away from Roxas and rushed over to the bridge in order to be sure the Legacy won't crash into anything by accident.</p>
      <p>B.E.N all the while, ran up to the trio of Nobodies, chattering happily and excitedly.</p>
      <p>"Jimmy, Rocky, that was unforgettable!" B.E.N. said happily. "I know you're not all that great with touching but get ready for a big hug cause I gotta hug ya both!"</p>
      <p>He then latched onto the two teens as he chuckled. Before he knew it, the robot was hugged back by them with Jim putting him into a playful chokehold before they toppled down, courtesy of Roxas.</p>
      <p>B.E.N. was surprised by their reciprocating embraces. "Hey, you guys hugged me back! Oh, I promised myself I wouldn't cry."</p>
      <p>Sure enough, he whipped away a crocodile tear before 'crying' in their embraces.</p>
      <p>Jim raised his head to look at Silver, only to find that he wasn't in sight.</p>
      <p>Jim nudged Roxas and Xion, nodding his head in the direction towards the staircase to the lower decks of the ship</p>
      <p>Figuring out where he'll be, the trio went off to find the wayward Cyborg.</p>
      <p>Upon reaching the lower decks where the longboats were, they could hear Silver talking in a hushed tone.</p>
      <p>"Morph, we gotta make tracks." Beside him was a small treasure chest that he had somehow must've scooped out from Flint's ship.</p>
      <p>Leaning against a support beam, Jim crossed his arms as he smiled at the cyborg. "You never quit, do you?" He asked.</p>
      <p>Silver looked back at him with a smile. "Ah, Jimbo!" He chuckled, standing back up. "Rocko, Xion, my favorite lads and lady. I was merely checking to make sure our last longboat was safe and secure." He then went back to tie the rope up rather loosely.</p>
      <p>Jim merely rose a brow before making his way to him. Kneeling down, he corrected the knot and had it properly secured.</p>
      <p>"That should hold it." Said Jim, standing up with a light smile.</p>
      <p>"I've taught you too well." Silver said with a chuckle, standing back up. "If you don't mind, we'd just as soon avoid prison." He brought his hand up with Morph in his hand. "Little Morphy here, he's a free spirit."</p>
      <p>Said pink blob happily flies around him, that is until Silver caged him in his hands.</p>
      <p>"Being in a cage, it'd break his heart." Silver informed, bringing Morph close to him as he petted him gently.</p>
      <p>Jim felt a pang of sympathy in his heart, a sentiment he didn't realize was shared by Roxas and Xion who especially felt the Cyborgs' comments about being caged.</p>
      <p>Without even thinking about it, Xion reached over to the lever and flipped it open.</p>
      <p>Silver gasped on seeing this happen before gazing back at the trio, with Roxas having already untied the rope whilst Jim leaned his hand on the longboat with an expectant look.</p>
      <p>The Cyborg gave them all an appreciative smile, before he leaned in conspiratorially.</p>
      <p>"What say you ship out with the four of us, laddies?" Silver said with a grin. "Rocko and Xion, Hawkins and Silver..." Silver offered with a growing smile as Morph shifted into a tricorne hat and placed himself on Jim's head. "Full of ourselves and no ties to anyone!"</p>
      <p>"You know," Jim said, taking Morph off his head, "when I got on this boat, I would've taken you up on that offer in a second." He then tickled the hat, causing Morph to return to normal. Once he went back to normal, Jim looked towards the open hatch below. "But, uh, I met this old cyborg, and he taught me that I could chart my own course."</p>
      <p>"And he was adamant about making sure we stick to our promises and responsibilities." Xion added softly.</p>
      <p>"And what do you see off that bow of yours?" Silver asked, walking to them.</p>
      <p>"A future." Roxas answered with Jim nodding in utter agreement.</p>
      <p>Silver chuckled heartily and smiled in return. "Why, look at you lot, glowing like a solar fire. The three of ya are something special. You're gonna rattle the stars, you are." He said proudly.</p>
      <p>Without any words being uttered with only silent tears of validation and joy, the trio found themselves in an embrace with the old Cyborg.</p>
      <p>Jim especially, held onto the man tightly whilst trembling as he wished he didn't have to go.</p>
      <p>Before long, Silver broke away as he cleared his throat before wiping his cybernetic eye. "Got a bit of grease in this cyborg eye of mine." He coughed. "Oh? Careful there, Xion, looks like you's got somethin' there as well." Silver said, wiping a stray tear away from her who only beamed up at him with fresh tears poking out of the corner of her eyes.</p>
      <p>Of course Morph then balled hysterically as he turned into a puddle.</p>
      <p>"Hey, Morph. We'll see you around, okay?" Jim said, catching him in his hands.</p>
      <p>"<em>See you around…"</em> Morph chittered sadly before giving each of his new friends a lick on their faces.</p>
      <p>He then floats over to Silver, giving them a sad, longing look</p>
      <p>It was quiet for a minute before Silver broke the silence.</p>
      <p>"Morph, I've got a job for ya." He said to the blob.</p>
      <p>Said creature looked at Silver and squeaks before being pulled over with him whispering in his non-existent ears. "I need you to keep an eye on this here pup." He said, looking at Jim.</p>
      <p>Jim overheard this and was surprised by the decision.</p>
      <p>"Will ya do me that for a favor?" Silver asked, playfully pouting.</p>
      <p>"<em>Aye-aye, captain."</em> Morph said, saluting him before nuzzling Silver's cheek.</p>
      <p>The blob then floated over to Jim and nuzzled his cheek, making him laugh a little.</p>
      <p>Before he knew it, he heard the longboat descending. Looking over, he saw Silver was already in it.</p>
      <p>"If you don't mind me lads, can ya-"</p>
      <p>Roxas already tossed the chest to Silver with the Cyborg catching it. "Ah, thank you, Rocko.</p>
      <p>"Stay out of trouble, you old scalawag." Jim chuckled at him.</p>
      <p>"Yeah, take care of yourself." Roxas said.</p>
      <p>"Good luck." Said Xion.</p>
      <p>"Why, when have I ever thought otherwise! And thank you, I will." Silver chuckled, having the longboat properly drop to the open sky below them and taking off to parts unknown, all before waving his hat at them as a goodbye gesture.</p>
      <p>"You know we're gonna get in trouble for letting him go." Xion pointed out.</p>
      <p>"I know, but I think we'll just get a slap on the wrist. We already went through a lot on this voyage." Roxas stated.</p>
      <p>"Point." Xion conceded.</p>
      <p>Jim was looking down at the opened hatch with a somber look. "You think we'll see him again?"</p>
      <p>Roxas and Xion glanced at one another before the former patted his friends back. "I think so."</p>
      <p>"Yeah, he's your friend." Xion happily said. "Of course you will."</p>
      <p>Jim 'hmphed' with a happy smile. "Thanks guys."</p>
      <p>"For what?"</p>
      <p>"Nothin'. Come on, bet they wondered where we went off to."</p>
      <p>Soon enough, the Legacy and the Sabre docked to the side of the spaceport nearby where the Normandy was located right next to them. The entry planks had already been lowered so things could be properly taken care of.</p>
      <p>"Spirits, I can't believe how relieved I am that we're back here." Garrus said, slumping over the rails.</p>
      <p>"Wonder how Amelia is gonna have to explain the loss of her entire crew save for us." Tali said in concern.</p>
      <p>"I think pirates with an exploding planet should suffice of an excuse." Axel said. "Sides, look at that haul we brought back."</p>
      <p>They looked over to the Flint's Sabre that was docked with Roxas, Xion and Jim aboard it now.</p>
      <p>Amelia informed them to watch over the ship until the authorities from the queen could come and properly guard and claim it.</p>
      <p>She also made a strange phrase that Jim managed to pick up on that they would be taking advantage of right now.</p>
      <p>Currently, Jim stuffed his pockets with some treasure of his own.</p>
      <p>"Easy there, Jim, you're gonna burst your pants at the seam."</p>
      <p>"Hey, this is gonna go to my mom's inn." Jim shot back. "I plan on making sure it's three times as big as last time."</p>
      <p>"Glad to see you're taking up responsibilities for this, Jim." Doppler said from nearby, who was eagerly taking notes of what he was looking at right now. He didn't bother taking any of the treasure, only being on the infamous pirate ship sufficed as treasure enough.</p>
      <p>"And some is for myself, obviously." Jim quickly added. "I've read about this treasure for years."</p>
      <p>Roxas and Xion laughed aloud at that declaration, the latter being close to the final resting place of Nathaniel Flint, minus his skeletal remains.</p>
      <p>The brunette gazed at the pile of treasure, squinting at something brown underneath all the gold.</p>
      <p>Reaching in, she felt a handle. Pulling with all her might, she pried it out and saw it was a treasure chest with a six eye socket skull on the lid with a padlock in its mouth.</p>
      <p>Rubbing her chin, Xion's hand hovered over the padlock when her Keyblade appeared in her hand. Blinking at it, she looked at her blade then at the chest before she stood up.</p>
      <p>She twirled her Kingdom Key Keyblade before slimming it on the chest lid. In an instant, the chest glowed a yellow and green hue as the lock undid itself and fell onto the floor.</p>
      <p>"...That's rather interesting." She muttered to herself.</p>
      <p>Dismissing her Keyblade, she kneeled down and opened up the lid before gazing inside to see what contents there were.</p>
      <p>As were many of the other chests, there were a multitude of gold coins and jewels piled up inside.</p>
      <p>Yet this one was rather uniquely different.</p>
      <p>On one hand, the treasure was divided separately from another slot that contained scrolls, several books and a few tiny boxes.</p>
      <p>Out of everything there, Xion found her eyes set on an unusual item that seemed a bit out of place.</p>
      <p>It was a book, a rather interesting designed one at that with intricate markings and symbols. Yet it didn't have a name or title on the cover or spine.</p>
      <p>The hardcover book was stylized in ebony and ivory colors with a faint indication of a checkerboard pattern and a lock on the side to keep the book closed. Within the main cover were silver trims and designs on the front, back and the spine. On the front was something similar to the Nobody emblem, but it was right side up, the heart was complete with a pair of wings underneath it. On the back was another emblem vaguely looking like an eight pointed star with a smaller one located on the spine.</p>
      <p>Curious as to see what was inside, she went to the little lock on the side and saw how easily it became undone. Opening the cover, Xion gazed upon the title on the first page in stylized lettering: Enchantment of Inheritance. From there she flipped through the pages before her eyes widened exponentially as she leaned in to make sure she wasn't seeing things.</p>
      <p>"Roxas." Xion spoke up, gazing at the book in her hands in astonishment. "Come look at this."</p>
      <p>"What is it?" Roxas asked, peeking over her shoulder.</p>
      <p>"Look!" she held up the opened book closer to him with him squinting at it for a brief moment until his eyes widened.</p>
      <p>"Is-is that-?!"</p>
      <p>"Yeah." Xion said, closing the book to look at its cover. "This is a book about Keyblades."</p>
      <p>What was within the pages they saw so far had information on Keyblades in general! Moves, magic, skills, abilities, everything!</p>
      <p>"Where'd ya find this?" Roxas asked in astonishment.</p>
      <p>"In the chest under Flint's 'throne'." Xion pointed out.</p>
      <p>Roxas went over to the opened chest and gazed at its contents. He then blinked owlishly.</p>
      <p>"Huh… why am I looking at Synthesis materials in here?"</p>
      <p>"Really? I didn't notice."</p>
      <p>Roxas figured it'll be good to give all these materials to Mosh when they got the chance as it'll prove beneficial to help upgrade things down the line.</p>
      <p>He took notice of the scrolls inside, to which he opened up one of them.</p>
      <p>"Whatcha got there Roxas?" Jim came up from behind.</p>
      <p>Taking a moment to analyze the scrolls contents, Roxas blinked a moment later. "This looks like another treasure map of some kind."</p>
      <p>"...You kidding me?"</p>
      <p>Doppler, overhearing this, was instantly by Roxas's side with him pushing his glasses up.</p>
      <p>"My word!" Doppler said, snatching the map out of Roxas' hands. "This isn't a map of any known raid that Flint had conducted in his years. This a map of course charted to some of the more dangerous locations in the galaxy!"</p>
      <p>"Treasures even Flint never got to!" Jim added in excitement.</p>
      <p>"Unbelievable." Doppler muttered, hand over his chest as a large grin grew upon his face.</p>
      <p>"Alright there, Doctor?" Roxas asked.</p>
      <p>"I am, Roxas. Just needing a little moment."</p>
      <p>Jim chuckled as he nudged Xion. "At least it's not that orb we had to work with."</p>
      <p>"Amelia would no doubt wanna take a look at this." Xion noted.</p>
      <p>"Most certainly, along with her getting her shot of choosing her own crew this time around." Doppler said aloud, snatching the map. "If you'll excuse me…"</p>
      <p>Rushing off the ship, the astrophysicist made his way towards where Captain Amelia was no doubt at.</p>
      <p>Roxas then gazed over at the treasure chest, noticing a few more scrolls and books that were untouched and a single small box the size of his hand still inside.</p>
      <p>Curious, No. XIII grabbed the small box and held it up to look at it from all angles before opening it.</p>
      <p>His eyes widened momentarily before closing it a moment later with a small smile in place now.</p>
      <p>"Hey Xion."</p>
      <p>The brunette looked over to him as he held out the box in hand with his smile still in place.</p>
      <p>"I think you'll like this one." He said with a glint in his eyes that made her curious.</p>
      <p>Taking the small box out of his hand, she opened it a moment later with her letting out a small gasp.</p>
      <p>Reaching inside, she pulled out a small keychain with a beautiful, curved seashell with a gradient orange and yellow colorization.</p>
      <p>"Pretty…" Xion muttered out.</p>
      <p>"Figured this would be a great way to start your next collection." Roxas said cheerfully.</p>
      <p>She gazed up at Roxas, not realizing she had a small tint of red on her cheeks at such a gesture.</p>
      <p>"Thank you, Roxas." Xion said warmly which made Roxas blink before he had a sheepish smile on his face rubbing the back of his head.</p>
      <p>Jim chuckled at the sight as Morph mirrored the same beside his head.</p>
      <p>Looking out at the port, Jim's eyes widened upon seeing an all too familiar face in the crowd, who was gazing at the Normandy in utter awe.</p>
      <p>With a wide grin, he turned back to the others and called out to the two to follow him as he excitedly ran off the Sabre just as several guards arrived in time to relieve them of their momentary guard duty of the ship.</p>
      <p>Roxas and Xion shared a look before shrugging and running after their friend to catch up to him.</p>
      <p>All the while, the person who had caught Jim's attention continued to stare at the unusual ship docked here, having never seen anything like it.</p>
      <p>Suddenly, she jumped in utter fright at a hand that tapped her shoulder from behind. Whirling around, Sarah Hawkins gasped in overjoyed relief at the sight of her son in front of her.</p>
      <p>After lightly slapping his arm, she hugged him with tears in her eyes. As they separated, Morph came floating in between them and greeted her. She was confused at first, but instantly warmed up to the floating pink blob as he nuzzled her cheek.</p>
      <p>Following not far behind, Roxas and Xion joined Jim in greeting his mother.</p>
      <p>Looking back to them, he placed an arm around both their shoulders.</p>
      <p>"Mom, these are some of my friends I made on the Legacy, Xion and Roxas. Guys, this here's my mom, Sarah."</p>
      <p>"Hello."</p>
      <p>"Hey."</p>
      <p>Sarah only found her smile widening.</p>
      <p>In front of her was her son who had clearly changed a great deal since she had last seen him</p>
      <p>"Mom." Jim began, thumbing behind him. "We found it."</p>
      <p>Sarah blinked and upon recalling just why it was her son had departed in the first place…</p>
      <p>"It's real."</p>
      <p>"Captain Flint's ship is right behind us." Jim said with growing excitement.</p>
      <p>"The planet nearly blew up." Roxas added.</p>
      <p>"We had to fight a lot." Xion said.</p>
      <p>"But we made it back in one piece." Jim finished proudly.</p>
      <p>"... What now?"</p>
      <p>"We'll tell you everything." Jim assured his mother who could only nod.</p>
      <p>
        <em>-Scene Cut-</em>
      </p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>-Insert KH2 Laughter and Merriment OST-</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>The following few hours was a bit of a jumbled mess of events with the Queen coming to greet the returning crew of the Legacy, Jim introducing his mother to everyone and the return at last to the Normandy.</p>
      <p>"I can't believe you guys found pirate treasure." Joker said in amazement.</p>
      <p>"Well, believe it, Joker." Garrus stated, flicking a gold piece into the pilots hand who caught it with an amazed look in his eyes.</p>
      <p>"Whoa~"</p>
      <p>"There's more where that came from." Garrus stated. "Not selling any of it as I'm keeping them as souvenirs."</p>
      <p>"We got to keep a chest to ourselves since we found it." Axel said, sitting on said treasure chest, being the same chest Xion found back on the Sabre.</p>
      <p>Though scrolls and maps were handed off to Amelia for the most part with Jim choosing to hold onto Flint's personal journal whilst the rest was the Normandy's crew for the taking.</p>
      <p>Once giving Mosh all of the synthesis materials inside, the rest of the crew filled it up to the brim and never looked back.</p>
      <p>"Not to mention surviving a black hole of all things." Tali brought up, gazing onto her Omni-tool as she was now looking over the solar sail tech schematics that were uploaded. She had also been gifted some of the cutting edge solar sails as a gift from Amelia.</p>
      <p>Not to mention for a bit of equivalent exchange, she helped provide the feline captain with schematics on tech from their galaxy to help expand their own technology.</p>
      <p>"And here I was talking shit about you guys that nothing interesting would really happen on your trip." Joker remarked. "How in the hell did you survive that?"</p>
      <p>"Story for another time." Shepard waved off. "Anything else productive happened while we were away?"</p>
      <p>"Practically done with integrating the Gummi-tech, Commander. Just waiting on you guys returning so we can get back home." Kaidan said from his seat, examining a ruby the size of a tangerine in his hands.</p>
      <p>The lieutenant definitely knew he was gonna keep this in a display case somewhere. Or just sell it off and use the credits for productive means.</p>
      <p>"Right. Been away for too long."</p>
      <p>"Most definitely. Just give us the word and we'll head on out." Joker said.</p>
      <p>"Good to hear." Shepard said.</p>
      <p>"Also, Shepard." Kaidan looked hesitant about saying this but he knew he had to. "There's something I think you should know. Something Captain Gandry brought up last time Axel came by for his report."</p>
      <p>Shepard was confused by Kaidan's unusually embarrassed demeanor.</p>
      <p>"Yes, what is it? Did something happen?"</p>
      <p>"Not so much something happening but more of a revelation of sorts." Kaidan said, wincing the more he thought about.</p>
      <p>"Spirits, what is it Kaidan, it can't be that bad?" Garrus said.</p>
      <p>"No." Joker's abrupt dejected look and slump into his seat followed by Stitch flopping down upon the floor face first caught the others off guard. "It's not so bad as it is <em>stupidly</em> bad."</p>
      <p>"Keelah, what happened?" Tali asked in concern.</p>
      <p>"See… Gandry saw Axel perform his little teleportation trick." Kaidan began.</p>
      <p>They looked over at the redhead who had a brow raised at the mention of him.</p>
      <p>"Ok, and…?"</p>
      <p>Kaidan sighed. "Well… when I told Captain Gandry about Axel, Roxas and Xion having the power to teleport any place in an instant, he remembered a particular detail we overlooked. We spoke about how we had no methods or means of contacting our superiors or our friends back in our galaxy in order to let them know we were alright. But he then pointed out that Roxas, Xion and Axel could have… easily… teleported over… and…"</p>
      <p>Alenko didn't need to speak any further as the slow dawning realization began to set in amongst the group.</p>
      <p>Jaws dropped and faces had the blank looks of "oh my God, I can't believe we didn't think about that".</p>
      <p>To say that they were all ashamed and embarrassed was not even cutting it close to just how strong of a feeling it was.</p>
      <p>"...Lieutenant." Shepard said in a voice devoid of emotion.</p>
      <p>"Yes, Commander?"</p>
      <p>"You will not tell anyone of this."</p>
      <p>Kaidan rose a brow as he blinked in confusion.</p>
      <p>"Why?"</p>
      <p>"...Just… Just don't…"</p>
      <p>It didn't take long for him to realize what she meant by that. Especially with the maddening twitch in her eye.</p>
      <p>"Understood Commander." Kaidan said resolutely. "This conversation never happened."</p>
      <p>Shepard nodded, looking at the rest who were also in a bit of an embarrassed stated themselves.</p>
      <p>"Guys-"</p>
      <p>"We know, Shepard." Axel said, running his fingers over his mouth. "We will never speak of this ever again."</p>
      <p>"Our lips are sealed." Roxas added in, feeling just as much shame for having not thought of that.</p>
      <p>"Good…"</p>
      <p>First thing she was gonna do once back in her cabin was slam a pillow into her face and scream at the top of her lungs in it. Possibly even murdering said pillow through unconventional means.</p>
      <p>Yeah, she was gonna need that for a while.</p>
      <p>"Well… let's just say goodbye to the others before we forget that at least." Xion said with the group murmuring in agreement as most wanted to get their minds of such an obvious mistake on their part.</p>
      <p>Soon after, the Normandy crew stood outside their ship with Jim, Doppler, Amelia, B.E.N, Morph and Captain Gandry standing outside waiting for them.</p>
      <p>"It was a pleasure sailing with you all." Amelia declared with a smile. "I look forward to the day I will get to sail with you all again."</p>
      <p>"We owe you much for keeping us safe on our travels." Doppler said humbly. "So safe travels for you my friends."</p>
      <p>"I promised myself I wouldn't cry." B.E.N. cried out dramatically, oil leaking out of his eyes Morph joining him.</p>
      <p>"Lieutenant."</p>
      <p>"Captain."</p>
      <p>Both Gandry and Kaidan grasped one another's arms in a firm handshake and nod of respect.</p>
      <p>Jim had his own, more personal goodbye for the group.</p>
      <p>"When is the next time I'll see you all?" Jim asked.</p>
      <p>"Well the first time was an accident." Garrus began.</p>
      <p>"Next time, it'll be intentional." Shepard assured.</p>
      <p>"Promise." Tali added.</p>
      <p>"Take care of yourself Jim." Axel said.</p>
      <p>"I'll be sure to remember that." Jim said knowingly with an approving grin as he was now left alone with Roxas and Xion.</p>
      <p>No words needed to be spoken as they went in for a hug with one another, Morph nuzzling himself against Xion then Roxas.</p>
      <p>"I'll see you guys around." Jim said in a sad voice, as he didn't want his friends to go.</p>
      <p>"Yeah." Roxas said softly.</p>
      <p>"Good luck with your mother's inn." Xion said kindly.</p>
      <p>"And the academy." Roxas added.</p>
      <p>Jim only smiled at the two, hugging them again one last time for their final goodbye before they parted ways.</p>
      <p>The Normandy was resupplied, repaired and upgraded with it now ready for departure.</p>
      <p>And how would they be leaving this station, one may ask?</p>
      <p>The same way they got to this galaxy.</p>
      <p>Standing by the Normandy's helm, the Keyblades appeared in Roxas and Xion's grasp. They glowed significantly as their bodies soon acted all on their own. Twirling their weapons, they soon shot their wielded arms forward as the tips glowed a bright light.</p>
      <p>Before the Normandy, the sky seemed to crack apart before breaking entirely. What contrasted with the deep blue sky now had a noticeable white swirling hole that pierced right through it. And in it's very center was a Keyhole icon.</p>
      <p>The Keyblades shot out a pair of streaming lights, exiting out of the Normandy's cockpit and slamming directly to the Keyhole.</p>
      <p>Not long after, a loud clicking sound was heard before the Keyhole disappeared.</p>
      <p>"...What the hell was that?"</p>
      <p>"I believe it's our ticket outta here."</p>
      <p>"Alright, off we go." Joker said, operating the controls. "Though if our ship gets messed up going through this again, I'm blaming you two."</p>
      <p>"That's completely understandable, Joker." Roxas said, lowering his Keyblade.</p>
      <p>The two Nobodies exited the cockpit a moment later with Xion recalling her Keyblade whilst Roxas' stayed in his hand for some reason.</p>
      <p>"Roxas?"</p>
      <p>In an instant, Roxas' Keyblade was covered in a cocoon of light. He was startled on this and was worried something bad was about to happen once more.</p>
      <p>Before long, his Oathkeeper Keyblade was switched out to something else.</p>
      <p>It was an odd looking Keyblade with the guard composed of bronze/copper metal that vaguely looked like parts of B.E.N., especially with the compass placed just above the handle. Above the guard was the Map Orb and jotting out of its side was a solar sail. Streaming out of the orb was a glowing green, swirling blade. The teeth of the weapon was the miniature form of Treasure Planet itself. And the keychain coming down the guard's base was some more bronze/copper pieces which lead up to the Map Orb charm.</p>
      <p>"Whoa~" Xion gazed upon Roxas' new Keyblade in wonder.</p>
      <p>"What are ya gonna call it?"</p>
      <p>"I'll think of something." Said Roxas, mentally wishing for his Keyblade to return to normal.</p>
      <p>Sure enough, his Keyblade returned to its Oathkeeper form.</p>
      <p>"Okay, enough distractions!" Joker announced. "Hang onto something because we're about to have one hell of a bumpy ride!"</p>
      <p>Without delay, the pilot thrusted the Normandy's thrusters forward as it shot out into the sky and entered the swirling anomaly. Not long after entering the space, the gateway closed up and repaired itself like it was never there beforehand.</p>
      <p>
        <strong>AN</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>At long last, we have reached the conclusion to the first World arc of this crossover.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Loved the overwhelming enthusiasm and support you guys all had in the reviews for this one and just know that there's gonna be more to come with even crazier places that our band of Nobodies, the Normandy Crew and even our other heroes in the KH franchise are set to appear in.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>This was a fantastic first outing with the next few already planned out and "ready" so to speak.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>One of our </strong>
        <em>
          <strong>really</strong>
        </em>
        <strong> longer ones, really proud of how this one turned out and now, we return back to the madness that's still ongoing in the Mass Effect galaxy.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Jebest4781: Now with that out of the way, we are returning to your scheduled Mass Effect 1 events so we may finish it up. And not long afterwards we'll dwell into our other stuff we got planned out.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>FMW: It's making me shake with excitement considering specifically the moments that we have planned and in mind. If you thought these past few chapters have been game changing, what we have in store for you guys after is gonna blow that other stuff out of the water. You could almost call this the long set up to the true insanity to come.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>So yeah, for those of you who have read A Song of Fire, Ice and Hearts, there's a very specific detail J and I included in this story as we saw a chance to utilize it here.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>I know those who have read the story know what I'm talking about to those who pay attention to the important details.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Other than that, thanks for supporting this story.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Rate Read and Review and as Always Have Nice Day.</strong>
      </p>
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<a name="section0019"><h2>19. Back into the Fire</h2></a>
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      <p>
        <strong>Rate Read and Review and as Always Have Nice Day.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>I'm Nobody Chapter 19: Back into the Fire</p>
      <p>Within one of the wards of the Citadel, a small Shadow Heartless was flung down on the ground.</p>
      <p>It attempted to get back up when a heavy foot grounded it, a modified gun being pressed up against its head.</p>
      <p>The gun owner pulled the trigger, the Heartless dispersing into small wisps of darkness.</p>
      <p>"And that's the last of them." Urdnot Wrex declared, resting his weapon on his shoulder.</p>
      <p>"Well that was fun." Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams said aloud in a bored tone. "I guess."</p>
      <p>"Goddess, I never thought we'd reach the day where fighting Heartless became the norm for us." Liara T'soni commented, taking a moment to make sure the area was clear.</p>
      <p>"Yeah, well, figured it would be inever- inevitabre- GAH-<em> Inevitable</em>." Ash managed out after several attempts. "Jeez, my words just aren't coming out right today."</p>
      <p>"What's the matter, Williams? Not getting enough shut eye?" Wrex murmured, the trio beginning to walk away from the area, ignoring the civilians and C-Sec that were now coming in with all of them openly staring at them.</p>
      <p>They didn't care at this point really.</p>
      <p>Liara was self-conscious about it at first with Ashley being bugged by it but thanks to some simple but effective words from Wrex, they dropped their concerns.</p>
      <p>"<em>Fuck 'em. They ain't fighting them and they never will. Just focus on that and let's just get back and eat."</em></p>
      <p>With that being said, Liara and Ashley were able to conduct themselves in their usual manner when dealing with the Heartless.</p>
      <p>This had been their daily routine for the past few days, already going past a week now.</p>
      <p>Shepard and the others were still missing with them having no iota of an idea as to where they were.</p>
      <p>All they really "knew" was what happened to them.</p>
      <p>Something to do with Gummi Blocks.</p>
      <p>They barely understood but that's what Della told them so honestly, they just went along with it.</p>
      <p>"Now what do we do?" Ashley asked in a dejected manner.</p>
      <p>"What can we do?" Liara inquired, sharing the human's mood. "With Shepard still missing and Anderson having placed us under his care, there's not much leeway we can do."</p>
      <p>"For you guys at least." Wrex said, inspecting his gun momentarily. "I'm still a merc for all intents and purposes. I can leave whenever I want."</p>
      <p>"And miss the chance to tear Saren's head off?" Ashley asked in a rhetorical fashion with a small smirk.</p>
      <p>"Well, can't miss that opportunity now, can I?" Wrex said with a feral grin appearing on his scarred face.</p>
      <p>"I find it unnerving at how unusually quiet Saren has been." Liara pointed out abruptly. "With Shepard out of the picture for the time being, I'm surprised he hasn't done anything to capitalize on this moment."</p>
      <p>"Maybe he's biding his time." Ash commented. "He's having no luck in finding whatever he needs and is still searching for it."</p>
      <p>"Or maybe something happened to him on Virmire we didn't see." Wrex stated. "We were separate from the others, remember?"</p>
      <p>Ash hummed aloud in thought. "You know, maybe. He was facing most of our team down there by himself. Even with the Heartless and all that Geth he had, no way he would have gotten away from that unscathed."</p>
      <p>"So do you figure he is truly injured or…?"</p>
      <p>"Only way I see it." Wrex said with a shrug. "But don't discount that he isn't planning something. Knowing that psychotic bastard, whatever happens next is gonna be his endgame."</p>
      <p>"That's a bold statement there, Wrex."</p>
      <p>"Call it a gut feeling, Ash."</p>
      <p>As they continued to walk back towards their momentary place of residence, they collectively received a ping from their Omni-tools.</p>
      <p>Sharing a sense of confusion, they brought up their Omni-Tools and froze on the spot.</p>
      <p>"Is that-?"</p>
      <p>"Goddess!"</p>
      <p>"God damn Pyjaks." Wrex' grin threatened to split his face in half.</p>
      <p>They immediately broke into a run towards the nearest docking station, practically sprinting really.</p>
      <p>The trio rushed past multiple civilians, having inadvertently ran into a few of them along the way. Or in the case of being in Wrex's path; those unfortunate enough to be in his way were simply barreled right through by the Krogan.</p>
      <p>Arriving at the edge of the dock, the three Normandy teammates held expressions of relief, joy and elation at the sight of a familiar ship flying towards the Citadel.</p>
      <p>"Damned bastards." Wrex said with a wide grin. "Took their sweet ass time in coming back."</p>
      <p>"Goddess, they're ok." Liara said aloud, hand over her beating heart.</p>
      <p>"What the fuck took them so long?" Ash asked, a relieved smile on her face.</p>
      <p>"Let's ask them." Wrex plainly stated, watching as the returning Normandy sailed into the Citadel, settling for several docks over to their right.</p>
      <p>Rushing over to that dock, the three of them waited in bated anticipation as a ramp extended out and connected itself to the Normandy.</p>
      <p>A moment later, the doors opened to reveal the lost team of the SR1, at long last returned to their home galaxy.</p>
      <p>"Ashley?" Commander Shepard, standing at the front of the group said immediately in recognition. "Liara? Wrex? Guys! You're alright!"</p>
      <p>"That's what we should be saying." Ashley said aloud, beaming grin in place as at long last, the entire Normandy crew was reunited together once more.</p>
      <p>"What the hell happened to you Pyjaks?" Wrex asked straight away.</p>
      <p>"Another galaxy." Axel answered bluntly. "Travelled on an old fashioned ship. Found some treasure. Saw a planet blow up. And you guys?"</p>
      <p>Wrex only roared in laughter, with Ashley simply shaking her head, grin still in place and Liara smiling happily at seeing her friends were alive and well.</p>
      <p>"We'll want the full story on that one, Axel." Wrex said, pointing to the fiery redhead who only matched the Krogan with a grin of his own.</p>
      <p>"I'm just glad we made it back in one piece." Kaidan said in complete relief with Ashley throwing a comforting arm around her fellow marines shoulder.</p>
      <p>"Chin up, Kaidan." Ash stated. "Least you guys made it out alright."</p>
      <p>"You should be saying that to them." Kaidan said, thumbing at the others who were chattering merrily with Liara and Wrex. "What I went through doesn't even come close to what they survived."</p>
      <p>"So what exactly happened?" Liara asked curiously. "We saw the Normandy enter into something Della called a <em>Lane</em>."</p>
      <p>"Yeah, it was something like that." Jane admitted. "But it's a bit of a long story."</p>
      <p>"No, it's a <em>really</em> long story." Garrus said. "One that involves dashing heroics and calibrations by yours truly."</p>
      <p>"Har-har, Gary." Ash deadpanned, turning to Roxas. "Hey you."</p>
      <p>Roxas looked up in time to see Ash wrap her arms around his head and pull him in for a hug. As usual, she gave a small noogie to his head yet it only lasted a few seconds with her simply holding him.</p>
      <p>"Good to see ya, Roxas." Ash said softly.</p>
      <p>Roxas blinked before he smiled, wrapping his arms around Williams to reciprocate her hug.</p>
      <p>"Good to see you too, Ashley." Roxas said.</p>
      <p>Once everyone got their proper reunions in, Kaidan asked what they should do now.</p>
      <p>"First of all, where's Della? Where's Kirrahe and his team?" Shepard asked.</p>
      <p>"Alive." Ash answered straight away. "We came back here as soon as you guys disappeared and well…"</p>
      <p>"Those political dipshits know about Della now." Wrex grumbled out.</p>
      <p>"And where is she now?" Tali asked.</p>
      <p>"She is with Captain Anderson at his apartment." Liara said. "Do you wish to go there, Commander?"</p>
      <p>"Yeah, better there than anywhere else right now." Shepard said. "Could go for a comfortable couch to sit on for a bit."</p>
      <p>"What about the Council?" Garrus asked, though he already had an idea as to what the response will be.</p>
      <p>"They could wait. Already sent them a report the moment we first came back." Jane waved off, making the Turian and several others chuckle. "Right now, I just want a moment to sit after all that bull crap we went through."</p>
      <p>"No arguments from us, Commander." Tali stated, the Normandy crew walking away from the ship.</p>
      <p>
        <em>-Scene Cut-</em>
      </p>
      <p>Cooking himself something to eat, Anderson was briefly entertained upon hearing Della speaking aloud as she was playing some video game on her Omni-tool in the living room. And sure enough, she was more or less rooted in the same spot for a couple of hours now.</p>
      <p>"Okay, up you go you little chickadee." Della muttered, tossing a chicken up a ledge. She then moved her character to climb up it to repeat the same process again. "Dang, that was almost too close."</p>
      <p>Anderson didn't want to disturb her as she would probably put out her frustrations on him for a momentary time.</p>
      <p>"C'mon you stupid camera, work for me!" She hissed. "No! No, you stupid prancer, why'd you push me off?! Now I gotta do it again!"</p>
      <p>Della growled, controlling her little avatar. "Get back here you clucking little idiot!"</p>
      <p>Catching the damn bird, Della maneuvered her character to get back to the ledge to toss the chicken up to the higher level.</p>
      <p>*Tap sound*</p>
      <p>"Okay."</p>
      <p>*Tap sound*</p>
      <p>"Okay."</p>
      <p>Having her virtual character climb on up, she accidentally walked too far and knocked the chicken over.</p>
      <p>"...NOOOOOO!" She yelled. "Iwazjusfuk- This is bloody torture!"</p>
      <p>Anderson released a sigh, finally asking a passing question across his mind. "What's bloody torture this time, Della?"</p>
      <p>"This stupid side quest and early item pick up, that's what." She growled out as she went back to start the damn thing all over again.</p>
      <p>The Captain couldn't help but snort aloud. Adventurous and mature as Della may be, she has her moments of being a complete and utter child.</p>
      <p>"You could do something else; you know."</p>
      <p>"I could, but there's so much I can do in your apartment, Anderson. And as much as I would've joined the others in the Heartless hunt, I'm stuck here being stir crazy." Della informed him. "Cree, gid-gidthh. Get up there!"</p>
      <p>Della breathed a little bit of relief, getting her character to get to the appropriate spot once more.</p>
      <p>"You are a horrible little creature, you know that?" She cursed. "Don't know if it's the stupid game designers who made you that way, but I utterly hate you."</p>
      <p>Della readied herself as she stared intently on her Omni-tool. "Okay, you can do this, Della. You can do this."</p>
      <p>She made her character run forward with the chicken in the air, the bird carried her forward and just when she was about to make the one ledge on the other side… her character suddenly dropped the bird and struck the stupid bird with her sword.</p>
      <p>"NOOOOOOOO! I ACCIDENTALLY HIT THE CHICKEEEEEEN!"</p>
      <p>It was there did Della see all of these chickens start appearing on the screen and attacking her character.</p>
      <p>"Run away! Run away! Runawayrunawayrunawayrunaway!" She yelled. "NOT THE BIRDS! NOT THE BIRDS! ANYTHING BUT THESE BLASTED BIRDS!"</p>
      <p>"...Isn't that a little derogatory, given you being a bird person?"</p>
      <p>"Shut up Anderson!" Della then grew wide eyed as she kept tapping on the controls. "NO! My health bar! I need to get out of the village! They're killing meeeeee!"</p>
      <p>Anderson had to stop cooking his meal as he blandly looked at his guest.</p>
      <p>"I'msorry!I'msorry!I'msorryI'msorryI'msorryI'msorry!Pleaseforgivemepleaseforgivemepleaseforgiveme!"</p>
      <p>She then stopped as she saw her character getting killed before her eyes. She then smashed her head on the coffee table.</p>
      <p>"I've got clucked…" Della wheeped a little. "My first death and it's because of some stupid birds…"</p>
      <p>Sighing, Anderson could do the only logical thing that he can do right now to alleviate both his and her stress right now. Momentarily abandoning his meal that he was making; he walked over to the still comically weeping duck and instantly removed her Omni-tool from her hand.</p>
      <p>Her head shot up, tears all but disappearing in an instant.</p>
      <p>"HEY!" She quacked out.</p>
      <p>"You can have this back when you're done crying." Anderson said, holding up her Omni-tool and pocketing it.</p>
      <p>"But-"</p>
      <p>"No buts." Anderson stated, walking away from the duck who was now frowning and placed her forehead back on the coffee table.</p>
      <p>"Phooey."</p>
      <p>Anderson smirked slightly, returning to his meal, flipping his steak onto its uncooked side. Beginning to whistle to himself as he was finishing up the final touches.</p>
      <p>Della remained rooted in her seat; mood deeply depressed though it was mostly in a comedic manner.</p>
      <p>She would be having nightmares about those blasted chickens for weeks.</p>
      <p>Before she could dwell on the matter any further, the front door to Anderson's place opened up to reveal…</p>
      <p>"Guess who's baaaack~" Said a sing-song voice that belonged to one Chief Ashley Williams.</p>
      <p>Della lifted her head up and her expression brightened in an instant.</p>
      <p>"Shepard! Roxas! Tali! EVERYONE! You're back!" Della exclaimed, overjoyed at the sight of the whole Normandy ground team entering the apartment.</p>
      <p>"Hey Della." Tali said cheerfully.</p>
      <p>"Good to see you're doing well." Shepard said.</p>
      <p>"Glad to see you're alive." Della stated, jumping out from her seat and rushing over to them. "What happened? Actually, where'd you guys go off to?"</p>
      <p>Axel sighed dramatically. "Long story, better we give it in one go for you and-"</p>
      <p>"Shepard."</p>
      <p>Everyone looked over to the Alliance Captain walking straight up to the Spectre and leader of their team.</p>
      <p>"Anderson." Shepard said with a salute.</p>
      <p>"At ease, Shepard." Anderson said, lip twitching upwards. "I take it you didn't go through much trouble, wherever you went."</p>
      <p>"Wish that were true, but with our string of luck…"</p>
      <p>"Thought as much." Anderson said, a full blown smirk now on display. "It's good to see you again, Jane. You had me worried there for a second."</p>
      <p>"Didn't mean to make ya worry, Anderson." Jane said with a lighthearted smile. "But these things just happen."</p>
      <p>"Clearly." Anderson snorted. "Since we're all here, I take it you'd want to tell us where you lot have been these past few days."</p>
      <p>The portion of the Normandy team that had been gone could only collectively blink at the Alliance captain.</p>
      <p>"...I'm sorry, did you say days?" Xion muttered in confusion.</p>
      <p>Anderson arched a brow at them "I did, why?"</p>
      <p>"We've been gone for nearly two weeks, sir." Kaidan said. "Close to three almost."</p>
      <p>The Captain could only stare in bewilderment. "How's that possible?"</p>
      <p>Della pondered for a moment. "I think I have an idea."</p>
      <p>"We're all ears, Della." Shepard said, turning to the anthropomorphic duck.</p>
      <p>"Now all what I'm about to tell ya is rather rough as not even I have all the details right." She admitted. "If we want better information on this, we'll need to see Master Yen Sid at some point."</p>
      <p>"Who?" Several of those present said.</p>
      <p>"Yen Sid." Roxas muttered to himself. "The teacher to King Mickey, right?'</p>
      <p>"Yeah." Della said with a smile directed at him. "King Mickey always spoke highly of his master's wisdom."</p>
      <p>"So what's special about this Sid fella?" Kaidan asked.</p>
      <p>"Master Yen Sid is supposed to have far more knowledge on the 'Worlds' than I could. I, along with several others, asked him for some consultation on how to work out Gummi-tech with how things go on in traversing the Worlds and even galaxies. It was from him did we learn some interesting details." Della explained</p>
      <p>"Well, get on with it Della." Ash egged on.</p>
      <p>"From what I can remember, most Worlds have their own… displaced time management or something. Days could turn out to be weeks one way and vice versa once going through a Lane."</p>
      <p>"Different time zones then?" Kaidan guessed.</p>
      <p>"Yeah, something like that. Essentially, time flows differently in each World."</p>
      <p>"That doesn't exactly make much sense." Garrus remarked.</p>
      <p>Della chuckled. "Trust me, even in our galaxy we're still trying to figure out that anomaly. Time sort of flows consistently for the most part but there are several variations naturally."</p>
      <p>"So we'll just need to see this Yen Sid fella to get more clarified information. Got it." Ashley muttered.</p>
      <p>"Any ideas where he is?" Xion asked.</p>
      <p>"Er…" Della rubbed the back of her head. "I actually never learned from my brother… should've asked him all those times I had the chance."</p>
      <p>"You didn't meet this Yen Sid person, then?"</p>
      <p>"Nope." Della shook her head. "Only my brother Donald and Captain of the guard Goofy and King Mickey have always met with him."</p>
      <p>"Then how'd you learn all this from him in the first place?"</p>
      <p>"Uncle Scrooge."</p>
      <p>"Alright." Anderson spoke up. "There's a lot, and I mean <em>a lot </em>that we have to discuss right now. But let's just focus on Shepard and the rest of you that went missing. What happened? Where'd you all go off to?"</p>
      <p>Shepard and the others complied and began their long tale of a series of events that went on since Virmire after they split up on Saren's base. Informing the others on what they exactly learned from the Indoctrination experiments, the cloning facility…</p>
      <p>"Should've known it was too good to be true." Wrex grumbled out. "Almost fell for that ploy of his."</p>
      <p>"You didn't." Shepard said.</p>
      <p>"Almost did though." Wrex shot back with a sigh of self-disappointment. "Shows how desperate I was."</p>
      <p>"At least one good thing came out from it. Asides from showing that Saren had no real hold on your people, there was some data on a cure. Granted it was only a little base work as the scientists made little to no progress on it." Shepard brought up</p>
      <p>"Some is better than nothing." Wrex said with a grateful nod.</p>
      <p>Resuming their verbal report, they went into detail on Shepard finding another Prothean Beacon before their encounter with Sovereign as they learned more on the essential Reaper threat. After the chilling revelation towards the rest, the group gave a basic rundown on combating Saren before their sudden traverse into a Lane that took them to a different galaxy.</p>
      <p>Anderson, Ash, Liara and Wrex had their eyes widen in complete shock at hearing this.</p>
      <p>Multiple questions were flung out but they had to be held off for later as they still had to finish their report.</p>
      <p>After initiating first contact with most of the locals, especially with the government and military under the reigning queen, they were conscripted into taking part in a voyage to retrieve legit space pirate treasure. It was the only way for the Normandy to get proper materials for essential repairs, among several other things.</p>
      <p>"You should see the technology they have over there." Tali gushed. "It was astonishing!:</p>
      <p>"And did you perhaps bring back 'samples'?" Anderson inquired hopefully.</p>
      <p>"We sure did, from schematics to legitimate solar sails." Shepard said.</p>
      <p>"We did have to share some of our own tech as well." Kaidan informed the others. "I do bet they'll improve some of their own sometime in the future because of the exchange."</p>
      <p>"Was there anything else?"</p>
      <p>"Uh, kinda." Axel said with a so-so hand motion. "Helping them find a literal planet of treasure was enough of a square deal for them."</p>
      <p>"Pardon?"</p>
      <p>"Not exactly, more like a giant mechanized planet with the core of it housing the actual treasure." Tali clarified.</p>
      <p>"Loot pilfered from a thousand worlds." Garrus said with a serious expression.</p>
      <p>"That sounds rather exaggerated."</p>
      <p>Roxas snorted. "With the amount we saw, the name would do it justice."</p>
      <p>Della chuckled aloud. "Sounds like my Uncle Scrooge's dream world."</p>
      <p>"Sure… if it meant that there was a set booby trap in destroying the entire planet, all because of one greedy pirate not wanting anyone else to have his loot." Shepard dryly said.</p>
      <p>"...Did that actually happen?" Ash asked.</p>
      <p>"I did disarm the bomb, but it went off anyway because of a Heartless encounter in the planet's core."</p>
      <p>"Ah." Was all that was needed to be said by those listening.</p>
      <p>The group went on to explain their daring escape through a literal portal that would take them from one side of the galaxy to the other. It was a winding down of the excitement on their end with them simply speaking of restocking and eventually utilizing the upgraded Normandy with Gummi blocks to at last return home.</p>
      <p>"Sounds like you had a lot of fun." Liara pointed out.</p>
      <p>"Not as much as you would like to believe." Tali said in the driest voice they had ever heard.</p>
      <p>"Was there anything else exciting that went on in your voyage?" Wrex inquired.</p>
      <p>"If you count surviving a star going supernova and experiencing what a Black Hole is like up close, then yeah that was exciting." Garrus casually threw out.</p>
      <p>"What now?"</p>
      <p>"What's that supposed to mean?"</p>
      <p>"Ok… I cannot stress this enough when I tell you all," Jane said in an eerily calm voice. "We literally <em>saw </em>and <em>survived a supernova become a black hole."</em></p>
      <p>"..."</p>
      <p>"..."</p>
      <p>"How in the- I-I don't-"</p>
      <p>"Ash, it's better you don't ask how it happened." Garrus cut her off. "Just be glad we're alive."</p>
      <p>"Goddess, I would've liked to witness it personally."</p>
      <p>"Sure go ahead, try your luck when you get over there." Tali snipped, surprising the Asari with her tone. "Because quite frankly, I'd rather have a fever than go through that heart attack again."</p>
      <p>Wrex bellowed aloud in laughter.</p>
      <p>"Now I really want to know what happened."</p>
      <p>"We'll tell you about it later." Shepard assured. "Captain, all you need to know is that we're back."</p>
      <p>"And you have a lot of explaining to do for the Council." Anderson said wryly.</p>
      <p>Shepard only groaned aloud. "Please Captain, respectfully, don't remind me."</p>
      <p>"You do know that being a Spectre makes you outrank basically everyone." David pointed out.</p>
      <p>"I know, Captain, just a force of habit." Shepard said off handedly.</p>
      <p>"You guys are so lucky." Della whined. "You guys went on an adventure to a literal Treasure Planet."</p>
      <p>"Huh, go figure, she got the name right." Roxas said.</p>
      <p>"Della, it wasn't as fun as you'd think." Xion said.</p>
      <p>"Yeah, that supernova killed a lot of the excitement after." Tali said.</p>
      <p>"Are you kidding me?" Della declared. "That's what adventures are made of!"</p>
      <p>"... It seems we found someone that craves as much craziness as Wrexy." Axel commented/</p>
      <p>"Why do you say it like it's a bad thing?" Della asked, faux insulted. "I've been getting my thrills since I was a hatchling!"</p>
      <p>"Whatever you say, bird-brain."</p>
      <p>"Bird-brain?!" Della squawked aloud, clamping her mouth shut at the literal bird sound that escaped from her.</p>
      <p>"You were saying?" Axel said with a cheeky grin.</p>
      <p>"Shut up." Della said with her cheeks puffed and head turned away.</p>
      <p>With everything all said and done, Liara soon wanted to speak about the matter at hand.</p>
      <p>"Shepard, excuse me for interrupting, but I was pondering about something."</p>
      <p>"What is it?"</p>
      <p>"I think the beacon you found in Saren's base was similar to the one you found on Eden Prime." Liara compared. "It may have filled in the missing pieces of your vision. I might be able to help put all those pieces together."</p>
      <p>"I see no problem with that now." Jane said, rising out of her seat and walking over to the asari doctor.</p>
      <p>Liara mirrored the same action as they stood close to each other. Focusing on her gaze, she saw the N7 marine taking some deep breaths to calm herself.</p>
      <p>"Try to relax, Commander," she said. "Embrace Eternity."</p>
      <p>The others watched as the meld took place with Liara's eyes going completely black as the two women stood completely still.</p>
      <p>"Huh, so that's what a mind meld looks like from the outside." Della commented, signifying that she either knows about the asari trait or experienced it firsthand.</p>
      <p>"At least it's better than what happened last time." Garrus dryly said.</p>
      <p>"What happened last time?"</p>
      <p>Wrex jabbed a thumb over to Roxas. "Got knocked off our asses because of the runt."</p>
      <p>"Hey, it wasn't my fault!" No. XIII complained.</p>
      <p>Della was about to ask more on what the Krogan meant by that when she heard Liara release a small gasp.</p>
      <p>"In… Incredible. I… I never thought the images would be so… intense." Liara said, soon sitting down on the nearby couch. "I need a moment to collect myself."</p>
      <p>"Did the vision make any sense to you this time?" Shepard asked.</p>
      <p>A moment or two passed as the asari had her eyes closed. Once opening them, she gave a response. "It's a distress call, a message sent out across the Prothean Empire. A warning against the Reapers, but the warning came too late."</p>
      <p>"I don't know about you, but that doesn't sound all that helpful now." Axel commented.</p>
      <p>"More likely they just didn't listen." Wrex added in.</p>
      <p>"Whether that was true or not, that doesn't mean anything if it won't tell us about the Conduit." Jane responded.</p>
      <p>"Sorry. There were… flashes of many other things." Liara exhaled a tired breath. "There were other images. Locations. Places I recognized from my research…" She continued to rub her head before she stopped abruptly. "Ilos! The Conduit is on Ilos! That's why Saren needed to find the Mu Relay! It's the only way to get to Ilos."</p>
      <p>"Ilos?" Xion asked. "Where's that?"</p>
      <p>"Are you sure you're making that connection now?" Della pointed out, having heard of some of these past bits of details while aboard the Normandy.</p>
      <p>"How come you never told us about Ilos before?" Came Shepard's inquiry, backing up Della's question.</p>
      <p>"The Mu Relay links to dozens of systems and hundreds of worlds. How was I to know Ilos was the one we wanted?" Liara defended. "Without the Cipher, the images in your visions were never clear. Only now, with them completed, do I recognize them as landmarks on Ilos through my research."</p>
      <p>"Then it seems we now know where to head off to next." Tali declared.</p>
      <p>"We need to get to Ilos, stat." Jane declared.</p>
      <p>"You might as well forget it, Shepard." Garrus spoke out. "The Mu Relay's inside the Terminus Systems. Alliance ships are not welcome there. Neither are Spectres."</p>
      <p>"As much I hate to say it, your friend's right." Anderson said firmly. "It'll be hard to get your ship through those systems without drawing too much attention.</p>
      <p>"The Conduit's on Ilos. That's where Saren is heading. I'll be waiting for him when he gets there!" Shepard said firmly, receiving nods from others in the room.</p>
      <p>"Saren will have his entire fleet orbiting Ilos. You will never make it down to the surface without reinforcements. You must alert the Council on our findings. We need a fleet to-" Liara placed a hand on her head as it started to throb.</p>
      <p>"You okay there?" Kaidan asked out of worry.</p>
      <p>"I'm sorry. The joining this time was… exhausting." Liara admitted, being helped to be sat down by Kaidan and Tali since they were by her side. "I'll need to lie down and rest for a moment or two."</p>
      <p>"Well there's plenty of places where you can rest at, Liara." Della said. "Gotta say, some of the beds are pretty fine~"</p>
      <p>Axel then brought up something that came across his mind. "So what's up with this Terminus place or whatever? Why can't anybody go there?"</p>
      <p>"I can probably answer that." Anderson spoke out. "You see, we have a rather thin peace policy with those systems. We don't mess with them and they don't mess with us."</p>
      <p>"I doubt it's as simple as that, sir." Ash remarked.</p>
      <p>"It's not." Anderson shook his head.</p>
      <p>"How so?"</p>
      <p>"Oh! Oh! Oh! I know this one." Della joined in. "It's that Eezo trade thing there, right?"</p>
      <p>"I'm sorry, what?"</p>
      <p>Anderson explained the details. "The Terminus Systems are rich in Eezo, among other commodities, Axel. A trade negotiation has been made between them and Citadel Space."</p>
      <p>"Heh, more like towards the one person who basically rules that territory." Della chuckled out.</p>
      <p>"I don't follow."</p>
      <p>"The deeper knowledge ain't really known to the general populous. But to others who actually know their way around, the Terminus Systems are more or less governed by an Asari by the name Aria T'loak." Anderson elaborated.</p>
      <p>"Okay, and?" Axel said with his arms crossed.</p>
      <p>"And she's more or less a Pirate Queen." Della said.</p>
      <p>Those who had just returned home from the Etherium…</p>
      <p>"Oh god."</p>
      <p>"Keelah, another one?"</p>
      <p>"...You're kidding us, right?" Shepard said.</p>
      <p>"Wish I were." Della snorted out. "When I learned this, I couldn't help but laugh and wanted to see her personally to see if it were true."</p>
      <p>"Then what's so bad with this Aria person?" Xion innocently asked. "Asides from being a pirate queen and all?"</p>
      <p>Anderson picked it up from there. "One wrong move and Aria can put out a suspension order on any and all outbound shipments to Citadel Space. If that were to happen, especially on Eezo alone, then the markets would go into chaos. Stocks would drastically rise and many places in 'civilized space' would suffer from devastating effects."</p>
      <p>Ashley couldn't help but ask the obvious question. "You think this Aria person could afford it?"</p>
      <p>Della chuckled. "With someone properly named 'The Pirate Queen of Omega' I think she probably can. Just something to properly show off that no one gets to screw with her and get away with it. I should know, given a number of instances Uncle Scrooge was crossed with certain businesses in my galaxy as that more or less happened."</p>
      <p>"Huh, wonder how that would turn out." Liara thought aloud. "I mean it's usually the governments who enact sanctions on criminals, not the other way around…"</p>
      <p>It was at that moment did Shepard's Omni-tool go off.</p>
      <p>Checking on who it was from, she saw an obvious message.</p>
      <p>"Seems the Council will want to speak with us now." Jane said with a frown.</p>
      <p>"Hopefully, things will go in our favor, now that Saren and Sovereign's plans are brought to light."</p>
      <p>"Not all of them in case you forget. We still don't know what the Conduit is for." Shepard reminded them.</p>
      <p>The others nodded as they made their way out of Anderson's apartment, not before each of them thanked the Alliance Captain for their stay.</p>
      <p>"Well for once, I'm glad that I'll be staying here." Della said, jumping up onto the couch with her laying down with her legs kicked up.</p>
      <p>"Why's that?" Roxas asked Donald's sister.</p>
      <p>"Honestly can't stand those guys." The adventurer sighed out before looking right at Jane. "Just so you know, the Council are still in disbelief on the Reapers."</p>
      <p>"Hopefully with what I'll tell them could change their minds." Shepard said.</p>
      <p>"No promises, Shepard."</p>
      <p>"What are you gonna do until we come back?"</p>
      <p>"...Gonna be sure the damn chickens don't kill me again when I'm getting this darn heart piece from a stupid cow."</p>
      <p>"..."</p>
      <p>"..."</p>
      <p>"..."</p>
      <p>"...Okay, we'll leave you to it." Jane said, unsure of what the hell she was talking about but rather not question it.</p>
      <p>"Speaking of which… Anderson, give me back my Omni-tool this instant!"</p>
      <p>"No." David said simply, turning to walk away with Della running after him while the Normandy crew left.</p>
      <p>"Give it!"</p>
      <p>"Read a book or do something else."</p>
      <p>"<em>NEVER!"</em></p>
      <p>
        <em>-Scene Cut-</em>
      </p>
      <p>It took a bit of time for the entire ground team to reach the Citadel Tower, the team going inside.</p>
      <p>When they appeared in the Council Chamber, Tevos was the first to spot and greet the Commander.</p>
      <p>"Commander Shepard, it's good to finally see that you and your crew are alright." Said the Asari Councilor.</p>
      <p>"Very much appreciated, Councilor Tevos."</p>
      <p>"Shepard," Udina greeted her next. "Thanks to you, the Council's finally taking real action against Saren!"</p>
      <p>"The ambassador is correct," the Salarian councilor asserted. "After going over your reports you sent to us recently, we are taking measures against him."</p>
      <p>Sparatus picked up from there. "Saren is formidable enough without an army of Krogan serving under him."</p>
      <p>"The Krogan would've served Sovereign, a Reaper." Jane quickly said.</p>
      <p>Valern spoke next. "Yes… we saw the mention of that in your report. Sovereign, a sentient machine. A true artificial intelligence. This news is quite alarming… if it turns out to be accurate."</p>
      <p>"Sovereign's a Reaper, Saren admitted it." Jane emphasized.</p>
      <p>"He's playing you, Shepard." Said the Turian Councilor. "Saren still has contacts on the Citadel. He probably saw your earlier reports. The ones talking about your visions. And the Reapers."</p>
      <p>"It's highly possible Saren is using false information to throw you off balance. Our own intelligence has never turned up any corroborating information." Valern added in.</p>
      <p>"I tried to warn you about Saren. You didn't believe me then, and look how that turned out." Shepard countered.</p>
      <p>"I believe you humans have a saying: even a broken clock is right twice a day." Sparatus added in rather dryly.</p>
      <p>Tevos then spoke in before arguments get out of hand and get back to the matter at hand. "Putting all that aside… If Saren is foolish enough to attack the Citadel -as you believe- we will be ready for him." She said firmly.</p>
      <p>"Patrols are stationed at every Mass Relay linking Citadel Space to the Terminus Systems." The Turian Councilor said with a note of cocky finality.</p>
      <p>The Normandy team all shared a worried look, having seen Saren's power firsthand or heard from the rest who witnessed his actions back at the Virmire Base. More so with him now being able to control Heartless.</p>
      <p>Shepard shook her head and said what they were all thinking. "Councilors, I've seen firsthand what Saren's capable of, and trust me when I say that a blockade is definitely not going to be enough to stop him. In fact, he's on Ilos right now looking for the Conduit! What are we gonna do about that?!"</p>
      <p>"Ilos is only accessible through the Mu Relay, deep inside the Terminus Systems, Commander." Valern explained with a tone of long-suffering. "If we send a fleet in there, the only possible outcome is full-scale war."</p>
      <p>"No, it's more like you guys will have a harder time to pay for your Eezo." Axel commented.</p>
      <p>"Who is this?" Sparatus asked sharply, glaring at the uncaring Nobody.</p>
      <p>"A teammate of mine." Shepard quickly defended.</p>
      <p>"Councilors." Roxas then abruptly stepped forward. "Saren has control of the Heartless. He has the Geth, a small Krogan army <em>and </em>the Heartless. Heartless that can appear at any place in the galaxy with a wave of Saren's hand. You <em>need</em> to go after him."</p>
      <p>The three Councilors and ambassador to humanity only balked at the boy's bold proclamation.</p>
      <p>Tevos regained her composure, clearing her throat.</p>
      <p>"We have made our decision." Tevos said in finality.</p>
      <p>"And?"</p>
      <p>"We will add further security into our present forces."</p>
      <p>"Now is the time for discretion, Commander," Udina asserted. "Saren's greatest weapon was secrecy. Exposed, he is no longer a threat. This is over."</p>
      <p>Practically everyone turned a sideways glance towards the ambassador. Was he being serious right now?</p>
      <p>With a growl, Shepard turned back to the Council. "Have you listened to nothing I said?! Saren's strength isn't secrecy, it's the Reapers. He's already stronger than anything I've ever seen."</p>
      <p>"And what do you think he'll be like with the Conduit?!" Ash cried out.</p>
      <p>Valern calmly spoke to the red haired Nobody. "Saren is a master manipulator. The Conduit is just a distraction from his real plan to attack the Citadel."</p>
      <p>Sparatus picked up from there as he angrily shot back at Shepard. "And you keep talking about the Reapers too, but for all we know, they are simply figments of your imagination that Saren is using to play you like an instrument."</p>
      <p>Tevos motioned for her colleague to cool his head. "Commander," the asari addressed with a more civil tone. "The Reapers may have only been in your visions and dreams. We won't invade the Terminus Systems on those alone."</p>
      <p>"If you won't send a fleet, one ship going into the Terminus Systems won't cause any problems like before. My team and I can be discreet."</p>
      <p>"Yet you detonated a nuclear device on Virmire. I wouldn't call that discreet." Sparatus shot out.</p>
      <p>"We had no choice. We had to take Captain Kirrahe's approach to be sure Saren's base would no longer be operable." Shepard argued.</p>
      <p>"Your style served you well in the Traverse, Commander. We recognize that." Said Tevos. "But Ilos requires a deft touch. We have the situation under control."</p>
      <p>Roxas soon shouted out in frustration. "If Saren finds the Conduit, then everyone will suffer because you guys won't bother to act properly to this whole mess!"</p>
      <p>All three Council members turned to him, staring with inscrutable expressions.</p>
      <p>Shepard quickly stepped in, though reiterating. "He's right. We have to go to Ilos, now!"</p>
      <p>It was Sparatus who replied condescendingly. "Ambassador Udina, I get the sense that Shepard and her crew is unwilling to let this matter go."</p>
      <p>Jane turned her head to Udina, wondering if the ambassador is actually gonna comply with this.</p>
      <p>Udina then spoke. "There are serious implications here, Shepard. Humanity's made great gains thanks to you, but now, you're becoming more trouble than you're worth."</p>
      <p>Garrus, Axel and Wrex only scoffed. Tali, Liara, and Roxas held back the urge to shout. Xion was quiet as she didn't know what to do while trying to hold back Stitch from going in and rip the Council a new one. Kaidan and Ashely, however, were clearly shocked at how easily Udina would backstab another human in the name of political gain.</p>
      <p>And it was the Gunnery Chief who beat the Lieutenant to the punch. "You bastard!" Ashley hissed at Udina. "You're selling us out!"</p>
      <p>Shepard couldn't have said it better herself, clearly unhappy with the ambassador's move, but nonetheless was expecting it one way or another.</p>
      <p>"It's just politics, Commander." Udina said airily before stepping up to the Council. "The Alliance is in agreement, Counselors. We've locked out the Normandy's primary systems, and for the time being, Shepard and her crew are grounded on the Citadel."</p>
      <p>Jane shook her head in frustration as she addressed the Council. "Are you all insane? After everything I've done for this mission, after all I've done for humanity." She directed the last bit to Udina. "You still don't believe me?"</p>
      <p>Axel leaned over and whispered to Roxas. "I think your thoughts on DiZ are up for debate now. The Council could probably be worse than DiZ."</p>
      <p>"Without question." Roxas growled out, whirling to leave.</p>
      <p>"And where are you going?" Sparatus spoke aloud. "This debriefing is still-"</p>
      <p>"I don't answer to you." Roxas said firmly. "I'm not a part of your system of bullcrap. In the general notion of things, I'm just a bystander who's trying to do the right thing."</p>
      <p>"My thoughts exactly." Axel said with a grin of his own, turning to leave with Xion choosing to follow after, Tali and Wrex going after the trio a moment later with Stitch letting out an angry growl before following them as well.</p>
      <p>With the Normandy ground team leaving, Tevos couldn't help but let out a frustrated sigh.</p>
      <p>Things could've honestly gone better.</p>
      <p>She had read further into Shepard's reports with where she and her ship went off to after Virmire. And she, along with her fellow counselors, was very surprised to learn of them arriving in another galaxy of all places, much like Della Duck informed them prior.</p>
      <p>The Asari councilor wanted to hopefully bring up this matter after discussing the present issue with Saren. But after what just occurred within this room made things rather difficult to bring up at the present time.</p>
      <p>Hopefully after the threat with Saren resolved, the discussions with First Contact with this Etherium Galaxy could commence.</p>
      <p>Until then, Citadel forces needed to be ready for what's to come.</p>
      <p>
        <em>-Scene Cut-</em>
      </p>
      <p>"This is fucking <em>bullshit!</em>" Ashley exclaimed, throwing her helmet against the wall.</p>
      <p>The crew was back aboard the Normandy, meeting within the war room with a shared mood of anger and frustration.</p>
      <p>"After all that, after everything we did <em>and still."</em> Kaidan said in his seat in frustration.</p>
      <p>"Either they're too ignorant in seeing the bigger picture or their heads are indeed shoved high up their asses." Garrus dryly said with Axel and Wrex nodding in agreement.</p>
      <p>"I cannot believe they did this to you. I am so sorry, Shepard." Tali apologized.</p>
      <p>"I was doing my best to show them the truth and they still won't believe it." Shepard gritted out.</p>
      <p>"It's not right." Kaidan added in. "You did everything they asked and more. Nobody else could've done what you did!"</p>
      <p>"The Council owes you everything, Skipper! Instead they practically strip you of command and ground us." Said Ashley.</p>
      <p>Garrus then gave his opinion. "In my opinion, the grounding wouldn't have been that bad if they took the real threat more seriously."</p>
      <p>"I don't care if they ground me, but they refuse to go after Saren." Shepard informed them. "If they don't stop him from finding the Conduit, we're all dead!"</p>
      <p>"Perhaps we could appeal and get them to reverse their decision." Liara said hopefully.</p>
      <p>Axel soon voiced his thoughts. "While I'm not an expert on politics, I doubt what we saw could be easily appealed."</p>
      <p>"I pushed them as hard as I could! They wouldn't budge." Jane stressed out.</p>
      <p>"So you're going to walk away?" Roxas asked her. "You'll just give up and let everyone die?"</p>
      <p>Jane exhaled a sigh. "Look, we're benched for now, but I'll find a way to get back in."</p>
      <p>"I sure hope so, since time ain't on our side now." Wrex grunted out.</p>
      <p>"Well I believe in you, Shepard." Xion said with a small smile. "I'm with you every step of the way."</p>
      <p>"Same here." Stitch spoke out.</p>
      <p>The others in their group were in agreement, showing they'll be with Shepard no matter what.</p>
      <p>The N7 marine chuckled under her breath. "Thanks, guys. I needed to hear that."</p>
      <p>Suddenly, Joker's voice was heard over the intercom.</p>
      <p>"<em>Sorry to interrupt, Commander. Got a message from Captain Anderson."</em></p>
      <p>"Are you spying on us, Joker?"</p>
      <p>"Given what we know about him, he probably did." Axel quipped.</p>
      <p>"<em>Hurtful, Flame head, hurtful. But no, I just knew you were on the ship and figured I'd pass the message on."</em> Came Joker's response. <em>"The captain said to meet him at Flux, that club down on the wards."</em></p>
      <p>"Wonder what he's gotta say." Ash questioned.</p>
      <p>"We should probably go meet with him."</p>
      <p>"Not all of us." Jane pointed out. "If everyone came with me, it would be too suspicious."</p>
      <p>"I agree. So who's coming with you?" Liara asked.</p>
      <p>"Roxas, Xion, Garrus, Ash." Shepard pointed out. "With me. The rest of you, stand by for anything."</p>
      <p>With that said and done, the team left the Normandy, Liara and Tali opting to stay behind for the time being whilst Wrex wandered off, mentioning something about drinking.</p>
      <p>Understandable, given their current circumstances. Surprisingly, Stitch and Kaidan opted to join them.</p>
      <p>Currently, Shepard, Ash, Garrus, and the Nobody trio were heading over to Flux where Anderson was waiting for them.</p>
      <p>Entering an elevator that would take them down to the level where the bar would be located, the group soon heard a news broadcast over the comms.</p>
      <p>"<em>In further developments in the Eden Prime investigation, the Council has reportedly revoked the Spectre status of one of its operatives."</em> Said the newscaster. <em>"While the unnamed operative has not yet been apprehended, a Council spokesperson confirmed that corrective actions had been taken."</em></p>
      <p>"Of course that would be broadcasted after how many weeks?" Ashley sarcastically pointed out. "Shouldn't it have happened shortly after he got exposed?"</p>
      <p>"Wish I had an answer for that one." Garrus drawled out.</p>
      <p>Eventually getting closer to the club, they were soon approached by a man who they thought had a rather outspoken personality.</p>
      <p>"Excuse me? You're the Spectre, Commander Shepard, right? It's an honor to speak with you."</p>
      <p>Shepard rose a brow before addressing him. "Thanks, I guess. Is there something you wanted to speak to me about?"</p>
      <p>The man nodded before introducing himself. "I'm Charles Saracino of the Terra Firma Party. With Armistice Day coming soon, we're making our voices heard by the alien-appeasers on the Presidium. Can I count on your support in the next election?"</p>
      <p>Hearing this, Axel was unfamiliar to this but he figured it must be important and all since this guy is sounding like a know-it-all smarmy jackass. And judging by the man before them, it had to involve the political side of things of the incident.</p>
      <p>"You're marking the end of the First Contact War with a protest?" Ash asked in confusion.</p>
      <p>"As we have every year, for the last twenty-six years. The war taught humanity a lesson that some would forget. If we don't stand up for ourselves, no one else will." The man spoke with a passion.</p>
      <p>"I thought the lesson of the First Contact War was that there's other life in the universe, and they have opinions too." Shepard stated with her arms crossed.</p>
      <p>Charles took note of the 'universe' bit but figured the human Spectre was just putting more thought into the whole argument.</p>
      <p>"Perhaps so, Commander, but if aliens feel free to express their 'opinions' at gunpoint, why shouldn't we?"</p>
      <p>"We should." Ashley voiced out. "But you're looking for a reason."</p>
      <p>"I disagree. We have a backlog of grievances the aliens have ignored. Starting with Shanxi."</p>
      <p>Ashley then snapped. "Were you at Shanxi? If not, shut your piehole."</p>
      <p>Her grandfather, General Williams, took part in the First Contact War and she learned how difficult it was for the man on the fallout for his actions. He had his garrison surrender, only so that he could help protect his people. Despite his actions, he and his family were frowned upon as a result. This caused any enlisted member of her family to be stuck in garrison outposts and not gaining any combat experience. Due to her family's discrimination, Ashley asserts that a Williams has to be better than the best, making up for what happened in Shanxi.</p>
      <p>"Gunnery Chief Williams, is that the proper way to address a civilian authority?" Jane said evenly to her.</p>
      <p>"No sir, sorry sir." Ashley apologized.</p>
      <p>"What are you running for?" Shepard asked in a calm fashion.</p>
      <p>"I'm seeking one of the five spacer seats in Parliament. They have certain baroque conditions for a citizen to be able to vote for them. You have to spend more than six months a year in space. But you can't have stayed in any one settled system for more than a month." Charles informed them. "You do spend most of your time in space, Commander."</p>
      <p>"I do." She responded. "But I don't know Terra Firma's platform. What do you stand for?"</p>
      <p>"Our core value is that Earth must 'stand firm' against alien influences. Politically, culturally, and -in the worst case- militarily." Charles said with a small sneer upon his face.</p>
      <p>"It's a noble goal. Too bad so many of your supporters are just racists." Ashley commented.</p>
      <p>"I agree." Garrus butted in. "Many of your subordinates make this a point of race, not politics."</p>
      <p>Charles soon glanced over to Garrus. "Excuse me, I don't believe human politics are any of your business."</p>
      <p>"Turian space borders yours, of course we're concerned about your leadership." Garrus commented in his people's defense.</p>
      <p>"Enough." Shepard said firmly, wanting this little argument to end before it possibly could get worse.</p>
      <p>"Sorry, but I can't deny that some of our supporters have extreme views." Charles defended on his party's behalf. "But our platform is also supported by economics, sociologists and medical professionals."</p>
      <p>"Yet I can't help but notice you don't do anything to curtail the racist comments of your members." Jane pointed out.</p>
      <p>"Of course not, Commander. Whether I disagree with them or not, they have the right to express their opinions."</p>
      <p>"We all live in this galaxy, Mr. Saracino. We can't pretend that what we do affects no one else." Shepard commented.</p>
      <p>"Once again, my apologies. I only meant to point out that other species have no right to interfere in Alliance politics."</p>
      <p>"Even if said species can actually help the Alliance out through a tough pickle?" Shepard said rhetorically. Before Charles could say anything else, she cut him off. "Sorry. I believe we need to work peacefully with other races."</p>
      <p>"We've heard that before in human history. Well-meaning naivete leads to declarations of 'peace in our time'." Charles argued. "We can't allow anything like Shanxi to happen again. I don't suppose I could convince you to issue a public statement of support for my candidacy? The support of the first human Spectre would be invaluable."</p>
      <p>"The occupation of Shanxi couldn't happen again. We weren't even sure there were aliens to garrison against back then."</p>
      <p>"It's still a powerful symbol, Commander. Shanxi is the only human territory ever occupied by an alien species."</p>
      <p>"You have the right to your opinion, Mr. Saracino. But with all due respect, I disagree with it."</p>
      <p>"I understand, Commander. I'm glad you support the democratic process, at least." Charles said cordially. "Thank you for your time. Remember Terra Firma on election day. Because Terra Firma remembers you."</p>
      <p>When they parted ways, No. VIII couldn't help but ask Shepard the obvious thing right now.</p>
      <p>"So… Commander… you plan on voting for-"</p>
      <p>"Not in your non-existent life, Axel."</p>
      <p>Nearing Flux, the group was approached by someone hanging by the stairs.</p>
      <p>"Pardon me, soldier. Could I take a moment of your time?"</p>
      <p>Shepard sighed and looked at the man. "What is it?"</p>
      <p>"Soldier, I've got a major situation and I need help from somebody with humanity's interests at heart."</p>
      <p>Ever since the situation with the Council earlier, Jane has not been in the best of moods right now. And after being confronted by that Terra Firma rep, it was starting to push her a little further.</p>
      <p>"It's Commander, actually." She corrected him. "What do you want?"</p>
      <p>"My apologies, commander. Right to business. That's why humanity has the best damn fleet in the galaxy." The man then introduced himself. "My name is Elias Keeler, I'm an Alliance negotiator. We've got a big session coming up with the Salarians. You wouldn't believe what's riding on this. I'm fighting for humanity on this one, just like you are!"</p>
      <p>Looking at the man, most of them had noticed how fast he was talking. And with the red haired Nobody, he noticed how dilated the man's eyes were. It was a little hard to notice at first with the dark brown coloring, but it was there.</p>
      <p>Obviously, there was something this guy wanted from them, so Shepard pressured him to cut to the chase. "Don't try to sell me on this. Just tell me what you want."</p>
      <p>The man only nodded rapidly. "I need you to buy me a mental stimulant for me. It's legal, but restricted. I've purchased the monthly limit, and I need more from the med bay."</p>
      <p>Shepard was about to say something when Axel cut her off. "What is this stimulant, exactly?"</p>
      <p>The Commander blinked at his sudden interjection.</p>
      <p>"Axel…"</p>
      <p>No. VIII leaned over to her and whispered in her ear. "You go on ahead and talk to Anderson, I'll deal with this guy."</p>
      <p>"You sure?"</p>
      <p>"Positive."</p>
      <p>Jane nodded and politely excused herself.</p>
      <p>"What was that all about?" The drug addled man asked.</p>
      <p>"Sorry about that, she's got prior engagements to deal with right now. Alliance concerns."</p>
      <p>"Then what of you?"</p>
      <p>"I can help you out, depending on what's exactly going on. Name's Axel. Got it memorized?"</p>
      <p>The man nodded. "Elias."</p>
      <p>"So about this stimulant…"</p>
      <p>Elias nodded and complied in answering. "I don't know the medical terms, but it increases mental capacity, short-term recall, that sort of thing. It helps me stay focused, and it keeps me sharp. Nothing gets by me when I'm on it."</p>
      <p>Axel briefly nodded. He then thought about why the man wanted to press past this monthly limit and pressed him on the issue.</p>
      <p>"If you know the monthly limit, why'd you go over it?" Axel asked.</p>
      <p>"The negotiations were supposed to be last week, but the Salarians stalled it, probably deliberately. If I don't get the stimulant, I'll be a wreck. My assistant will take over, and that would be a disaster." Elias stuttered out.</p>
      <p>Axel tilted his head at the behavior. "Shouldn't you put trust in your assistant? After all, he's an assistant for a reason. I mean, didn't you train him?"</p>
      <p>Elias scoffed. "My assistant wants to bend over backwards for the Citadel races. He wants to show them we're reasonable! No race will respect us until we show them who's in charge! That's what it took with the Turians. Forget my assistant."</p>
      <p>"Uh huh, then what's so important with this deal?" Axel asked, crossing his arms with an uninterested expression on his face now.</p>
      <p>"The Salarians want to set up long-term trade agreements. There are billions of credits at stake. If I don't get the drug, my assistant will take over and mess up the whole deal. It would be a disaster."</p>
      <p>"Is your assistant incompetent or just inexperienced?"</p>
      <p>"Worse. He's an alien sympathizer." The negotiator went into an explanation. "My assistant wants to bend over backwards for the Citadel races. He wants to show them we're reasonable!"</p>
      <p>Axel soon realized what was going on here. This guy pretty much became a stimulant addict with this whole thing going on. Not to mention a racist to boot.</p>
      <p>He didn't voice these thoughts but thought of a way to take care of the issue.</p>
      <p>"Okay, I can see how it's gonna be. I'll help you out."</p>
      <p>"Really? You will?" Elias' voice was hopeful.</p>
      <p>"I'll see what I can do, but I can't guarantee anything."</p>
      <p>"I understand. I'll pay you back for it. And I can even throw in a little extra."</p>
      <p>"Of course."</p>
      <p>"Thanks once again for the help. Like I said earlier, you can find the stimulant over in the med bay."</p>
      <p>Walking away, Axel went to the nearest med bay he could find as it was the same one he heard about from Roxas and Tali some time ago with how they first met. Maybe it was the same person.</p>
      <p>Getting to Doctors clinic, Axel saw her working on something when he approached her.</p>
      <p>"Dr. Michel, right?"</p>
      <p>The doctor turned her attention to him and spoke up. "Yes, may I help you?"</p>
      <p>"Hi, my name's Axel. Do the names Roxas and Tali sound familiar?"</p>
      <p>"You know them?" Michel asked.</p>
      <p>"Wouldn't ask if I didn't." Axel said with a smirk. "I'm a friend of theirs."</p>
      <p>"Oh how are they?"</p>
      <p>"They're doing well. Been saving their hides on a number of assignments we've been working on for a while now."</p>
      <p>"That's good to hear." Said Dr. Chloe Michel. "But I doubt you're here for pleasantries."</p>
      <p>"I'm not." He clarified. "I'm here to purchase something."</p>
      <p>"Which would be what, exactly?" Michel inquired.</p>
      <p>"A depressant. Do you perhaps some in stock?" Axel questioned.</p>
      <p>"I do, actually. Is there a reason why you need it?"</p>
      <p>"Taking care of someone who really needs it right now."</p>
      <p>The clinic doctor nodded as the purchase was soon made, with a discount due to him being friends with her two little helpers.</p>
      <p>"Please tell those two I said my hellos."</p>
      <p>"Will do, doc. Will do."</p>
      <p>Exiting the clinic, Axel made his way to the entrance of Flux. And sure enough, he saw the negotiator was still there.</p>
      <p>He soon spotted him and was seemingly getting a bit more fidgety. "You got what I asked for?" He asked.</p>
      <p>Axel merely smirked, pulling out the depressant and handing it over. "Here. This should take care of <em>all</em> your problems."</p>
      <p>"Perfect. The Salarians will never see me coming." Elias then pulled out a credit chip to finalize the exchange. "Here you go. For your trouble."</p>
      <p>Elias then took the depressant, not really expecting to see if it was the actual stimulant he desired. Once consumed, he walked away from the area to wherever else he needed to go.</p>
      <p>It was at this point did Shepard return with the others.</p>
      <p>"What was that all about?" Xion asked, seeing the whole exchange going on.</p>
      <p>"Taking care of a racist druggie." He surmised. "Giving him what he deserved."</p>
      <p>"Which was what exactly?" Shepard inquired.</p>
      <p>"Giving him a depressant. I mean did you notice how high he probably was?" Axel said, thumbing in the direction that man walked off in.</p>
      <p>"Now that you mentioned it, I probably should have." Said the Commander. "How long do you think the effects will kick in?"</p>
      <p>"Who knows. Probably rather soon or sometime later. Or…"</p>
      <p>Axel looked over to where the man was walking off to and spotted him. With a small grin forming, he concentrated on his power and flicked a finger up.</p>
      <p>A small flame appeared over his finger and a moment later, the man he had given the depressant to screeched out in pain and surprise. Many people looked over to him whilst the rest gazed at him in bewilderment.</p>
      <p>"Alright, I've had my fun." Axel declared. "Let's get out of here."</p>
      <p>"What did you-"</p>
      <p>"No, no, no." Axel waved them off. "Come on."</p>
      <p>"Uh… ok?"</p>
      <p>The group walked away from Flux, with No. VIII asking…</p>
      <p>"So what did Anderson want to talk to you about? Why all the secrecy there of all places?"</p>
      <p>"Reason why at Flux was because it was loud and it'll be harder for anyone to really pay attention to our conversation. If we had it back at his place, it would've been harder to plan things out, given some Citadel agents are there to somewhat watch over Della from nearby."</p>
      <p>"Ah, right. That makes sense. But still, what were you guys talking about?" Axel went on.</p>
      <p>"He was telling me that he'll help get us off this station and hunt Saren down."</p>
      <p>"And how's that gonna work out? I doubt he's got clearance to get us ungrounded."</p>
      <p>"Told him to do what he felt was right in the situation." Jane revealed.</p>
      <p>"If you say so." Axel said, stretching his arm over his head. "Was already liking the guy from what you told me of him and my personal impressions. Hope whatever he's gonna do doesn't bite him in the ass."</p>
      <p>"I agree and that's what worries me. All I can do is put my faith in him that he'll take the lesser evil."</p>
      <p>"What now?" Roxas asked.</p>
      <p>"Now we need to get back to the Normandy stat. Don't know when Anderson will fully enact his part of the plan."</p>
      <p>"Right."</p>
      <p>"So we're basically stealing the Normandy, then?" Garrus rhetorically asked.</p>
      <p>"It's not stealing if it rightfully belonged to me for a good cause." Jane countered.</p>
      <p>"Whatever you say, Shepard." Axel said, patting her shoulder before the team began to rush back to the Normandy.</p>
      <p>Along the way, Shepard sent out a message for the other wayward teammates to be prepared for departure.</p>
      <p>
        <em>-Scene Cut-</em>
      </p>
      <p>Udina was minding his own business, typing away on his console in the middle of his office.</p>
      <p>The human ambassador had to look over several documents and files that came across his desk recently on recent events.</p>
      <p>He was soon interrupted when he saw Anderson storming into his office.</p>
      <p>"Anderson? What are you doing here?" Udina demanded, seeing the angry Alliance captain coming in rather close for comfort. "I didn't send for-"</p>
      <p>Everything else the ambassador was about to say came to an abrupt end when Anderson punched him across the face. It was hard enough to knock him out cold, having him collapse onto his desk.</p>
      <p>David was honestly glad the man was in his office. He had less of a chance of getting caught in getting the Normandy free. The only other option was storming Citadel Control and that was a little suicidal as he'll get shot. But he was ready to go above and beyond to help out his surrogate daughter and former protege on this dire task.</p>
      <p>Besides, Anderson really wanted to give Udina a piece of his mind after the stunt he pulled in the Council Chambers. And was rather cathartic on how he pulled it off.</p>
      <p>Pushing the ambassador aside, the Alliance Captain went through the man's computer and issued an override on the lockdown order.</p>
      <p>
        <em>-Scene Cut-</em>
      </p>
      <p>Upon their return to the Normandy, what came afterwards was one of the tensest moments in Jane's life.</p>
      <p>The crew and her team were all aboard as they were now waiting on Anderson fulfilling his part of the plan for their escape.</p>
      <p>Shepard stood beside Joker in the cockpit, watching the light flash red again and again on the screen. When it finally turned green and the screen reported the clamps were taken off.</p>
      <p>"Get us outta here, Joker. Now!"</p>
      <p>Joker didn't have to be told twice as he had the ship off the Citadel quicker than anyone could notice.</p>
      <p>With the coordinates to the Mu Relay patched through, all they had to do was follow it and make their eventual arrival to Ilos.</p>
      <p>It was then did Joker notice something on their radar.</p>
      <p>"Hey, Shepard, we got company."</p>
      <p>"Is it Citadel control?" Jane asked worriedly.</p>
      <p>She really hoped it wasn't as it would make her wonder how they screwed up on their escape.</p>
      <p>"It's not. Signature is… Oh, it's the Spear of Selene." Joker said in surprise.</p>
      <p>"Della?"</p>
      <p>"Yeah, she's flying in right now, requesting to get into our hangar."</p>
      <p>"Right, send a warning to everyone down there to vacate for emergency docking."</p>
      <p>"You got it."</p>
      <p>Shepard made her way down to the hangar bay and arrived in time to see the Spear of Selene flying into and landing in the Normandy.</p>
      <p>The hatch opened up and out jumped the adventurous duck with an excited look to her face.</p>
      <p>"Sup party people, Della's in the hizzouse!" She yelled out before slapping her face. "Nope, no. Should've done a better intro-"</p>
      <p>"Della? How the hell did you get away?" Shepard asked, pleasantly surprised by her arrival.</p>
      <p>"Gave my guards the slip when I wanted to get out of Anderson's apartment." Della informed the commander. "Had to hijack a car to get to the dock where my sweet baby was located. And sure enough was able to get there on time when you guys left."</p>
      <p>"But how-?"</p>
      <p>"Anderson messaged me to high tail out of there when he was on his way to Flux. Said you guys will need your help with what's to come."</p>
      <p>Jane smirked, releasing a chuckle from her throat. "Leave it to the Captain to think of everything for this mission. Welcome aboard for this one, Della. You're not sitting this one out."</p>
      <p>Della only whooped aloud with her jumping up in the air, fists raised high in victory.</p>
      <p>The Normandy flew away from the Citadel at top speeds as they headed right for the relay outta here.</p>
      <p>Look out Saren, Sovereign, they were coming after them and nothing's stopping them now.</p>
      <p>
        <strong>AN</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Ok so, we're in the endgame of the first Mass Effect game.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Quick review. We started with 358/2 days, at the tail end of KH1, started with ME1 and basically eliminated Chain Of Memories with the path being completely diverted in another direction entirely.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Suffice to say, we got a lot done for this story. And this is just the beginning.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Jebest4781: Glad to see how this has turned out on this progression so far. Now for those struggling with reading chapters as of late, recommend you all download the app as it's the best method of reading and leaving a review for new chapters. Sad to say, only method until further notice.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>FMW: Also, to compound upon this issue, I will be creating an Archive Of Our Own account within the coming days once this issue has been taken care of as if it were to happen again, you could go over to that site to read the new chapters. So again fanfiction App and Ao3. Who knows, maybe uploading this chapter will forcibly make the one prior to this one appear.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Now, before we close out the chapter.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <em>-Omake-</em>
      </p>
      <p>The team was seated in the meeting room with everyone in their chairs and a holo screen before them.</p>
      <p>"Alright you guys, everyone ready?" Shepard asked, looking around at the team.</p>
      <p>"Shepard, I'm still confused. What are we even doing?" Garrus spoke up.</p>
      <p>"Team building exercise."</p>
      <p>"By playing… a game?" Liara said, unsure as to how to even play the game.</p>
      <p>"Wait, how do we even play this?" Axel asked.</p>
      <p>"It's simple really." Kaidan said, shrugging his shoulders. "There's ten of us here. Out of the ten, two of us are indoctrinated and have to kill the others whilst the other eight have to win by either getting rid of the indoctrinated or completing the assigned tasks. Nobody is supposed to say who is who and we gotta figure that out for ourselves."</p>
      <p>"Right…" Tali muttered. "And how do we do all that?"</p>
      <p>"It's a play and learn type of thing." Wrex said, making the others look at him. "What? I've played this before. I do more than just kill you know."</p>
      <p>"I'm just surprised, if I'm honest."</p>
      <p>"What else do you play, Wrex?" Xion innocently asked.</p>
      <p>"Mostly shooting games." Wrex answered. "Humans are really creative with that shit."</p>
      <p>"Alright everyone, get ready." Shepard said aloud, the team looking at their respective screens. "Remember, no talking unless a body is found and discussions are done."</p>
      <p>As the game loaded up…</p>
      <p>"...Wait… why is the ship's map like the Normandy's?" Tali pointed out.</p>
      <p>"There are options you can do on private servers." Shepard said. "You just need to download thing the right way and they'll be available."</p>
      <p>Wrex gave a grunt of confirmation. "There was this one thing I saw a while back pertaining to 'Fatality Kills'."</p>
      <p>"That sounds interesting."</p>
      <p>"And what are the objectives?"</p>
      <p>"Task bars are in the upper left corner of your screens, people." Jane said. "Now, shush up and get to it."</p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>Round One.</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>Liara was very much unsure as to how to play this game but she went along with it.</p>
      <p>Yet…</p>
      <p>For some reason…</p>
      <p>There was an unusual nervousness that descended upon her as she made her way down to the core room and found Wrex by his lonesome.</p>
      <p>She was unsure as to what task he had there but she didn't have time to dwell on it as Wrex just walked out.</p>
      <p>Sighing to herself, Liara went to do her task when-</p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>*Dead body reported*</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>In an instant, Liara found herself in the virtual meeting room of the Normandy with the others minus-</p>
      <p>"Ah no, Roxas died first." Jane said with a pout.</p>
      <p>"Ok, so who found him?" Wrex asked.</p>
      <p>"He was near the cockpit." Axel revealed. "Found him just there."</p>
      <p>"See anyone?" Kaidan asked.</p>
      <p>"I heard a vent being used." Axel said, eyeing the remaining players. "Sound off on locations."</p>
      <p>"Just saw Liara near the core room." Wrex rattled off straight away. "Couldn't have been her."</p>
      <p>"Yes, yes, what Wrex said is true. He was leaving as I arrived."</p>
      <p>"I was near electrical." Ashley revealed. "I think I saw Xion close by."</p>
      <p>"Yeah, I was there. Tali was traveling with me."</p>
      <p>"I was."</p>
      <p>"I was in the map room with Shepard." Kaidan said, Shepard voicing her confirmation.</p>
      <p>"So what now then?" Tali asked.</p>
      <p>"Since there's no suspicions right now, we'll have to skip for now." Jane declared with nobody disagreeing with her.</p>
      <p>The game resumed a moment later, the remaining alive crewmates going about their tasks when…</p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>*Dead body reported*</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>"It was Shepard!" Xion exclaimed upon discovering the body of Kaidan in the hangar bay, dramatically pointing her finger at the Commander. "She killed Kaidan in cold blood in the Hangar!"</p>
      <p>"What are you talking about Xion? I was in engineering?" Shepard defended herself smoothly.</p>
      <p>"No you weren't." Wrex butted in. "I was at admin looking at the map and I saw one person in electrical go to the hangar bay where there was one other person and that guy vanished. And then another person came in and reported the body."</p>
      <p>"It is Shepard!" Tali said in finality.</p>
      <p>"Vote her out." Garrus said with a snap of his fingers.</p>
      <p>Shepard's avatar was sent sailing out into the abyss of space and a moment later, it was confirmed she was indeed indoctrinated.</p>
      <p>The crew resumed their game once more, going on and on and after some time…</p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>*Dead body reported*</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>"Ok guys I- whoa! What the hell happened?" Ashley spoke up, noticing Liara and Wrex were now dead. "How'd the killer get two in one go?"</p>
      <p>"Gee, I wonder." Axel gave her a dry look, one shared by with Tali.</p>
      <p>"What?"</p>
      <p>"See, we have a bit of a problem with the one reporting this matter." Xion spoke up in a business like fashion. "When you reported the body, I was travelling with Garrus…"</p>
      <p>"And Tali was with me." Axel added.</p>
      <p>"And originally, Wrex was walking with us until he wandered away." Tali put in her two cents. "So~"</p>
      <p>Ash opened her mouth in an attempt to defend herself only for her to see everyone who was still alive had already voted.</p>
      <p>She slumped back in her seat in defeat. "Dang it."</p>
      <p>"Alright." The survivors cheered as the games declared them the victors.</p>
      <p>"Next time." Ash proclaimed.</p>
      <p>"Ok, come on, next game.</p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>Round Two.</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>"How'd you get it twice in a row?" Kaidan grunted out irritably.</p>
      <p>"Hey it's randomized." Ashley said, watching her character get shot out into space. "I didn't program this thing."</p>
      <p>"And now Roxas is dead."</p>
      <p>"I just feel horrible that he just hasn't had the chance to get used to the game, yet you take him out immediately?" Tali said in disappointment.</p>
      <p>"Damn, that's fucked up." Axel commented.</p>
      <p>"I'm still a ghost." Roxas dryly said.</p>
      <p>"Who can't really do anything other than the rest of his stuff." Shepard pointed out, making Roxas huff in annoyance. "Alright, back to it."</p>
      <p>Once more, the game resumed when-</p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>*Emergency meeting*</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>"What?"</p>
      <p>"Huh?"</p>
      <p>"What happened? Why are we doing this?"</p>
      <p>"I dunno…" Axel rubbed his chin. "Garrus, would you like to answer that question?"</p>
      <p>"What?"</p>
      <p>"Nice vent maneuver there buddy." Axel slyly said. "Why don't you try it against people who aren't as blind as I am."</p>
      <p>"What are you talking about?" Garrus said in confusion. "We just started."</p>
      <p>"Just as the lights went out and then I see one sly Turian thinking he managed to vent outta here." Axel said.</p>
      <p>"You sure Axel?" Wrex asked.</p>
      <p>"Trust me on this one."</p>
      <p>"I didn't vent."</p>
      <p>"That's what an indoctrinated would say." Axel shot back.</p>
      <p>"You know, Axel, if you're wrong, that would put the suspicion on you." Tali pointed out.</p>
      <p>"I'll take that chance." Axel declared.</p>
      <p>…</p>
      <p>"HAHA SEE!"</p>
      <p>"Spirits dammit." Garrus grumped. "I should have stayed back."</p>
      <p>"Good eye, Axel." Shepard complimented.</p>
      <p>"Alright, I'm really into this now, next round."</p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>Round Three.</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>The next round had commenced, the game going on as everyone went about their tasks whilst the two indoctrinated went about there's when several bodies had hit the floor dead. Not long after-</p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>*Emergency meeting*</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>"Ha!" Garrus laughed out before pointing towards two of the Nobodies. "Axel And Roxas! Axel and Roxas!"</p>
      <p>"What?" Axel reeled back in shock.</p>
      <p>"Axel killed Kaidan in electrical then vented in front of me and Roxas ran out of the room." Garrus said in an accusing manner. "Axel and Roxas, one hundreeeed percent!"</p>
      <p>"WHAT?!" Axel and Roxas yelled out.</p>
      <p>"Axel first 'cause I hundred percent saw him vent so it's definitely him. And Roxas is running out of the room. It could be 'cause he's finally playing more now, but I do think he's also indoctrinated. It's definitely him, the second indoctrinated crewmember."</p>
      <p>"That's a lie, Garrus!" Roxas yelled, trying to defend himself.</p>
      <p>Yet before he could give a chance to do so, Liara spoke up.</p>
      <p>"I do trust Garrus on this one because I was following him around."</p>
      <p>Shortly after Axel was thrown out of the airlock, confirming he was the first indoctrinated crewmember, Garrus immediately called for an emergency meeting.</p>
      <p>"Get Roxas outta here."</p>
      <p>"That's quite the fast round." Kaidan commented with a chuckle.</p>
      <p>"Quick game. Quick game."</p>
      <p>Meanwhile, Tali was having a panic attack as she didn't know what to do, thinking it would be impossible for Roxas to be indoctrinated.</p>
      <p>Her vision soon blurred to all of the happy times they spent together. Eating ice cream together, the assignments they fought side by side on against their opposition, and the times when they ended up napping together.</p>
      <p>In her mind's eye, she could already see Roxas in the airlock and was ready to be spaced with no way out.</p>
      <p>In her bit of fantasy, she reached out to him and he with her. The door flew open and the love of her life died not long after.</p>
      <p>...It was then did they get the notice that Roxas was indeed indoctrinated.</p>
      <p>"WHOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAA! He was?!"</p>
      <p>Tali snapped her head towards Roxas' direction. "How could you betray me like this Roxas!? I thought you were my friend!"</p>
      <p>Roxas reeled back, not expecting her to yell at him. "It's all about the game Tali, and how you play it." He said defensively.</p>
      <p>"Give the runt a break." Wrex chuckled out. "Probably a means of getting back at some people in the last few rounds."</p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>Round Four.</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>"Caveman mode?" Kaidan said. "How do we play that?"</p>
      <p>"People back then in prehistoric times didn't really have actual names to call others. So on this round, our general names cannot be used and we can't call out colors as well." Shepard stated.</p>
      <p>"So you can't say it's blue, you can't say it was Kaidan." Liara surmised</p>
      <p>"Basically, yes." Jane confirmed.</p>
      <p>"Then how do we actually call each other out?" Roxas asked.</p>
      <p>"...Her, You, Some Dude, That Guy, Myself, Who, Me, Them, Someone and Him."</p>
      <p>"...This is gonna be confusing as hell." Axel muttered out.</p>
      <p>"Oh yeah." Kaidan muttered.</p>
      <p>"Wait, wait. Everyone get their avatars lined up." Garrus said with a mischievous look in his eyes.</p>
      <p>"Why?"</p>
      <p>"Just do it."</p>
      <p>"Seriously, what are you doing?"</p>
      <p>"I'm making a sentence."</p>
      <p>"...Why?"</p>
      <p>"Just humor him, guys."</p>
      <p>The avatars soon lined up with Garrus chuckling in glee.</p>
      <p>"Me Myself Some Dude You Her Someone Them Who Him That Guy."</p>
      <p>"...You know what, I'm starting this damn thing." Shepard said.</p>
      <p>The game began once more, a clear sense of confusion going on as everyone was trying to adjust to this bizarre game mode.</p>
      <p>To say that madness was about to ensue...</p>
      <p>After a period of time…</p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>*Emergency Meeting*</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>"Alright, how do we do this?" Roxas muttered. "Ok I… I mean Me, Me is safe, me very safe; but Someone… SOMEONE was following Me. Someone's following Me!"</p>
      <p>"Where was the body, Me?" Her asked.</p>
      <p>"Cockpit."</p>
      <p>"Ok, You was at Electrical with Some Dude." You stated.</p>
      <p>"Who was at medbay."</p>
      <p>"What?"</p>
      <p>"Oh, no, no, yeah, Who was at medbay!"</p>
      <p>"Someone was with Them."</p>
      <p>"Me head hurts."</p>
      <p>"Some Dude agrees."</p>
      <p>"Can we just skip?"</p>
      <p>"Why did we decide on this again?"</p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>-In the voice of the French announcer from SpongeBob-</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>-Two minutes later-</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>"Me and Some Dude are working the drive core. But Someone is very suspicious."</p>
      <p>"I was taking care of the trash, you Pyjak!"</p>
      <p>"You need to realize you can't exactly use 'I' on this game mode."</p>
      <p>"Don't care."</p>
      <p>"You is dead unfortunately and Someone was last seen near him."</p>
      <p>"Her thinks that it is Someone."</p>
      <p>"All in favor of voting out Someone?"</p>
      <p>"Aye."</p>
      <p>"Pyjaks!"</p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>-Three minutes later-</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>Emergency meeting is called into effect.</p>
      <p>"Me's innocent!"</p>
      <p>"Myself can agree with Me's innocence.</p>
      <p>Them spoke. "I went through the cafeteria and saw… Her…"</p>
      <p>"Well Some Dude is dead. It could be That Guy who did it."</p>
      <p>"Who?"</p>
      <p>"Who did it."</p>
      <p>"No, not Who!" Them said. "Who was in storage!"</p>
      <p>"Myself is so confused right now."</p>
      <p>"Wait, hold up, hold up. How do You know Who was in storage?"</p>
      <p>"Because I was in storage."</p>
      <p>"I know for a fact that Me and Myself are innocent."</p>
      <p>"Who, where were you?"</p>
      <p>"In the medbay."</p>
      <p>"It's either Me, Myself, Them, That Guy or Who-who did it!"</p>
      <p>"Alright then… Who, you were the last one seen with… Her."</p>
      <p>"Oh god my head hurts so much right now."</p>
      <p>"Me know no-no more. Me so damn confused."</p>
      <p>"WHERE WAS I?! WHO AM I?!"</p>
      <p>"...I think we're all in agreement that he's finally snapping."</p>
      <p>"I think we're all in agreement we're never doing this again."</p>
      <p>"No promises. I like seeing half you guys with a headache."</p>
      <p>"Screw you Commander."</p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>Round Five.</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>"So what's this game mode supposed to be?" Tali asked.</p>
      <p>"Colorblind." Shepard said and a moment later, everyone's screens became black and white with their names became nothing more than a few lines.</p>
      <p>"Wha-what?" Liara blinked.</p>
      <p>"Shepard, what is this?" Ash asked in bewilderment.</p>
      <p>"The ultimate mode for guessing." Jane said with a mischievous smiles</p>
      <p>"I honestly don't know how we'll be able to properly vote through this now." Garrus stated.</p>
      <p>"Does anyone know which avatar they are right now?" Axel asked.</p>
      <p>"I'm the darker dark guy." Wrex said.</p>
      <p>"Great, now we're touching on racism territory here." Kaidan sarcastically quipped.</p>
      <p>"Why's that?" Roxas asked.</p>
      <p>"We got a white guy, a grey guy-"</p>
      <p>"They're basically black, grey and white." Ash exclaimed.</p>
      <p>"Who am I!? WHO AM I!?" Xion cried out dramatically.</p>
      <p>"I don't even know who I am." Tali wailed. "This is worse than some people not differentiating other Quarians."</p>
      <p>"...I am so sorry you and your people have to deal with that."</p>
      <p>"Thanks, Roxas."</p>
      <p>"There's like a couple of people who are basically the same color." Axel pointed out.</p>
      <p>"Alright guys, forget about that and focus up." Jane said. "Next round starting in 5…"</p>
      <p>The next match was underway, everyone splitting off to go about their tasks when Tali had a sudden revelation.</p>
      <p>"I just realized something."</p>
      <p>"What?"</p>
      <p>"How the hell are we gonna be able to complete the wiring tasks?"</p>
      <p>"...Fuck." Wrex muttered out, just as he was about to get to electrical.</p>
      <p>As the game resumed its pace, Xion was nervous of one of the lighter shades of white guys following her around so she opted for...</p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>*Emergency Meeting*</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>"Hey, I wanted to, oh no! Someone… wait, who died?"</p>
      <p>"I can't tell."</p>
      <p>"Okay, I think on this round, those who died should honestly speak up since the color palette is all fucked up and we can't see the names, it's only fair for them to speak up." Kaidan stated.</p>
      <p>"Hey, you can't do that." Shepard complained.</p>
      <p>"At this point, we can. You already put us through that hell on the last round and this one as well." Ashley rebuked.</p>
      <p>"All in favor of overruling her, say aye." Garrus spoke up.</p>
      <p>"Aye." Was the resounding response from the crew.</p>
      <p>"It's unanimous." Garrus declared.</p>
      <p>"I'm a Spectre, I override all of you."</p>
      <p>"Yet with how things are presently going, we don't fucking care." Axel shot back.</p>
      <p>"Be thankful we ain't taking away your mako privileges." Kaidan added.</p>
      <p>"Says who?" Shepard asked in an incredulous manner.</p>
      <p>"The Normandy admiralty board." Liara softly said.</p>
      <p>"There's no such thing."</p>
      <p>"We made it a thing." Ash countered. "Therefore, your complaints have been noted and overruled."</p>
      <p>Shepard felt her brow twitch upwards before shaking her head.</p>
      <p>"Getting back to the matter at hand, who was where?"</p>
      <p>"I was in electrical when I found the body." Wrex said.</p>
      <p>Axel, however, got a rather devious idea. "Liar, I found the body in the hangar bay."</p>
      <p>"Shut up, I got the microphone so I was the one who reported the body." Wrex argued back.</p>
      <p>"You're straight up lying man." Axel rebuked.</p>
      <p>"I found the body in electrical, you lying whore."</p>
      <p>"It was in admin!" Axel railed on, grinning despite himself at the fuming Krogan.</p>
      <p>"This game is ridiculous." Tali remarked.</p>
      <p>"This is so dumb." Xion agreed.</p>
      <p>"I don't care who I'm voting for." Kaidan said.</p>
      <p>"Same here." Garrus said.</p>
      <p>"Wait, we never figured out who died." Ash pointed out.</p>
      <p>"Shepard." Roxas answered. "She hasn't said a word since."</p>
      <p>"Oh."</p>
      <p>"Top right corner for me." Kaidan said.</p>
      <p>"Don't care if I get voted off on this round." Roxas admitted.</p>
      <p>With the votes being punched in, they watched as a slightly light grey avatar flew out into the vacuum of space.</p>
      <p>…</p>
      <p>…</p>
      <p>…</p>
      <p>"I honestly don't know if we won or not."</p>
      <p>"Urgh, let's just keep going." Tali said, feeling her head hurting again.</p>
      <p>Once again, the game resumed, two people now being dead they went about tasks whilst killers went about… killing.</p>
      <p>Eventually however, Indoctrination devolved into a series of convoluted calls, ironically hilarious comments due to pallet colors and soon enough…</p>
      <p>"I honestly feel no one won this round." Kaidan murmured, slumping into his seat with a tired face.</p>
      <p>"No one won this damn game mode." Garrus huffed.</p>
      <p>"Honestly… a colorblind person could've won this." Ashley commented.</p>
      <p>"Yeah, yeah… I think we've had our fill of this game." Shepard declared.</p>
      <p>Shepard heard a multitude of agreements…</p>
      <p>"Same time next week?"</p>
      <p>"Yeah."</p>
      <p>"Oh yeah."</p>
      <p>"Next time you Pyjaks."</p>
      <p>
        <strong>And there we go folks.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Little fun with J and I in this department.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Thanks again for reading.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Rate Read and Review and as Always Have Nice Day.</strong>
      </p>
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  </div></div>
<a name="section0020"><h2>20. We're in the Home Stretch Now</h2></a>
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      <p>
        <strong>Rate Read and Review and as Always Have Nice Day.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>I'm Nobody Chapter 20: We're in the home stretch now.</p>
      <p>The Normandy flew far from the Citadel, having taken the Relay closest to them to take them directly to the Mu Relay.</p>
      <p>Towards the Terminus System where the Council has absolutely no jurisdiction.</p>
      <p>Good.</p>
      <p>That meant they had a greater leverage of freedom going into this fight.</p>
      <p>Get to Ilos and take Saren down permanently.</p>
      <p>The literal fate of the Galaxy was hanging in the balance as the Normandy was racing towards its destination.</p>
      <p>They will not fail.</p>
      <p>Within the ship itself, an unusual tense calmness permeated the ship and its personnel.</p>
      <p>Not much chatter or noise was going about other than the hum of the ship's functions going about its processes with some occasional words being tossed around here and there.</p>
      <p>Among those that were one of the quieter ones aboard the ship was Commander Shepard, standing over the map of the galaxy as she observed the swirling mass of cosmic dust, stars and planets.</p>
      <p>This was it.</p>
      <p>She knew it was.</p>
      <p>They had Saren cornered and that's when a savage animal like Saren would attack at his most vicious.</p>
      <p>When being backed up against the wall with little chance of escape.</p>
      <p>Thinking on it, Shepard would normally figure Saren wouldn't worry whatsoever with them coming for him.</p>
      <p>After all, he was an experienced Spectre with years under his belt and commanding basically an army of Geth, Heartless and however many mercenaries he had hired up to this point. On top of that, the damn bastard had a Reaper at his beck and call or vice versa really.</p>
      <p>But she knew he was reeling from Virmire.</p>
      <p>Detonating his headquarters on top of Stitch quite literally tearing his arms apart.</p>
      <p>She could feel it in her gut that the next time Saren sees them, he would either come at them to kill or to get away to finish his own plans.</p>
      <p>And they needed to stop him.</p>
      <p>Sighing, Shepard stepped away from the map and went to go about her final rounds with the crew.</p>
      <p>She knew Della was by her ship and last she checked; Stitch was close by as well with his own.</p>
      <p>Shepard went around the ship, having stopped to speak with Garrus, Kaidan, Wrex and Ashley.</p>
      <p>Each one of them stated that they were ready and prepared for whatever they were about to face. That they were behind Shepard and would stay by her side to bring that rogue Spectre down.</p>
      <p>She appreciated all this.</p>
      <p>It was a comforting thought and affirmation of the crew that has been on this journey with her.</p>
      <p>Jane had never asked for such a thing but damned if she were to lie to herself about doing this with a different crew.</p>
      <p>Smiling to herself, Shepard walked past the medbay and found their resident Archaeologist sitting to herself.</p>
      <p>She appeared to be in deep thought, simply sitting there in her seat.</p>
      <p>"Liara?"</p>
      <p>The Asari jolted slightly, a light hue of embarrassment on her cheeks as she looked up to the Commander.</p>
      <p>"Oh, Shepard." Liara said. "Apologies. I didn't hear you come in."</p>
      <p>"It's alright, Liara." Shepard waved off. "You looked like a lot was on your mind. What's up?"</p>
      <p>Liara didn't respond at first, contemplating on something that appeared to be weighing on her mind.</p>
      <p>"Just a meeting I had with someone before we had departed from the Citadel."</p>
      <p>"A meeting with someone?" Shepard tilted her head. "With who?"</p>
      <p>"I didn't get his name." Liara stated. "But he was human. A man perhaps around Axel's age if not slightly younger."</p>
      <p>"He seems to have left an impact on you." Shepard noted.</p>
      <p>"This man was unusual." Liara said. "When I spoke to him, all he did was question me."</p>
      <p>Shepard frowned. "What about?"</p>
      <p>Liara herself seemed unsure as to how to answer this question. "He asked about the state of the galaxy, the growing appearance of the Heartless and if I had an opinion on it."</p>
      <p>Suddenly, Liara had a recollection of this conversation. "Wait, no, I do remember his name."</p>
      <p>"Who was he?"</p>
      <p>"He called himself Zo."</p>
      <p>"Zo?" Shepard repeated. "Like Z-O?"</p>
      <p>"That's how he presented it to be." Liara said.</p>
      <p>"What did he look like?"</p>
      <p>Liara thought about it for a moment. "He wore what appeared to be a lab coat of some kind that covered most of his attire. He had silver grayish hair with it over his right eye slightly."</p>
      <p>"Sounds emo." Shepard couldn't help but say.</p>
      <p>"Emo?"</p>
      <p>"I'll tell you about it later." Shepard waved off. "So this guy really left an impression on you, huh?"</p>
      <p>"He was just strange." Liara said. "But… when you returned from this Etherium galaxy you went off to… I thought that he felt familiar."</p>
      <p>"Felt familiar? What do you mean?" Shepard asked.</p>
      <p>"He "felt" familiar in the sense of rather… devoid his tone was or how there didn't seem to be anything coming off of him in terms of emotions."</p>
      <p>Shepard's eyes slowly widened upon hearing this, her mind correlating this piece of information to what they had learned about in regard to emotions. Specifically, about the lack thereof for three of their members in particular.</p>
      <p>"Liara." Shepard's voice was stern. "If you ever run into this man again, notify us immediately."</p>
      <p>"Shepard?"</p>
      <p>"Just… trust me on this." Jane said. "Call it a gut feeling."</p>
      <p>"If you say so Shepard." Liara said with a nod.</p>
      <p>"Are you ready?" Jane asked after several moments of silence.</p>
      <p>"Whoever is for moments such as these." Liara said, clearly not expecting an answer.</p>
      <p>Shepard snorted in agreement, watching as the Asari sighed to herself.</p>
      <p>"Shepard?"</p>
      <p>"Mmm?"</p>
      <p>"Thank you."</p>
      <p>Shepard gazed at her Archaeologist in confusion. "For what?"</p>
      <p>"For rescuing me on Therum." Liara said. "For everything you've done for me after. Letting me come on this journey… helping me confront my mother."</p>
      <p>The Spectre's expression softened at the mention of Benezia and the inner turmoil Liara must have gone through in seeing what became of her mother only to play a role in her demise.</p>
      <p>"Mothers." Jane said in a quiet voice. "They're a tricky thing sometimes."</p>
      <p>Liara gave the Commander a small smile. "They can be."</p>
      <p>Shepard nodded, thumbing behind her. "Well, gotta make the rounds to the others. If you need anything Liara, don't hesitate to ask."</p>
      <p>Liara nodded and as Shepard turned around, the Asari held up a hand with her mouth open to speak...</p>
      <p>Yet she quickly retracted it as she watched Shepard walk away with her slumping into her seat.</p>
      <p>'She doesn't need that kind of pressure right now.' Liara internally said, sighing to herself as she turned back to her desk and opted to pull up some Prothean hieroglyphics she was reading up on earlier.</p>
      <p>After everything they had gone through, learning about these Reapers and their apparent direct role to play in the extinction of the Protheans, she figured there may be more clues to find that perhaps would assist them in the future.</p>
      <p>Shepard, unaware of Liara's personal dilemma, walked down to the cargo bay and saw Della resting on her ship with a blank look on her face.</p>
      <p>Approaching her, she gently knocked on the side of the ship, drawing the Duck's attention.</p>
      <p>"Oh Shepard." Della greeted upon seeing her. "What's up?"</p>
      <p>"Nothing, just making the rounds is all." Shepard stated. "You alright there? Looked like you were thinking about something."</p>
      <p>Della didn't respond right away, looking back up at the ceiling before letting out a sigh. Jumping down from her ship, she leaned on it as she removed her flight helmet she usually wore.</p>
      <p>"I guess I'm kinda nervous."</p>
      <p>"Nervous?" Shepard blinked at her admittance. "That's a surprise coming from you."</p>
      <p>Della chuckled aloud, rubbing her head bashfully. "Yeah, this is all sorta new to me."</p>
      <p>"What? The overbearing pressure of trying to stop a megalomaniac who's been brainwashed by a race of ancient super AI that wants to wipe out all life in the galaxy?"</p>
      <p>The anthropomorphic duck guffawed aloud.</p>
      <p>"When you put it like <em>that </em>yeah, that does feel rather overwhelming." Della said, shaking her head with a mirthful smile. "I'm not my brother unfortunately. Him and Goofy and the King? Now those guys are real warriors. I may know how to fight and show off my skills and all but Donald was always the fighter out of the two of us. There's a reason why he's the court wizard and I'm just an adventurer."</p>
      <p>"Being an adventurer isn't an easy lifestyle either, you know?"</p>
      <p>"Yeah, but the things he could are unreal." Della said. "Really wishing I paid more attention to him whenever he tried teaching me." The Duck's face scrunched up determinedly. "Next time I see him, I'll drag him into the ring until he clobbers the magic right into me."</p>
      <p>"Bet he'll get a kick out of that."</p>
      <p>"He probably will." Della chuckled to herself.</p>
      <p>"Well, I'm glad to have you on board for this one."</p>
      <p>"Hey, I still owe ya after saving me on your Earth's moon and giving me a place to stay until I head back home." Della cheerfully said.</p>
      <p>"Your ship alright?"</p>
      <p>"Yeah, it's all good to go." Della confidently said, patting it confidently.</p>
      <p>Shepard momentarily gazed upon the ship with her rubbing her chin in thought.</p>
      <p>"I do have a question about the Gummi drive, Della."</p>
      <p>"Which is?"</p>
      <p>"Couldn't we have used it to speed up our flight path to Ilos?"</p>
      <p>"We could… if your ship had been there previously with the Gummi drive installed." Della then explained. "Certain destinations can be easily traversed towards if the ship had the gummi navigation system register the one destination beforehand."</p>
      <p>"So we have to do things the old fashion way, huh?" Shepard asked though she already knew the answer to that.</p>
      <p>"Sad, but true." Della confirmed. "Uncle Scrooge and a partner of his… What was his name again? Something with a 'C' I think. Anyway, my uncle and his friend have been working on a means in which to go around that but they haven't had much luck."</p>
      <p>"Figures."</p>
      <p>"Still, you can get around certain parts of the galaxy more easily now."</p>
      <p>"How's that?"</p>
      <p>"The ship has been to places like Luna, The Citadel and several other planets." Della said. "That's what you could call a passive ability of the Gummi's. Whenever it integrates itself into new ships, it "memorizes" the ships courses and stops and stores them into their schematics so when you want to go back to places you've already been to, you'll get there in a snap of your fingers."</p>
      <p>"Hmmm, useful." Shepard nodded approvingly. "I'm gonna go check up on the rest."</p>
      <p>"I'll see ya later Commander." Della saluted. "I'll be ready when you are."</p>
      <p>"Good to hear." Shepard nodded in appreciation, walking away from the anthropomorphic duck.</p>
      <p>She had climbed back up to the Normandy's main quarters of the ship.</p>
      <p>Walking forward, she spotted both Roxas and Xion sitting together at the mess hall table. They were both huddled close together and were looking down at what appeared to be a book.</p>
      <p>Quirking her brow, Shepard was about to walk over when…</p>
      <p>"Leave 'em be."</p>
      <p>She jolted slightly, turning back to see Axel in his usual posture, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed.</p>
      <p>"You have a habit of doing that, you know." Shepard deadpanned at the fiery Nobody who only grinned in amusement.</p>
      <p>"Sorry, it's just you make it way too easy." Axel remarked.</p>
      <p>"Oh really? Maybe you're just too quiet for your own good, ever thought about that?"</p>
      <p>"Excuse moi?" Axel said in mock-offence. "I'll have you know that I can be quite loud and bombastic."</p>
      <p>"Yes, clearly." Shepard said dryly, lip twitching upwards. "What're they reading?"</p>
      <p>"Something they got from the Etherium galaxy." Axel revealed. "A book of some kind from that Flint guy's ship. Been reading it ever since."</p>
      <p>"What's it about?"</p>
      <p>Axel shrugged. "Don't know. Didn't really care to ask honestly."</p>
      <p>Shepard gave him a flat look. "Aren't you there older brother basically? Shouldn't you care to ask."</p>
      <p>"Don't always have to know everything they're doing you know." Axel said.</p>
      <p>"Seems really interesting." Shepard noted. "They can't pull away from it."</p>
      <p>"Maybe you should ask them yourself."</p>
      <p>"Maybe I will."</p>
      <p>There was a brief pause between them both.</p>
      <p>"Are you going to-"</p>
      <p>"In a bit." Shepard said. "But since you're here, may as well check up on you."</p>
      <p>"May as well?" Axel repeated. "Geez, don't make it sound like a chore."</p>
      <p>"That's not what I meant and you know it." Shepard shot back, getting a chuckle out of him.</p>
      <p>"I know, I know, just easy to mess with you is all."</p>
      <p>"Clearly." Shepard said, flicking his forehead.</p>
      <p>"What the-" No. VIII rubbed his head in surprise. "What was that for?"</p>
      <p>"Sorry, you just made it way too easy." Jane quipped with a smirk adorning her face.</p>
      <p>Axel stared at the Commander before he himself smirked back at her. "Touché."</p>
      <p>Shaking her head in amusement, she gazed over to the two teens who were reading this book and speaking to one another rather excitedly.</p>
      <p>"Book must be something special for them to be like that." Jane commented.</p>
      <p>"I bet."</p>
      <p>"How are you holding up?"</p>
      <p>Axel tilted his head in her direction with a confused expression.</p>
      <p>"Uh… ok, I guess."</p>
      <p>"Good, good."</p>
      <p>"..."</p>
      <p>"..."</p>
      <p>"..."</p>
      <p>"Is that all or-"</p>
      <p>"Oh God, you know that's not it." Jane snipped getting a chuckle out of Axel.</p>
      <p>"Sure, whatever you say." Axel said, grinning widely at her.</p>
      <p>She snorted, opting to lean against the wall by him.</p>
      <p>This time, a more comfortable silence befell the two with both simply observing the Roxas and Xion while also sneaking glances at one another.</p>
      <p>"I don't think this is the only reason you are going around to everyone." Axel spoke up after a few seconds.</p>
      <p>"Not necessarily." Shepard admitted. "I know what's about to go down and what we're gonna go through in the coming hours. I just wanted to make sure everyone was ready for it."</p>
      <p>"We are, Shepard." Axel assured. "We're ready for this."</p>
      <p>"How can you be sure? Aren't <em>you </em>nervous at all?" Shepard asked, getting an amused scoff out of No. VIII.</p>
      <p>He gazed at her expectantly when she blinked and realized what she had just said.</p>
      <p>"Do you really think you guys don't have hearts?" Shepard suddenly asked, catching Axel off guard with such a question.</p>
      <p>"What now?"</p>
      <p>"I remember what you guys told me when you first came here." Shepard said, eyes turned back to the other two Normandy members in the black coat. "About how you guys don't have a heart, you don't have emotions or no existence. But…"</p>
      <p>She gazed down at the ground with her face scrunched up in deep thought.</p>
      <p>"But?" Axel said, waiting for her to continue.</p>
      <p>"But from what I've seen from the three of you, I don't think that's true at all." Shepard said.</p>
      <p>"What do you mean?"</p>
      <p>"I've seen you all laugh, joke, get annoyed, get angry and sad."</p>
      <p>"That's not real." Axel stated, his voice truly void of emotions. "That's just me pretending to remember what it was like to have those emotions. I don't… I don't really feel anything."</p>
      <p>"Only you?" Shepard noted. "Then what about Roxas and Xion?"</p>
      <p>Axel snorted to himself. "Those two are special."</p>
      <p>"Yeah, I can tell. But why them and not you?"</p>
      <p>"You said it yourself, Commander." Axel stated. "Everything any normal person could and should feel. They… they aren't like normal Nobodies."</p>
      <p>"Yes, one has amnesia knowing absolutely nothing and the other is someone they just created on the spot." Shepard pointed out. "Which… I'm still trying to wrap my mind around."</p>
      <p>"Welcome to our crazy world." Axel jokingly said.</p>
      <p>"Yes, I know." Shepard remarked. "But why not you? Why do you think that you don't have a heart? I don't know if you've noticed but I've seen how you act around those two. How you're even behaving around the team."</p>
      <p>"What's that supposed to mean?"</p>
      <p>Shepard was quiet, thinking over her words for a moment. When she had first met these three unusual beings, they had explained to her and the others their origins and what they were.</p>
      <p>Many things went through her mind as she thought about these past weeks that have seemingly flown by, by this point.</p>
      <p>When getting acquainted with Axel and Xion, she had noticed that their initial meetings held true to what the former had told them about being Nobodies.</p>
      <p>Most of their interactions and conversations were cordial and friendly enough but…</p>
      <p>She had always noticed how devoid and dead Axel's eyes truly were whenever she spoke with him.</p>
      <p>It was unsettling to her.</p>
      <p>That was until she saw the way they were around Roxas and Xion. There was something there. She knew it, she had seen it.</p>
      <p>A glimmer of emotion that wasn't faked or an act. Something genuine.</p>
      <p>And as time had gone on, she had begun to notice brief, nearly missable moments of that same spark when he was around the others.</p>
      <p>"When you're with them," Shepard said, nodding her head over to whom she was referring to. "Do you really feel nothing?"</p>
      <p>Axel was rather surprised by the sudden question and was about to deny it when he clamped his mouth shut and frowned.</p>
      <p>The Flurry of Dancing Flames glanced over to the two that they had been observing, unable to hide a small smile at the sight of Xion excitedly pointing at something that caught her attention in the book. Roxas grinned widely a moment later, looking up at her and speaking excitedly with her nodding along.</p>
      <p>"No… With them…" Axel sighed with a melancholy expression on his face. "Roxas and Xion. They're not like other Nobodies. What they've shown shouldn't be possible for Nobodies at all. With them… they make me feel… like I have a Heart."</p>
      <p>Shepard blinked at that statement before she soon had a warm smile appear on her face which morphed into a more mischievous one.</p>
      <p>"Daw, look at Axel the big softy." Shepard said, bumping her shoulder against his.</p>
      <p>Axel 'hmphed', turning away with a smirk that Jane caught. "Yeah, basically handed that one to ya, didn't I?"</p>
      <p>"You did." Shepard confirmed.</p>
      <p>Snorting despite himself, he gazed over at Shepard with a small fond smile which the Spectre returned.</p>
      <p>"Guess I should thank you."</p>
      <p>"Thank me? For what?"</p>
      <p>"For taking us in. For helping out Roxas while he was away." Axel listed off.</p>
      <p>"No need to thank us. "Jane said, pinching his cheeks abruptly with Axel shoving her off.</p>
      <p>"Don't make me burn your hair off." Axel threatened.</p>
      <p>"You wouldn't even if you tried." Shepard shot back cheekily. "You like us too much by this point to do anything about it."</p>
      <p>Axel kept up an intense face when it broke a moment later. "Alright, you survive this time."</p>
      <p>"Lucky me." Shepard remarked, resuming their comfortable silence from earlier.</p>
      <p>As they leaned upon the wall there side by side, Shepard recalled an earlier conversation the two of them had. Actually, it was one of the first ones the two shared now that she thought about it.</p>
      <p>After they told them what they were, there was this lingering question on Shepard's mind that had been bothering her for some time now and she wasn't quite sure as to how to ask it.</p>
      <p>She changed it last time as she felt it would be a bit rude if she were being honest with herself but now…</p>
      <p>"Shepard."</p>
      <p>"Huh?"</p>
      <p>The Spectre shook her head, having realized she must have got into a daze of some kind.</p>
      <p>She looked up at the slightly taller redhead who was gazing back down at her in confusion.</p>
      <p>"You alright there, Shepard? You kinda had an intense look on your face for a moment."</p>
      <p>"I did?" No. VIII nodded in confirmation. "Sorry. Just have a lot on my mind with everything going on right now."</p>
      <p>"I could see that." Axel stated. "Wanna talk about it?"</p>
      <p>"Don't think that'll help really." Shepard admitted. "I think just… getting it done will."</p>
      <p>Axel smirked. "That's one way of putting it. Straightforward and to the point."</p>
      <p>"There is one thing however that's been on my mind." Shepard held up a finger. "But I figure… maybe I'll ask you about it after we get through this all."</p>
      <p>"Huh? What is it?"</p>
      <p>"I'll ask you after we survive."</p>
      <p>"There's a big chance of it being an <em>if </em>we survive."</p>
      <p>"Oh well." Shepard said, pushing herself off the wall and turning to leave.</p>
      <p>"Hey, now I really wanna know." Axel said, moving to follow her.</p>
      <p>"Too bad."</p>
      <p>"Get back here Shepard."</p>
      <p>As the two redheads left the area, Xion and Roxas continued their time reading the book they had gotten from the Etherium galaxy.</p>
      <p>"Form changes?" Roxas read aloud in intrigue.</p>
      <p>"Wonder what those could do?" Xion asked aloud.</p>
      <p>"It says here that they vary from Keyblade Wielder to Wielder, each one having a unique means in which they can access this ability." Roxas read aloud.</p>
      <p>"Do you think our Keyblades can do that?" Xion questioned.</p>
      <p>"Maybe." Roxas frowned thoughtfully. "Seems like we can."</p>
      <p>"Huh… guess we might have a chance to test it out soon." Xion wryly commented with Roxas snorting and nodding in agreement.</p>
      <p>Suddenly, a small gurgling groan came from Xion with her face lighting up slightly in embarrassment.</p>
      <p>"Heh." Xion gave off a bashful smile. "Guess we've been at it so long; I didn't realize I got an appetite."</p>
      <p>"You go on, I'm not going anywhere." Roxas said with a smile as Xion nodded, jumping out from her seat and running off to get something to eat.</p>
      <p>Roxas returned his attention to the book when he heard footsteps coming up from his side. Looking up from the page, Roxas saw Tali approaching him and he gave her a small smile.</p>
      <p>"Tali." Roxas said pleasantly.</p>
      <p>"Hey Roxas." She said softly, sitting downright next to him on the other side that Xion didn't occupy a moment ago. "What are you doing?"</p>
      <p>"Just reading this book is all." Roxas said, gesturing to it. "It's amazing."</p>
      <p>"That's the book from the Etherium, right?" Roxas nodded. "What's it about?"</p>
      <p>"Keyblades." The Sandy-blond haired teen answered. "It's filled with information about the Keyblade I never even thought of."</p>
      <p>"Really?" Tali's interest was piqued. "What's it say?"</p>
      <p>"A whole bunch of stuff." Roxas said. "How we can utilize magic differently, creating our own styles, everything."</p>
      <p>Tali smiled underneath her helmet at the excited state Roxas appeared to be in.</p>
      <p>He seemed entirely unphased by the coming conflict, acting as if this was just another mission. It honestly made her a bit envious at his state of mind.</p>
      <p>Both he and Xion and even Axel appeared unbothered with what was about to go down. She knew this was it with Saren.</p>
      <p>The Commander knew it. The whole crew knew it.</p>
      <p>Yet Roxas, Axel and Xion were nonplussed by it.</p>
      <p>They were either supremely confident or uncaring for the coming battle.</p>
      <p>Tali found it both enviable but also comforting.</p>
      <p>She knew that Shepard had unshakable faith in the crew and in the mission but seeing Roxas having the same sentiment set her heart and mind at ease.</p>
      <p>With a small chuckle, the Quarian found herself adjusting her seat to scoot closer to him and leaned her head against his shoulder.</p>
      <p>Roxas looked down at her in surprise, feeling her press herself closer against him.</p>
      <p>"Tali?" there was a slight sense of worry in Roxas' tone. The last time they were in this position, he up and left her and the crew.</p>
      <p>"Don't worry, Roxas." Tali said, lightly squeezing his arm. "Let's just… stay like this for a bit."</p>
      <p>He felt her form become lax slightly, arms wrapping around his own.</p>
      <p>Roxas simply obliged, leaning back into his seat whilst Tali readjusted herself to make sure she was comfortable.</p>
      <p>She let out a content sigh, feeling herself relax more as she leaned upon Roxas.</p>
      <p>"It's strange." Tali murmured.</p>
      <p>"What is?" Roxas asked, looking down at her.</p>
      <p>She shrugged slightly. "I dunno, I just… feel glad that we have this moment together. Just felt like we haven't had a moment alone together for a while now."</p>
      <p>Now that Roxas thought about it for a moment, it really was just him and Tali at the start of all this.</p>
      <p>Sure, beforehand he had Axel and Xion back with the Organization.</p>
      <p>But for a while, it was just him and Tali. And it was those several short days that they had spent together.</p>
      <p>Even after joining Shepard aboard the Normandy, Roxas and Tali stuck close by each other for the most part until after a few missions together. Sure they were still spending time with one another but it was more and more with the rest of the crew.</p>
      <p>Then things just felt as though things went off the rails after Noveria with him going off to the World That Never Was, learning the truth, meeting Sora, bringing back Axel and Xion and so on and so forth. Since then, everything was just a none stop sprint across the cosmos.</p>
      <p>It was rather strange now that he considered how unusually calm he felt right now in this situation.</p>
      <p>Sure there was this underlying feeling that this would be it in their pursuit of Saren but for Roxas, he honestly didn't feel any nervousness or anticipation for the battle to come.</p>
      <p>It was just another fight.</p>
      <p>Without even realizing it, Roxas leaned his head against Tali's with the Quarian blushing beneath her helmet at the action but smiled all the same as she squeezed his arm gently for a brief moment.</p>
      <p>They stayed like that for several minutes until...</p>
      <p>"<em>Five minutes ETA to the Mu Relay."</em> Joker called out from the comms.</p>
      <p>Tali shifted slightly with Roxas raising his head up, gazing at the ceiling.</p>
      <p>"Guess it's time." he murmured with Tali only nodding as she pulled away from the human who became her first friend when she first began her pilgrimage.</p>
      <p>They were about to face off against Saren, at long last cornering him.</p>
      <p>She only hoped they weren't too late.</p>
      <p>Just before they were about to head off to get ready, Tali reached forward and gently took No. XIII's hand into her own.</p>
      <p>"Roxas…" Tali said in a soft voice.</p>
      <p>"Tali?"</p>
      <p>"Whatever happens on Ilos, I just wanted to say… thank you." Tali said, a serene smile under her helmet that Roxas was able to see via her eyes.</p>
      <p>"For what?" Roxas asked in confusion.</p>
      <p>Tali giggled, shaking her head as she walked ahead. "Everything."</p>
      <p>Tilting his head at her response, Roxas could only stare at the Quarian who looked back at him with Tali laughing once more.</p>
      <p>"Come on, Roxas." She said, the Nobody blinking at her quickly followed after her as both them and the rest of the crew met at the front of the ship.</p>
      <p>
        <em>-Scene Cut-</em>
      </p>
      <p>Passing through the Mu Relay, the Normandy was heading straight towards its destination.</p>
      <p>Yet there seemed to be a bit of a problem.</p>
      <p>"Uh… Commander?" Joker called out. "We've got company."</p>
      <p>Shepard had been near the airlock when the pilot called out to her.</p>
      <p>"What is it?" She asked immediately while several others were behind her being Liara, Kaidan, Ashley and Tali.</p>
      <p>"A fleet of Geth ships around Ilos." Said the pilot.</p>
      <p>"Have their sensors picked us up yet?" Liara asked, instantly becoming serious.</p>
      <p>"No, the stealth systems are engaged. Unless we get close enough for a visual, they won't have any idea we're here."</p>
      <p>Pressly was working the systems beside Joker when he noticed something. "Picking up some strange readings from the planet's surface," he announced.</p>
      <p>"Joker, get us down there." Jane ordered. "Lock in on those coordinates."</p>
      <p>"Negative on that, Commander," Her XO told her.</p>
      <p>"Why?"</p>
      <p>"The nearest landing zone's two klicks away."</p>
      <p>"We'll never make it in time on foot." Kaidan said, arms crossed and frowning.</p>
      <p>"There's gotta be a closer spot." Said Ashley.</p>
      <p>"There is nowhere closer! I've looked." Pressly snapped.</p>
      <p>They needed another option, but what…</p>
      <p>"What about the Mako?" Jane asked. "Would that work?"</p>
      <p>"You all need at least a hundred meters of open terrain to pull off a drop like that." Pressley protested. "The most I can find near Saren is twenty."</p>
      <p>"Twenty meters?" Ashley repeated. "No way we can make a drop from that."</p>
      <p>"We have to try." Liara said.</p>
      <p>Both Kaidan and Ashley looked at the Asari. Could she not see the idea was a problem?</p>
      <p>"Find another landing zone!" Kaidan ordered Pressly.</p>
      <p>"There is no other landing zone!" the XO snapped back.</p>
      <p>Tali was looking at the readout. "He's right. The descent angle is too steep!"</p>
      <p>"It's our only option." Liara argued.</p>
      <p>"It's not an option. It's a suicide run!" Ashley told her, getting annoyed at the fact rather than her. "We don't-"</p>
      <p>"I can do it!" Joker cut through the chatter.</p>
      <p>The argument quickly ended when they heard Joker say that.</p>
      <p>"Joker?"</p>
      <p>"I can do it." Said the pilot once more, confidence being heard in his voice.</p>
      <p>Jane nodded, leaned in and activated the ship's intercom. "Team, gear up and head down to the Hangar Bay." She ordered. Ending the transmission, she turned to Joker. "Drop us right on top of that bastard!"</p>
      <p>"Will do, Commander."</p>
      <p>The team was soon assembled in the Hangar Bay around the Mako with them all being geared up and ready for combat.</p>
      <p>They had stocked up on supplies courtesy of Mosh the Moogle and were now just counting down the seconds as Joker flew closer and closer to the surface of Ilos.</p>
      <p>"Alright, to put it plainly, this will be a danger-close drop." Shepard announced. "The moment we land on the planet, expect fierce and heavy resistance both in and out of the Mako."</p>
      <p>"Right." Coursed a number of individuals.</p>
      <p>"This is an all hands on deck." Shepard said. "Except for you two."</p>
      <p>"Huh?" Stitch, who was jittery at the prospect of going down to fight froze with his arms falling.</p>
      <p>"Why aren't we coming along?" Della asked in bewilderment.</p>
      <p>"I need you two to stay with Joker."</p>
      <p>"What for?" Della argued. "Didn't you say this was an all hands on deck scenario?"</p>
      <p>"I did but while we're here, someone needs to be both our eyes in the skies and if need be, head back to the Citadel pronto." Jane stated.</p>
      <p>"It'll take too long if we use the Mass Relays."</p>
      <p>"I'm not saying you guys use those, I want you to use the Gummi drive to get there." Jane said to her. "Didn't you say that certain trips can go a whole lot faster with the navigation system already registering the destination."</p>
      <p>"I did- Oh~ I get it." Della said in realization.</p>
      <p>"Yes. I don't know if Saren will get to the Conduit before us, so I want you three to get straight to the Citadel and help out the best you all can." Jane stated.</p>
      <p>"You got it, Shepard." Della said with a mock salute.</p>
      <p>Stitch gave an affirming grunt as he momentarily said 'good luck' to the rest of them.</p>
      <p>It wasn't long before everyone moved into their respective positions for what is about to come.</p>
      <p>In all honesty, it was an extremely tight fit for nearly the entire group inside of the Mako. Seven people riding inside of it is not something that should ever be done ever again. Especially with one Krogan passenger counting as two regular ones.</p>
      <p>And it would've been impossible to cram in ten had it not been the fact that the three Nobody teammates had their own method of riding the soon to be dropped Mako.</p>
      <p>"You guys sure you'll be alright there?" Shepard asked, gazing up at the trio that stood atop the Mako.</p>
      <p>Well… Xion and Roxas did. Axel opted to casually sit upon it in his usual posture with one leg kicked up for a knee to act as the rest for his arm.</p>
      <p>"We're pretty sure, Shepard." Roxas said with complete confidence.</p>
      <p>"This isn't just a simple cruising session like what went on in Noveria, Roxas. We're being dropped hundreds of feet above ground." Garrus pointed out.</p>
      <p>"Yeah with both you and Xion clinging onto the Mako for dear life." Ash added, not really like the prospect of the three of them just hanging on for dear life as they dropped down from on high.</p>
      <p>"We have our own landing strategies." Axel assured with his trademark cocky smirk.</p>
      <p>"Just trust us, please." Xion insisted.</p>
      <p>Shepard nodded as she had to readjust herself as she was squished in between Wrex and Garrus in the back. Liara and Tali were not all that great as they had to adjust themselves by the sides.</p>
      <p>The only ones unaffected were Kaidan and Ashley. For Kaidan, he got the rare opportunity of driving. For Ashley, she won her spot of shotgun rather quickly.</p>
      <p>Hopefully once they make their landing, Garrus will move from his cramped spot and position himself in the gunner seat, freeing some needed room for the rest.</p>
      <p>"Makes me wish that we could've had a far bigger Mako model." Kaidan remarked.</p>
      <p>"Can't blame Anderson as he probably didn't expect <em>this</em> situation to happen." Jane pointed out.</p>
      <p>"Don't worry, this won't be for long." Kaidan said as he had the Mako primed and ready.</p>
      <p>"Hopefully, this drop won't be too painful once we make contact." Tali fidgeted out.</p>
      <p>"Especially since we have such a small window to land it." Liara nervously pointed out. "I hope this turns out alright…"</p>
      <p>"It probably won't." Wrex dryly said.</p>
      <p>"Thanks for the vote of confidence-"</p>
      <p>And whatever else could be said was immediately cut off when Kaidan got the green light and slammed the gas pedal, sending the Mako out of the Normandy and fell right towards Saren's location on Ilos.</p>
      <p>A lot of the passengers let out their own respective gasps while bracing themselves for what's to come. They did feel themselves rise in their seats a little before the lieutenant engaged the micro-thrusters, pushing them all back into their seats hard.</p>
      <p>The feeling stopped when the Mako landed hard on the ground, but they were jumbled around in their seats.</p>
      <p>"Everyone good?" Kaidan asked.</p>
      <p>The others within the Mako chorused their own responses.</p>
      <p>"Worse. Landing. Ever. Lt." Ashley said drearily.</p>
      <p>"Hey, consider yourself lucky that it wasn't the Commander driving. Then it would've been worse." Garrus defended on Kaidan's behalf.</p>
      <p>"Agreed."</p>
      <p>Jane merely glared at them. "I'm right here, you know."</p>
      <p>"We know, we're making a point here." Garrus said without any shame in doing so.</p>
      <p>"At least we're fine. That's all that matters." Tali muttered out.</p>
      <p>"Where's Saren?"</p>
      <p>Kaidan looked at the Mako's radar. "From what I'm reading, he's right ahead of us."</p>
      <p>"Good. Now we just need to hope Saren didn't close any doors behind him."</p>
      <p>"Knowing our luck, he probably did."</p>
      <p>Exiting out of the Mako one by one, they were soon greeted with the sight of Xion landing not far away from them as she performed a recovery roll. Axel had his chakrams out and used the flames to propel himself down as he soon landed on his feet. And gliding down not far behind was Roxas.</p>
      <p>"Had fun up there?" Jane asked.</p>
      <p>"I did." Said Xion.</p>
      <p>"Same here." Roxas answered as well.</p>
      <p>"Did you guys?" Cheekily asked Axel.</p>
      <p>"No… we didn't." Was Garrus's flat response. "Unlike you, we can't fly."</p>
      <p>"Well it was more gliding if anything." Defended Roxas.</p>
      <p>"Uh-huh, right." Garrus flatly said.</p>
      <p>"To be fair, I can't fly." Xion pointed out. "I had to just position myself on the massive drop."</p>
      <p>Axel merely chuckled as he ignored some of the bland stares they received from the others. Even Wrex joined in on the little bit of humor.</p>
      <p>The group soon took note of the rust-colored foliage all around them. It wasn't long before their attention was focused past the tank, where the team saw a large blast door -which was three times the Mako's height- for some sort of bunker. The metal had rusted in a number of places, but most notably was that it was sealed shut, with no visible way to open it.</p>
      <p>"Whelp, there's no way we're getting past there right now." Said Ashley.</p>
      <p>"We have to get inside of this bunker before Saren reaches the Conduit." Kaidan stated.</p>
      <p>"There is no way we're getting past that door with brute force." Said Wrex.</p>
      <p>"Saren found some way to open it." Garrus plainly stated.</p>
      <p>"There must be some kind of security override somewhere in this complex." Tali noted.</p>
      <p>"Luckily for us, we don't have to find that as we have ourselves our expert locksmiths." Shepard said, gazing over to their aforementioned locksmiths who were about to call for their Keyblades and unlock the gate before them when the ground around them began trembling.</p>
      <p>"Oh no." Ashley said aloud. "What is it this time?"</p>
      <p>"What do you think?" Axel sarcastically asked, wisps of fire wafting off of him.</p>
      <p>As the area around them began to shake about even more violently, eventually, the source of these tremors exploded out from the ground behind the Mako.</p>
      <p>It flipped about in the air until it landed on the ground to reveal its form before the Normandy crew.</p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>-Insert Kingdom Hearts: The Deep End-</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>"Oh you gotta be fucking shitting me with this one." Ashley let out in dread.</p>
      <p>"Keelah." Tali whispered in slight fright at the Heartless before them.</p>
      <p>It was large to say the least, twice the size of the Mako.</p>
      <p>A six-armed beast of quite the size over them, it boasted black and brown segmented body with a golden head that bore a striking resemblance to a cobra. On all its arms with a white sleeve trimmed with gold, a puffy white tunic with puffy gold sleeves over its unusually shaped upper torso with a white, gold and turquoise trimmed pair of pants over its lower body.</p>
      <p>A turquoise colored sash was around its waste, decorated with orange tassels and a gold apron that had the Heartless Emblem on it.</p>
      <p>All six of its arms were three fingered talons with the center ones each wielding large Khopeshes. They were large, silver crescent blades with gold trimmed holes on one end and lethal hooks on the other.</p>
      <p>A Kurt Zisa.</p>
      <p>"Jesus, how're we supposed to fight that thing?!" Ashley exclaimed.</p>
      <p>They had fought against a multitude of Heartless by this point and had gotten a great deal of experience and feel of combatting most of them. Even some of the bigger and more stronger ones they could figure out how to beat.</p>
      <p>But this one felt <em>different.</em> It's imposing size and frame overall made it a terrifying sight to behold yet the Nobody trio stood strong with their weapons drawn.</p>
      <p>"We need to take this guy out now." Roxas said aloud. "He won't leave us alone till we take it out."</p>
      <p>"Gee ya think?" Shepard couldn't help but retort but had her gun up and Biotics ready.</p>
      <p>The same was done for the Biotic users of the team, the group preparing for a difficult ordeal.</p>
      <p>Just as they had done so, the Kurt Zisa suddenly hovered up into the air and waved its free arms about with the lower two having orbs form as a large magical glyph surrounded it's body.</p>
      <p>The team was then surrounded by glowing spheres that morphed into triangles before a mist now permeated around them all.</p>
      <p>"The hell?" Wrex said aloud.</p>
      <p>"What the-" Kaidan exclaimed, feeling his Biotics abruptly shut down.</p>
      <p>"MOVE!" Roxas yelled out, with everyone barely getting out of the way as the Heartless spiraled forward with its curved swords coming in to cleave them into pieces.</p>
      <p>Roxas and Xion were quick to act by blocking the buzzsaw-like attack on them before they were knocked back some distance away. They were quick to recover and went to cast Barrier, but for some reason it didn't form at all, resulting in them being sent even further.</p>
      <p>When it started coming in close to the others, the biotics in the group flared their power and went to form a barrier.</p>
      <p>Yet for some reason, it didn't form at all.</p>
      <p>"I can't use my magic!" Xion cried out, thrusting her Keyblade forward in vain with no fire, blizzard or any spell coming out from her weapon.</p>
      <p>"My biotics! Why am I struggling so much?!" Liara exclaimed in terror, having never felt such a sensation.</p>
      <p>"What the fuck is going on?!" Shepard shouted, experiencing the same thing.</p>
      <p>Realization dawned on Roxas on what is going on. "Silence…"</p>
      <p>"What?"</p>
      <p>The group had to jump and/or roll out of the way to avoid the blades crashing down on them. Xion and Roxas soon had to block the next strikes with their bladed weapons before holding their ground so they wouldn't get cleaved in two in the process. Putting in everything they got, the two Keybearers shoved their opponent's blades away before striking at the Heartless' legs for a brief moment of time.</p>
      <p>"It casted Silence on us, sealing away our magics and even biotics." Roxas eyed the pair of energy orbs being held by two of the Heartless' hands. "Those orbs… We need to break those orbs so things can more or less go back to normal."</p>
      <p>"And how do you know that?" Garrus asked in an incredulous manner.</p>
      <p>"We read it in a book." Said Xion.</p>
      <p>…..</p>
      <p>…..</p>
      <p>"Are you kidding us?"</p>
      <p>"Wish we were."</p>
      <p>Whipping out his gravity hammer, Wrex charged at their towering opponent. "Then come on!"</p>
      <p>"Tali, check your Omni-Tool." Shepard said, running in a wide circle as she began to fire at the Kurt Zisa with Roxas, Axel, Xion and Wrex running towards the Heartless.</p>
      <p>The rest were doing the same, keeping their distance whilst the heavy hitters tried their best to deal some damage in.</p>
      <p>Bringing out her Omni-Tool, Tali felt the now familiar hum of energy that coursed around her arm.</p>
      <p>Grinning to herself, the Quarian felt the charge up of her Omni-Tool before she thrusted her hand forward and fired off a succession of large Omni-Bolts at the Heartless.</p>
      <p>The bolts danced across the Heartless' body and whilst it appeared to have no visible effect physically, they did notice it had noticeably slowed down with its head even flinching back as one of the bolts struck one of its eyes.</p>
      <p>It proved to be effective enough as the mechanized Heartless flailed, even a little bit.</p>
      <p>Seeing this, Roxas reared his Keyblade back and flung it at one of the orbs in a Strike Raid. His Oathkeeper slashed right through the orb, destroying it with the Heartless rearing its head at him.</p>
      <p>This proved to be a mistake as Xion now took the chance to destroy the other orb in its hand.</p>
      <p>Jumping up into the air, Xion's form glowed momentarily and she became a slight blur as she literally thrusted her Keyblade forward and became a spinning missile that cleaved through the other orb in the Heartless' hand.</p>
      <p>With the orbs destroyed, those with extra <em>capabilities</em> felt themselves return to normal. The team also saw how the orb dispersing caused what could only be described as a short circuit as the Kurt Zisa collapsed onto the ground, letting everyone else have a free for all on the mechanized opponent.</p>
      <p>They finally took this opportunity to go all out.</p>
      <p>While Wrex flared his biotics to help speed up the swings of his gravity hammer, Kaidan and Liara threw the occasional Biotic Throw. Jane, however, concentrated on using her biotics to go into a momentary state of Haste. Rushing in close, she joined Roxas and Xion in cutting the Heartless up with her Omni-blade.</p>
      <p>The Heartless' snake-like head whirled around, trying to snap at the nearby opponents. Said body part was met with the occasional Keyblade or gravity hammer swing to bat it away.</p>
      <p>Garrus kept firing at it from afar with the Biotic users constantly having to throw out stasis fields to keep the Heartless from flinging its head about wildly.</p>
      <p>As they continued to fire and attack the large Heartless, the Gunnery Chief of the group heard something out of the corner of her ear.</p>
      <p>Taking a momentary look at the nearby pathways towards their location, she saw something that would prove problematic in their current fight.</p>
      <p>"We've got company!" Ash shouted, turning her gun in said direction and immediately firing her inferno rounds at new enemies running for them.</p>
      <p>Some of the others momentarily broke their attention away from Kurt Zisa as they saw droves of Geth coming their way. And at that moment, the mechanized Heartless got back onto its feet before it started floating in the air as a barrier flared around it's being.</p>
      <p>"Son of a bitch." Shepard said, momentarily making sure her Biotics were still working.</p>
      <p>She was glad to know that they were.</p>
      <p>"We're gonna get surrounded." Tali cried out.</p>
      <p>"You guys focus on the Geth, we've got big boy here." Said Axel, throwing his flame covered chakrams at Kurt Zisa's barrier as his two Keyblade companions casted Thundara on it.</p>
      <p>"Tali." Shepard called out to her. "Take Ash, Kaidan, Garrus and Liara to beat those Geth back."</p>
      <p>"What about-"</p>
      <p>"We'll be fine Tali." Roxas shouted, jumping away from a series of fireballs sent at him by the Heartless.</p>
      <p>Before they fully broke away, Roxas casted Curaga on the whole group, having them momentarily recover from whatever injuries they recently received. Feeling healed, the team broke up to take care of their respective task at hand.</p>
      <p>Tali instantly initiated an overload at the Geth closest to them, the rest of the group quickly gunning them down in rapid succession before spotting a cluster of Armatures coming their way.</p>
      <p>With the others, they were now pursuing the Heartless that still had its shield up with them using all their magic and Biotics at their disposal to bring it down.</p>
      <p>When the Heartless floated some distance away, it raised two of its arms and something rose out of the ground.</p>
      <p>It was mistaken at first as just a simple breeze, yet it proved to be a mistake as the so-called breeze became rather harsh. In mere moments, miniature tornadoes were formed and struck it's present opponents.</p>
      <p>The present team were sent back, crashing into nearby formations, either organically or naturally made.</p>
      <p>"Alright, that's it." Axel declared, jumping back and vanishing in a flurry of flames.</p>
      <p>A moment later, Axel appeared behind the Kurt Zisa and flew over it with pillars of flames following in his wake.</p>
      <p>The shield around the Heartless burst with Kurt Zisa collapsing onto the ground once more, it's present opponents took no time in wasting in unleashing their assault.</p>
      <p>Axel flung his Chakrams forward, the spinning disk like weapons surrounded in flames as it heavily damaged the Heartless.</p>
      <p>Xion, Roxas and Wrex joined in shortly after, clobbering the Heartless with their respective weapons with Shepard opting to utilize her Biotic gun to inflict damage upon it.</p>
      <p>Once more, the Kurt Zisa flung its head about managing to strike back its attackers several times yet they managed to recover and continue wailing upon it until it had enough.</p>
      <p>When it rose once more, the towering Heartless raised two of its arms as a large magical glyph surrounded it's form.</p>
      <p>"Here it comes again!"</p>
      <p>Upon Roxas' warning, Kurt Zisa casted Silence once more, having those with magic and biotic capabilities to become hampered once again.</p>
      <p>Once done, the large Heartless leaped into the air and brought it's curved swords down.</p>
      <p>"Scatter!"</p>
      <p>The present group dived and jumped out of the way, avoiding being cut down and crushed. And before they could recover, they had to move once more as Kurt Zisa jumped once more and rapidly spun in a buzzsaw-like manner.</p>
      <p>Running all over the place was not entirely great for the present Normandy members.</p>
      <p>The area was not as spacious with walls, rocky pillars and boulders around them making maneuverability slightly difficult.</p>
      <p>Not to mention the Mako not far away added some more complications in terms of spacing.</p>
      <p>The only small reprieve of sorts was the splitting of the team as Tali's group was fighting off the Geth that were nearby.</p>
      <p>They were fighting them off with vicious efficiency, each teammate taking out Geth left, right and center around them.</p>
      <p>With the rest, they had to constantly be on the defensive as the Kurt Zisa was adamant about them not getting close to the orbs it had in its hands.</p>
      <p>Roxas needed something to help turn the tide of this battle. They were getting nowhere, especially with the buzzsaw-like assault they were receiving.</p>
      <p>Watching as the Heartless once again shifted into a horizontal shape, it began spinning its way down towards them.</p>
      <p>Roxas's eyes narrowed as the Heartless drew closer with the others scattering whilst he stayed in his spot.</p>
      <p>"Roxas, what're you-"</p>
      <p>In a burst of speed, No. XIII jumped to the side and swung his Keyblade in time and destroyed one of the orbs.</p>
      <p>The Heartless immediately shifted into a more vertical shape and went down to attack the Keybearer.</p>
      <p>Axel, however, was already in front of his friend and even though his magic was handicapped he could still conjure fire as it was his affinity both actively and passively.</p>
      <p>A fiery shield erupted above him, the Nobody gritting his teeth slightly as he held back the endless spinning torrent of blades coming down upon him. But he held firm, managing to repel the buzz-saw attack.</p>
      <p>Mustering much strength into his arms, Axel pushed the large Heartless back, leaving it open for Roxas to knock it back some more with Oathkeeper.</p>
      <p>When things were stable with the buzzsaw-like assault having ended, the others went back into attacking Kurt Zisa, primarily the remaining Silence orb within its grasp.</p>
      <p>When said orb broke, Axel wasted no time in unleashing a powerful Firaga spell onto his opponent.</p>
      <p>"Burn, baby!" Yelled Axel.</p>
      <p>A torrent of flames erupted from his chakrams, striking the head of the Heartless with him not letting up on his onslaught.</p>
      <p>Xion dashed forward, grasping her Keyblade by her side as light seeped off her weapon with an undercurrent of magical wind flowing around it as well.</p>
      <p>In mere moments, she was propelled forward like a rocket, zooming across the battlefield as she let out a strong yell.</p>
      <p>Hurling her weapon forward, the wind/light encompassed Keyblade cleaved right through the towering Heartless as a large blast of air nearly knocked everyone back a number of feet away. The attack was even heard by the others who were still combating the Geth a good distance away as if a very loud bomb went off.</p>
      <p>"Keelah, what was that?" Tali muttered out, momentarily glancing back in time to see Xion landing on the ground behind the Heartless.</p>
      <p>"Looks like Xion just pulled off an explosive strike." Garrus quipped, earning a flat look out of Ashley.</p>
      <p>"That one sucked, Vakarian and you know it."</p>
      <p>Back with the group fighting the Heartless, they had noticed it had yet to move after receiving such a blow from No. XIV so they moved to capitalize on their opening by throwing in everything they could.</p>
      <p>Wrex had a biotic assisted boost courtesy of Shepard, flying high into the air and coming down hard with his gravity hammer dealing a mighty blow to the head.</p>
      <p>Shepard followed suit a moment later, charging her Biotics into her gun and firing a beam that burst into multiple Biotic spears that rained down upon the Heartless.</p>
      <p>Axel unleashed another pillar of fire, coming straight out from his Chakrams with Roxas adding on to the attack with light infused Keyblade slash.</p>
      <p>Xion jumped in one last time and utilizing her move from earlier, threw her Keyblade forward which resulted in her spinning about with blades of light and wind coming off her form as she delivered the final blow to the Heartless.</p>
      <p>When the dust settled, Kurt Zisa flinched erratically as a metallic shriek emanated from it's very being.</p>
      <p>The mechanized Heartless then staggered forward, starting to collapse bit by bit. The others ran towards the sides as neither of them wanted to be flattened by the fallen Heartless.</p>
      <p>The moment the last of it fell, it's body started decomposing into darkness as a large glowing heart was freed from its body and floated away.</p>
      <p>When things were settling down, Wrex let out a bellow of a laugh. "Oh this was the most fun I've had in these past days."</p>
      <p>"It's not over yet you know." Axel pointed out, casually resting one of his Chakrams around his shoulder. "We still got a megalomaniac to take out."</p>
      <p>"And the others are still combating the Geth as we speak."</p>
      <p>Upon the mention of this, they heard a number of steps coming their way.</p>
      <p>Acting rationally, the group went on the defensive, thinking the Geth must've breached the others' position and were coming in to attack them.</p>
      <p>Instead, what they saw was the return of their friends with some scrapes and bruises on them.</p>
      <p>"Damn, what did we miss here?" Ashley asked, noticing the damaged area around them.</p>
      <p>"What was that explosion we heard? I doubt any of our bombs are capable of such a blast."</p>
      <p>"Little runt here pulling off quite the move." Said Wrex, smacking Xion in the back, making her stumble forward.</p>
      <p>"Wrex." Xion said with her cheeks puffed.</p>
      <p>"Ah come off it, kid. You could pull those crazy moves off and can't take a pat on the back?" Wrex asked rhetorically with a knowing grin which made her look away with a 'hmph', making the Krogan laugh at her expense.</p>
      <p>As this went on, the others quickly consumed some Ethers and Potions to help restore their health and reserves.</p>
      <p>"Alright, the area's clear of hostiles." Kaidan pointed out.</p>
      <p>"Nothing else is coming it's way as far as I can see." Garrus said, momentarily looking around the area with his visor detecting no enemies nearby.</p>
      <p>"Good." Shepard gazed over at the Keybearer duo. "If you two can do the honors…"</p>
      <p>Xion was the first to act, aiming her Keyblade at the rusted bunker door. Once light gathered at its tip, it shot out and struck the surface. The keyhole symbol was shown soon after before it died down. Moments later, the doorway opened up for them all… albeit being rather loud.</p>
      <p>"Man something clearly needs an oil tune up." Axel commented, rubbing his ears as they were ringing from the doors opening.</p>
      <p>"No kidding."</p>
      <p>"Alright, people. Time to go!" Said Jane, prior to her helping get the Mako back onto its tires.</p>
      <p>Most of the team quickly filed into the Mako while the Nobody trio quickly hitched onto the vehicle in question. Once everything was ready, the land vehicle took off.</p>
      <p>"You guys doing alright up there?" She asked through the open window.</p>
      <p>"Doing fine Shepard." Said Roxas.</p>
      <p>"Same with me." Spoke Xion.</p>
      <p>"Just keep driving while Roxas, Xion and I take care of whatever troops Saren has lying around here." Axel assured, Chakrams at the ready.</p>
      <p>"Axel's got the right idea. Saren already has a head start." Liara brought up. "We have to go find him before he reaches the Conduit."</p>
      <p>"Unless he found it, then we're just walking into a trap." Ash grimly pointed out.</p>
      <p>"It's a chance we'll have to take." Shepard finished off before closing up the window.</p>
      <p>When driving along the way, Liara murmured under her breath, studying what she could see from the nearby window. "This bunker… This is a Prothean bunker! I've spent my entire life studying them, but I never could imagine discovering anything like this!"</p>
      <p>"Careful, Liara, you're drooling." Tali jokes.</p>
      <p>"I am not!" Liara quickly said, blushing in embarrassment.</p>
      <p>"You basically are. Worse than the times when you got all those Prothean Artifacts." Garrus stated with a Turian equivalent of a smirk.</p>
      <p>"Give her some slack, she's just overwhelmed in seeing this firsthand without any competition inspecting the place before her." Kaidan jested with a chuckle.</p>
      <p>"Perhaps when this is all done, you could drag Della along to study this place." Ash suggested.</p>
      <p>"Why do you think I would want to bring her here?" Liara questioned. "In case you forgot, she plans on going home sometime after we take down Saren."</p>
      <p>"She's an adventurer and a pseudo-archeologist to boot. This is probably her field to work in." Jane said.</p>
      <p>"And I wasn't saying she would have to come here immediately. Just pointing it out as something you two could do later." Ash said.</p>
      <p>Liara hummed as she no doubt figured her fowl-person friend would consider doing such a thing when the opportunity presented itself.</p>
      <p>They continued to drive through another tunnel with water splashing underneath the tires when Kaidan noted something.</p>
      <p>"What's up with these things on the walls?" He asked.</p>
      <p>"They look like containers or something." Garrus said, rubbing his chin as he occasionally gazed at the strange contraptions.</p>
      <p>"Any ideas, Liara?" Ashley asked. "You're the archaeologist here."</p>
      <p>"They look like stasis pods," Liara surmised with a calculating gaze instead of wide-eye wonder. "This bunker might have been the last refuge of their entire species. The Protheans must've tried keeping themselves alive through cryogenic freezing."</p>
      <p>"Are you saying that we may have frozen Protheans all around us?" Tali asked from where she sat.</p>
      <p>"Yes, I think so." Liara's eyes had a hopeful light in them.</p>
      <p>"Don't know about you guys, but something must've gone wrong. They look dead to me." Wrex commented.</p>
      <p>"Great~ We're driving through a literal tomb here. Not morbid at all." Muttered the Gunnery Chief.</p>
      <p>"<em>Guys! We got company!"</em> Said Roxas over the comms, firing a Fira spell at an incoming rocket.</p>
      <p>Xion and Axel mirrored the same action when a volley of them were coming their way.</p>
      <p>"Garrus-"</p>
      <p>"Already on it."</p>
      <p>The Turian whirled the gun around and took aim. Doing so, he saw a couple of Geth Rocket troopers not far ahead with some Heartless and a Geth Armature amongst them. He fired everything at the larger synthetic as the shields were being taken down.</p>
      <p>Meanwhile, the three Nobodies quickly got to work.</p>
      <p>Leaving the Mako's hull, the three rushed forward in order to cleave through the Heartless and the other Geth. By the time their work was done, the Armature was broken in a pile of scrapheap. The Mako drew in close, having the trio quickly hop on as they continued their trek through the bunker.</p>
      <p>The Mako surged through another waterway tunnel before they came across what appeared to be an energy shield. Shepard was forced to hit the brakes, making the land vehicle come to an eventual stop.</p>
      <p>"What's going on, Skipper?" Asked Ashley.</p>
      <p>Shepard soon rolled the Mako back, but soon hit something. Using the Mako's camera, she saw that behind them was another energy shield.</p>
      <p>"Think we finally came to that trap we thought Saren must've had for us."</p>
      <p>Garrus fired off the cannon and guns at the energy wall in front of them. Neither of them worked.</p>
      <p>The Nobodies soon contributed as they blasted against the massive kinetic barrier as well with some spells and once more, nothing worked at all.</p>
      <p>"That's one powerful shield." Commented the Turian. "Whatever Saren used, it's good."</p>
      <p>"I don't think Saren is behind this." Liara suggested.</p>
      <p>"<em>She's right. If it was him, I bet he would've come here personally to see our demise."</em> Axel commented.</p>
      <p>Xion then took note of something nearby. <em>"Don't know if it's a coincidence that we stopped beside this one door."</em></p>
      <p>"<em>If not Saren, then who?"</em> Came Roxas' inquiry.</p>
      <p>"No clue."</p>
      <p>The two Keybearers were about to use their weapons to forcibly open up the barrier when they soon heard something over the comms.</p>
      <p>"▄▅▂ ▄▅▂▃<em><strong>-</strong></em> *Static* <em><strong>-"</strong></em></p>
      <p>"Hey, you guys hear that?" Roxas asked, looking back to the team.</p>
      <p>"Huh?"</p>
      <p>"I'm picking up something on the comms."</p>
      <p>Shepard turned on the comm channel on the Mako, having everyone hear it from within the vehicle. Even Axel had to listen in from his own Omni-tool.</p>
      <p>*Static* <em><strong>"</strong></em><em><strong>-</strong></em> *Static* *Static* <em><strong>-""</strong></em></p>
      <p>"Sounds like some kind of message." Kaidan noted. "But I don't recognize the language."</p>
      <p>"It's probably in Prothean." Liara informed them with her theory. "This recording must be 50,000 years old. No wonder we cannot understand it."</p>
      <p>Jane, however, blinked in surprise as she heard more of the transmission. "Really? Weird… Cause I can recognize some of the wording."</p>
      <p>The team now looked at her in confusion.</p>
      <p>"You can understand that?" Liara asked.</p>
      <p>Shepard scrunched her face up in concentration, listening to whatever this transmission was. "Yeah. It's all broken up, but I can more or less understand it's a warning against the Reaper Invasion."</p>
      <p>Liara brightened up on what the Commander just said. "Of course. Between the beacons and the Cipher, an understanding of the Prothean language would have been transferred into your mind."</p>
      <p>More of the broken, garbled Prothean chatter was heard.</p>
      <p>"What's it saying now?" Axel said aloud. "Can you make out anything else useful?"</p>
      <p>Shepard refocused her attention on the static coming out from their Omni-tools and earpieces as she tried to pay attention to the given Prothean language over the comms. "All I'm getting is something about the Conduit with the Citadel… for some reason. Can't get anything else from it with how degraded it is."</p>
      <p>"So then, what now?" Kaidan asked.</p>
      <p>"Perhaps some of us could investigate the source of that transmission. It did come up too suddenly for our liking." Liara suggested.</p>
      <p>"My thoughts exactly."</p>
      <p>"We should go check it out." Shepard decided, getting up from her seat. "Liara, Axel, Ashley, Wrex, you're with me. Everyone else, stay in or by the Mako and keep an eye out."</p>
      <p>
        <em>-Scene Cut-</em>
      </p>
      <p>All was well by the Citadel, ships coming to and from the center of galactic civilization.</p>
      <p>Everything was peaceful, despite the bit of high alert being made some time prior due to the Normandy fleeing the station.</p>
      <p>A small warrant was made due to what occurred, making Citadel forces wanting to bring the ship in-in order to question those who essentially performed Grand Theft Cruiser.</p>
      <p>In mere moments, the time of peace soon broke apart when a swirl of white light was formed in the air. Not long after, the Normandy shot out of the portal as it disbursed soon after.</p>
      <p>"Alright." Said Joker. "Gummi jump has been successful."</p>
      <p>"Second time doing this after the simulations and things are looking pretty good." Pressly commented as he looked over the systems. "Nothing appears wrong from what I'm seeing."</p>
      <p>"Then it's good to see you guys did an excellent job integrating the Gummi-tech into the ship." Della commented from the nearby co-pilot's chair.</p>
      <p>"Can't take all the credit as we had to follow your recordings and work from there."</p>
      <p>Della puffed out her chest in pride as she wore a wide smirk.</p>
      <p>Soon enough a series of pings were heard in the bridge, indicating someone was reaching out to them through their communication channel.</p>
      <p>"Wonder who that would be." Joker answered the transmission and spoke. "This is the SSV Normandy, who is it that I'm speaking to?"</p>
      <p>"<em>This is the Destiny Ascension." </em>Came a female voice on the other end. <em>"Normandy, be advised a warrant for your immediate apprehension has been issued by the Council and we would ask that you stand down to avoid any unnecessary conflict."</em></p>
      <p>Joker groaned aloud through the comms.</p>
      <p>"I really wish I could do that but conflict is coming the Citadels way no matter how you shake it." Joker replied in complete honesty.</p>
      <p>"<em>No matter how we shake it? What is that suppo- urgh, human expressions." </em>The Asari on the other end groaned out. <em>"What do you mean by Citadel coming to the conflict?"</em></p>
      <p>Joker recognized the underlying threat in the Asari's tone.</p>
      <p>"Oh, it's not from us, if you're wondering." Joker quickly said. "In fact, we got sent back to make sure we can help hold down the Citadel for as long as possible. We're basically the advance defense force."</p>
      <p>There was a very clear scoff that was heard by the pilot of the Normandy on the other end.</p>
      <p>"<em>Advance defense Force?"</em> the Asari repeated in disbelief. <em>"And what in Goddesses name are you here to defend us from?"</em></p>
      <p>As if by the decision of Murphy decided to enact his one Law…</p>
      <p>Coming out from seemingly nowhere, multiple Gummi ships that had the emblem of the Heartless were visible to be seen by all.</p>
      <p>A moment later, a contingent of Geth Cruisers came out of FTL and immediately moved in to engage the Citadel defense fleet.</p>
      <p>"<em>That."</em> Joke dryly said, alarms blaring in the Normandy as they prepared for battle.</p>
      <p>The pilot of the frigate angled his ship around, facing the oncoming enemies. He looked over by his side to see Della in the co-pilot's chair.</p>
      <p>"Della, get to your ship and inform Stitch to get into his."</p>
      <p>Della was already on her feet and running out of the bridge. "Don't have to tell me twice, Joker!"</p>
      <p>Flipping on the ship's comms, Joker called out a report. "Everyone, brace for evasive maneuvers! This is not a drill, people!"</p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>-Insert Kingdom Hearts III: Lock, Load, and Blast!-</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>With the warning given out, the Normandy went into action.</p>
      <p>Unleashing their guns, Joker unleashed hell onto the new arrivals as they soon returned fire.</p>
      <p>The Heartless Gummi ships swerved around most of the incoming fire while the others were starting to get mowed down.</p>
      <p>Swerving and maneuvering in the air, the Alliance ship was able to evade as much fire as possible before bombarding a couple of Geth Ships trying to take it down. Soon enough, they were shot down by a couple of energy missiles the Normandy released that had devastating effects.</p>
      <p>Readying to get back in action, the Flight Lieutenant soon noticed something.</p>
      <p>Joker merely smirked. "Really? Lining up for me? Why you shouldn't have." Unleashing a volley of fire onto the aligned Heartless ships he let out a small chuckle. "I swear this is like Galaga and Space Invaders rolled into one."</p>
      <p>Of course this didn't last long as the Gummi-Heartless broke formation and went on the offensive when the Citadel forces were called into action.</p>
      <p>From his seat, Joker let out a small sigh of frustration when he saw a number of allied ships already taken down by the Heartless, given how unprepared they were.</p>
      <p>Joker then saw a notification on his console, requesting to open up the hangar door. Complying with the request, the helmsman had it open up before closing it up some moments later.</p>
      <p>Stitch and Della were deployed moments later, the two smaller ships rocketing forward at full speeds whilst firing everything they had at the Gummi Heartless and Geth that flew right back at them.</p>
      <p>Della angled her ship into a spin, flicking a switch to let out a stream of electrified fire as she flew through and around the wave of enemies with multiple Heartless and Geth fighters being caught and destroyed in her stream.</p>
      <p>Stitch twisted a lever within his ship, the front of his vessel shifting into a boxier, bulkier bumper. With cackling glee, Stitch thrusted his controls forward and ramped into several Heartless ships.</p>
      <p>Some he plowed right through, destroying them in an instant.</p>
      <p>The ones that managed to absorb the impact were quickly met with the lower rotating gun of Stitch's ship that riddled them with holes.</p>
      <p>From behind this small trio of ships, the Destiny Ascension was leading the charge of the Citadel Defense Fleet to engage the invading enemy forces.</p>
      <p>Multiple smaller fighters were deployed, quickly joining the three ships that were already fighting the Geth and the Heartless.</p>
      <p>While at first, they had a bit of an upper hand at swarming the enemies, the Geth and the Heartless adapted quickly and began shooting down the ships.</p>
      <p>Stitch and Della quickly pivoted around to assist the Citadel fighters, zipping by whilst eliminating Heartless and Geth forces to alleviate some of the pressure.</p>
      <p>The naval engagement shifted into an even affair between both sides until…</p>
      <p>Joker had just eliminated a particularly large Gummi Heartless when the ships radar notified him of a new bigger bogie.</p>
      <p>Appearing via a large portal, it was giant Gummi Heartless that was bulky in appearance. Cannon arm on the left with a clawed hand on the left, it had circular shoulders and a circular body with horns upon what was its head and a saucer for the lower part of the body.</p>
      <p>In an instant, upon its arrival, many Citadel forces were mowed down as they stood no chance.</p>
      <p>Seeing many ships already getting slaughtered left and right, while Della and Stitch's ships had to quickly evade from getting hit, the Normandy's helmsman knew what needed to be done.</p>
      <p>Pulling up the ship's contact listings, Joker sent out a call to a certain Alliance Admiral.</p>
      <p>It didn't take long for an answer to be received.</p>
      <p>"<em>This is Admiral Hackett. What is it, Normandy?"</em></p>
      <p>"Admiral, this is Flight Lieutenant Jeff Munroe. I'm here to report an attack."</p>
      <p>"<em>An attack? On what?"</em></p>
      <p>"The Citadel. It's being attacked as we speak."</p>
      <p>"<em>Are you certain about that, Flight Lieutenant?"</em></p>
      <p>"I most certainly am as Della; Stitch and I are fighting against a whole vanguard of Geth and Gummi Heartless ships right now! And by the numbers, they aren't stopping."</p>
      <p>"<em>I see."</em> Said the Admiral of the Fifth Fleet. <em>"I'll mobilize the Arcturus Fleet immediately. If what you're saying is true-"</em></p>
      <p>"Which it is."</p>
      <p>"<em>-then the Citadel Station is indeed under attack and they'll need dire assistance."</em></p>
      <p>"We'll hold out as long as possible, Admiral. Just hurry up and get over here as fast as possible."</p>
      <p>"<em>Will do, Hackett out."</em></p>
      <p>
        <em>-Scene Cut-</em>
      </p>
      <p>Whilst Shepard group had gone off to inspect whatever it was that they needed, Roxas, Xion, Tali, Kaidan and Garrus stuck by the Mako.</p>
      <p>Garrus was manning the gun whilst Tali and Kaidan stood at the front with Roxas and Xion sitting atop the vehicle.</p>
      <p>They were gazing at the large shield that was keeping them from going any further in this bunker.</p>
      <p>Garrus had suggested that maybe Roxas and Xion could break through it and they had tried yet failed. This barrier was different and using their Keyblades wouldn't work. They'd have to find other means.</p>
      <p>"Wonder what they'll find down there." Kaidan asked aloud.</p>
      <p>"What makes you think they'll find anything?" Tali asked. "This place doesn't look like it's holding up all that well."</p>
      <p>"Maybe." Kaidan shrugged. "But the Protheans left beacons and messages of all sorts that we've been finding across the galaxy."</p>
      <p>"So there has to be something here." Roxas said, gazing up at the shield.</p>
      <p>"Liara said these were stasis-pods of some kind, right Garrus?" Xion asked, turning to the Turian leaning back in his seat on the Mako's gun.</p>
      <p>"Yeah, cryo-pods to be exact." Garrus confirmed.</p>
      <p>"Then… do you think maybe… one of them has a living Prothean inside?" No. XIV inquired, gazing up at the walls lined with pods.</p>
      <p>"Huh…" Kaidan crossed his arms, looking up at the containers. "Possibly."</p>
      <p>"Do you think this place has kept them alive for 50,000 years?" Tali asked in curious wonder.</p>
      <p>"Who knows." Garrus said. "Aren't-the Protheans-WHOA."</p>
      <p>The Turian jolted back at the sight of a Shadow quite literally landing atop the hatch of the Mako's turret.</p>
      <p>In an instant, Roxas had his Keyblade out, slicing right through the Heartless before looking up around them.</p>
      <p>On the walls, multiple pools of black appeared and out from them came Shadows, Neo-Shadows, Nova-Shadows and Darkballs whilst Water Cores and Earth Cores sprouted up around them.</p>
      <p>"Great, more of these guys." Garrus griped, immediately spinning the Turret about and unloading upon the surrounding Heartless.</p>
      <p>"They just don't know when to quit." Kaidan grunted, throwing out Biotic lifts to a cluster of Heartless close by that were promptly eliminated by Tali shooting out several Omni-Bolts.</p>
      <p>Roxas and Xion had already gotten to work, slicing and slashing their way through the newly arrived Heartless.</p>
      <p>The former was using a more physical approach whilst the latter opted to cover his surroundings with a succession of spells.</p>
      <p>Garrus was constantly spinning and turning, firing away at multiple clusters of Heartless that just kept on swarming the Mako.</p>
      <p>"Spirits sake, what the hell is all this?" Garrus complained, shooting down a group of Neo-Shadows.</p>
      <p>"Another parting gift from Saren?" Kaidan said in an inquisitive tone as he threw out a Biotic barrier.</p>
      <p>"Maybe." Roxas said with a frown. "But maybe not."</p>
      <p>"Why not?" Tali inquired.</p>
      <p>"The Heartless always attack, even without being prompted by those that command them." Xion said, firing a Blizzara to take out a Darkball.</p>
      <p>"It's probably this place." Roxas said, cutting through several Water Cores. "This place… there's an underlying darkness here. It's coming from all over."</p>
      <p>"So it's basically a tomb of darkness." Garrus dryly said. "How appropriate."</p>
      <p>Tali was firing her shotgun from every side, using her Omni-Tool on several occasions to momentarily stun any Heartless that got too close.</p>
      <p>Kaidan was their crowd control as the Heartless just kept on showing up.</p>
      <p>"What the hell, we really don't need this right about now." Kaidan said with his teeth clenched in irritation.</p>
      <p>"Xion." Roxas called out to her, leaping forward to the center of the cluster of Heartless.</p>
      <p>She quickly followed after him as he had Light surrounding him.</p>
      <p>Upon landing on the ground, he cleaved through the Heartless below him and thirteen pillars of light erupted around him.</p>
      <p>Xion landed beside him a moment later, crouching down into a spinning slash with small arches of light coming off her that cut through multiple Heartless.</p>
      <p>The XIII pillars of light had yet to subside around the sandy-blond haired Nobody as he dashed forward. The pillars provided as both an offensive and defensive measure with the light either damaging or destroying any Heartless he ran at or those that attempted to jump and attack him.</p>
      <p>Xion also utilized this dual attack, casting multiple Thundaga and Aeroga spells that were destroying Heartless left and right.</p>
      <p>The Heartless were focused on the two Keybearers for the most part, it gave Kaidan, Garrus and Tali the chance to help them out, unimpeded by a majority of the creatures of Darkness.</p>
      <p>When the last of them fell, the group let out their respective sighs of relief.</p>
      <p>Only for them to suddenly get startled when the nearby doorway opened up.</p>
      <p>Whirling around, they aimed their weapons at the source-</p>
      <p>"Whoa, whoa!"</p>
      <p>Hearing Shepard's sharp tone caused the group to ease up and put their weapons away.</p>
      <p>"Sorry, Commander, just went through a little Heartless skirmish." Kaidan reported. "They made it past the barrier and we had to fight them off."</p>
      <p>"Apology accepted." Said Jane as the others filed out from the doorway behind her.</p>
      <p>"Did you find what you were looking for?" Asked Xion.</p>
      <p>"We did and gotta say, didn't expect to find something interesting down there." Said Ashley.</p>
      <p>"Meaning what exactly."</p>
      <p>"We met a working -even if damaged- Prothean VI by the name Vigil." Responded Shepard.</p>
      <p>This earned a surprised look from everyone else not present from the human Spectre's little venture group.</p>
      <p>"Was there a reason why you had to go down there?"</p>
      <p>"Was it why the kinetic barrier was up?"</p>
      <p>"Yes, Vigil was responsible, as he wanted to inform us on a number of things." Shepard told them before getting down into a summary of details. "For starters, the Citadel station is actually an enormous Mass Relay. One that links to dark space where the Reapers have been lying and waiting since the Protheans were wiped out."</p>
      <p>Ashley picked things up from there in a rather grim tone. "When the Citadel Relay is activated, the Reapers will pour out and life in this galaxy will be screwed. And when the station is activated and controlled, many other Mass Relays can be disabled, crippling everyone from just about everything you can think of."</p>
      <p>"How come no one noticed the Citadel was a Relay in the first place?" Garrus asked in utter surprise. "Surely someone must've found out sooner or later."</p>
      <p>"You know those Keepers stationed all over the place?" Axel asked them, earning several nods. "Apparently they're the Reaper's little minions who are tasked in keeping the Citadel true secrets safe and secure from everyone until their bosses invade."</p>
      <p>"But why dark space? Why hide there and not go anywhere else? There are other galaxies out there with other life." Tali pointed out.</p>
      <p>Wrex was the first one to answer. "It's their hideout as no one is able to detect their presence there. Especially when they go through their own form of hibernation until the 50,000 year marker comes ahead."</p>
      <p>"As for them acting out in other galaxies, Vigil had no clear answer. Either he was confused on what we were talking about or his data in responding to the inquiry was degraded." Liara informed the others.</p>
      <p>"But what about the Conduit? Did you get the reason why Saren's been hellbent after it?" Roxas voiced the question roaming through everyone else's heads.</p>
      <p>"It's apparently the Citadel's backdoor." Axel said bluntly.</p>
      <p>The others were shocked to hear this, more so when the details were explained.</p>
      <p>Liara gave the reason behind this. "The Conduit is an independent Mass Relay that was made by the Prothean researchers here on Ilos as a means of researching Mass Effect tech before possibly expanding it. Yet the Reapers invaded and that portion came to a halt."</p>
      <p>"The remaining Protheans managed to sabotage part of the Reaper's scheme by messing with the Keepers sometime after the Reapers up and left." Spoke No. VIII. "Said people used the Conduit as a one way ticket to quickly get onto the Citadel and altered the signal the Keepers would receive from the Reapers to activate the Citadel Relay when the time came."</p>
      <p>"Sovereign needed Saren to go through the Conduit and activate the Citadel Relay from the central control unit there on the station, wherever it's located. Obviously, the Reaper can't do it in person or else their little secret would be exposed too early and unite the galaxy far sooner than expected. So Saren needed his army to take the station and do things manually."</p>
      <p>"So the Protheans bought us some time to defeat them." Garrus surmised, earning nods from Shepard and her little venture group. "How?"</p>
      <p>"They left clues."</p>
      <p>Things soon clicked in Tali's head, making her voice her realization. "Keelah… The beacons! They were supposed to warn us of the Conduit and the Reapers."</p>
      <p>"Too bad the majority of them were damaged, due to poor design flaws, or outright destroyed. Only a handful of them remained in the galaxy." Shepard commented.</p>
      <p>"Is there a way to use it? This central control unit on the Citadel, I mean." Asked Roxas.</p>
      <p>Jane nodded. "I got the data file needed to connect with the control unit and temporarily control the entire station. We just need to get to the Citadel immediately so we can shut the Reapers out."</p>
      <p>Nearly everyone got into the tank-like vehicle while the three Nobodies hanged onto its exterior. Once started up, Shepard slammed her foot down hard on the gas pedal. It flared to life with a roar and shot down the waterway, sending water flying in waves.</p>
      <p>Time was of the essence now and they didn't have much of it.</p>
      <p>Going down another tunnel, Roxas spotted something some distance away.</p>
      <p>"We've got Geth and Heartless!"</p>
      <p>Garrus was about to take aim with the Mako's guns when Shepard kept their ride moving.</p>
      <p>"Shepard, wha-"</p>
      <p>"Can't slow down!" She yelled, swerving around a couple of larger enemy forces. She could hear their companions outside momentarily combating them as they tried to attack. "Need to get to the Conduit in time."</p>
      <p>The Mako came blitzing out of the tunnel and right through the Geth units and Heartless waiting for them. It came in so fast that they didn't have a proper time of registering their presence and properly taking aim of their respective attacks. All that happened next was that a number of them were run over by the tank-like vehicle as it kept moving forward.</p>
      <p>Shepard soon made a turn and flew over the edge of a drop. The landing was a little harsh, having the wheels bounce up to the left a bit, but the right wheels touch the ground soon after, having everyone jumble around in their seats as Shepard performed a power slide landing.</p>
      <p>From the outside, the three Nobodies had to steady themselves from the recent hustle and bustle they took on their way over. Some more Geth and Heartless were coming their way, having them do all they could to keep them away.</p>
      <p>At this point, they momentarily looked back and saw the Conduit. It was essentially a miniaturized Mass Relay with the central gyroscope spinning rapidly with a white light in the center instead of the typical blue they normally saw.</p>
      <p>"There it is!" Roxas called out.</p>
      <p>"We're so close!" Said Xion.</p>
      <p>"It's incredible." Liara commented from inside of the Mako.</p>
      <p>"You guys can admire it later." Axel told them. "We need to get to that Relay, stat."</p>
      <p>"Then hop on in guys-"</p>
      <p>"No can do, Shepard." Said the Flurry of Dancing Flames as he pulled the two Keybearers off the vehicle. "There's no time to waste. You guys go on ahead, we'll buy you time."</p>
      <p>"But what about-"</p>
      <p>"If we tried hanging onto the Mako, we might risk getting thrown off and winding to parts unknown. Not to mention we'd get hurt in the process."</p>
      <p>"Then how will you get back?"</p>
      <p>"With a Corridor of course."</p>
      <p>"Axel's right." Said Shepard, readying to drive off once more. "Just meet us back at the Citadel once we reach the Conduit."</p>
      <p>"You got it." Said Roxas, readying his Keyblade alongside Xion.</p>
      <p>Nothing else was said as Shepard floored it, propelling them forward with water momentarily splashing onto the three Nobodies.</p>
      <p>From within the Mako, the occupants could momentarily hear combat behind them. Even Garrus was able to see it happen through the vehicle's scope before they disappeared at a certain point.</p>
      <p>Turning the scope around, Garrus saw their pathway wasn't clear enough. "We've got Geth Colossuses!" Declared the Turian, already opening fire upon the larger synthetics.</p>
      <p>"And a whole slew of Heartless." Shepard gritted out.</p>
      <p>"How many are there?" Asked Tali.</p>
      <p>"Quite enough."</p>
      <p>Seeing no clear way of combating them all, Shepard once more had to plow right through the enemy forces.</p>
      <p>The human Spectre was successful in swerving away from one Colossus before running over a couple of Heartless. Even Garrus was able to momentarily blast a couple of Heartless in the way via Mako cannon in order to help speed things along.</p>
      <p>Not once did the Mako slow down. And no one bothered to complain about Shepard's abysmal driving skills.</p>
      <p>Everyone else inside could feel the occasional hits made onto the tank-like vehicle, either from the momentary crashes to some projectiles hitting the hull.</p>
      <p>"Hang on." Kaidan spoke out. "I just realized something."</p>
      <p>"What?" Ashley yelled out.</p>
      <p>"You guys said that this Conduit will lead us directly to the Citadel right?"</p>
      <p>"Yeah, so?"</p>
      <p>"Doesn't that mean that we'll be going through faster than light travel… through a Mako?!"</p>
      <p>A horrified realization came onto the group as the Mako came to the final stretch.</p>
      <p>Connecting with the ramp, Shepard gritted her teeth as she slammed on the gas pedal once more and hit the thrusters. "Everyone brace!"</p>
      <p>The Mako sped up and flew off the ramp before falling straight into the Conduit.</p>
      <p>Sparks lit up around the vehicle once making contact before it was enveloped in blue light.</p>
      <p>There they were sent through like a ship going through a Mass Relay and was shot out like a bullet of light into the sky above.</p>
      <p>
        <strong>AN</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>So here we are in the final stretch of Mass Effect 1.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>The final showdown between the Normandy crew and Saren.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>After this one, all bets are off and we're going off the deep end.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Mass Effect 2 may follow the formula but there are gonna be </strong>
        <em>
          <strong>soooo</strong>
        </em>
        <strong> many divergences in both franchises. Once ME1 comes to its close, the real fun is gonna explode.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Just been giddy getting to it. And we're almost there.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Jebest4781: On other news, Bioware has finally released an official release date for the Mass Effect Trilogy Remaster labeled Legendary Edition. Reportedly, it'll come out Spring 2021 but given how things are lately things might get pushed back a little.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>With the trilogy, the resolution and frame rates will be enhanced along with the textures. Hopefully, the bugs from the original trilogy get patched up. Not to mention every single DLC the trilogy had will be included and not sold as additional content.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>FMW: and news of a new Mass Effect game also in the works, Mass Effect overall is gonna be experiencing a new resurgence in popularity.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Asides from that, Happy N7 Day everyone!</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Rate Read and Review and as Always Have Nice Day.</strong>
      </p>
    </div>
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<a name="section0021"><h2>21. The Corrupted</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>WE ARE HERE!</p><p>We've reached the end of Mass Effect 1!</p><p>Oh this was a marathon of a string of chapters with us getting to the end of the first part of the ME trilogy in record time.</p><p>This is what happens when two guys are so synchronized with one another to the point where we just launch these chapters out like no tomorrow.</p><p>Thank you all for reading this wild ride.</p><p>Rate Read and Review and as Always Have Nice Day.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p></p><div class="xcontrast">
  <p></p>
  <div>
    <p>I'm Nobody Chapter 21: The Corrupted.</p>
    <p>Joker grunted, pivoting his ship in an arching swing that quite literally smacked a Gummi Heartless with the back end of the Normandy.</p>
    <p>Stitch flew by him, pursuing several enemy fighters and gunning them all down after a few seconds before pulling off a sweeping turn around to go after more ships that appeared on his radar.</p>
    <p>Della was flying rings around the Normandy for the most part, covering the larger ships blind spots and areas that were wide open to attack. By this point she had lost count of how many enemy fighters she had taken out.</p>
    <p>They had just kept on coming.</p>
    <p>Whilst the two smaller fighters kept their focus on the basic enemy ship, the Normandy alternated between assisting other Citadel ships and firing at the giant Astrowarrior Gummi Heartless that was wreaking havoc upon the defense fleet.</p>
    <p>It was either destroying ships by firing at them, charging right through them or grabbing them and crushing the unfortunate ship in its claw hand.</p>
    <p>Joker had been trying to get in a proper shot to take the big bastard out but it did these sudden jerking shifts to the side that made him miss multiple opportunities to shoot him down. The big bastard was durable as all hell as well from what Joker had managed to see.</p>
    <p>Many ships had attempted to shoot it down with nothing but scorch marks being left upon the Heartless' body.</p>
    <p>The only ships that were able to inflict noticeable damage upon the large Heartless were those of Stitch and Della's.</p>
    <p>Joker figured that the Normandy would be able to inflict the kill shot, especially after its multitude of Gummi upgrades.</p>
    <p>If he could just get the damn thing locked on.</p>
    <p>Knowing this, Joker contacted Stitch and Della.</p>
    <p>"Guys, I need you two to do something for me." Joker said.</p>
    <p>"What is it?" Della asked, swerving around a Turian cruiser while shooting down more Heartless.</p>
    <p>"That big bastard is decimating the Defense Fleet." Joker said. "Get his attention and get it in front of the Normandy. We need to take it out."</p>
    <p>"Copy that." Della said with Stitch letting out a growl of acknowledgement as both pilots turned their ships around gunned for the Heartless Astrowarrior.</p>
    <p>Stitch took the lead, firing several missiles that had been installed in his ship earlier with him targeting the cannon arm in particular.</p>
    <p>This proved to be quite the attention grabber as the Heartless was firing upon a Turian ship itself before Stitch flew by. The missiles struck the cannon arm, with a very visible stagger that had the head of the Heartless snap itself in the direction of the small red ship that was joined by the Spear of Selene.</p>
    <p>Its eyes shifted from the usual sinister yellow that all Heartless have to a malicious red that began flying after the duo.</p>
    <p>The Astrowarrior barreled after them, crashing through friend and foe alike.</p>
    <p>It tried to fire at them but its arm was too damaged with sparks coming out forcing it to chase after them instead. The Heartless was dead set on getting to them, slowly gaining on them with it reaching out with its claw arm.</p>
    <p>Just as it got close to them, the two ships made sharp ninety degree turns upwards.</p>
    <p>The Heartless looked up at them both, getting ready to pursue after them when…</p>
    <p>
      <em>
        <strong>*VVVDDDZZZZZZ*</strong>
      </em>
    </p>
    <p>The Astrowarrior jolted back with a beam going right through its chest. A moment later, the Heartless faded away with a glowing Heart being released soon after.</p>
    <p>"Whew." Joker said, leaning back in his seat in satisfaction. "Okay, the bastard is down."</p>
    <p>"What of the rest?" Della asked.</p>
    <p>Joker was about to respond when he noticed something appearing nearby the Mass Relay.</p>
    <p>"Oh… fuck…"</p>
    <p>Flying on in with a contingent of Geth and Heartless ships was the Reaper, Sovereign.</p>
    <p>"Hope Hackett arrives with the fleet soon, cause this is now gonna get worse."</p>
    <p>Over in the Destiny Ascension, a pair of Asari were trying to comprehend what was going on.</p>
    <p>"Activate the defenses! Seal the station!" Ordered the ship's commander.</p>
    <p>"The arms aren't moving! System not responding!" Reported the ship's navigator.</p>
    <p>The commander of the Destiny Ascension gritted her teeth as she had to make a hard decision now. "Abandon the Citadel! Evacuate the Council!"</p>
    <p>The navigator compiled as she radioed into the station. "Citadel control! Citadel control! Do you copy?"</p>
    <p>The request fell upon Death's ears as the occupants of Citadel Control were slain.</p>
    <p>Walking away from the recently made corpse, Saren Arterius barked out an order to the nearby Geth and Heartless present in the one room.</p>
    <p>"Spare no one. Nothing must get in the way of the plan."</p>
    <p>His words were mainly towards the Heartless that followed him. The Geth seemed to know Saren's plans before he had the chance to voice them.</p>
    <p>Then again, they probably received their orders from Sovereign at this point, who could communicate with synthetics far faster than the former Spectre could, even with the upgrades he'd received.</p>
    <p>Saren gazed at the mechanical arms he now possessed; a gift Sovereign bestowed to him after what happened back on Virmire.</p>
    <p>From what he was informed, he had been out for quite a while once he got to safer grounds to avoid the blast that destroyed his base of operations. As he was out, the Reaper took the liberty in… <em>upgrading</em> him.</p>
    <p>Saren had to <em>thank</em> that little blue furred monstrosity for this upgrade of his.</p>
    <p>Sovereign had seen his organic weakness and gave him this opportunity in order to improve himself.</p>
    <p>Now he knew that everything he did was for the greater good of the galaxy. Anyone who fought against him had to die. Anyone who joined him once this plan was fulfilled but was too weak to withstand the indoctrination was a necessary sacrifice.</p>
    <p>Soon enough, he felt Sovereign brush against his mind once more, reminding him of his purpose, the goal of this invasion on the Citadel.</p>
    <p>Pushing his thoughts aside, Saren went out to resume his task at hand.</p>
    <p>The end was high and nothing would stop him from finishing what he started.</p>
    <p>
      <em>-Scene Cut-</em>
    </p>
    <p>Inside of the Citadel, chaos ensued.</p>
    <p>The attack was sudden as it was savage. There was hardly a warning for the arrival of the Geth/Heartless invasion as they descended onto the station.</p>
    <p>While most of the enemy forces came from the nearby Mass Relay beside the Citadel station, another force came from the most unlikely of places.</p>
    <p>The surprise attack threw many off guard with many people losing their lives as the Geth and Heartless didn't discriminate targets.</p>
    <p>Civilians were being evacuated as fast as possible whilst C-Sec and other military groups stationed on the Citadel fought off the Geth, Reaper Husks and Heartless.</p>
    <p>Over in the Presidium, nearby the Relay Monument, a guard of several Geth, Heartless and Husks idly stood by in order to find anything and take them out accordingly. And the only sound in the background that could be heard was that of gunfire and explosions in the distance.</p>
    <p>Of course that all changed when the Relay Monument spiked in activity, alerting the nearby guard detail.</p>
    <p>Coming up to it for an inspection, they were soon greeted with a Mako being shot out like a cannonball, striking down the guard and colliding against a nearby wall.</p>
    <p>The Mako slumped down in a loud groan.</p>
    <p>Right by the vehicle, a Corridor of Darkness opened up.</p>
    <p>Once stepping out, the three black coat wearing Nobodies came out and instantly saw the wreckage of the Mako.</p>
    <p>"Whoa." Axel remarked. "Rough landing."</p>
    <p>Roxas and Xion were running over to the Mako, seeing Shepard crawl out through the vehicle's side with Liara and Wrex right behind her. A moment later, the rest of the crew came out with some needing a little help and a moments breather after such a crazy ride.</p>
    <p>"Urgh." Tali had one hand on her stomach while being supported by Roxas.</p>
    <p>In an instant, she quickly pried off her faceplate and puked out her stomach's contents.</p>
    <p>"Hey, it's alright." Roxas said gently, doing his best to hold her up. Even patting her back to help out to some degree.</p>
    <p>"Keelah." Tali wiped her mouth and pulled out a Potion and chugged it down.</p>
    <p>Placing her mask back on, she gave Roxas an appreciative smile, leaning slightly on him as thanks before two turned to face the others who were almost recovered in their entirety.</p>
    <p>"Everyone alright?" Shepard groaned out.</p>
    <p>"I'm breathing, if that's what you're asking." Said Ashley, slumped down on the floor with her back against one of the Mako's wheels.</p>
    <p>"Keelah, that was…" Tali drawled out as she tried not to throw up once again.</p>
    <p>"What the hell did you drive us through, Shepard?" Garrus asked as he tried to collect himself.</p>
    <p>"If I don't shoot Saren, I'm gonna feel like that jump was all for nothing." Wrex grumbled out.</p>
    <p>"I… I think I'm here." Kaidan said deliriously.</p>
    <p>"The next time we're about to go through a Mass Relay like that," Shepard groaned out, "remind me of today so that I can reconsider. If not, then give me a good punch and/or slap across the face."</p>
    <p>"I'll be sure to hold you to that, Skipper." Said Ashley.</p>
    <p>Axel couldn't help but chuckle to himself at the sight of them all.</p>
    <p>"Ah~ it's nice to have instantaneous teleportation with no negative repercussions." Axel boasted with a sly grin getting Kaidan to openly flip him off.</p>
    <p>"Goddess." Liara was resting her hands on her knees, breathing in heavily to regain herself. "Did we make it?"</p>
    <p>"Seems like it." Axel said, looking around.</p>
    <p>"Any idea where we came out of?" Ashley asked, shakily rising to her feet.</p>
    <p>"We're in the Presidium." Roxas answered, making the others blink in surprise.</p>
    <p>"And by the Relay Monument." Garrus recognized the area a moment later.</p>
    <p>Looking over, they saw that the gyroscope of the Relay Monument was actually spinning with the same white light they saw back on Ilos. In mere seconds, the gyroscope slowed down and finally stopped moving.</p>
    <p>"Is this the receiving end of the Conduit?" Liara questioned the obvious thing right now.</p>
    <p>"Should've known it was fishy." Kaidan commented. "Kept hearing this faint sound from it, but people thought I was hearing something else."</p>
    <p>"At least we know something quite interesting about it."</p>
    <p>"This place is falling apart." Ashley pointed out, having regained her bearings now.</p>
    <p>Axel looked over and saw incoming enemies though he didn't pay them much mind as he flicked his hand in their direction.</p>
    <p>A moment later, they were engulfed in flames and burned away into ashes.</p>
    <p>"Ok, that headache is taken care of for the moment." Axel remarked. "Shepard, what's the game plan here?"</p>
    <p>"Isn't it obvious?" Shepard groaned, rubbing her head. "We find Saren and take him down. Then rest for about a month."</p>
    <p>"That sounds lovely." Axel mocked, hands on his hips. "Now why don't you really tell us the plan."</p>
    <p>The glaring deadpan he received would have instilled a great deal of fear in their soul. But Axel didn't have a heart. So he had no wherewithal to consider fear.</p>
    <p>"They hit the Citadel hard." Kaidan stated, looking around at the ravaged presidium. "How long has Saren been here?"</p>
    <p>"No clue." Garrus said, taking a moment to gaze around himself. "It could've been a while ago."</p>
    <p>"Damn, just this amount of chaos under so little time…" Ashley murmured, slightly disturbed yet also disappointed that they didn't reach Saren in time.</p>
    <p>Looking around, Garrus grew worried. Pulling out his Omni-tool, he went to check on something.</p>
    <p>"This is Detective Vakarian, calling for Executor Pallin or any C-Sec personnel. Does anyone copy." Said the Turian. "This is Detective Vakarian, please respond."</p>
    <p>After some seconds which seemed like hours to Garrus, someone responded.</p>
    <p>"<em>Glad to hear a friendly voice."</em></p>
    <p>Garrus released a chuckle. "Good to hear you as well, Chellick."</p>
    <p>"<em>Likewise."</em> Said Chellick as he spoke over the sound of gunfire. <em>"Where the hell have you been, Vakarian? Heard the Normandy took off some time ago, even though it was grounded."</em></p>
    <p>"Long story, Chellick." Garrus replied. "What's the situation?"</p>
    <p>"<em>What's it look like? We got Geth on our asses along with these robotic zombies and odd dark creatures running amok." </em>A different C-sec officer on the other end said snappishly.</p>
    <p>"Jeez, testy." Axel commented.</p>
    <p>"Who was that?" Tali asked.</p>
    <p>"<em>Oh, that would be Bailey."</em></p>
    <p>Garrus blinked in surprise. "Bailey? He's alive?"</p>
    <p>"<em>Of course I'm alive. Been holding out here the longest if you were wondering." </em>Came Bailey's response.</p>
    <p>"Sorry, I'm just surprised, that's all."</p>
    <p>"<em>Don't sweat it, I'm surprised myself." </em>Bailey said easily. <em>"I don't mean to be rude here, but if you're here then that means you're with Commander Shepard, correct?"</em></p>
    <p>"I am. What's wrong?" Shepard asked into the comm line.</p>
    <p>"<em>We're overrun with these bastards. We need to retake C-Sec HQ and restore order on the station. If we lose it, then it'll be extremely hard to retake the Citadel."</em> Bailey stated in an exasperated voice. <em>"And some that'll be the first to go will no doubt end up being the civilian shelters."</em></p>
    <p>"<em>So would you kindly come over here and help? It would be very much appreciative." </em>Chellick said, tone conveying exhaustion.</p>
    <p>The team paused, thinking over the request after a moment.</p>
    <p>"It's gonna be hard to break off and go after C-Sec now with whatever's happening now." Liara said though she appeared regretful in saying this.</p>
    <p>"We can't stop finding Saren and help them out." Wrex noted.</p>
    <p>"You heard what they said, C-Sec needs help." Garrus implored.</p>
    <p>"We can't exactly split the team up." Shepard countered. "Saren has to be stopped here and now. We all need to be there for that together. Whatever Saren throws at us, we have to face it together."</p>
    <p>"Then what do we do?" Ashley asked. "They sound like they're getting torn to shreds across the Citadel."</p>
    <p>"Well if it's help that they want…"</p>
    <p>Bringing his fingers to his lips, Axel let out a loud whistle.</p>
    <p>In mere moments, a large contingent of Assassin Nobodies appeared.</p>
    <p>"Oh, great idea!"</p>
    <p>Now while Roxas didn't do something fancy, like whistling, he focused a bit more when waving his hand.</p>
    <p>Not long after, a sizable garrison of Samurai appeared alongside the Assassins.</p>
    <p>"Okay, listen up." Axel spoke towards the lesser Nobodies. "This station is under attack. I want you all to take out the Geth present here along with the Heartless."</p>
    <p>Roxas spoke next. "First place you guys need to take care of is Citadel Security. Take care of the enemy forces attacking there before going out to take care of whatever else is here."</p>
    <p>"Make sure you focus on giving the C-Sec guys some breathing room." Axel added.</p>
    <p>"They need to make sure they can evacuate any nearby civilians." Roxas said. "Help any you see along the way."</p>
    <p>With the orders given, all of the lesser Nobodies vacated the area to complete their tasks.</p>
    <p>"Thanks guys." Garrus sighed out. "Wouldn't know what to do if-"</p>
    <p>Axel interrupted him by patting his back. "Hey, don't sweat it man."</p>
    <p>All the Turian could do was give the two Nobodies a thankful nod. From there, he sent a quick message to Chellick on what to expect on their reinforcements.</p>
    <p>"So… Did that Vigil VI tell you guys where this master control thing was located?" Roxas questioned.</p>
    <p>"If we knew, would we be standing around here like a bunch of idiots?" Axel asked.</p>
    <p>Wrex merely rolled his eyes. "You are a bunch of idiots."</p>
    <p>"Wrex, that's hurtful." Xion said with a frown.</p>
    <p>"No, I'm telling the truth." Wrex stated with his arms crossed.</p>
    <p>"Well who's the bigger idiot?" Axel retorted. "The idiots or the idiot following the idiots."</p>
    <p>Wrex only scoffed, pointing upwards. "Think about it. What's the one place on the Citadel that is its own thing, both easily accessible and defendable, and has a view of the rest of the damn station itself?"</p>
    <p>The Krogan's words seeped into their minds and made them start to think it over.</p>
    <p>Before long, a couple of faces were met with their palms.</p>
    <p>"Of course it would be the damn Council Chamber." Kaidan groaned out.</p>
    <p>"That's right." Wrex said like it was the most oblivious thing there ever was.</p>
    <p>"How the hell did you know it was there of all places?" Ash asked incredulously.</p>
    <p>"It just made the most sense to me." Wrex answered shortly.</p>
    <p>"It could've been a number of places." Liara rebuked.</p>
    <p>"Really? Name one." Wrex challenged, tone flat.</p>
    <p>Mouths opened and closed on themselves a couple of times, only for nothing to really come out.</p>
    <p>"That's what I thought."</p>
    <p>"Then how about we stop standing around here and get to the Council Chamber, pronto." Shepard stated.</p>
    <p>It took a few minutes to find an elevator that was still functional, given that there were no stairs that would've reached the Council Chambers in time.</p>
    <p>Piling in, they waited for the doors to close before the elevator car took them up the Tower.</p>
    <p>"Oh now it wants to move fast." Axel couldn't help but comment on the speed of the elevator only for it to jolt to a sudden stop.</p>
    <p>"And there's the silver lining." Ash dryly said, unamused by their predicament.</p>
    <p>Roxas looked out of the nearby window, eyes widening slightly.</p>
    <p>"Oh no."</p>
    <p>"What is it, Roxas?"</p>
    <p>All Roxas did was point towards the outside, having everyone look over.</p>
    <p>They saw what made No. XIII rather uneasy.</p>
    <p>Sovereign was here and he was coming to the Tower.</p>
    <p>"Never seen anything like that." Liara muttered</p>
    <p>"Join the club." Wrex stated.</p>
    <p>"I'd join, except I've already seen it on Eden Prime." Said Shepard.</p>
    <p>"Same here." Kaidan said.</p>
    <p>"It was one hell of a disturbing sight." Ashley added in. "We just looked up after hearing this loud as hell foghorn of a sound and there it was. I'd never seen something that… <em>big</em> before."</p>
    <p>"It's gotta be the size of a capital ship." Tali said with a nervous tone.</p>
    <p>"I can't imagine what it must've been like. And to think that's what's controlling Saren…" Garrus said.</p>
    <p>"We have to get to the Tower and stop Saren immediately." Shepard said.</p>
    <p>"How?" Liara said, looking to the Commander. "None of us can teleport like Roxas, Axel and Xion."</p>
    <p>"And I sure as hell rather not send them out to fight on their own for this one." Shepard stated.</p>
    <p>"Then what can we do?"</p>
    <p>"We can't just go out there and walk up the Citadel Tower, we forgot our helmets back on the Normandy." Kaidan pointed out.</p>
    <p>There was a brief pause when suddenly, Roxas gasped aloud.</p>
    <p>"Yes we can!" Roxas said excitedly, shoving his hand into his pocket and pulling out…</p>
    <p>"Oxy-Chee- Oh right!" Shepard said with a beaming grin. "Thank you Della."</p>
    <p>Quickly, the Normandy team took some gum out from the box that Roxas held save for Tali whose helmet works well enough in a vacuum as is.</p>
    <p>"Will this really work?" Liara asked, tentatively inspecting the piece of gum in her hands.</p>
    <p>"It will." Roxas said in complete confidence, throwing the gum into his mouth. "Oh, minty flavored."</p>
    <p>A moment later, a shiver went up and down Roxas' spine as the gums' effect seeped in.</p>
    <p>"Come Liara, by this point, anything that they think should work, usually does." Shepard pointed out, popping her strip of gum into her mouth and experiencing the same sensation Roxas went through a second later.</p>
    <p>Xion soon pondered a little bit. "Wonder if there's Sea-Salt-"</p>
    <p>"I swear, you are addicted to that flavor."</p>
    <p>"We need to get you onto other stuff, kid."</p>
    <p>"Oh and you all don't eat it every other day?" Xion shot back, receiving no response from the others. "Thought so."</p>
    <p>Shepard pulled out her pistol and turned off the safety. "Okay, step back people."</p>
    <p>"I swear if we die because of this gum not working, I'm haunting Della from the afterlife." Said Kaidan.</p>
    <p>"I'll join you." Came Wrex's response.</p>
    <p>Firing off a few rounds into the glass, the surface shattered into hundreds of pieces. The shards ballooned out away from the elevator car as they spun into the vacuumed space before them all.</p>
    <p>The oxygen from the elevator car was soon absent, making everyone hold their breaths.</p>
    <p>After several seconds passed on by, nearly everyone didn't feel themselves rasping for air.</p>
    <p>"...Holy spirits this gum actually works." Garrus exclaimed as he kept chewing the oxy-chew..</p>
    <p>"Never gonna give Della shit about this gum ever again." Williams declared, breathing in and out in relief.</p>
    <p>"Did you think otherwise when you first met her?"</p>
    <p>Ashley soon had a twitch in her eye, recounting what happened on their first contact back on Luna.</p>
    <p>"Yes, of course I still did! She was a talking, walking duck breathing <em>in outer space!"</em> Ashley vehemently stated. "We were already dealing with crazy shit by that point, meeting Della was just the next threshold."</p>
    <p>"Not to mention actually hearing her in the vacuum of space where sound is supposed to be absent, without a helmet." Garrus added.</p>
    <p>"There are so many questions that I have I can't even keep track of them all." Liara said airily.</p>
    <p>"Be sure to save them for later." Shepard said. "It'll probably keep us busy after today."</p>
    <p>Hopping out of the elevator, almost everyone activated the magnets on their footwear in order to stand upright against the Citadel Tower.</p>
    <p>As for the Nobody trio… they just stood there with no problems at all.</p>
    <p>The others saw this and they just stared, their minds momentarily failing to wrap themselves around the casualness of these three just… standing there without a problem or need of the technology they need.</p>
    <p>"What?" Roxas asked, obviously noticing their stares.</p>
    <p>"Just…"</p>
    <p>"What?"</p>
    <p>"Nothing… it's nothing." Shepard shook her head. "Why do I even bother by this point."</p>
    <p>As they began moving up the tower, they encountered Geth and Heartless along the way with some husks sprinkled in.</p>
    <p>The crew fought them off with ease and a sense of urgency as they needed to get to the damn Citadel tower.</p>
    <p>However, as they fought on, Ashley watched as Axel torched a Heartless with a thought entering her mind about their current predicament.</p>
    <p>"Wait… Axel… we're in a vacuum." The Chief stated.</p>
    <p>"Yes." Axel said, sending a wave of fire that melted Geth down in their entirety.</p>
    <p>"How are you producing fire?" She asked.</p>
    <p>"What now?" Axel asked, looking over to her, catching one of his chakrams he had thrown without looking.</p>
    <p>"How are you making fire come out in space?" Ash asked with an emphasis on her last word.</p>
    <p>It took a few seconds but No. VIII managed to connect the dots and answered her query with a question of her own.</p>
    <p>"Aren't you chewing gum that lets us breathe and speak in space clearly? Why is me producing fire in space that important to you?"</p>
    <p>"Doesn't fire still need air?"</p>
    <p>"Does magic still not mean anything to you?" Axel rhetorically asked.</p>
    <p>"Laws of physics can be thrown out of the airlock with magic." Roxas said with a nod.</p>
    <p>"Doubt it." Tali muttered.</p>
    <p>"Can we stop arguing and just move forward already?"</p>
    <p>"Okay, for those without helmets, be extra careful on enemy fire. There's no head protection this time around."</p>
    <p>Affirming nods were given as the group moved on forward. Their present objective now was to find a way inside of the Tower and they can only find it by moving up.</p>
    <p>Traversing alongside an elevator shaft, the group saw another car come in and crash some distance away. When the glass shards ballooned out of there, a number of Geth came pouring out of the broken car and went on the offensive.</p>
    <p>There wasn't that many Geth that appeared, who quickly threw up their hexagonal shields with their weapons silently barking at them.</p>
    <p>However, their numbers appeared to grow when some Wizard Heartless appeared, soon casting Blizzard, Fire and Thunder spells at their location.</p>
    <p>"Huh, honestly get to hear an actual silent gun in my non-existent life." Said Axel as he ducked for cover with the others.</p>
    <p>"Remember, we're in the vacuum of space where no breathable air is available for us to hear from." Tali lectured the Nobody.</p>
    <p>"And yet we can hear each other." Xion pointed out.</p>
    <p>"Might be because of this gum providing oxygen for us." Theorized Roxas.</p>
    <p>"We can think about theoretical discussions on this gum later," Shepard said to them.</p>
    <p>With that said, the group went into action.</p>
    <p>Roxas was the first to cast Thundara on the synthetics before Xion followed right after with her own. With them immobilized, almost short circuiting, Kaidan and Liara fired a Biotic Lift to knock them into the air. It was there that the others quickly picked their targets and shot the airborne Geth down.</p>
    <p>However, with the Wizards present, they needed a more personal touch; more so when they absorbed the magics and biotics aimed at them.</p>
    <p>Rushing in, Axel and Shepard had to quickly evade the Gravity spells aimed their way. Doing their best to maneuver around them, the two redheads reared back their chakrams and Omni-blade respectively and went to town on them.</p>
    <p>When they were taken care of, the group quickly moved along and took care of any stray Geth and Heartless that would come their way.</p>
    <p>Yet by covering a lot of ground rather quickly, Murphy seemed wanting to throw a wrench in their progression.</p>
    <p>Despite not hearing anything approaching them, the team saw a Krogan warlord bum-rushing them with a couple of Defender and Wyvern Heartless and Geth Troopers and Destroyers backing him up.</p>
    <p>Shields flared around the three humans in the group, more so with Wrex who charged in to meet the enemy Krogan head on. The three Nobodies ran after to back up their ally as the others fired at the Geth from the distance. As the two Krogan met in combat, the two Keybearers maneuvered around the Defenders and started hacking on their exposed backsides. Axel propelled himself into the air with his flames and cleaved his way through the airborne Heartless before reducing them to cinders.</p>
    <p>By the time the rest were finished, Wrex had already used his gravity hammer to send his combatant flying after smashing the helmet into pieces. The enemy Krogan drifted off into the vacuum of space as he suffocated to death.</p>
    <p>With them clear for the time being, they were momentarily ambushed when they came into an open area with a number of Citadel turrets seen a good distance away.</p>
    <p>Caught off guard by the assault with their shields flaring, Ashley and Tali were quick in using their shotguns to take care of the nearby Geth with their weapons silently barking in rapid succession. Liara helped clear the space with a quick Biotic Warp with both Kaidan and Shepard performing a combined Throw. Garrus readied his sniper rifle and fired off a couple of rounds to finish them off.</p>
    <p>With the sudden assault taken care of, the ground team looked onward and took note of the present situation.</p>
    <p>In the distance, they saw a couple of Geth dropships depositing a number of Geth. Normally the enemy ships would be shot down by the nearby turrets, but since they were offline, it wasn't happening anytime soon.</p>
    <p>"Those dropships are gonna be a damn problem if we let them stick around." Ash pointed out, shooting down a Geth Trooper.</p>
    <p>"There's turrets nearby." Tali murmured, quickly getting an idea. "Cover me. I can get the defensive turrets up and running and they can target the Geth dropship."</p>
    <p>"Roxas."</p>
    <p>"On it." Roxas said, already running by Tali with the two of them running towards the closest defense turret that was currently turned off.</p>
    <p>"Kaidan." Shepard called out to him with him getting the silent message. "Xion, would you mind?"</p>
    <p>"I've got you covered."</p>
    <p>With Kaidan and Xion diving towards the nearest turret, Tali and Roxas had to rush towards the other. The others momentarily had to cover on the latter pairing before focusing their attention at the incoming attackers.</p>
    <p>Xion had to rebound and block the incoming fire directed at her and Kaidan's position. Even momentarily breaking away to cleave through some Shadows and Neoshadows bum rushing them. When he gave the brief report that he was finished, they heard their one turret flare to life and fire off round after round at one of the nearby dropships.</p>
    <p>Heading off to rejoin the others, Xion momentarily saw Roxas having to quickly fend off the Geth and Heartless strolling their way. He had casted Graviga when a large number came in at once, flattening and crushing the opposition.</p>
    <p>When the second turret was activated, Xion soon got an idea.</p>
    <p>"Kaidan."</p>
    <p>"Yeah, Xion?"</p>
    <p>"Can you pull off a Singularity?"</p>
    <p>"I'm not all that great on it, but I can try." Admitted the Alliance Lieutenant. "Why? You got something in mind?"</p>
    <p>"I do."</p>
    <p>"I'll need Liara's help though, but get ready for whatever you have in mind."</p>
    <p>Xion nodded as she momentarily covered Kaidan, who ran off to briefly chat with Liara.</p>
    <p>Momentarily jumping in here and there, Xion cleaved through Geth and Heartless alike as the two turrets were firing upon the Geth dropships. And from her vision, she saw Roxas and Tali working on the final turret in the vicinity.</p>
    <p>When she put her attention back onto the rest of the forces before them, she saw a biotic anomaly overhead with a number of enemy fighters being pulled in.</p>
    <p>"Xion." Kaidan called out, struggling on the combined biotic attack he and Liara were holding. "Whatever you got, do it now!"</p>
    <p>Nodding, Xion concentrated magic into her Keyblade. Rushing forward, she leaped into the air and jammed her weapon into the biotic attack. Unleashing a powerful blast of Gravity into the mix, the anomaly started to shift and darken. More and more enemies were drawn in as a result.</p>
    <p>Seeing things be at its apex, Xion used all her might to bring the combined Gravity/Biotic attack down to the metallic ground.</p>
    <p>The moment it struck down, a large shockwave went out, crushing every Geth and Heartless there was in the area and destroying them.</p>
    <p>When the space dust settled, there was a large indent in the middle of the battlefield.</p>
    <p>"Spirits." Garrus muttered out.</p>
    <p>"Goddess." Liara rasped out, feeling rather drained on what was performed.</p>
    <p>Kaidan chuckled a little on the display. In mere seconds, he felt his amp flare up. Clenching his head, he released a hiss-like yell.</p>
    <p>"Kaidan, are you alright?"</p>
    <p>"Yeah… I think so." Kaidan said, breathing heavily.</p>
    <p>"Here." Xion said, pulling out a Hi-Potion and Hi-Ether for him.</p>
    <p>He gave her a strained smile of appreciation as he took the items out of her hands. "Thanks."</p>
    <p>Chugging the concoction down rather quickly, he felt the pain go away, only if so much.</p>
    <p>He can still feel the amp flare tingle at the back of his head, but he knew he'll have to keep watch of his biotics for a while until Chakwas could give him a proper checkup once this was all over.</p>
    <p>With all three defense turrets up and running, maximum damage was delivered onto the enemy dropships.</p>
    <p>While Geth were still coming out of the dropship, they were now being harried by the defense turrets that eventually destroyed them in their entirety.</p>
    <p>The remaining Geth on the ground were quickly swept aside as all ten of them fought them off with intense urgency.</p>
    <p>They needed to get to Saren <em>now </em>and they were running out of time.</p>
    <p>Moving onto the next area, once momentarily facing off a couple of Krogan and Heartless, they were once again in another open area.</p>
    <p>They would've moved forward a whole lot faster… if it wasn't for the fact that the turrets nearby were now controlled by the Geth… and were aimed right at them.</p>
    <p>Scattering, the group had to do their best to get to the controlled turrets and get them back onto their side.</p>
    <p>Garrus took the position in the back with Kaidan as they were firing off at the enemies from afar. Tali, Ashley and Wrex were going in to slowly progress forward and mow down the incoming Geth and Heartless. Shepard and Liara had to stay relatively in the middle as support on both parties.</p>
    <p>As for the three Nobodies, they were spread out to render aid.</p>
    <p>Axel looked intently at one of the Geth turrets on the far side of the area and dangled one of his Chakrams in his fingers.</p>
    <p>Shepard, close to him with Liara, saw him crouch down and before she could ask what he was doing Axel had jumped high into the air.</p>
    <p>He flung his chakram with all his might towards the far end of the area and disappeared in a flurry of flames.</p>
    <p>Reappearing right over where his Chakram ended up and clasped his two weapons together, falling to the ground while flames surrounded his tools.</p>
    <p>"<em><strong>BURN!"</strong></em></p>
    <p>Slamming down hard upon the Geth turret that was the furthest from the team, a pillar of fire erupted from beneath the stationed weapon and completely incinerated it.</p>
    <p>Axel's display and taking out of the turrets was enough for some of the Geth, Heartless and Krogan to turn back around and realize one of their enemies had literally teleported behind enemy lines. A good portion of the ones that were distracted were quickly gunned down as the battle raged on.</p>
    <p>With the turrets slowly being taken back one by one, Roxas had to rush on ahead to help pave a way for his small team of shotgun wielders. Casting the occasional Thunder spells on top of Blizzard, things were getting a little easier.</p>
    <p>He did have to leap into the air to bat away some incoming rockets every so often so Tali can properly perform her hacking skills.</p>
    <p>When everything settled down for the time being, Roxas' group had to hold the line for everyone else to reach the hatch they found for them all to enter the Citadel Tower.</p>
    <p>Xion was running forward with Garrus and Kaidan supporting her from their own positions, the former being the long range gunner whilst the latter kept up with Xion overall.</p>
    <p>"Kaidan."</p>
    <p>Without being prompted, Kaidan surrounded Xion in a Biotic field and launched her forward.</p>
    <p>Feeling a familiar sensation she had pulled off earlier, sharp winds began surrounding her Keyblade as she drew closer to the nearest turret.</p>
    <p>Upon reaching it, Xion sliced through the cannon, destroying the Geth turret and landed on the ground in the middle of a cluster of enemies.</p>
    <p>Thankfully, with Roxas having taken care of the turret nearby, Shepard and Liara rushed over to assist Xion with Kaidan joining in a moment later.</p>
    <p>Once again, Kaidan hissed in pain, but this time only a little. Seeing this, Xion quickly performed Cura on him, easing the pain he felt in his head. Giving her a thankful nod, they went on ahead to meet up with the others.</p>
    <p>By the time everyone met back up, Wrex managed to open the hatch.</p>
    <p>Before venturing in, Shepard gave them all a brief look as each of them gave out a nod of agreement.</p>
    <p>Without further delay, they hopped right in and closed the hatch behind them.</p>
    <p>Next thing they knew, they were near the Council Chambers with the warning sirens and lights blaring all over the place.</p>
    <p>"We're close." Shepard said aloud, the team all but sprinting towards the council meeting chambers.</p>
    <p>Having no time to unlock the doorway to their final destination, Roxas and Xion rushed forward with their Keyblades poised at the ready. In an instant, they cleaved their way through the doorway, letting the group rush into the burning Council chambers.</p>
    <p>Bullets soon flew towards them as they were met with Geth left and right.</p>
    <p>Liara and Kaidan threw up barriers with the rest firing at the Geth and whatever Heartless had appeared alongside them.</p>
    <p>Seeing the Geth and Heartless defensive forces stationed at the catwalks above, the two Keybearers broke off from the others and ran up the walls. In their respective sides of the chamber, the pair were quick to carve up their opponents.</p>
    <p>Looking at what happened, Ashley couldn't help but chuckle.</p>
    <p>"Something funny?" Asked Axel.</p>
    <p>"Sorry, something I remembered a while back after we first met Roxas."</p>
    <p>"That being?"</p>
    <p>"Where he and Xion are at now." Pointed out the Gunnery chief. "Dismissed his claim that the defensive forces up there wouldn't be taken care of all that easily."</p>
    <p>"I remember that." Kaidan noted. "Seems you've been proven wrong."</p>
    <p>"That I have."</p>
    <p>As the group drew close to the main atrium, they were suddenly assailed with multiple explosions.</p>
    <p>The group all went for cover as they turned towards just who it was that sent those explosives in their direction.</p>
    <p>None other than Saren with the Turian Spectre atop a levitating platform high above them.</p>
    <p>"Wow, that just screams final video game boss." Axel couldn't help but comment.</p>
    <p>The Spectre gazed upon them all until he spotted who he was looking for.</p>
    <p>Around him, Wyverns and Air Soldiers hovered by him in the air.</p>
    <p>"I was afraid you wouldn't make it in time, Shepard." Saren began.</p>
    <p>"Sorry if I kept you waiting! My entire team and I had to kill a bunch of your sorry excuse of an army to get here." Shepard yelled, turning her gaze away from the Heartless and towards the rogue Spectre. "Why even wait for me?"</p>
    <p>"The final confrontation," he replied. "I think we've expected it would end like this." Saren paused, looking down at them with an unreadable expression. "You've lost; you know that, don't you? In a few minutes, Sovereign will have complete control of all the Citadel's systems. The relay will open. The Reapers will return."</p>
    <p>"Sorry, I can't hear you over my impeccable sleight of hand, what was that?" Shepard retorted.</p>
    <p>"Your jests mean nothing." Replied Saren. "I see you survived our encounter on Virmire. Sadly, I wish that blue furball of a monstrosity was here so I may pay back what he did to me."</p>
    <p>"What, your arms?" Axel chortled. "They fit you far better now, you maniacal douchebag."</p>
    <p>"I was hoping for that abomination to be present here and now." Saren snarled.</p>
    <p>"What, so he could do it again?" Tali shouted with a smirk beneath her helmet.</p>
    <p>"Though I do suppose I should thank you lot; you in particular, Shepard." Saren had his hovering platform inching closer to the N7 marine. "After Virmire, I couldn't stop thinking about what you said. About Sovereign manipulating me. About… <em>indoctrination</em>. And even your reasoning that I might not have been the first. The doubt began to eat away at me. And Sovereign sensed my… <em>hesitation</em>."</p>
    <p>"And what the hell did he do?"</p>
    <p>"He implanted to strengthen my resolve." Came Saren's answer. "Now my doubts are gone. I believe in Sovereign completely. I understand that the Reapers need organics. Join us and Sovereign will find a place for you all."</p>
    <p>"Sovereign's controlling you through whatever he implanted in you!" Roxas replied loudly. "Don't think your destiny is to be controlled by that Reaper."</p>
    <p>"This is what is meant to be." Saren preached now. "Synthetic and Organic, a symbiotic relationship where both benefit. The strength of both with neither of their weaknesses."</p>
    <p>"You're not gonna win you know?" Axel said aloud over all the noise in a casual manner. "We met with your master. Told us how this cycle is different and all and we're to blame."</p>
    <p>"Nothing more than a miscalculation." Saren waved off. "The Reapers are coming and there's nothing any of you can do about it. You saw the visions Shepard. You know what's coming. They cannot be stopped!"</p>
    <p>"And your solution is to help them do their job?" Roxas gritted out. "You don't understand anything. You think what you're doing will resolve anything?"</p>
    <p>"They will see the value-"</p>
    <p>"SHUT UP!" Xion yelled out. "You're just a puppet now! You're lying to yourself."</p>
    <p>Liara quickly added on. "You know just as well as everyone else here that it's not gonna work that way. These Reapers have some purpose we don't fully understand quite yet, but whatever it is, it's not gonna be the benefit of every organic life there is!"</p>
    <p>"Did you not hear Axel earlier?" Tali spoke up. "We spoke to Sovereign on Virmire! He and his kind can't be convinced to stop whatever they're doing in the first place."</p>
    <p>Roxas picked things up from there. "Sovereign knows that and you're hopelessly naive if you don't think that somewhere deep down that it's true. It's using your hope against you, Saren! It's going to use you to do it's dirty work before casting you aside like a broken tool!"</p>
    <p>"And do you think that giant cuttlefish outside, hooking onto this station like a parasite is gonna honor your agreement? Wake the fuck up and see that you're being played!" Axel bellowed out. "Take it from people who know it <em>all </em>too well."</p>
    <p>"Dammit Saren." Shepard shouted. "You were once a Spectre, just like me. Are you really going to let the Reapers, let Sovereign control you? You're not some holy savior or a warrior but a slave, a<em> tool. </em>Once you've served your purpose, the Reapers would just indoctrinate and kill you."</p>
    <p>"No… No! I will… but… the implants…" Saren's voice immediately shifted into one that was becoming a tone of terrified realization. "I… I can't! I can't! The implants are already there. There's nothing that can be-"</p>
    <p>"There's always a way!" Shepard declared, rising out from her hiding spot and looked at the former Spectre dead in his eyes.</p>
    <p>His eyes had changed but she saw it.</p>
    <p>That single spark of resistance, of what was once Saren was still there.</p>
    <p>And that was all that was needed.</p>
    <p>"Think about it, Saren!" Shepard pleaded. "You know what the right thing to do is! Step aside and we can stop this once and for all. It'll buy us time to figure out how to stop them once and for all."</p>
    <p>Saren gazed at the human Spectre before giving her the Turian equivalent of a smile.</p>
    <p>"Leave it to a human to save my ass in the end." Saren said, raising his gun up to his head. "Thank you, Shepard."</p>
    <p>
      <em>
        <strong>*BANG*</strong>
      </em>
    </p>
    <p>As Saren's body fell to the ground, the rest of the team sprang into action, fighting off the Heartless that charged back at them.</p>
    <p>Everyone utilized either magic, their biotics or their enhanced weaponry to take out the Heartless in rapid succession until they were all clear.</p>
    <p>With the platform now secure…</p>
    <p>"Holy shit." Wrex muttered out. "I thought we were gonna have to go through hell to reach the master control console."</p>
    <p>"Speaking of…"</p>
    <p>Rushing over to the console, Shepard's Omni-tool flared to life. Pulling the data file she got from Ilos, she had things connected to the master console system.</p>
    <p>"Vigil's data file worked; I've got control of all systems." Shepard declared.</p>
    <p>For how long, however, she didn't want to see as she has other matters to consider.</p>
    <p>"Quick, open the station's arms, maybe the fleet can take sovereign down before he regains control of the station." Liara said.</p>
    <p>"See if you can open a communications channel." Kaidan followed shortly after.</p>
    <p>"<em>Destiny ascension, main drives offline, kinetic barriers down 40%. The council is on board, I repeat the council is on board." </em>was the first thing the team heard.</p>
    <p>A moment later, a more familiar voice was heard with the group having relieved smiles appear on their faces.</p>
    <p>"<em>Normandy to the Citadel, Normandy to the Citadel. Please tell me that's you, Commander."</em></p>
    <p>"You expecting someone else?" Shepard asked rhetorically.</p>
    <p>"<em>No one else, really."</em> Joker said as he momentarily grunted on the other end. <em>"Look, I called in the cavalry and the entire Arcturus fleet is sitting over in the Andura sector, waiting for the relays to be unlocked. They can then help save the Ascension."</em></p>
    <p>"You can't sacrifice human lives to save the Council. What have they ever done for us?" Came Ashley's opening argument.</p>
    <p>Kaidan gave his counterargument. "This is bigger than humanity. Sovereign's a threat to <em>every</em> organic species in the galaxy."</p>
    <p>"Exactly, we can't throw away reinforcements trying to save the Council. We have to hold them back until Sovereign's exposed." Ash countered.</p>
    <p>"But this is the Council we're talking about." Liara stated. "If we let them die, how will that reflect on all of us, not just Shepard."</p>
    <p>"I'm not the biggest fan of those stiffs." Garrus said. "But… I'm not sure."</p>
    <p>"You already know my opinion on them." Wrex growled.</p>
    <p>"And I ain't gettin' involved in politics." Axel spoke up.</p>
    <p>"Guys, wait! We've still got Della, Stitch and Joker out there." Tali pointed out with everyone staring at the Quarian blankly.</p>
    <p>"...Oh…"</p>
    <p>"Joker, you hear all that?"</p>
    <p>"<em>Loud and clear, Commander."</em></p>
    <p>"When I get the arms opened up, attack Sovereign with what you three have on ya. And radio the fleet to save the Ascension."</p>
    <p>"<em>Will do, Normandy out."</em></p>
    <p>Quickly typing away, Shepard had things finally unlocked.</p>
    <p>With the Citadel opened back up, the Normandy with her two supporting ships flew past the Ascension and gunned it straight for the large Reaper atop the Tower.</p>
    <p>As they did so, the Alliance Fleet appeared moments later, instantly firing upon the Geth and Gummi Heartless forces that surrounded the Ascension.</p>
    <p>"<em>Save the Destiny Ascension." </em>Hackett ordered the fleet.</p>
    <p>Over in the Ascension, the ship's navigator and commander let out sighs of utter relief.</p>
    <p>"Finally, reinforcements are here."</p>
    <p>"It's the Alliance! Thank the goddess!"</p>
    <p>Over in the Spear of Seline, Della quickly eyed the Reaper ship still attached to the Citadel Tower.</p>
    <p>"Okay, boys, time to get to work." She said, activating her ship's thrusters to shoot towards their new target.</p>
    <p>Stitch's cackle could be heard over the comms as Joker merely smirked as they trailed behind the Gummi-ship before they opened fire on the giant synthetic.</p>
    <p>As the group watched all this, Shepard glanced down below at the body of Saren. It hadn't moved from its spot</p>
    <p>"Make sure he's dead." Shepard ordered.</p>
    <p>"Why? You saw the bullet going through his head." Roxas naively pointed out.</p>
    <p>"We really need to get you to see a number of zombie flicks when this is done." Ashley said to him. "When in doubt, double tap."</p>
    <p>Axel, Wrex, Kaidan and Liara went down below with Wrex getting the satisfaction of shooting the fallen Spectre several times in the head.</p>
    <p>"I think you missed." Axel stated.</p>
    <p>"Yeah, just once more to be sure." Wrex said, shooting at least half a dozen more times.</p>
    <p>"...And his head is basically mush by now."</p>
    <p>Yet, as they prepared to walk away…</p>
    <p>
      <em>
        <strong>*CHHHZZZZ*</strong>
      </em>
    </p>
    <p>
      <em>
        <strong>*CRRAAAAA*</strong>
      </em>
    </p>
    <p>
      <em>
        <strong>*RUMBLE*</strong>
      </em>
    </p>
    <p>Suddenly, the Citadel tower began to shake.</p>
    <p>
      <em>
        <strong>-Insert Kingdom Hearts II: The Corrupted-</strong>
      </em>
    </p>
    <p>Red lightning bolts from the walls around them struck the Turian corpse with shadow figures moving in to join them.</p>
    <p>The body twitched and convulsed with a red and black field surrounding Saren as he slowly stood back up.</p>
    <p>His head reformed with blood red eyes and what sounded like screams of agony as his body appeared to expand, contort and grow.</p>
    <p>When the electricity and darkness reached its apex, an explosion went off, sending those down below flying back and hitting the walls nearby.</p>
    <p>The explosion also dislodged the platform Shepard stoon on, having it fall over as it deposited everyone else down below. They rolled to a stop before roughly getting back up.</p>
    <p>There they saw what now became of Saren Arterius.</p>
    <p>Like what they saw back in Noveria with what became of Matriarch Benezia, Saren became a hybrid of a Heartless with synthetics added into the mix. With the shadowy wisps rolling off its form with blue, purple and red circuitry combing off parts of its body.</p>
    <p>"<em><strong>I am Sovereign! And this station is </strong></em><strong>Mine!"</strong></p>
    <p>Around Saren-no <em>Sovereign</em>, Nova-Shadows appeared and they too had dark shadowy wisps wafting off from their bodies as the Normandy team faced them.</p>
    <p>"...I think you didn't kill him well enough." Axel quipped.</p>
    <p>"I'll be sure to do so properly." Wrex said, pulling out his gravity hammer.</p>
    <p>Sovereign's head twitched about until it landed on one of the Normandy crew in particular.</p>
    <p>In an instant it sprung forward, Sovereign grabbing Roxas by the throat and leaping away from the group.</p>
    <p>"ROXAS!" several of the team cried out.</p>
    <p>"Look out." Axel shouted, throwing up a wall of fire around them as the Nova-shadows pounced.</p>
    <p>The Heartless were repelled by the flames yet they once more attacked with several of them managing to punch their way through.</p>
    <p>Liara instinctively caught one in a stasis with Wrex pushing one back.</p>
    <p>Kaidan got one right on top of him yet Garrus and Xion were quick to tackle it off and the latter plunged her Keyblade through the Heartless' head, ending it.</p>
    <p>"We've gotta get to Roxas." Tali said aloud.</p>
    <p>"I'll get him." Shepard shouted, running forward and leaping through the fire.</p>
    <p>With Roxas, the boy was struggling as the Reaper possessed corpse held him aloft by his neck.</p>
    <p>In the mind of the Reaper, it knew which one of these individuals truly posed a threat to the cycle. That human Shepard has seen and knows too much of what is to come.</p>
    <p>Therefore, her elimination is paramount.</p>
    <p>And yet…</p>
    <p>Something else…</p>
    <p>Something outside what makes the Reaper what it is was dictating that <em>this </em>boy was just as great a threat to the Cycle as was Shepard.</p>
    <p>In order to continue on with their task, both of these individuals must <em>perish</em>.</p>
    <p>"Let <em>Go!"</em> Roxas yelled out, swinging his Keyblade and smacking Sovereign's arm off.</p>
    <p>"<em><strong>You are an unknown variable. For that, you will die and your body will be studied."</strong></em></p>
    <p>"In your dreams!" Roxas yelled out, jumping away as it took a swipe at him with a cloud of darkness following in his wake.</p>
    <p>The Nobody's eyes widened, realizing just how much of the Heartless had influenced Saren as well.</p>
    <p>Sovereign was already pursuing him, leaping about with the greatest of ease and incredible speeds.</p>
    <p>Roxas grit his teeth, rolling under a leg kick only for his midsection to be grabbed and he was flung in the air.</p>
    <p>Instinctively, Roxas performed an aerial recovery and just in time to counter swing at a pouncing Sovereign. He struck the Reaper/Heartless in the head and quickly glided away.</p>
    <p>He didn't get far as he felt a hand wrap around his ankle and pull him down.</p>
    <p>Thankfully, help arrived.</p>
    <p>"Back off!"</p>
    <p>Roxas turned to see Shepard sprinting towards them with her Biotics active and fired a lift at Sovereign.</p>
    <p>The Reaper floated up into the air yet the limbs suddenly stretched out and embedded themselves into the ground. That did little in deterring Shepard as she fired rapidly at the Reaper-Heartless with her Biotic-Burst rifle.</p>
    <p>Each round left a visible mark upon Sovereign yet they kept healing themselves up a moment later.</p>
    <p>Letting out an animalistic roar, Sovereign slammed into the ground with it cracking apart and multiple craggily formations of darkness shooting out in the direction of Shepard.</p>
    <p>In an instant, Jane threw up a Biotic barrier that absorbed most of the blows until unfortunately, it overwhelmed her. She flew back, landing hard on the ground but was quick to stand back up again.</p>
    <p>She managed to see Sovereign jumping right for her yet Roxas was quick to appear next to the Reaper-Heartless, landing a direct blow to its chest.</p>
    <p>Sovereign fell to the ground, Shepard running over to Roxas.</p>
    <p>"Come on, we gotta lead him back to the others and take him out together."</p>
    <p>Roxas only nodded, the two breaking into a run as Sovereign was back on his feet. Shifting its vision over to the duo, he placed himself down on all fours and jumped forth.</p>
    <p>Using the surrounding environment, Sovereign jumped about, gaining on the retreating duo.</p>
    <p>Getting in close, Sovereign tackled both Roxas and Shepard down to the ground.</p>
    <p>"Hey asshole." came a sudden growl.</p>
    <p>Sovereign looked up in time to see a gravity hammer swing right at its face. The force sent the Reaper flying back and sprawling onto the floor.</p>
    <p>Pushing herself up, Shepard saw the armored hand of one Urdnot Wrex with her grabbing it and being lifted up to her feet.</p>
    <p>Roxas was assisted by Tali, who had also joined Wrex.</p>
    <p>"Where are the others?" Shepard asked straight away.</p>
    <p>"They're taking care of those crazy strong Heartless." Wrex answered. "Axel sent the two of us ahead to back you both up. Once they're done with them, they'll head over here."</p>
    <p>"I'm constantly transmitting our location to them." Tali said. "If anything, Garrus' visor will lead them to us."</p>
    <p>"Good to know." Shepard said as the four of them turned to face Sovereign that was on all fours with darkness beginning to exude in greater quantities off his body.</p>
    <p>"Alright then." Shepard's gun whirred with energy. "Let's take this bastard down.</p>
    <p>Tali's Omni-Tool was glowing with power with Roxas beginning to radiate light whilst the edge of Wrex's hammer crackled with energy.</p>
    <p>The opposing sides stood adjacent to one another until they felt the rumble of the naval battle going on outside, with them now running at one another.</p>
    <p>Back outside of the Citadel, the combined might of the Normandy, the Spear of Seline, Stitch's cruiser, the Alliance Fleet and what remained of the Citadel fleet put all their attention on Sovereign now.</p>
    <p>At first there was no progress done on the assault, that is until the ships piloted by Della, Stitch and Joker were making headway on damaging the Reaper. From the mixture of missiles, lasers and plasma armaments the three ships had on them was able to pierce through the highly effective shield the Reaper presently had, but only for a very small window of time.</p>
    <p>It did retaliate as it's red hot lasers shot out and cleaved through other ships left and right. And while the three mentioned ships had to maneuver around the blasts, they kept going at it while momentarily assisting the others.</p>
    <p>"<em>Sovereign is too strong! We have to pull back!"</em> Cried out an Alliance Commander.</p>
    <p>Della, however, was having none of that. "Oh heck no! We can't back out now! This is our only chance!"</p>
    <p>"<em>I agree."</em> Hackett said over the chatter. <em>"Take that monster down, no matter what the cost!"</em></p>
    <p>The Alliance fleet continued their attack, firing everything they had at the imposing ship.</p>
    <p>Back within the Citadel itself, in the Council Chambers, another battle raged on.</p>
    <p>"<em>BURN!"</em></p>
    <p>Axel roared out, unleashing his Chakrams that became spheres of fire that smashed into two Nova-Shadows, burning them away.</p>
    <p>These Heartless were proving to be extremely formidable as they relentlessly attacked them.</p>
    <p>Had it not been for Kaidan and Liara assisting them via Biotics and the amount of experience they had all accumulated in these past months now, they would have been decimated a lot sooner.</p>
    <p>Garrus over with Xion were taking out a Nova-Shadow together, destroying it in a combined volley of energy beams and Blizzaga spells.</p>
    <p>Ashley, Kaidan and Liara were fighting several around them, the Biotic users ensnaring them and forcing them into a cluster.</p>
    <p>Once they were mashed up against one another, Ashley pulled two disks off her gun.</p>
    <p>"Thank you, Mosh." Ashley proclaimed as she threw the disks forward at the cluster of Heartless.</p>
    <p>The two disks snapped open, the circular case opening out into four pieces.</p>
    <p>They both hovered on opposite ends of the cluster of Heartless and they began to glow until a domed barrier formed around the grouped up Nova-Shadows.</p>
    <p>A moment later, the barrier appeared to have the surface of literal molten lava.</p>
    <p>"What the hell?" Kaidan gaped.</p>
    <p>The lava dome subsided with nothing but shadowy wisps travelling upwards to indicate the destruction of the Heartless.</p>
    <p>"What in the Goddesses name was that?" Liara asked in complete astonishment.</p>
    <p>"I didn't think he'd make something like that." Ashley said in equal shock, the two disks returning to attack themselves back to her gun though they appeared to have lost their color. "When Mosh said my gun was upgraded, I didn't think <em>this</em> was what he meant."</p>
    <p>"That was… <em>too </em>fucking cool." Kaidan remarked with both ladies only nodding in agreement.</p>
    <p>"Hey!"</p>
    <p>The trio looked over to the other trio with them that were waiting for them expectantly.</p>
    <p>"Are you guys coming?" Axel asked, casually spinning a chakram around his finger.</p>
    <p>"Right, right, sorry about that." Ash said and the six of them quickly got back up from the lower level.</p>
    <p>"Hang on." Garrus tapped on his visor and he immediately saw the directions they needed to go to find the others. "This way."</p>
    <p>They began sprinting at full speeds, the Citadel shaking every now and then.</p>
    <p>"Uh guys…" Xion spoke up nervously, looking up momentarily.</p>
    <p>The group noticed this and craned their heads up in Xion's direction with many of their eyes widening.</p>
    <p>"What the hell is that supposed to be?" Ash asked aloud.</p>
    <p>Up on one of the walls were several globs that were purplish-black in appearance and they were slightly pulsing with small shadows spreading out from them.</p>
    <p>"That's from the Heartless." Xion said.</p>
    <p>"Why is it here then?" Liara asked.</p>
    <p>"Must be Sare, er, Sovereign." Axel said. "He was using them, remember?"</p>
    <p>"And what does that mean for us and the Citadel?" Garrus inquired, adjusting himself so the others can follow him in the proper direction.</p>
    <p>"It means… that if we don't take out Saren soon, the Citadel will be swallowed up by the Heartless." Xion said in realization.</p>
    <p>"Can they do that?" Kaidan asked fearfully.</p>
    <p>"They've swallowed entire Worlds before." Axel pointed out. "This space station would just be an appetizer."</p>
    <p>"We take out Sovereign, we can save the Citadel." Xion assured. "We just need to find Roxas and the others."</p>
    <p>"Then where the hell are they?"</p>
    <p>Ash's question was answered when Wrex landed on the ground with a loud grunt and noticeable crack on the ground beneath him.</p>
    <p>"Ow." Was all the Krogan Battlemaster let out as he slowly sat up.</p>
    <p>Blinking, Xion immediately cast a Cura upon the aged warrior who nodded at her in thanks.</p>
    <p>"Wrex?" Liara said. "Where's Shepard and the others?"</p>
    <p>Liara's own question was answered with the Reaper-Heartless corpse landing with Roxas atop him, smacking his Keyblade over his head.</p>
    <p>The Reaper-Heartless shrieked out and in an instant, two hands that were pitch black sprouted out underneath its original arms and grabbed Roxas. It hefted him up and threw him away, Sovereign rising up to his feet before its eyes snapped in front of the group before him.</p>
    <p>"Oh that's not good."</p>
    <p>"Open fire!"</p>
    <p>Xion was quick to fire off a Blizzaga at the Heartless-Reaper, halting it in its tracks. Granted, it started to break free, but at least Xion bought the others some time to act.</p>
    <p>While making sure they got the others out of the way and into safety, the rest unleashed a volley of bullets and biotic attacks at their opponent.</p>
    <p>Sovereign shrieked out, folding and crossing his arms into his own body. Darkness appeared around him and was promptly sucked in before he threw his head and arms out, unleashing a dark electric shockwave that sent the Normandy team flying back.</p>
    <p>The Reaper-Heartless corpse jolted forward, looking behind him to see Tali holding up her Omni-Tool having fired her Omni-Bolts at him.</p>
    <p>It turned towards her, ready to attack when he was ensnared in a Biotic lift from Commander Shepard, running toward him.</p>
    <p>Growling, his new pair of arms stretched out and jabbed themselves into the ground, pulling himself back down.</p>
    <p>"Oh now that's just cheating."</p>
    <p>Sovereign prepared itself to attack once more, but Roxas appeared in front of him and bashed his Keyblade across his face.</p>
    <p>It flinched violently yet remained rooted on the spot. The Reaper-Heartless grabbed Roxas.</p>
    <p>"Oh not agaAAAAAA-"</p>
    <p>The poor boy was thrown right into Tali, the two tumbling down to the ground.</p>
    <p>Sovereign moved forward when suddenly, Axel zipped around in front of him and threw his fire laced Chakrams at him.</p>
    <p>"<em>Get back!"</em></p>
    <p>Sovereign stumbled back when it was once again enshrouded in a Biotic field, this one being from both Kaidan and Liara.</p>
    <p>Together, they pulled the Reaper-Heartless towards them and halfway to them, Wrex smashed his gravity hammer straight down into the ground with a small crater forming.</p>
    <p>Ashley quickly followed that powerful strike with multiple inferno rounds when a shadowy fist burst out from the fire, hitting her right in the gut.</p>
    <p>She doubled over, clutching her stomach with Wrex raising his hammer up to deliver another hit only for him to come face to face with Sovereign.</p>
    <p>It grabbed him by the face and smashed him into the ground.</p>
    <p>"Bastard." Kaidan yelled, shooting at the corpse that turned its head towards him.</p>
    <p>Mustering what biotics he utilized, the Alliance lieutenant quickly compacted it all into his available hand. Just when Sovereign got in close, Kaidan decked the Heartless-Reaper across its face.</p>
    <p>Moments after, a large explosion went off as their opponent was sailing back and crashed into the far off wall and remained there.</p>
    <p>"Holy hell, that was-"</p>
    <p>Whatever was said next was halted as Kaidan collapsed onto the ground as he held his head. This time he yelled rather loudly with tears streaming down his cheeks from the utter pain he was experiencing.</p>
    <p>"Kaidan!" Xion cried out in worry with the Lieutenant looking up in time to see Sovereign prying itself out of the wall and quickly standing over him.</p>
    <p>The Reaper-Heartless reeled its fists back, ready to end the Lieutenant when No. XIV tackled him Keyblade first.</p>
    <p>She brought him to the ground but Sovereign bashed his fists across her face, sending her away from him.</p>
    <p>"XION!" Roxas yelled out.</p>
    <p>"Fucking bastard." Shepard growled. "Stop hurting my friends."</p>
    <p>Sovereign was soon met with a number of explosives, sending the Reaper-Heartless back. It looked to the source and saw the assault recently came from Ashley.</p>
    <p>Charging right at her, while ignoring the hail of bullets from others, Sovereign went to end the Gunnery Chief.</p>
    <p>When it got close, it momentarily halted when it saw the smirk on William's face.</p>
    <p>"Tick tick boom."</p>
    <p>If the dark synthetic could blink, it would've.</p>
    <p>Soon hearing a rapid series of beeps from its audio receptors, it looked down and saw a whole string of mines that were about to be set off.</p>
    <p>Just when it was about to leap out of the way, Liara and Shepard used their biotics to keep the Heartless-Reaper in place. And as this happened, Ashley threw another set of disks as they soon expanded to form a barrier with the lava coating.</p>
    <p>A second later, a large explosion went off as they heard a metallic shriek heard from within the lava barrier.</p>
    <p>"You think that's enough?"</p>
    <p>The answer was soon received when the barrier broke apart with Sovereign's form heavily melted with darkness filling in the gaps of its destroyed form.</p>
    <p>"Guess not-"</p>
    <p>Ashley was then punched in her sternum, sending her flying and hitting the nearby wall and nearly rendering unconscious. She only was able to hang on a little longer, due to some bits of will lingering on to keep on fighting.</p>
    <p>Sovereign stalked over to the downed Gunnery Chief when powerful sniper rounds met it's back and head a good number of times.</p>
    <p>It snapped its head over to a Turian standing on an elevated position.</p>
    <p>"Oh, now you notice me." Garrus quipped, firing repeatedly at the Reaper-Heartless with its eyes glowing a deeper shade of red. One shot struck it in the eye leading Sovereign to let out an animalistic roar.</p>
    <p>"Are machines supposed to act like that?" Shepard asked with Tali, Roxas and Axel by her side.</p>
    <p>"Hell if I know." Axel commented</p>
    <p>"It's the darkness." Roxas noted. "It's starting to influence Sovereign more and more."</p>
    <p>"How is that possible?" Tali asked in confused fright.</p>
    <p>"With the Heartless, anything is possible." Axel said, raising his arms up with his chakrams levitating and spinning rapidly in front of his hands with fire flaring up around them.</p>
    <p>Grabbing them, he flung them both forward, one hitting Sovereigns back and the other striking his legs.</p>
    <p>It fell to the ground though it was already rising back up.</p>
    <p>"Liara, get to Ash and get her the hell out of here."</p>
    <p>"But where would we go?"</p>
    <p>"Guys!" Xion shouted, the form of Sovereign hunching over as the darkened parts of its body pulsed all over it.</p>
    <p>A moment later, another pair of arms appeared with the earlier ones expanding in size.</p>
    <p>As this happened, a giant shockwave of darkness erupted from around Sovereign with it spreading out entirely across the area.</p>
    <p>The still conscious team were all flung back by the force of the shockwave with all of them landing hard on the ground.</p>
    <p>The human Spectre groaned, feeling her adrenaline coursing through her body despite the pain shooting up and down from her head to her toes.</p>
    <p>"Fucking hell." she said to herself, wincing as her left arm was trembling.</p>
    <p>"<em><strong>Shepard." </strong></em>came the metallic demonic voice of Sovereign, the Spectre whirling around to face him.</p>
    <p>Seeing as she was the only one standing right now, as far as she knew, Jane wasn't going to go down without a fight.</p>
    <p>Mustering a lot of biotics from within, she threw Biotic throw after throw to knock Sovereign back. Rolling out of the way from a blast of darkness aimed her way, the Commander threw a number of explosives before unleashing a hail of fire. Once the explosions went off, Shepard used the cover of smoke to move elsewhere-</p>
    <p>Only for her to be kicked down some steps away from where she once stood.</p>
    <p>Rolling across the ground, Shepard coughed out some blood as the agonizing pain was spreading across her torso. Even looking down to see the massive dent on her armor as it was uncomfortably pushing into her wound.</p>
    <p>Before she could try to relieve herself by ejecting part of her suit, she heard heavy steps come right towards her place on the ground.</p>
    <p><em><strong>"Your allies have fallen before me."</strong></em> Said Sovereign, reaching down to grab Shepard. <em><strong>"Soon, your meddling will come to an end. We oversee the order of your evolution. Without it, chaos will reign. So we rule and control your progression. Organic free will is a folly, a worthless illusion. You need only to accept the Cycle. There is no escape."</strong></em></p>
    <p>As this happens, Shepard screams in pain as the Heartless-Reaper begins squeezing, cracking her armor.</p>
    <p>Before anything dire could truly happen to her, a blast separated the pair, sending the Sovereign controlled puppet away.</p>
    <p>Shepard breathed heavily as her body ached, soon feeling relief when she saw a familiar green aura surrounding her of a Curaga spell being casted. Looking over, she saw Roxas looking straight at Sovereign with life showing through his blue eyes.</p>
    <p>"Organics do not need to be told what their will shall be. We can create our lives with <em>our</em> own vision."</p>
    <p>Sovereign stood back up as it's optics peered at the Keybearer. <em><strong>"An indulgent statement of organic folly. Do you not comprehend how much turmoil and confusion you have created?"</strong></em></p>
    <p>"We may not <em>see</em> our next step." Wisps of light slowly formed around him as he stepped closer. "We may <em>stumble</em>. We may <em>fall</em> off the path. But we shall <em>always</em> move <em>forward</em>!"</p>
    <p>More light surrounded him as he summoned his Keyblade. But instead of Oathkeeper, it was something else.</p>
    <p>It was the same Keyblade he received after he and Xion opened the Lane to have the Normandy return from the Etherium Galaxy.</p>
    <p>The Pirate's Dream.</p>
    <p>"<em>That</em> is our power!" He proclaimed.</p>
    <p>Shepard gets back onto her feet with new determination fueling her. "Your broken, twisted Cycle ends here, Sovereign. Starting now!"</p>
    <p>Roxas zoomed forward with his newest Keyblade in hand and unleashed a torrent of attacks upon the possessed corpse.</p>
    <p>Before it could even get a retaliatory swing in, Roxas was joined a moment later by a recovered Xion and Axel with the trio giving everything they got to bring him down.</p>
    <p>Sovereign unleashed a small windy burst of power that gave it enough room to try for a proper attack on the Nobodies.</p>
    <p>All three performed reversals, expertly weaving around the attack with ease.</p>
    <p>"Come on." Roxas yelled out challengingly, thrusting his Keyblade forward.</p>
    <p>In an instant, he felt a new sensation come over him as a flash of light came off of his Keyblade.</p>
    <p>Swinging his Keyblade up, it disassembled itself entirely and reassembled itself around his arm.</p>
    <p>The gauntlet looked like that of a thruster he would see on…</p>
    <p>"Solar surfer?" Roxas repeated in confused recognition.</p>
    <p>Suddenly, from the thruster engine popped out a solar sail that was at first curved in appearance before morphing into a circular shield followed by an angular triangle of sorts.</p>
    <p>It retracted itself back into the gauntlet engine which had a steady fire going.</p>
    <p>"Whoa, what the hell is this Roxas?" Axel asked in astonishment.</p>
    <p>"No idea." Roxas said, facing Sovereign once more.</p>
    <p>Sovereign was rearing back for another attack.</p>
    <p>"But I'm sure as hell gonna use it!"</p>
    <p>Punching his fist forward, the gauntlet thruster sent Roxas flying directly at the Reaper-Heartless.</p>
    <p>The solar sail popped out, changing into the streamlined triangular shape as he rocketed himself towards Sovereign.</p>
    <p>Crashing right into him, Sovereign was knocked back with Roxas grinding the ethereal solar sail into the corpse's gut. Sending it back a few feet away, Roxas pulled his arm back with the sail changing into a crescent shape.</p>
    <p>Swinging forward, he struck Sovereign on the side, knocking him into a nearby tree that was planted on one of the artificially made soil patches on the Citadel.</p>
    <p>A second later, Roxas felt another new sensation wash over him.</p>
    <p>Following his instinct, he raised his arm up and the Keyblade gauntlet shifted once again. It shifted apart and quickly entered into his enclosed fist with a metallic rusted pole forming out within his grasp.</p>
    <p>On the bottom end was a shrunken down engine thruster and attached from the top to the middle part of the pole was a glowing solar sail with its hexagonal patchwork and all.</p>
    <p>Out of instinct, Roxas twirled his weapon as he soon struck Sovereign's form a number of times. The glowing solar sail partially blinded the dark synthetic as it fluttered across it's optics with its bright light.</p>
    <p>Screeching out, it unleashed a powerful dark shockwave in defense yet Roxas just cut right through it and jabbed Sovereign in the stomach.</p>
    <p>Once more, the feeling came and washed over again.</p>
    <p>Thrusting his flagpole forward again, he released his weapon as it started shifting into what appeared to be a solar surfer, one reminiscent to what he saw Jim Hawkins had prior to its destruction back in the core of Treasure Planet.</p>
    <p>Quickly hoping aboard, an odd feeling washed over his mind as his vision momentarily blurred before it snapped back to normal.</p>
    <p>He was unsure as to what that was but why was he feeling… nostalgic?</p>
    <p>Putting such thoughts aside, he quickly thrusted himself to the side, having his solar surfer glider strike the dark synthetic a good number of times with all sorts of tricks.</p>
    <p>The others, having recovered for the most part, had hung back for the most part with them basically watching Roxas utterly thrash Sovereign with this new ability of his.</p>
    <p>They witnessed as the weapon he held transformed into something familiar for several of their teammates.</p>
    <p>"Wait, is that a solar surfer?" Garrus asked.</p>
    <p>"I believe so." Tali confirmed.</p>
    <p>"How the hell does he have one right now?"</p>
    <p>"We can ask later." Kaidan spoke out. "Right now, we need to help."</p>
    <p>Floating in front of Sovereign, the Reaper-Heartless cocked its arms back with dark energy surrounding them all</p>
    <p>Not wanting to give it a chance for another atta, Roxas used his new Keyblade Formation and knocked Sovereign off his feet. Activating the thrusters, he rammed the solar surfer into Sovereign's solar plexus and bashed him to a nearby pillar.</p>
    <p>"Roxas!" Shepard cried out, reaching out and grasping onto Roxas' unintentional outstretched hand.</p>
    <p>The moment she had a firm grasp of his arm, the Keyblade glider zoomed out of the area, crashed Sovereign through a number of walls and pillars, grinding the Heartless-Reaper's form all over the place as the three soon disappeared.</p>
    <p>"We need to go after them!" Tali yelled out.</p>
    <p>"Don't have to tell us twice!" Garrus said.</p>
    <p>"Wait, what about Ashley and Wrex?" Kaidan pointed out to the two unconscious teammates.</p>
    <p>"I got the big guy." Axel said, easily hefting Wrex over his shoulders. "Xion, grab Ashley."</p>
    <p>"Got it." No. XIV ran over to the Gunnery Chief and scooped her up into her arms.</p>
    <p>With that done, the group ran forward as fast as possible in hopes of catching up to wherever the action took place now.</p>
    <p>All the while, Roxas and Shepard rode atop the former's newest flying surfboard with Sovereign still in front of them with the tip of the board piercing his chest.</p>
    <p>They had flown across the area, heading straight back towards the Council Chambers.</p>
    <p>"Back here again, huh?"</p>
    <p>"Hey, I tried piloting this thing as best as possible." Roxas snapped back. "Now I know how it's like with <em>your</em> driving."</p>
    <p>"Hey, I'm just taking note of it." Shepard easily said in return. "That and you're flying is atrocious."</p>
    <p>Before Roxas had a chance to retort, Sovereign at last separated himself from the board and fell down to the ground.</p>
    <p>He landed on all his limbs only to jump back at the flying duo with Roxas angling his legs up which helped in dodging out of the Reaper-Heartless' way.</p>
    <p>"He just won't let up, doesn't he?" Came Roxas' comment.</p>
    <p>"How do we take this bastard down?" Shepard grunted in frustration.</p>
    <p>"Hitting it <em>really</em> hard." Roxas said after a moment.</p>
    <p>He received an incredibly flat look from the Spectre with a voice as dry as a desert.</p>
    <p>"Really? <em>"Hitting it Really Hard".</em> That's your solution?" Shepard mockingly asked.</p>
    <p>"Oh shut up." Roxas countered. "Yours would have been to just shoot it a bunch of times."</p>
    <p>Rushing in, Roxas met Sovereign as they crashed into each other.</p>
    <p>What felt like hours, turned out to be minutes for the rest of the Normandy team. Rushing all over to find out where Shepard and Roxas' location were, they soon turned back to the very top of the Citadel Tower.</p>
    <p>And it was there they witnessed what was presently going on.</p>
    <p>Shepard was repeatedly firing her gun at the Reaper-Heartless who was clinging onto the Keyblade Solar Surfer with its eyes solely on her.</p>
    <p>"Oh my fucking <em>God</em>, just die already!" Shepard shouted, now having the bottom of her boot meet the face of what was once Saren's face.</p>
    <p>She kicked Sovereign right off the board.</p>
    <p>"Alright, that's it." Roxas said in complete aggravation now. "Shepard, step off for a moment."</p>
    <p>She didn't get to respond properly as she was promptly dumped on the ground in a fly by.</p>
    <p>"What the-? Roxas!" She yelled in an annoyed manner as the boy rocketed straight towards Sovereign.</p>
    <p>Shifting back into its flagpole form, Roxas smacked Sovereign a whole number of times with utter ruthlessness.</p>
    <p>As this went on, the solar sail-flag started glowing more and more as it started to fully fill to its limit.</p>
    <p>Out of instinct, Roxas slammed the flagpole to the ground as the built up energy was shot across the surface.</p>
    <p>...Now… whoever was relatively close to where Roxas stood could balk in utter surprise in what they were witnessing now.</p>
    <p>Forming beneath his feet was a miniature black hole.</p>
    <p>Sovereign tried to flee, but a strong gravitational pull was drawing the dark synthetic in. It plunged it's sharpened claws into the ground to halt its progress to possible annihilation. Yet the black hole was hard to manage to escape.</p>
    <p>"QUICK!" Shepard exclaimed. "Shoot that bastard down, <em>now!"</em></p>
    <p>Snapping out of their shock, the conscious team quickly went to action and unleashed everything they could muster.</p>
    <p>They had fired everything in their arsenal.</p>
    <p>Tali's Omni-Bolts.</p>
    <p>Axel's inflamed Chakrams.</p>
    <p>Xion's Magic Hours.</p>
    <p>Kaidan's Biotic Burst rifle.</p>
    <p>Liara's enhanced shredding bullets.</p>
    <p>Garrus's sniper rifle.</p>
    <p>And Shepards own enhanced Biotic rifle.</p>
    <p>Roxas firmly stood in place as if he wasn't affected by the miniature black hole his Keyblade had created.</p>
    <p>The moment Sovereign was able to be pulled far enough into the cosmic anomaly, something seemed to burst from within.</p>
    <p>From the darkness was something bright and rather hot. It started out small before it started to grow. And in a mere second, everything exploded upward.</p>
    <p>What Sovereign now experienced was being hit with a powerful Magellan blast, point blank.</p>
    <p>"Now how'd you like that?" Said Roxas, prying his flagpole out of the ground as the mini-black hole dissipated into motes of cosmic light.</p>
    <p>The weapon soon reverted back into its standard Keyblade form right after, not that Roxas really minded.</p>
    <p>Not wanting to give Sovereign a chance, both he and Shepard rushed forward with their respective bladed weapons out.</p>
    <p>When Sovereign tried to regain its bearings after collapsing from that powerful blast, it's optics brightened significantly when it saw the two coming in for one final strike.</p>
    <p>Whatever it tried to do to evade the blow was fruitless as Roxas zoomed in and plunged his Pirate's Dream Keyblade right through its chest with Shepard plunging her Omni-blade right through its head.</p>
    <p>Prying their weapons out not long after, Roxas and Shepard stumbled back and caught their breaths.</p>
    <p>Sovereign swayed about on the spot, the multiple pairs of arms it once had disappearing. The synthetic blue glow he had also vanished with dark mists emanating off its body.</p>
    <p>…</p>
    <p>…</p>
    <p>…</p>
    <p>
      <em>
        <strong>*SCRAAAAAAAA*</strong>
      </em>
    </p>
    <p>The conscious Normandy team collectively winced at the screech that Sovereign let out, some covering their ears as this went on for a few seconds until it stopped.</p>
    <p>They all gazed upon the still form of the Reaper-Heartless until, at long last, it tilted forward and fell upon the ground in defeat.</p>
    <p>
      <em>
        <strong>-Insert Mass Effect: Victory-</strong>
      </em>
    </p>
    <p>Upon the Reaper-Heartless falling, something… <em>interesting</em> happened.</p>
    <p>Unlike before when the darkness disappeared from Benezia's corpse, they saw something else.</p>
    <p>Streaming out of the corpse was a rather gigantic Heart ballooning out and enlightening the area. As it eventually faded away, the body that was once the Turian Spectre faded away in motes of darkness.</p>
    <p>As this occurred, Sovereign's main body was starting to short circuit. Blue lights were starting to fade, red electricity spasming on and off as it tried to maintain its grip onto the Citadel Tower.</p>
    <p>"It's shields are down!" Joker reported in. "Now's our chance!"</p>
    <p>"You heard him boys!" Della bellowed out with a smirk. "Hit it with everything ya got!"</p>
    <p>With the remaining forces unleashing hell onto Sovereign, Joker shot the Normandy high into the air and maneuvered his ship around.</p>
    <p>"Hard on my flank! We're going in!"</p>
    <p>"Right behind ya!"</p>
    <p>Stitch merely bellowed out gibberish over the line as he followed right after Joker and Della.</p>
    <p>The three unleashed their final payloads as they dived towards the Reaper. Moving out of the way, they avoided the blast that destroyed Sovereign for good.</p>
    <p>Back within the Citadel Tower, the group was slowly recovering from the fight for their lives.</p>
    <p>"It's over." Roxas breathed out. "It's finally over."</p>
    <p>Shepard gave a firm nod. "Saren's dead this time and Sovereign can't really use his body for anything else."</p>
    <p>"Yeah. Just hope we were able to make it in time of stopping the invasion." Kaidan said, moving to look over the still knocked out Ashley and Wrex that were placed next to each other. The latter was beginning to come to.</p>
    <p>"Wha- What happened?" Wrex asked in a groan, raising his hand to his head.</p>
    <p>Jane was about to tell him they won when-</p>
    <p>"Look out!"</p>
    <p>Roxas and Shepard heard their yells of warning. Turning around to see what's going on, they saw the others running away as the chamber started to darken. Looking at the window, the two saw a large black object racing straight towards them. It had the familiar red glow to it, even if it died seconds later.</p>
    <p>Turning back around, Roxas and Shepard made a quick dash, but they could only go so far before a loud crash was made behind them. They felt the ground heave upwards from underneath before everything went to black.</p>
    <p>
      <em>
        <strong>-Insert Mass Effect: From the Wreckage-</strong>
      </em>
    </p>
    <p>Upon entering the Council Chambers, David Anderson and a number of other personnel were combing the area for any survivors. All that they saw so far upon first glance were the droves of Geth bodies bleeding out white synthetic blood with pieces of Sovereign littering every other area. And glancing at where the large window was once set was a kinetic barrier that kept everything inside from being sucked out into the vacuum of space.</p>
    <p>The search party immediately shifted through the debris and started finding Shepard's party left and right. Most were delirious from the impact while others were out cold but were relatively alright. Nothing that a simple checkup won't solve to see if there were any further problems.</p>
    <p>Those that were conscious soon assisted in finding the rest.</p>
    <p>Coming across another piece of debris, Anderson was assisted by Garrus as they were able to find Tali and Xion.</p>
    <p>"Anderson?" Tali said in recognition.</p>
    <p>The Alliance captain nods at them.</p>
    <p>"Thank goodness you're alright." He said. "Where's Shepard?"</p>
    <p>"I… I don't know." Said Tali before worry soon overwhelmed her. "Wait… what about Roxas? Did you find him yet?"</p>
    <p>Xion soon mirrored her Quarian friend's action.</p>
    <p>"I haven't, but I bet he's somewhere under this debris along with Shepard." Came Anderson's response.</p>
    <p>"Then we need to help." Xion said firmly, slowly being hoisted up by Anderson as Tali was helped up by Garrus.</p>
    <p>When the others were about to regroup with the rest, who were presently being treated, they heard footsteps shuffling and approaching from the higher ground.</p>
    <p>Everyone held their breath in anticipation, some even going so far to raise their pistols in case of attack.</p>
    <p>"Stand down!" Ordered the Alliance Captain.</p>
    <p>Not long after, they soon saw Roxas and Shepard walking side by side as they held onto each other with a noticeable limp, respectively. Dirt, grime and cuts were presently seen on them both with dents present on Shepard's armor.</p>
    <p>Upon seeing the rest down below, the two wanted to pick up their pace as they bit back the pain they presently had.</p>
    <p>When the two got close enough, both Roxas and Shepard could see some of their teammates wanting to rush in out of worry.</p>
    <p>Tali, Xion and Axel held no such reservation, the trio running over to the duo as the Quarian tackled Roxas with a hug with Xion following suit.</p>
    <p>Roxas went bug-eyed with pain shooting across his body yet he remained standing with him subconsciously hugging both girls back, leaning his head against both their shoulders.</p>
    <p>Now while Axel merely rubbed Roxas' sandy blonde hair, he was quick to help Shepard up with the loss of support.</p>
    <p>Jane gave him a thankful smile soon after, albeit pained in the mix.</p>
    <p>He only smirked in response in that cocky manner that he usually did which made her shake her head in amusement.</p>
    <p>Anderson stood before her a moment later, the Captain positively beaming at her with clear pride and admiration for his star pupil and surrogate daughter.</p>
    <p>Shepard then addressed to her old mentor, friend and father figure only one thing to come past her lips.</p>
    <p>"Mission accomplished, sir."</p>
    <p>Anderson only returned the sentiment with a proud look on his face.</p>
    <p>"Well done, Commander. Well done."</p>
    <p>
      <strong>Pirate's Dream Keyblade: received from a chest from Captain Nathaniel Flint's ship, the Sabre.</strong>
    </p>
    <p>
      <strong>Pirate Thruster: Keyblade Form change, gauntlet in the shape of a solar sail thruster engine. Sail pops out in three shapes for defense, wide arching attacks and precision based diving attacks.</strong>
    </p>
    <p>
      <strong>Solar Flag: Keyblade Form change, sharp pole weapon with a solar sail flag attached. It's finisher forms a miniature black hole, drawing opponents in before unleashing a powerful Magellan blast.</strong>
    </p>
    <p>
      <strong>Pirate's Sail: Keyblade Form change being that of a solar surfboard glider. Holds feelings of nostalgia when in this form as it's combat ready.</strong>
    </p>
    <p>
      <strong>Solar Flare: Pirate's Dream's Shotlock attack which fires off a volley of ethereal green projectiles. When in the Form changes, however, Shotlock formation is that of a ring of an 'X' around the targets that shoots beams of energy.</strong>
    </p>
  </div>
</div>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>And we are DONE WITH MASS EFFECT ONE. WOOOOOOOO!</p><p>Oh, you guys have no idea how fucking happy we are for getting this far in such a short amount of time!</p><p>Jebest4781: Hot damn this first part of this writing project had been a marathon. And boy we're about to get into the next leg of things with this expansive stuff we have in mind before tackling Mass Effect 2.</p><p>FMW: Yeah, we quite literally turned our engines up to eleven and fucking flew through what was a twenty chapter opener with the first third of this story. We've got so many events to come in between this end and the start of ME2. An insane ordeal of crazy twist and turns with a lot of exposition, twist and turns and set up to come for everything after.</p><p>Jeb: Until then, we hope you'll be patient with the progress that'll need to be written out. Given that we're basically doing a whole lot of OC content to hopefully blend things well on this story.</p><p>FMW: Thinking on it, ME2, KH2, Dream Drop Distance, ME3, KH3 and all the gaps that there are in between makes me realize how fundamentally different the ending will wind up being once we get there. Yes, there will be familiar beats and we'll "follow the outline" for the most part but the coming end of the story is going to be gargantuan and grandiose in style and execution. I cannot stress how giant of a finale we have already planned out. And think about this, we're only getting started.</p><p>So from me and Jebest4781 to you all, thank you all for reading and hold onto your butts cause it's gonna get even wilder from here on out.</p><p>Rate Read and Review and As Always Have Nice Day.</p>
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<a name="section0022"><h2>22. What Comes After</h2></a>
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        <strong>Rate Read and Review and as Always Have Nice Day.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>I'm Nobody Chapter 22: What Comes After.</p>
      <p>Within the Room Where Nothing Gathers, Xemnas, Number I of the Organization sat within the highest chair.</p>
      <p>Around him, the Numbers II, V, VI, VII and XI were seated in their own assigned chairs.</p>
      <p>The Superior of the Organization had his eyes closed before slowly opening them to regard the assembled members he had called forth for this meeting.</p>
      <p>Xigbar had on his usual laid-back facade whilst Lexaeus and Saix sat solemnly within their seats awaiting for the meeting to begin.</p>
      <p>Zexion appeared deeply contemplative and Marluxia simply sat there with his usual devious smirk.</p>
      <p>The rest of the Organization were conducting their own missions.</p>
      <p>Right now, this was a more pressing matter.</p>
      <p>"It appears that we have been able to locate our wayward traitors." Xemnas finally spoke aloud, the gathered members turning towards him.</p>
      <p>Save for one.</p>
      <p>No. VI was silent in his thought process until…</p>
      <p>"Zexion."</p>
      <p>Xemnas' deep baritone voice cut through the Cloaked Schemers thoughts, making him turn towards No. I.</p>
      <p>"I am to understand that <em>you </em>were the one to locate our three deserters?" Xemnas asked slowly.</p>
      <p>Zexion nodded a moment later.</p>
      <p>"How'd you manage to pull that off?" Xigbar inquired in intrigue.</p>
      <p>No. VI looked over to No. XI.</p>
      <p>"Marluxia had a great deal in this endeavor."</p>
      <p>The Graceful Assassin quirked his brow in confusion.</p>
      <p>"I do not recall assisting you whatsoever in this matter." Marluxia stated.</p>
      <p>"Did you now?" No. V said in his gruff voice. "What are the words of a traitor?"</p>
      <p>"Attempted traitor." Marluxia swiftly corrected.</p>
      <p>"A failed attempt makes you a traitor all the same." No. VII, Saix's cold voice made No. XI regard the Luna Diviner in disinterest.</p>
      <p>"Enough." Xemnas intervened, ending the rising tension between them all. "Zexion. Elaborate on your earlier statement."</p>
      <p>The silver haired Nobody nodded.</p>
      <p>"I had spoken with Marluxia not too long ago within the laboratory here." Zexion began. "While he was there, he spoke of tracking down the Hearts that were being harvested and collected by Keyblade Wielders. We know of Sora and the King with their company now being active once more across the Worlds that we have unleashed the Heartless. That's where most of our influx of Hearts have been coming from."</p>
      <p>"What of the Hearts prior to that?" Saix inquired.</p>
      <p>"I was just about to get to that." No. VI said calmly. "While we are now receiving a greater supply of Hearts to our Kingdom Hearts, before that, there was a time that Hearts were coming in from an unknown source. We assumed it to be Roxas while he was away but we just didn't know where it was coming from."</p>
      <p>The other members were silent, not interrupting the Cloaked Schemer as he went on.</p>
      <p>"After the incident at Castle Oblivion, we had located a great number of individuals that are instrumental in our long term goals."</p>
      <p>Xigbar then chortled aloud. "Yeah and look how that turned out. Three traitors and the Keyblade master with his group now aware of us sooner than later."</p>
      <p>"Most unfortunate indeed." Marluxia remarked, getting looks of distrust from several of the others.</p>
      <p>"But how did you track down Roxas?" Lexaeus inquired.</p>
      <p>"In the aftermath of everything that had gone down in Castle Oblivion, our task was to bring in the traitors." Zexion said. "However, we soon discovered the difficulty in locating them at all with them seemingly dropping off our radar entirely. That was until I spoke to Marluxia about the Heartless that have been getting eliminated from locations that we couldn't quite discern."</p>
      <p>Marluxia had now leaned forward, recalling a conversation he had with Zexion a short while ago.</p>
      <p>"When Marluxia had returned from the vast expanse known as the Etherium, he had located that place by tracking the darkness of the Heartless coming from there with some having already been eliminated." Zexion stated. "He tracked Heartless that we had not sent out ourselves and rather Heartless that were still acting on their primal instincts to go to other Worlds and collect Hearts."</p>
      <p>craned his head up to Xemnas. "It is from there that I managed to track down and deduce the location of our wayward traitors."</p>
      <p>"And where is it that they are currently residing?"</p>
      <p>Zexion frowned as he inclined his head down.</p>
      <p>"A place quite different from anything that we have here." Zexion remarked. "A place where the Darkness and Light that we are familiar with has barely touched the surface of this galaxy."</p>
      <p>"Whoa now, an entirely different Galaxy?" Xigbar's interest was piqued now.</p>
      <p>"What is it like?" Marluxia inquired, equally as intrigued as the Freeshooter.</p>
      <p>Rather than telling them, Zexion figured it would be better to show them.</p>
      <p>With a flourish of his hand, the entire chamber was shrouded by his Illusions with the members finding themselves in an environment quite alien to them.</p>
      <p>The six gathered members were now in an unfamiliar location with them being surrounded by humans and aliens alike.</p>
      <p>"What are we looking at now?" Xemnas asked slowly, taking in this new "World".</p>
      <p>"A space station, labeled as 'the center of galactic civilization'." Zexion scoffed. "Of course those who named it as such never really considered other places to-"</p>
      <p>"Get to the point." Xigbar drawled out.</p>
      <p>Releasing a sigh, Zexion resumed. "The Citadel, this is what you are looking at right now."</p>
      <p>"Are you sure the traitors are there?"</p>
      <p>"More or less. Their scent has been left behind with it leaving quite an imprint on this space station." Zexion stated. "They have been present on other worlds in that galaxy, but they've been congregating at this station -in particular- as of late."</p>
      <p>"And how'd you figure that out?" Xigbar asked.</p>
      <p>"The news." Zexion plainly stated. "It is rather forthcoming with their appearances."</p>
      <p>"Ah, right."</p>
      <p>"This place certainly does not operate on the rules of the Worlds we're familiar with." Zexion said. "Though it is not widespread, some are aware of the Heartless with it more than likely growing as time goes on."</p>
      <p>"Have you spoken with anyone there?" Xemnas asked.</p>
      <p>Zexion was about to answer yet…</p>
      <p>Something made him pause as he momentarily considered this question.</p>
      <p>"I have not as of yet."</p>
      <p>'Why did I say that?' Zexion internally asked himself. He didn't have time to internally debate himself as the meeting went on.</p>
      <p>While the others haven't really noticed, Xigbar narrowed his lone eye ever so slightly before having it back to normal.</p>
      <p>"So… When are we gonna hop on by and give them a good 'hello'?" Questioned the Sharpshooter.</p>
      <p>"This is a more… delicate manner." Saix admitted. "If we are to send more than one member over there, it may disrupt what we are doing right now."</p>
      <p>"Sora and his companions are a more direct presence in comparison to those traitors." Lexaeus pointed out.</p>
      <p>"But we can't just leave them out there, can we?" Marluxia inquired, already knowing the answer to this.</p>
      <p>"No." Xemnas answered. "Their transgressions against the Organization is not to be disregarded. They shall face our judgement in due time. But right now, there is still work to be done."</p>
      <p>"Like what, Superior?" Lexaeus inquired.</p>
      <p>"The Keyblade Master has begun a new journey with his companions." Xemnas said. "Roxas, Axel and Xion unknowingly continue our work from afar and shall do so until we must bring them back."</p>
      <p>"What of Axel and the Puppet?" Saix asked with a slight edge to his voice.</p>
      <p>"You aren't thinking of revenge, are you?" Xigbar asked with a wide grin. "We don't understand the concept of <em>anger</em>, you know?"</p>
      <p>"Yes, but betrayal?" Saix said, eyes momentarily shifting into a sinister yellow before reverting back to normal. "Betrayal is a concept not exclusively rooted in the Heart."</p>
      <p>"Our concern first and foremost is bringing back our Keybearers." Xemnas said in finality. "But the lingering existence of Axel is not to be ignored. He will undoubtedly accumulate strength over time and will become a thorn in our side sooner rather than later. But for now, there are more pressing matters to attend to. You are all dismissed."</p>
      <p>A moment later, five corridors engulfed five of the members with them teleporting out of the room.</p>
      <p>Only Xemnas remained in deep thought on the constantly shifting board that no longer remained as projected as he had once believed.</p>
      <p>
        <em>-Scene Cut-</em>
      </p>
      <p>Sounds of construction and work equipment became rather prevalent in the Citadel this past few days. People working around the clock in fully cleaning up the space station after the failed invasion caused by Saren and the Reaper, Sovereign.</p>
      <p>As this went on, people were being attended to from the traumatic event. Searches were still going on for those from the rubble, whether they were alive or not. A means of properly tallying and recording everything possible for those searching for their friends and loved ones.</p>
      <p>Regardless, a memorial is planned to be held once the reconstruction of the Citadel is more or less near completion.</p>
      <p>"How long you figure till it's all back to what it once was?" Axel asked, sitting on a bench with Xion and Roxas, the three of them eating the usual as they watched the rebuilding of the Citadel go about.</p>
      <p>Both young Nobodies only shrugged, not really familiar or having any idea with the idea of construction and rebuilding.</p>
      <p>"We did kinda fight all over the place." Xion said.</p>
      <p>"And a lot of stuff got blown up inside and outside the Citadel." Roxas added, taking another chomp of his ice cream.</p>
      <p>They continued to just sit on the bench and watch this all go by without them really moving or caring to.</p>
      <p>Quite frankly, they felt like they really earned it after all the madness that had gone down after the battle for the Citadel.</p>
      <p>From afar, they heard the telltale sounds of the Citadel news being broadcasted for all to hear.</p>
      <p>It was pretty much what they had expected to hear.</p>
      <p>The battle, the Geth, the Heartless, Sovereign, the spotting of strange silvery grey creatures assisting C-Sec, the heroic efforts of the Systems Alliance, the Normandy team bringing down Saren.</p>
      <p>Blah, blah, blah, yadda, yadda, yadda, stuff they've already heard for the past few days.</p>
      <p>"Glad to hear that Humanity's finally got a seat on the Council." Xion muttered out, licking her lips of any stray ice cream.</p>
      <p>The three had heard of what happened earlier that day from Shepard herself.</p>
      <p>She was brought into a private meeting along with Ambassador Udina and Captain Anderson in order to discuss a number of issues. One of them was the topic of granting the Humans a spot as a Counselor.</p>
      <p>It was a big step as they'll be able to finally have their voices heard, one way or another.</p>
      <p>Yet the fact remained on who would fill in this role as Humanity's representative.</p>
      <p>And of course Shepard was placed in the spotlight in choosing such a person.</p>
      <p>In the end, Jane requested them to figure it amongst themselves as she felt the politicians needed to figure it out. But she was at least thankful in the offer of giving her thoughts on any possible recommendations.</p>
      <p>So the Systems Alliance would decide on who would represent humanity on the Council. That meant less of a headache for Shepard and more time to recuperate.</p>
      <p>Just as soon as she's done with reports and paperwork.</p>
      <p>Even after saving the whole damn Citadel and Council, still wasn't enough for her to get some Goddamn rest.</p>
      <p>"There you guys are." Said a familiar vibrating voice. "Figured I'd find you three feeding your addictions."</p>
      <p>The Nobodies looked over to see Garrus Vakarian walking over to them and he wasn't alone as Tali'Zorah and Ashley Williams were right behind him.</p>
      <p>"Hey guys." Roxas greeted with a small smile. "Were you looking for us?"</p>
      <p>"More or less." Ash admitted, taking a seat by Xion since there was an empty spot with Tali and Garrus opting to stand.</p>
      <p>"How's your head, Ash?" No. XIV asked in concern, getting an appreciative ruffling of her hair in return.</p>
      <p>"I'm all better now, squirt." Ash said with a fond smile. "Thank God for Mosh and his wares."</p>
      <p>"So, what have you guys been up to? "Axel asked. "Or were you all just lookin' for us?"</p>
      <p>"With there not being much to do, we had to at least do something." Garrus stated. "Shepard is still dealing with the usual bullcrap, Liara's back on the Normandy studying her Prothean stuff with Stitch keeping her company. Kaidan's been sleeping mostly and Wrex is… doing whatever it is he wants to keep himself entertained."</p>
      <p>"What about Della?" Xion asked.</p>
      <p>Roxas glanced around. "Is she somewhere nearby or-"</p>
      <p>"She's getting her ship touched up." Ashley clarified. "Getting ready for her ride back home."</p>
      <p>"Oh yeah… forgot she's heading back home soon." No. XIII murmured.</p>
      <p>"She has been away from her friends and family there. Now that everything's settled she's ready to head back." Williams said with a shrug.</p>
      <p>"Question: did she accept coming with us to see Ilos one last time?" Xion asked.</p>
      <p>"She sure did. Said she'd squeeze it into her schedule before departing back to her galaxy." Tali confirmed. "Spoke with Liara earlier. The two looked pretty excited when I saw them going on about studying those ruins proper."</p>
      <p>"Figured with her adventurous, archaeological lifestyle, exploring a place such as that is too good to pass up."</p>
      <p>"How's Shepard? And Kaidan? Are they both feeling any better?" Roxas asked.</p>
      <p>"Well Shepard is standing and all and can walk without falling to her knees." Garrus stated.</p>
      <p>"That bad, huh?" Axel said expectantly.</p>
      <p>"Kaidan's barely been out of bed." Ash said with a forlorn look. "He's experiencing more headaches. Until they stop being frequent, Chakwas is forbidding him from going out on missions."</p>
      <p>This was quite a bitter subject somewhat between the group. Roxas and Xion had tried repeatedly with Potions, Ethers and Cures in an attempt to heal Kaidan up properly but it was just his L2 implants that were the main problem. They surgically placed within his body and even with magical spells and concoctions, it appeared this was something they would have to wait out.</p>
      <p>"Hope he gets better soon." Xion said softly.</p>
      <p>"Same here."</p>
      <p>"Only time will tell if he'll recover from this." Axel remarked, already finished with his ice cream and the stick just dangling out of the corner of his mouth.</p>
      <p>"So what now then?" Tali asked.</p>
      <p>Axel shrugged. "I dunno. What's on your to-do list?"</p>
      <p>Garrus hummed aloud, rubbing his chin in thought.</p>
      <p>Ashley for the most part grunted as she recalled a particular annoyance that she had upon regaining consciousness after the whole ordeal. "Our armor is more or less fucked up from fighting Sovereign. Even after what patch jobs we performed, don't know if they'll need legit replacements."</p>
      <p>"Doesn't that mean you should just get something new?" Axel pointed out. "I mean we have gotten a lot of munny recently."</p>
      <p>Ashley was about to verbally dispute such a matter before clamping her mouth shut.</p>
      <p>He wasn't wrong.</p>
      <p>Ever since Roxas had joined the team since the start of their journey which came with the introduction of the Heartless, credits -or Munny as the trio of Nobodies called it- has become an almost non-existent problem once things were converted accordingly through the Munny pouches with their little magnetic function.</p>
      <p>They've been fighting and defeating large swaths of these creatures of Darkness across the galaxy and every time they had, Munny and other items constantly appeared.</p>
      <p>Some of these items were the varied Potions and Ethers that were a great help in keeping themselves stocked up when they needed it. Helped save the Normandy's costs on Medi-gel while out on the field.</p>
      <p>Others were synthesis materials that they would collect and drop off for Mosh to work his magic and create items that have proven to be a great boon to the entire team for the duration of their hunt for Saren.</p>
      <p>Wrex can certainly attest to this matter, having nearly cried tears of joy when he first got his gravity hammer and fully tested it out on Noveria. He of course would vehemently deny such a notion but the rest of the Normandy would know otherwise.</p>
      <p>Now while Mosh had done improvements on their respective armors since his arrival, the extensive damage done to them days ago might as well have canceled things out. This would soon cost them massive repairs under an unknown amount of time.</p>
      <p>It would either be that or take the lesser evil and properly procure new replacements.</p>
      <p>"So where should we go then?" Xion asked the group.</p>
      <p>"Well I figure that's an easy answer on that matter." Ashley said, thinking over her clothing and armor situation for a brief moment whilst looking at Roxas.</p>
      <p>"Edna Mode?"</p>
      <p>"Edna Mode."</p>
      <p>"That tiny kook?" Axel snorted in amusement. "You sure you wanna go there? You may not leave for a few hours from what Roxas's has told me."</p>
      <p>"Well it'll kill some time." Ash said with a shrug. "Till then, what else is there to do for us?"</p>
      <p>"Good point." Garrus agreed and with that being said, the group left to go to Edna Mode's shop.</p>
      <p>All but Roxas, who appeared lost in thought.</p>
      <p>"Roxas?" Xion called out to him.</p>
      <p>"Hmmm? What?" Roxas shook his head, looking over to them.</p>
      <p>"You alright there?" Garrus asked. "Looked like something was on your mind."</p>
      <p>"... Sorta." Roxas said, unsure about what he was saying.</p>
      <p>"What about?" Ash asked.</p>
      <p>Roxas frowned, mulling it over in his head. "I'm… not really sure myself."</p>
      <p>The Gunnery Chief rose a brow before shaking her head and dragged the young Nobody along.</p>
      <p>All the while, a familiar voice was ringing in his head that was more of a message then a dream that he had the night before.</p>
      <p>
        <em>"Roxas… I don't know what's going on but… I get the feeling you might be going through the same thing. I don't know what I'll accomplish by doing this but… if you do hear these words, then please come meet with us and maybe you can help us figure out what's going on."</em>
      </p>
      <p>"Sora." Roxas muttered beneath his breath, all the while being pulled along by Ashley who didn't appear to catch wind of him uttering this name. "I heard you… I do want to meet again."</p>
      <p>
        <em>-Scene Cut-</em>
      </p>
      <p>"Darlings!"</p>
      <p>Edna's voice was quite distinct and pronounced amongst all the hustle and bustle of her busy store.</p>
      <p>The stout woman rushed over to the group, jumping up in surprising ease and pulling Roxas down to her level.</p>
      <p>"Oh, if it isn't my star model!" Edna said, pecking him on both cheeks before letting go with the boy collapsing onto the ground with his face flat on the ground.</p>
      <p>"And you brought more of your friends along with you." Edna declared. "Ashley my dear, what are you doing in such plain clothing?"</p>
      <p>"That's a good question, Edna." Ash said good naturedly, giving Roxas an amused look who got back up to his feet with a frazzled look. "One I'm hoping you can rectify."</p>
      <p>"Of course, of course, my dear." Edna said excitedly. "I had just finished helping out another one of your friends."</p>
      <p>"Another one of our friends?" Xion asked curiously.</p>
      <p>They heard some heavy footsteps coming up from the side and…</p>
      <p>"The hell are you guys doing here?" Asked a confused, familiar gruff voice.</p>
      <p>The group turned to see none other than Urdnot Wrex walking over to them with him wearing a completely different set of armor then his usual red.</p>
      <p>This one was identical to his usual armor for the most part but it appeared streamlined around his shoulder arms and torso whilst his hump now had several decorative crests one it that looked old as they did new, if that was how best to describe it.</p>
      <p>"Wrex?" Garrus tilted his head. "We should be asking you the same thing."</p>
      <p>"What're ya doing here yourself?" Ash inquired. "And what's with the new getup?"</p>
      <p>"It's nothing, it's-"</p>
      <p>Garrus then interrupted once taking a better look at Wrex's present look. "Wait a second… isn't that-"</p>
      <p>"Yeah, it is." Axel said in recognition. "That's your old family armor. Ah man, it's not pink anymore."</p>
      <p>Wrex let out an annoyed growl, his right eye twitching up a storm.</p>
      <p>"I must admit, this was quite the restorative project." Edna stated as her lips released a couple of "tsks". "Whatever his father used back then was an utter nightmare to remove, especially with the improper handling when it kept changing hands. But now that it's back into its sandy white glory, I must say I might've restored his family line's old glory; along with any additions to Mr. Urdnot's specifications."</p>
      <p>Wrex gave the short, bisected woman a firm nod. "Which I'm grateful for."</p>
      <p>"Yeah, lotta pink, right Wrex?" Axel cheekily asked with a wide shit eating grin with Wrex now having his eye and lip begin to twitch in synch.</p>
      <p>"I think you look great." Tali said earnestly.</p>
      <p>"Yeah, can't deny that with that black and white with red highlights, hammer and… whatever those symbols are, you look real fierce." Garrus admitted with him nodding approvingly.</p>
      <p>After a few moments, Wrex let out a sigh, finally quelling the need to punch something or rather someone with red hair in particular.</p>
      <p>"Yes… thanks." Wrex said awkwardly, coughing into his hands.</p>
      <p>"So you wanted to wear it now?"</p>
      <p>The Krogan nodded.</p>
      <p>"Getting a good feel of it with the adjustments done to it. A little stiff, but I'll break it in eventually."</p>
      <p>"By just stretching it out or…"</p>
      <p>"You already know the answer to that one." Wrex remarked.</p>
      <p>"Of course." Tali said with a small smirk beneath her helmet's faceplate.</p>
      <p>"Oh my darlings, you wound me so." Edna said, regarding the three Nobodies. "What happened to all the hard work and dedication that I put in for you three?"</p>
      <p>"Hey, if it ain't broke, no need to fix it." Axel said, patting his chest.</p>
      <p>Roxas only shrugged with Xion doing the same.</p>
      <p>"We haven't really… had the time to wear what you made for us." Roxas admitted.</p>
      <p>Now that he thought about it, he was feeling a slight bit guilty with him not being able to wear what Edna had made for him.</p>
      <p>She put a lot of time and work into basically recreating the clothes that he had first been essentially born with. The only thing that made him comfortable outside this cloak.</p>
      <p>Then again… that favor he did for her quelled that guilt a moment later.</p>
      <p>Weren't they even for the most part?</p>
      <p>"Well I'm here for just that, Edna." Ash declared. "My last uniform got trashed and I'm in serious need of a new one."</p>
      <p>"Wonderful!" Pulling up her Omni-tool, Edna pulled up Ashley's file. "I do have your measurements and specifications here, Miss Williams. We can go elsewhere in my establishment to grab what you need. And about your status with your preorder clothing line-"</p>
      <p>As they stepped into the store proper, from above, two compartments on the ceiling opened up and out came a pair of rotating guns that were pointed right at the group.</p>
      <p>"Oops." Edna raised her Omni-tool up and said, "Edna-Mode and customers."</p>
      <p>The guns immediately retracted back into the ceiling, leaving a bewildered group around her.</p>
      <p>"Keelah, what was that supposed to be?"</p>
      <p>"My security system." Edna said casually, gesturing for them to follow her. "Had it up ever since the Geth attacked the station. Activates once I leave my establishment. And it operates on its own power grid and operating system not connected to the Citadel. Put said properties together myself"</p>
      <p>"Where the hell did you get all that?" Garrus took a better look of the present armaments and reeled back a little. "It looks like they can mow down a small army."</p>
      <p>"I've had quite the string of new connections since I had opened up my shop." Edna declared. "With my darling pupil here and Commander Shepard's promotion of my store, I have afforded myself greater resources for my establishment."</p>
      <p>"You aren't like… starting an underground criminal empire, are you?" The C-sec detective asked warily.</p>
      <p>"Bah!" Edna scoffed derisively. "Why work in a field where <em>that</em> would be easy?"</p>
      <p>Axel snorted at the proclamation with Wrex joining in whilst Garrus gave the fashionista a flat look.</p>
      <p>"Having that up the entire time is no doubt gonna push away potential customers." Ash pointed out.</p>
      <p>"Or entices them with the danger." Edna said with a beaming grin as she walked through the multiple isles of her stores nudging her head to the side. "Take these two for example."</p>
      <p>The group looked over and saw a pair of humans from Asian descent.</p>
      <p>They both wore skintight outfits and hoodies that shadowed the upper portions of their faces.</p>
      <p>Actually, now that Roxas and Tali took a moment to gaze upon them… they looked… familiar…</p>
      <p>Where had they seen these two before?</p>
      <p>And why were they thinking of Ramen?</p>
      <p>As they gazed upon them, one of them looked over and blinked at the two that were gazing at her and her companion.</p>
      <p>Squinting at them for a second, her eyes widened underneath her hood in recognition.</p>
      <p>"Oh hello, fellow hoodie wearers." she said cheerfully.</p>
      <p>Roxas blinked when he now remembered. "It's you."</p>
      <p>The man next to her took a bit longer until he to recognized who he was looking at.</p>
      <p>"Well, well, if it isn't our fellow hooded ramen lovers." The man said with a grin.</p>
      <p>The group that was out of the loop soon realized that these two individuals were speaking to Roxas and Tali directly.</p>
      <p>"You guys know each other?" Axel asked, looking back and forth between the four.</p>
      <p>"Sort of." Roxas admitted. "We met a while back when I first got here."</p>
      <p>"Fancy running into you two after so long." the lady said. "You know we've seen you and all your friends all over the news these last few days."</p>
      <p>"Yeah, very impressive." The man said with a grin of approval before putting on a dramatic voice. "<em>Normandy teams dashing heroism saves the Citadel.</em> Bit of a mouthful but it gets the point across."</p>
      <p>"So you know Roxas and Tali, then?" Xion asked.</p>
      <p>"We had ramen with them at Stand once. Haven't seen them since." Roxas stated.</p>
      <p>"Quite a good memory on such a brief encounter." the lady said with a coy smile.</p>
      <p>Wrex, having grown uninterested in this conversation, moved to the back of the store in order to change back into his normal armor.</p>
      <p>"I don't think we ever even exchanged names." The lady said. "I'm Kasumi."</p>
      <p>"Kenji."</p>
      <p>"And you must be the astonishing and heroic crew of the Normandy." Kasumi said with over exaggerated gravitas. "We've seen most of your names being flung around all over the news as of late."</p>
      <p>"Yeah, we are pretty awesome." Axel stated, casually resting one arm atop Xion's head whilst he checked over his gloved nails.</p>
      <p>Xion pouted, shaking her head about to get Axel's arm off her to no avail.</p>
      <p>"Well, I'm Roxas." No. XIII, feeling he should introduce himself properly.</p>
      <p>The rest of the group gave their own names save for their Krogan comrade, realizing he had left them all.</p>
      <p>"We would like to personally thank you all for saving the Citadel." Kenji said with him and Kasumi bowing towards them. "If it weren't for all of your efforts, we would have lost one of our primary means of making ends meet."</p>
      <p>"And what do you do?" Tali asked inquisitively.</p>
      <p>Kasumi raised a finger to her lips with a sly smile. "Secret."</p>
      <p>The hooded woman then turned to Roxas.</p>
      <p>"But I must admit, I applaud you for what you were able to pull off with me." Kasumi praised. "Not many could pull off such a trick."</p>
      <p>Roxas only gazed upon her in confusion. "What?"</p>
      <p>Kasumi's grin only grew, as if she understood an unspoken joke between the two.</p>
      <p>"Very impressive." Kasumi said, patting him on the shoulder as she and Kenji moved to depart from the store. "Hope to see you all again on the news again sometime. Would be a wonderful change of pace over the usual drab that goes on."</p>
      <p>"Have a nice day." Kenji said, the duo leaving the group with some confusion.</p>
      <p>"Those two were weird." Ashley commented.</p>
      <p>"Roxas." the sandy-blond haired teen looked over to Garrus. "What was she talking about?"</p>
      <p>Roxas only shrugged. "I dunno. I've only met her and her friend once before."</p>
      <p>"What was that about a trick?" Tali asked.</p>
      <p>"Beats me." Roxas said truthfully.</p>
      <p>The Turian detective regarded the young teen before looking ahead and spotting the two exiting the store and when he blinked…</p>
      <p>They were gone!</p>
      <p>Rather than visibly react, Garrus's eyes narrowed with his visor beginning to work its magic in trying to locate the two that had seemingly vanished only for him to get nothing.</p>
      <p>"Kasumi." Garrus muttered under his breath.</p>
      <p>"What's the matter, Garrus?" Axel asked with a sly grin. "Something catch your attention about them?"</p>
      <p>"Or more like <em>her?" </em>Ash said with a knowing smile that she shared with the fiery Nobody.</p>
      <p>Garrus looked at them and saw their expressions. "What?"</p>
      <p>"Saw something you liked?" Even Tali now asked with her arms crossed in amusement.</p>
      <p>It took the Turian a few moments to realize what the trio was insinuating.</p>
      <p>"Hey, no, no." Garrus quickly stated. "It's <em>not </em>like that. This is just my Detective intuition kicking in."</p>
      <p>"Yes, <em>detective intuition</em>, of course." Ashley said with her finger quotation marks. "Was this detective intuition pointing to a certain hooded femme fatale?"</p>
      <p>"Shut up."</p>
      <p>Roxas and Xion all the while looked on in slight confusion.</p>
      <p>"What are they talking about?" Xion asked Roxas who only shook his head.</p>
      <p>"No clue…" Roxas said. "Maybe it has something to do with Kasumi."</p>
      <p>And speaking of the two…</p>
      <p>"Kami, again!" Kasumi said aloud in disbelief. "I <em>know </em>I snatched that pouch off of him for sure!"</p>
      <p>"Maybe he has faster hands than you." Kenji remarked.</p>
      <p>Rather than rebuke him, Kasumi only crossed her arms in thought. "No, no, I didn't see him move at all. It's something else."</p>
      <p>"Whatever it is, that's twice now." Kenji said, holding up two fingers for emphasis.</p>
      <p>The hooded woman only huffed with her mischievous smirk returning to her face a moment later.</p>
      <p>"Alright then, Roxas. If it's a challenge you're giving me then I accept." The Master Thief declared aloud, Kenji laughing all the while.</p>
      <p>Back with the aforementioned Nobody…</p>
      <p>The group was now being pulled along by Edna once more as she had Ashley standing atop a small, elevated platform with the cloth designer holding measuring tape up to the Alliances Marines leg.</p>
      <p>"Mmm, very impressive my dear." Edna complimented. "It appears you've slimmed down while becoming more fit at the same time."</p>
      <p>"Running around the galaxy in constant firefights can do that to ya." Ash wryly commented with several of her friends chuckling at that comment.</p>
      <p>"But with all of this running about my dear, you will never be able to find your special someone." Edna chided softly.</p>
      <p>"I- What?!" Ash went bug eyed upon hearing that with Axel choking on a laugh that had Garrus joining in a moment later.</p>
      <p>"Hmm, she's got a good point." Wrex chimed in with a wide grin present. "Unlike you humans, Krogan got all the time in the galaxy to find themselves a mate."</p>
      <p>"Hardy har, are you trying to tell us something old man?" Ash shot back with Wrex huffing though he was still grinning all the same.</p>
      <p>"Your next suit will be <em>bold</em>!" Edna proclaimed, wrapping her tape around Ashley's upper arm. "<em>Distinguished! Powerful!</em> Not at all like the usually drab garbage the Alliance unfortunately outfits their best with."</p>
      <p>"N7 is pretty good." Ash said defensively.</p>
      <p>"Maybe, but it still lacks the <em>force</em> to convey that you stand before some of the best of humanity." Edna stated. "Battlemaster, Commando, Spectre. All names that hold weight and strength across the galaxy."</p>
      <p>"So what would we call those designed by Edna Mode?" Garrus asked.</p>
      <p>"Mode is a bit too on the nose." Tali stated.</p>
      <p>"But it works." Axel said with a shrug.</p>
      <p>"Talk only achieves so much." Edna said. "<em>Gobblegobblegobblegobble. </em>Just words that will not achieve anything. Actions will."</p>
      <p>"Yeah, clearly."</p>
      <p>As their banter went on, Roxas found himself zoning out with his mind going back to the "dream" he had.</p>
      <p>He was able to hear from Sora, somehow, and it left him wondering what to do. He was filled with a number of inquiries which needed to be solved. And they all, more or less, revolved around the brown haired Keybearer.</p>
      <p>Soon enough, Roxas will need to seek him out and resolve these self-issues.</p>
      <p>Coming out of his thoughts, he saw Edna address Tali on a certain issue, meant to be genuinely well.</p>
      <p>"-One day Miss Zorah, I assure you, I shall find a way to get you much more refreshing garments."</p>
      <p>Tali looked down at herself. "What's wrong with what I have?"</p>
      <p>"You can't always rely on one look, darling, you need to expand." Edna proclaimed. "You, along with your friends, are on track to being some of the most famous figures across the galaxy. You must be <em>bold</em>."</p>
      <p>Tali chuckled at Edna's determination.</p>
      <p>"If only." Tali said. "Unless you have the outlines of my peoples old clothing from three hundred years ago."</p>
      <p>"Never give up hope, Miss Zorah." Edna said kindly.</p>
      <p>From the side, Roxas found himself frowning at the downtrodden mood he saw Tali was in now. His blue eyes gazing at his Quarian friend and not exactly knowing how to cheer her up from her present disposition.</p>
      <p>Though she quickly broke the somber air by making a quippy remark about Ashley perhaps not losing as much weight as she assumed. The rest of the group chuckled slightly at the Gunnery Chiefs defensive reaction, but Roxas…</p>
      <p>He knew that while she did her best to hide it, he had learned a great deal about visual cues with her since she herself taught him all about Quarian body language in the time they had spent together.</p>
      <p>Though it was subtle, almost undetectable, No. XIII managed to see it.</p>
      <p>His frown deepened as he wondered what could he possibly do to assuage this.</p>
      <p>Briefly going down memory lane, Roxas recalled his confrontation with Tali after his return with Axel and Xion; which resulted in his promise to her in finding a truly <em>memorable</em> gift.</p>
      <p>He'd need to make sure it was amazing because his friend Axel had already set a standard earlier.</p>
      <p>A portrait of the setting sun of Rannoch captured centuries ago.</p>
      <p>Tali truly loved the gift Axel brought back from this "guys night" he had with the other men on the ground team. It truly brought her to tears as it was something that was literally from her ancestral homeworld.</p>
      <p>The Quarian could only imagine the reaction her people would have upon her bringing back such a priceless artifact.</p>
      <p>He thought of the other things presently in her possession that can more or less be used for her Pilgrimage gift. The Geth data package, the Etherium Solar tech, the varied Potions and Ethers, and the Gummi-tech with their respective components and parts.</p>
      <p>Tali was essentially bringing back revolutionary technology that would be a great boon to her people. Calling it beneficial to the Flotilla would be putting it mildly.</p>
      <p>Right now however, Roxas' mind drifted over to his promise to Tali. About her wanting for him to get her something that would make up for him leaving her and the Normandy when he returned from his time away.</p>
      <p>With their hunt for Saren over, there's a lot of time to focus on other things on what to do in the meantime. And with that time, he could figure out what he could get her.</p>
      <p>And yet he doesn't want to keep delaying getting Tali her perfect gift.</p>
      <p>Determination now filled his eyes as he will make sure that he delivers on his promise.</p>
      <p>He would not fail.</p>
      <p>Time passed inside of the clothing establishment with Wrex having left earlier, not wanting to stick around with his business already taken care of.</p>
      <p>Walking out of Edna's place of business, Ashley and Garrus walked out with a case respectively which contained their new armor sets. Even some other bags of new civilian clothing for their downtime.</p>
      <p>The three Nobodies, however, didn't walk out of the store empty handed. They too had to purchase several more articles of clothing as per Edna's hardened persistence to expand their wardrobe.</p>
      <p>Tali, in the meantime, helped Xion out in carrying some of her bags as she didn't want to be left out.</p>
      <p>Heading back to the Normandy to drop off their purchases, a conversation took place.</p>
      <p>"So now what?" Ashley asked the group.</p>
      <p>"Now what, <em>what</em>?" Roxas quizzically said.</p>
      <p>Ashley began to clarify. "What do we do now? We came together cause all of us recognized the threat that Saren held. Now that he's gone, what do we do next?"</p>
      <p>Roxas was more or less silent, pondering on a number of things.</p>
      <p>"Did you really have to drop that kind of question on us now?" Garrus pointed out.</p>
      <p>"Sorry, but it had to be addressed sooner or later."</p>
      <p>"There's still the threat with the Reapers." Roxas said finally in a grim manner. "We know they're still out there and preparing for their time to strike on the galaxy."</p>
      <p>"We did delay their arrival, but for how long?" Said Xion.</p>
      <p>"Who's to say." Spoke Axel. "Could be months or years. Sooner or later those shmucks will be persistent in coming here. They did it before after all and they just <em>can't wait </em>to do it again."</p>
      <p>"Real peachy, Axel." Garrus deadpanned. "Real peachy."</p>
      <p>"You know it's the truth." Axel said, throwing his arms behind his head. "Why deny the inevitable?"</p>
      <p>"There's no denial on the subject." Tali muttered out. "It all depends on how the rest of the galaxy will be prepared."</p>
      <p>"And we also have problems of our own back where we come from." Roxas reminded, with Axel looking away while Xion's expression became grim.</p>
      <p>"Oh yeah, those Organization XIII guys you ran from." Garrus said. "What was that pink weirdo's name again? Marluxia, was it?"</p>
      <p>"Yeah, flower peddler."</p>
      <p>"And… these other eleven members… they're just as strong as you guys?" Tali asked nervously.</p>
      <p>"If not stronger." Axel stated. "Especially Xemnas."</p>
      <p>"The leader, right?" Ash asked for confirmation with the Nobody trio nodding.</p>
      <p>"How strong is he?" Tali couldn't help but ask.</p>
      <p>"Don't know." Axel admitted. "And that's the scary part. Not knowing how powerful someone is."</p>
      <p>"He would definitely be a lot more of a challenge than what we had with Saren and Sovereign, that's for sure." Roxas said without hesitation.</p>
      <p>"Well when you say it like that…" Ashley said, a bead of nervous sweat trailing down her forehead.</p>
      <p>This feeling was shared with Tali and Garrus, the two also finding the thought of facing someone who was even <em>more powerful </em>than their last two adversaries…</p>
      <p>The trio of individuals natives to this galaxy recently thought about these past few weeks for a brief moment.</p>
      <p>They were exposed to not a vastly different galaxy but essentially the universe being busted open for them all to see.</p>
      <p>Roxas, Axel and Xion came from a place where the planets were called "Worlds" and on said "Worlds" were beings of extraordinary power. They had already seen just what these three were capable of by themselves, both when taking on the Heartless and when fighting those of this galaxy.</p>
      <p>To think that there were people out there that were equal to their strength and possibly even more so…</p>
      <p>They couldn't lie that a pit of dread was now planted within them at the thought of facing such enemies one day. It made them consider how lucky they were that the first of these powerful beings became their close friends and allies.</p>
      <p>But now, to think that-</p>
      <p>"We'll just have to get stronger in the meantime." Roxas declared with conviction, surprising the others.</p>
      <p>"What now?" Garrus said. "Don't make it sound so easy as you say, Roxas. Not all of us are like the three of you with your crazy powers and abilities."</p>
      <p>"Hey now, don't go selling yourselves short." Axel said. "You guys have been handling yourselves against the Heartless a decent amount before we," pointing to himself and Xion, "came along."</p>
      <p>"Yeah, you've all gotten stronger just like us." Xion said happily. "We should all be proud that we've gotten this far."</p>
      <p>"And that means we can go farther." Roxas stated without hesitation. "We <em>will </em>get stronger. And we <em>will beat both </em>the Reapers and the Organization. I know it."</p>
      <p>Roxas was promptly pulled into Ashley's grasp via his head and was given a noogie yet it was much softer and didn't even last long.</p>
      <p>"Look at you." Ash said cheerfully. "Being the little optimist now, aren't ya?"</p>
      <p>"Not a zombie anymore, huh?" Axel added in, poking the side of Roxas' forehead with the teen laughing, the others joining in a moment later.</p>
      <p>With the mood being alleviated, they kept on walking towards the Normandy.</p>
      <p>"What do we do in the meantime?" Xion asked aloud.</p>
      <p>Nobody answered straight away, with some genuinely thinking on this.</p>
      <p>"Continue on with our lives, I guess." Garrus said with a shrug. "I honestly don't wanna go back to C-Sec, considering all the good we've done together."</p>
      <p>"And sooner or later, I need to return to the Migrant Fleet to complete my Pilgrimage." Tali added in.</p>
      <p>"I'm gonna miss seeing you around on the ship." Said Roxas with a small frown.</p>
      <p>"Same here." Agreed Ashley.</p>
      <p>"Don't know about the others, but I think they have the same answer as everyone else here." Axel pointed out. "Even Wrexy, who will more or less deny it."</p>
      <p>"I wouldn't expect anything less from him." Tali giggled out.</p>
      <p>"What about you Ashley?" Xion asked, looking to the Gunnery Chief who hummed aloud.</p>
      <p>"I might get cycled back somewhere in the military. If I'm lucky, I will be able to stick aboard the Normandy as an official member of the crew."</p>
      <p>"I thought you were one after what happened on Eden Prime." Said Xion.</p>
      <p>"Perhaps you can ask Anderson when you get the chance for clarification." Roxas stated.</p>
      <p>"You did get conscripted under certain circumstances." Garrus added in.</p>
      <p>The Gunnery Chief nodded. "I probably will need to do that."</p>
      <p>"What of you three?" Garrus said to the Nobodies.</p>
      <p>"Still getting away from the Organization and doing whatever we can to survive." Axel said rather plainly.</p>
      <p>"So what, you three will become a little band of mercs?" Asked Ashley.</p>
      <p>"They are more or less a small army." Said Tali. "Well… <em>smaller</em>."</p>
      <p>"We'll be the best ones at that." Axel said with a cocky smirk. "But I do gotta ask, how many of us really are gonna break off?"</p>
      <p>"Huh?" was the collective response.</p>
      <p>"I mean… I get it with Tali and Wrex a bit and even you Garry." Axel listed off. "But the rest of us I figure will still stay with Shepard for the most part."</p>
      <p>"That feels a bit like wishful thinking." Ash remarked.</p>
      <p>"Is it?" Axel quirked a brow. "Shep's a Spectre still, right? Spectres who get to do anything they want unless the Council says otherwise? So doesn't that mean she's got more leeway than most? Some of us can still stick with her for the most part without most people complaining about it since Spectres only answer to those annoying politicians."</p>
      <p>"Hmmm, true." Garrus conceded. "They do get more than just simple leeway considering they're really given complete free reign by the Council in order to conduct their missions completely unimpeded by usual standards. The only limitations they have are the ones that are either imposed upon them by the Council or on themselves. Whatever else is all on them."</p>
      <p>"And Saren was employing mercs <em>way before </em>us." Ash added in with a nod. "Don't think Skipper's someone who would leave her team by the wayside."</p>
      <p>"And I don't want to leave Shepard yet anyway." Roxas admitted. "Feels like even after everything we've done, things are just getting started."</p>
      <p>"You're not wrong about that." Garrus agreed aloud.</p>
      <p>"Then we got nothing to worry about for now." Tali said cheerfully. "We'll stay together until the time comes where… where, well some of us will have to leave."</p>
      <p>"But we'll come back together when the time comes, right?" Xion asked in a hopeful tone with Tali leaning on her slightly happily.</p>
      <p>"Exactly."</p>
      <p>Tali then halted when a very considerably large grumble was heard from her stomach causing her to fidget slightly in embarrassment.</p>
      <p>"A-heh." Tali said. "Guess I got hungry."</p>
      <p>"Let's at least drop off our stuff back at the Normandy before getting ourselves a bite to eat." Axel suggested. "Don't wanna lug all this stuff around all over the place."</p>
      <p>Hearing this, Garrus voiced a thought. "Wouldn't it be easier to use your Corridor to drop them off?"</p>
      <p>"It would, but do you remember the last time I used it with Wrexy's family armor?"</p>
      <p>The Turian laughed at the first part of the memory, Wrex chasing Axel all over the ship and wanting to tear him a new one on how the one Nobody mishandled the aforementioned armor.</p>
      <p>But then Garrus realized that a bit of his little argument can be argued if it would really accept it or not.</p>
      <p>"And I kinda want some ramen." Tali sheepishly admitted. "Seeing those two at Edna's store from so long ago is giving me cravings."</p>
      <p>"Give your stuff here." Garrus said, holding out one of his hands since he was carrying all that much. "I'll drop it off at the Normandy."</p>
      <p>Tali let out a small 'yay' of appreciation, handing her items over to the Turian before grabbing Roxas' arm and pulling him away with the Nobody caught off guard by the motion.</p>
      <p>Axel chortled at the bewildered expression Roxas shot him with Williams humming aloud beside him.</p>
      <p>"Ramen sounds good as well." Ashley said suddenly, handing Axel her purchased goods. "Be a good boy and take care of these will ya."</p>
      <p>"Hey, what the-?"</p>
      <p>"Thanks!"</p>
      <p>In an instant, the Gunnery Chief deposited her stuff onto the redhead before running off to join Tali and Roxas.</p>
      <p>"...SINCE WHEN AM I A DAMN PACK MULE!?"</p>
      <p>"Since now!" Ash said, waving back at him without turning around.</p>
      <p>Axel felt his eye twitch and small flames come off of his body.</p>
      <p>"You better not be giving any more stuff, Xion." He said, glaring at the youngest among them.</p>
      <p>Xion only giggled, taking a bag out of his hands.</p>
      <p>"I'm good at carrying my own stuff, you know." She said innocently. "Besides, I'm not quite hungry just yet."</p>
      <p>"Come on, let's not stand around here." Garrus said. "We're not far from the ship."</p>
      <p>With no objection being voiced, Xion and Axel followed in Garrus' step towards the port where the SR1 was docked.</p>
      <p>Nearing their destination, they saw some people barricading the area.</p>
      <p>"Where'd this come from?" Xion asked aloud, looking around at the large contingent of C-sec officers.</p>
      <p>"Nothing to see here." Said one of them. "Please move along-"</p>
      <p>"I'm sorry, but we need to head towards the Normandy." Axel struggled out a little. "So if you could let us pass-"</p>
      <p>"Sorry, but we can't do that… just yet."</p>
      <p>"Guys?"</p>
      <p>The trio turned to see Commander Shepard approaching them.</p>
      <p>"What are you all doing here?" She asked.</p>
      <p>"We're on our way back to the ship." Garrus answered.</p>
      <p>"I thought you'd be back already yourself." Axel commented.</p>
      <p>"I was just running a few personal errands." Said the Commander.</p>
      <p>"Same on our end." Xion informed her. "When we were coming back, we saw… <em>this</em>."</p>
      <p>Jane soon questioned one of the guards. "Is there something wrong here?"</p>
      <p>"Commander Shepard, sir." A human quickly saluted her. "I'm Lieutenant Girard. We… we have a bit of a situation on our hands."</p>
      <p>"I can see that." Shepard said. "What's going on here?"</p>
      <p>Another human cleared his throat.</p>
      <p>"We have… someone causing a little fuss."</p>
      <p>"A fuss that you guys have a barricade?" Axel pointed out questioningly.</p>
      <p>Girard let out a small sigh. "She has a pistol on her and is attempting to commit suicide. I believe that is enough for an argument." The others before him said nothing as he continued. "She's behind those shipping containers. I've got a sniper positioned, but I don't think we'll need him. She's only a danger to herself."</p>
      <p>"Is there a means in not using that option?" Garrus asked, feeling that to be a bit extreme. "She hasn't done anything has she?"</p>
      <p>"No, no, none of that sort." Girard quickly said worriedly. "We've got a sedative to calm her down, but we can't get close to her without doing something drastic. Every step we take gets her more wound up."</p>
      <p>"You seem awfully worried about her."</p>
      <p>"I- I'm just doing my job. Public safety and all. After what happened recently with the attack on the Citadel…" Girard gave a forlorn look. "Commander… she was abducted from Mindoir."</p>
      <p>The Spectre tensed at the mention of her home colony with her eyes holding a gazing of steel yet a calm demeanor as well.</p>
      <p>"Say no more." Jane said quickly with her hand stretched out. "If you'd mind…"</p>
      <p>"Of course." Girard responded, handing over the sedative.</p>
      <p>"Just have your men on standby in case of anything." Jane stated.</p>
      <p>"Don't push her too hard." Girard warned her. "If she seems liable to pull the trigger, back off. Or walk away. I'm willing to wait her out."</p>
      <p>After getting a small salute from the man, Shepard broke away and turned her attention towards the others.</p>
      <p>"I'm assuming you want to help me." She said rather obviously. "As much as I want to, this is extremely delicate."</p>
      <p>Axel shrugged. "Honestly, I think this could be a nice change of pace over the usual crazy crap we deal with. Why wouldn't we by this point."</p>
      <p>"In case you didn't get the situation, this person is rather off right now."</p>
      <p>"Is she gonna be ok?" Xion asked in concern.</p>
      <p>Shepard looked down at the young girl with a sad frown.</p>
      <p>"I need to do this alone."</p>
      <p>"We'll be here to back you up in case of anything." Garrus said.</p>
      <p>Jane simply nodded and walked over to the stack of crates with Axel, Xion and Garrus staying out of the girl's sight that was hidden behind them.</p>
      <p>Slowly walking towards the crates, Jane moved away from them so the person on the other side wouldn't get truly startled.</p>
      <p>Upon seeing the distressed person, Shepard saw the person was heavily scared with signs of abuse and torture on what exposed skin there was. The hair on her head was nearly shaved down as she could see some faint scaring there as well. And in her trembling hands was a pistol.</p>
      <p>To think she would find another person from her home planet, especially after what occurred all those years ago. Taking a better look at this frail, malnourished woman now, Jane theorized on how old she must've been when that event happened before she was stolen as a child thirteen years ago.</p>
      <p>"Stop, Stop!" The girl cried out, raising her pistol up at Jane who didn't even flinch at the action. "Who… what are you?"</p>
      <p>"My name is Shepard." Jane introduced herself in a soothing calm voice. "Lieutenant Girard sent me to talk to you. What's your name?"</p>
      <p>The girl appeared to only tremble upon hearing such a question.</p>
      <p>"Animals don't get names. The masters put their symbols on her. Hot metal all over her back. She screams when they do it."</p>
      <p>Upon hearing this, Shepard instinctively stepped back from surprise.</p>
      <p>'Oh god…' She thought in realization.</p>
      <p>This woman before her was indeed a former slave, an escaped one at that from the Batarian slavers.</p>
      <p>"You're not an animal." Jane argued gently once overcoming her shock. "Your parents? What did they call you? Do you remember them?"</p>
      <p>"She remembers a lot of things." the woman whispered aloud in fright. "... Talitha. They call her that… she doesn't remember the rest."</p>
      <p>Hearing all this on the other side of the crate out of view, Xion gazed upon Shepard with her eyes growing wide before looking up to Axel who held a stony visage.</p>
      <p>"L-Leave her alone."</p>
      <p>Jane, however, pressed on. "What happened to your parents?"</p>
      <p>"There's- She sees them." Talitha recollects with hollowed, distressed eyes. "They're yelling. Run. Hide. They hit the masters. But the masters, they have lights and hoses. Daddy's- He's melting!" The scared woman then shushed herself as she brought her hands up to her head, even with her drawn pistol. "-Sh-She doesn't want to see that! Don't make her look. Don't look! Stupid, stupid!"</p>
      <p>"I know it hurts, Talitha. I'm sorry. But you need to deal with this. What happened to your parents? Think." Jane said, attempting to keep her on track.</p>
      <p>"When she thinks, water comes out of her eyes. The masters beat her when she wastes water. So she doesn't think anymore. She sees them. Mommy and Daddy. Burning in white light. Melting. Going to pieces. They can't even say anything to her. They're dead, Shepard. They try to save her, and the masters burn them. Can she stop remembering now? Please?" Talitha now had tears streaming down her eyes.</p>
      <p>"I was on Mindoir. My father and brother died in the raid-" Jane began.</p>
      <p>"Lying! You get hit for lying!" The scared girl interrupted. "Get the buzz or the burning. Can't be here." Talitha then snapped at her. "Why are you <em>alive</em>?! Why are you- Why aren't you like her? <em>Broken</em>. Only fit to dig and carry."</p>
      <p>Shepard gave her an understanding look.</p>
      <p>"For a while I <em>was</em> broken. I nearly lost my <em>whole</em> family, Talitha. My friends. My childhood. I had to pull myself up and keep going with what I had left." Jane said softly.</p>
      <p>It was truly a hard time in her life. Jane didn't know what would've happened if she didn't have her mother and Anderson around to help pick her back up. But she did know what happened afterwards, like her resentful problems with her mother for one.</p>
      <p>"You lost your brother and daddy. But you don't dig. You don't carry. You stand up... She wishes she could stand up." Talitha said, breathing becoming erratic.</p>
      <p>"I'm going to take a step towards you now. Okay?" Shepard put one foot forward but Talitha went rigid, holding her pistol up again.</p>
      <p>"No! She's no good! Don't want to be handled again!" Her tone was frantic.</p>
      <p>"What's the last thing you remember from Mindoir?" Jane asked conversationally.</p>
      <p>Talitha's lower lip quivered, with more tears falling from her cheeks. "Fires. Smells of smoke and burning meat. Animals screaming as the master's cage them. As they put the metal to their backs. Put wires in their brains. She pretends to be dead. If she's dead, she can't work. But they know. She hopes they'll leave. But they put her in the pen. She didn't fight. She was already broken when they put the wires in."</p>
      <p>"Talitha, you were what? Six years old? No one blames you for staying quiet and hoping they'd go away. The only person blaming you is you." Jane pointed out.</p>
      <p>"She wants to believe that. She wants to believe nothing would change. She doesn't want to be there anymore. In the pen. In the cages. Lying quiet while they do things to her." Talitha's voice was broken.</p>
      <p>"I'm going to take another step towards you now. Okay?" Jane said, inching forward very slowly.</p>
      <p>"She doesn't want- Don't touch her!" Talitha snapped frightfully.</p>
      <p>"How did you get here? Did you escape?"</p>
      <p>"She can't escape. They have chains. Wires. Needles. You go too far; they take your brains away." Talitha said, the tone sending a shiver down Xion's spine.</p>
      <p>The young girl began to tremble profusely as she heard about all this and for a brief moment, her vision flashed over to a room of pure white.</p>
      <p>Xion suddenly felt a pair of firm hands upon her shoulders and she looked up to see Axel giving her a comforting look. She scrunched her face up to regain a modicum of control of herself, conveying appreciation for her friend before returning her attention to Talitha's frightened ramblings.</p>
      <p>"Animals like her come. Animals with guns. They make the masters explode. She tries to fix the masters. So they won't be mad at her. She puts all the reds and purples back in, but they don't move. The other animals take her."</p>
      <p>Jane soon pieced things together on how Talitha escaped. She was being transferred to her new "owner" or something when some people stumbled upon the transport she was on. Talitha's liberators stumbled upon her after taking care of the slavers and had to get her to safer space. But some stuff occurred since then, having Talitha escaping from said liberators and ending up here of all places.</p>
      <p>Shepard then tried to reason with her. "You were afraid. All you'd known for thirteen years was the "masters" abuse. So you tried to heal them."</p>
      <p>"She doesn't want to see other animals. They're not real. They can't be real. They can't see her. If the animals can see her, then this is real. But it can't be. The wires. The chains. The hitting. This doesn't happen to her. It's another girl. A dirty girl. A stupid girl. She deserves it! It- It happens to her. Doesn't it? They see her, so it's real. She doesn't want it to be real." Talitha sobbed.</p>
      <p>"I'm gonna take another step towards you now. Okay?"</p>
      <p>When drawing in closer, Talitha reeled back as her body utterly trembled.</p>
      <p>"Please don't touch her. She's dirty. You'll catch it!" the former slave girl wrapped her arms around her protectively both for herself and the Spectre.</p>
      <p>Shepard pulls out the sedative and presents it to her. "Talitha, this will make you sleep. If you fall asleep, some people will take you to a place where you can get better."</p>
      <p>Hesitantly, Talitha takes the sedative from Shepard's hand and administers it onto herself.</p>
      <p>"Will… Will she have bad dreams?" Talitha asked fearfully.</p>
      <p>Shepard soon closed in and wrapped her into a comforting hug. Talitha stiffened from the contact, not knowing what to do. All she could really do was listen.</p>
      <p>"I'll be honest with you; they will be there but will lessen over time. For now, you'll dream of a warm place. And when you wake up, you'll be in it."</p>
      <p>Slowly, just before the sedatives kick in, Talitha reaches up to hug Shepard back in a tight embrace.</p>
      <p>"She'd like that. It hurts when she- when <em>I</em> remember me. But she wants to remember."</p>
      <p>A few moments later, she goes limp in Shepard's arms with Jane holding up the young girl as she gets down to one knee, holding her head up gently.</p>
      <p>"It's alright Talitha." Jane said softly. "It'll be alright."</p>
      <p>"Talitha!" Lieutenant Girard was immediately by their side and let out a sigh of relief. "Thank God she's alright. Thank you Shepard, I can't thank you enough for this."</p>
      <p>Shepard shook her head. "You don't have to thank me at all. Just take care of her."</p>
      <p>"Absolutely, Commander." Girard promised, carefully sliding his arms beneath Talitha's body and lifting her up bridal style. "She's already been through enough after what those Batarian bastards did to her."</p>
      <p>"I want to hear a report of her process." Shepard ordered straight away. "And if anything happens…"</p>
      <p>"Of course, Shepard." the LT said straight away. "Come on Talitha, let's get you someplace comfortable."</p>
      <p>As she watched the man walk away, she let out a shaky sigh she had been holding.</p>
      <p>Feeling a friendly pat on her back, she looked over to see Garrus standing by her with Jane only nodding at him.</p>
      <p>She then turned back to Axel and...</p>
      <p>"Xion?" Shepard said in worry. "You're crying. Are you alright?"</p>
      <p>Axel, having had his eyes on Shepard, had not realized the state in which his own friend was in.</p>
      <p>"Xion?" Axel made her turn to him. "What's wrong?"</p>
      <p>The young girl herself had not realized her own state of mind or predicament as she reached up to her face and felt moisture seep in through her glove.</p>
      <p>"I-I… I'm crying." Xion said in disbelief, looking up at Axel. "H-How? Aren't I a Nobody?"</p>
      <p>Axel didn't have an answer to that as Shepard and Garrus were now by her side.</p>
      <p>"Xion, what happened?" Shepard asked with worry written all over her face.</p>
      <p>"I… I-I don't know." Xion said with tears streaming down her face. "Seeing that girl… seeing what happened to Saren…"</p>
      <p>"What happened to Saren?" Shepard repeated in bewilderment with the others looking on in the same manner. "Why bring him up?"</p>
      <p>Xion shook her head, beginning to cry more profusely. It took her a moment to form her thoughts properly and from the looks of it, it looked as though it was giving her great internal strife.</p>
      <p>"I… was created to be a puppet. To be used and disposed of. That's what you heard when Roxas played that recording he got from Xemnas and Xigbar."</p>
      <p>No. XIV staggered and promptly fell to her knees with Axel instantly going down to her with Shepard doing the same. Garrus would've done so as well, but the others beat him to it. All he could do now was look on in worry.</p>
      <p>"I… I've been trying to ignore it." Xion admitted openly, her tears falling to the floor. "But after Virmire, what we saw became of Saren and… and that poor girl Talitha. It just made me realize that… that I'm just a false existence. A puppet made to be used and thrown away. I don't even know why I should bother existing at all if I was just made to be a tool."</p>
      <p>She wept there, shaking uncontrollably as everything she had been containing just came pouring out.</p>
      <p>"Why?" She asked softly with her voice conveying hurt. "I just… I don't know what's the point of my existence. Why do I exist if I was just made to be a tool?"</p>
      <p>Shepard instantly pulled Xion in for a hug with the young teen sobbing as she finally let go of it all.</p>
      <p>"It's alright, Xion. It's alright." Jane said softly. "Things will get better now."</p>
      <p>Axel reached out and placed a gentle hand atop her head.</p>
      <p>"You've got us, in case you forgot." No. VIII said with a voice tinged with kindness.</p>
      <p>"Whether you like it or not." Garrus said</p>
      <p>Xion nodded, whipping away what tears were present on her face.</p>
      <p>Axel soon addressed the N7 marine.</p>
      <p>"So about what happened… your family…"</p>
      <p>Shepard released a small sigh. "Right, figured you guys overheard that part."</p>
      <p>"After remembering what we talked back on the Legacy, I started piecing things together now."</p>
      <p>"Me too." Garrus added in.</p>
      <p>Granted, he might not have the fullest picture unlike Axel, but he has the rough depiction at it.</p>
      <p>"It's something I don't enjoy bringing up at all."</p>
      <p>"And no one's blaming you, Commander. Something like that is a really delicate subject." Said the Turian detective.</p>
      <p>"Yeah, and don't expect me to bring it up anytime soon."</p>
      <p>"Are we… family?" Xion asked in a voice that was barely heard.</p>
      <p>Shepard looked down at the young Keybearer who was still hugging her tightly with a warm smile appearing on her face a moment later.</p>
      <p>"Yeah." She gently stroked Xion's hair, hugging her back. "We are."</p>
      <p>
        <em>-Scene Cut-</em>
      </p>
      <p>The Normandy team was now back on the ship, the entire crew having all finally returned to what was essentially their mobile home as Axel called it.</p>
      <p>Currently, whilst the ship was departing from the Citadel, the group was assembled at the cafeteria, enjoying some lunch together.</p>
      <p>"Hey Shepard, what happened down near the docks nearby?" Ash asked, having returned with steaming hot bowls of ramen that she had given out to the others with Roxas and Tali.</p>
      <p>"That's a bit… complicated to explain." Shepard said, slurping up her noodles with the rest doing the same.</p>
      <p>"Goddess the taste of these noodles are <em>exquisite</em>." Liara remarked, greatly enjoying her bowl.</p>
      <p>"Aren't they?" Tali said, eating hers out of a stra- *BONK*- Ow, ok, Induction Port. "I didn't realize how much I had missed this."</p>
      <p>"Mmmm, I needed this." Roxas openly stated, working on his fourth bowl.</p>
      <p>"Spirits Roxas, how much of those can you eat?" Garrus asked in grossed out amusement.</p>
      <p>"Runt needs his energy." Wrex said, on his sixth bowl. "Him and the kid need it to grow eventually you know."</p>
      <p>Roxas and Xion exchanged glances with one another, giving a once over.</p>
      <p>"We're not… that short… are we?" Xion asked.</p>
      <p>"For one, you two are kids, teenagers really. And two, compared to Wrex, you basically are."</p>
      <p>"Actually, by technicality, Roxas and Xion have only existed officially for about… five months really." Axel pointed out. "Give or take some weeks."</p>
      <p>"..."</p>
      <p>"..."</p>
      <p>"..."</p>
      <p>"You guys are weird." Garrus said after a few moments.</p>
      <p>The table laughed aloud at that statement with the weirdos in question not bothering to deny that statement.</p>
      <p>It was at that moment that the group spotted Kaidan walk past them as he headed towards the Med-bay.</p>
      <p>"Hey, Kaidan." Ash called out to him. "You doing alright today?"</p>
      <p>"I am. Thanks for asking." Kaidan turned to the three Nobodies. "Oh yeah and thank <em>you </em>for the gift."</p>
      <p>"Glad you like it, man." Axel chuckled out.</p>
      <p>"Hope you'll like it." Said Roxas.</p>
      <p>Xion merely nodded as she kept slurping her noodles.</p>
      <p>"Gift, what gift?" Shepard asked in confusion.</p>
      <p>"Got a message from these three earlier who chipped in together in getting me an armor voucher from Edna." He revealed to them. "The full nine yards from what I got in the details. Armor designed in my specifications and all of the added quirks once I chat with the store owner and all that jazz."</p>
      <p>"That's rather nice of them." Tali said.</p>
      <p>"It clearly is. I do plan on cashing it in when possible."</p>
      <p>"And where are you heading off to now? Another checkup with Chakwas?" Shepard asked.</p>
      <p>Kaidan nodded.</p>
      <p>"Then don't let us keep her waiting." the Spectre said in a shooing motion.</p>
      <p>Departing from the group, the Adapt Biotic soon entered the Med-bay. He expected to just see Chakwas, but he didn't expect to see Della there as well.</p>
      <p>"-I do say your job on your left leg was done well, despite the circumstances." Said the Normandy's medical doctor.</p>
      <p>"Yeah." Della sighed out, patting her amputated leg. "It was not pretty when I had to free myself from the crash."</p>
      <p>"And how'd you get free?" Kaidan asked aloud, signifying his presence in the room.</p>
      <p>"Oh, hey Kaidan." Said Della.</p>
      <p>"Lieutenant Alenko." Karen greeted him kindly.</p>
      <p>"Don't stop on my account." He requested. "I was actually wondering how you lost your leg and been wanting to ask about the specifics for a while. But I didn't want to push it."</p>
      <p>Della merely shrugged. "A lot of people have."</p>
      <p>Kaidan nodded and sat down on the nearby bed. "So repeating my question again: how'd you get free?"</p>
      <p>Della scratched her head as she lamented the situation. "There was a tower of debris hanging over me for starters. Every effort I tried in pushing and banging away to free my leg made it shake, making it inch closer to falling on top of me and killing me as a result. I soon had to take a drastic step in cutting myself loose. Luckily for me, my leg was already broken and already numb by that point…"</p>
      <p>"We can already imagine what went on from there." Spoke Karen with Kaidan nodding in turn.</p>
      <p>"Must not have been an easy situation to go through."</p>
      <p>"It wasn't." Della admitted. "Then again, it was either try to keep the leg and further risk getting killed or suck it up and do whatever it took to get back to my family." She released a small, bitter chuckle. "And you can clearly see which option I took."</p>
      <p>"Determination can drive a person one way or another." Said the lieutenant.</p>
      <p>"Many people can ignore it or accept it in a given situation." Chakwas added in.</p>
      <p>"It sure does."</p>
      <p>Kaidan eyed the robotic leg and saw how mismatched it was when he got a better look of it.</p>
      <p>"What is your prosthetic made of anyways?"</p>
      <p>Della quickly pried her synthetic leg off with quickened ease to give the two humans a better look of it.</p>
      <p>"Composed of rocket parts."</p>
      <p>"And did you, perchance, make any adjustments to it?" He asked. "I mean, after you got back to your family, you must've had to."</p>
      <p>"Not really." Della spoke out. "According to the Junior Woodchuck handbook, rule 42 states: build things right the first time and they won't need any modifications."</p>
      <p>'Sounds like the Boy and Girl scouts back on Earth.' Kaidan thought to himself before speaking to Chakwas. "So, doc, I'm ready to get checked up again."</p>
      <p>"About that, Della has something to say to you."</p>
      <p>Kaidan turned to the duck woman with a curious look. "You do?"</p>
      <p>Della nodded as her expression became a little more serious. "I do and it pertains to your L2 amp."</p>
      <p>"Pardon?"</p>
      <p>"When I heard of what happened back on the Citadel from Xion, in passing, I talked to Chakwas on more of the details."</p>
      <p>"Della was rather curious and went to look into what scans I made on you after your return from your battle against Saren." Karen informed him. "After some discussions, I let her see them."</p>
      <p>"Isn't it a little breach of doctor/patient confidentiality?"</p>
      <p>"Normally yes, but certain circumstances would require reporting to commanding officers and consultants."</p>
      <p>Della quickly jumped in. "I am sorry about the breach of trust there, Kaidan, but I was concerned and wanted to see if I could help."</p>
      <p>Kaidan scratched his dark locks, exhaling a small sigh. "I'm fine, honestly, just a little surprised is all." He looked back at Della. "Did you find something about my L2 amp?"</p>
      <p>"I did, but I needed a second set of eyes. So I forwarded the scans to Gyro back in my galaxy."</p>
      <p>"Gyro? The same Gyro who made the Oxy-chew and that stupid Gold-tech?"</p>
      <p>"Same guy."</p>
      <p>"Why him of all people if you have so much beef on him?"</p>
      <p>During her stay on the Normandy, Kaidan and the others heard about Gyro Gear loose, an accomplished inventor in Scrooge McDuck's company. He's considered one of the greatest minds of his time by a number of individuals as his technological genius surpasses many in the Ōkoku galaxy.</p>
      <p>Yet despite his reported eccentric and good-nature, Gyro is extremely short-tempered, impatient, sassy, arrogant and lacks a lot of social skills. He releases a lot of his frustration on his former intern, Fenton, as he didn't give him a lot of respect until some point. Even others who don't share his same level of intellect.</p>
      <p>Della said Gyro is getting a little better in interacting with everyone else, but it's a long road ahead of him to make it better.</p>
      <p>"As much as I wanted to ask anyone else, Gyro is far better in knowing what is wrong with your implant."</p>
      <p>"What did he say then?"</p>
      <p>Della let loose a deep sigh. "He said that your amp is pretty much killing you."</p>
      <p>Kaidan's face paled with Chakwas gaping.</p>
      <p>"How did- when did you?"</p>
      <p>"Not too long ago." Della admitted, bringing out her Omni-Tool. "After the Citadel, I had sent out a few messages to Gyro, forwarding everything I had gathered about Biotics and he quickly figured out what was wrong with you. You're lucky you've lasted this long, but now it's finally kicking in."</p>
      <p>"Wha- What should I do?" Kaidan asked with his face paling slightly.</p>
      <p>Della only grinned. "Don't worry, Gyro got a few schematics sent to me and he figures with what I'll give to Chakwas, you'll be fine after a surgery to help you with that Biotic Amp. I even went to Mosh and he added in a few details of his own to give you a nice boost in your Biotics."</p>
      <p>Typing into her Omni-Tool, she sent the files and schematics over to Chakwas, the doctor opening up her own Omni-Tool straight away.</p>
      <p>"What do you think, doc?" Kaidan asked. "Will it work?"</p>
      <p>"Hmmm." Chakwas hummed aloud. "Yes, everything I need is here. I just need to put in the request for you to undergo surgery for your new implants."</p>
      <p>"Won't that take a while?" Della asked.</p>
      <p>"I do believe Kaidan here is owed at least that much of an immediate favor after everything he and the rest of the team has done for the Citadel." Chakwas pointed out. "If anything, I shall simply forward the request directly to Captain Anderson or Admiral Hackett. They can get that mess sorted out in an instant."</p>
      <p>
        <em>-Ilos-</em>
      </p>
      <p>It was a rather strange experience for the team to be back on a planet from a prior mission wherein they returned there voluntarily without expecting a fight.</p>
      <p>Now why have that mentality?</p>
      <p>Well when ya spend the past number of weeks hopping from planet to planet, averting one catastrophe after another, it was refreshing to go somewhere without the mentality of "get ready for shit to go and stuff to blow up".</p>
      <p>Currently, they were driving through the large expansive halls of the Prothean bunker with the Nobody trio, Liara and Della sitting atop the newly rebuilt Mako from the Normandy.</p>
      <p>"Goddess." Liara said aloud in awe of all it all. "I can't believe we found something like this! I could be left here all alone and possibly not come out for years."</p>
      <p>"With you being able to live to a thousand, that doesn't seem like it would affect you all that much." Axel pointed out.</p>
      <p>Liara giggled at the comment, her Omni-Tool out with her having a small camera on the side of her head from a headband she had placed on.</p>
      <p>"Hey Liara, I know you wanted and Della wanted to explore all this but ya gotta pick a place to at least start you know." Ashley spoke up from inside the Mako.</p>
      <p>"Oh, yes of course." Liara said apologetically with a sheepish smile.</p>
      <p>"Why not that place where you guys found Vigil." Della suggested. "That seems like a good place to start."</p>
      <p>"Good idea. Don't know if Vigil is still there or not, given how fractured it seemed to be."</p>
      <p>"Hopefully if we can retrieve the Prothean VI, a lot of insight can be given to the galaxy. Confirmation on various aspects on the Protheans as a whole." Liara said with a smile.</p>
      <p>"Especially some more proof that the Reapers do in fact exist." Ashley added in.</p>
      <p>"That is if the guy can be repaired, let alone salvageable." Axel said bluntly.</p>
      <p>Della looked up and gazed at the cryo-pods hanging off the walls. "Do you think any of the Protheans are alive?"</p>
      <p>"We can only hope 'cause so far, to our knowledge, they're dead because of Vigil."</p>
      <p>"Do you have to be such a downer?"</p>
      <p>"I'm just saying…"</p>
      <p>Eventually coming to a stop, the Mako soon parked near where the elevator leading to Vigil's chamber was located.</p>
      <p>Once everyone got out and off the vehicle, Shepard gave out some simple orders.</p>
      <p>"Alright, like what we went over before, I'll say it again. As much as you all want to enjoy yourselves and go sightseeing, we can't lollygag. There may or may not be some Geth and Heartless still on this planet, so keep your senses sharp. I don't want any of you off guard with their possible presence."</p>
      <p>Shepard got various nods and acknowledgments on understanding the given order.</p>
      <p>"With that out of the way, we're also here to find any possible means of staying ahead of the Reaper threat. Any and all information we can acquire is highly valuable. What we can't find, we can only trust whoever the Council sends over here will pick up the rest of the search."</p>
      <p>Once things were said and done, the assembly of people went into their roughly assigned groups to carry on with their tasks.</p>
      <p>As everyone was dispersing across the bunker to explore for themselves, two people hung back aboard the Mako.</p>
      <p>Axel remained sitting atop the vehicle, reclining to lay down with his hands behind his head. He kicked his legs up, one resting upon the other as he closed his eyes to relax.</p>
      <p>He then felt the Mako shift slightly, craning one eye open to see Shepard having joined him atop the driving tank.</p>
      <p>"Not gonna join 'em?" He asked, closing his eyes again as he felt himself go lax.</p>
      <p>"Yeah, thanks but no thanks." Shepard said, propping one knee up for her to rest her arm. "I think for the time being I've had my fill of Prothean tech and ruins. What would their demise being shoved in my head and all these past few months? Massive headaches don't exactly make for enthusiasm to go back to the sources that gave them to ya."</p>
      <p>Axel snorted aloud.</p>
      <p>"Hard to disagree on that." he stated.</p>
      <p>She soon released a small chuckle. "Besides, someone's gonna need to stay behind to keep watch of the Mako."</p>
      <p>The two remained there, the echoing sounds of their friends exploring the bunker echoing all around them. Some splashing was heard and Shepard believes she heard the telltale sounds of Keyblades unlocking inaccessible areas with large <em>*CLICKS*</em> that reverberated across the walls.</p>
      <p>"You seem comfortable." Shepard noted.</p>
      <p>"Gotta make the most of it." Axel pointed out. "You know how quickly shit goes sideways for us."</p>
      <p>The Spectre huffed in amusement. "Don't have to tell me that."</p>
      <p>Axel only hummed in response.</p>
      <p>They both lapsed into a comfortable silence, with neither having anything to say at the moment.</p>
      <p>This went on until...</p>
      <p>"So… what was it like?"</p>
      <p>"Huh?"</p>
      <p>Shepard didn't respond with Axel opening his eyes and glancing towards her.</p>
      <p>"What was "what" like?" He asked for clarity.</p>
      <p>At first, Jane maintained her silence with Axel becoming even more confused as he slightly propped himself up to slightly raise himself with his elbows.</p>
      <p>"Oi Shepard, what is it?"</p>
      <p>The Spectre turned her head away for a moment, internally feeling a bit embarrassed at speaking without provocation or reason.</p>
      <p>At least from Axel's point of view.</p>
      <p>For Shepard, she realized this might come out of left field but… this question she's had, this thought…</p>
      <p>It's been dwelling on her mind ever since she had met Roxas, Axel and Xion and learned of their origins.</p>
      <p>Letting out a sigh, Shepard figured she may as well go through with it.</p>
      <p>"It's just… I can't help but wonder…"</p>
      <p>Axel now sat up, looking towards her expectantly as he awaited her question.</p>
      <p>"What…" Shepard bit the inside of her cheek. "What was it like… losing your Heart? Becoming a Nobody?"</p>
      <p>The Flurry of Dancing Flames had his eyes widen at her asking this.</p>
      <p>Of all the questions that Axel considered, these two were certainly not one of them.</p>
      <p>"Why do you wanna know?" Axel counter-asked, looking away dismissively.</p>
      <p>Shepard couldn't help but scoff aloud, lightly nudging her fellow redhead.</p>
      <p>"Well, I don't know about you Axel, but in this here neck of the woods the concept of what comes after when someone dies is an often heated debated topic." Shepard remarked. "What you told us about how you all became Nobodies is basically reincarnation after death to some. But you retained who and what you were in your previous life. If everyone in this galaxy knew that was common knowledge, pretty sure everything would be flipped upside the head. Doesn't help that it already has with the Heartless and all."</p>
      <p>Axel chortled. "Alright, yeah, ya got a point there."</p>
      <p>Shepard laughed along with him, subconsciously scooting closer.</p>
      <p>"Hmph." Axel rubbed his chin. "Well since you asked… and talked about your own past and all. Guess it wouldn't hurt to share. And no need to worry about it hurting at all since I don't have a heart and all."</p>
      <p>Shepard couldn't help but frown at his casual dismissal of his "heart" but she remained silent as his face became more solemn and somber.</p>
      <p>It took him a few moments before he let out a haggard sigh.</p>
      <p>"When my world was taken over by the Heartless and I lost my Heart to Darkness, the feeling of losing…" Axel held a conflicted look for a brief moment. "You ever felt that everything that made you, <em>you, </em>suddenly get pulled right out from you?"</p>
      <p>Shepard wasn't quite sure what he really meant there but the means in which he delivered that statement in such a cold and dead tone…</p>
      <p>A stark contrast to the fiery and bombastic affinity he is most familiar with.</p>
      <p>She barely fought off the squirm that she felt coming up yet could do nothing as a chill went down her spine as her imagination started to go wild.</p>
      <p>"When you lose your Heart, you lose everything that you once were." Axel said in a calm and cold tone. "You sink further and further into darkness with it consuming everything that makes up the individual that is <em>you.</em> No concept of time or distance. Just an eternal plunge into the endless abyss."</p>
      <p>Shepard only stared as Axel went on.</p>
      <p>"Memories, aspirations, goals and emotions? All stripped away as you lose your humanity and individuality to the Darkness." Axel said with him clenching his fist tightly.</p>
      <p>"But… you came back as you were." Shepard said.</p>
      <p>"Yeah, but <em>incomplete</em>." Axel said with a dark laugh, a hand over his chest. "I… don't feel anything here. It's just this… hollowness that makes me wonder why I came back at all."</p>
      <p>"You must be something special then." Jane said, placing her hand on his arm. "You've told us about Organization XIII. It tells us how powerful you must have been as a person to have still retained who you once were."</p>
      <p>"And what does that tell you?" Axel asked, looking to the Commander who frowned as she thought about it for a moment.</p>
      <p>It was strange that the answer had come to her so quickly and suddenly yet felt completely natural.</p>
      <p>"It meant… that who you were before is someone who had a strong will… or rather <em>Heart.</em>" Shepard said, moving her arm up to Axel's shoulder with the man not responding at first before chortling lightly.</p>
      <p>"Maybe." he said. "I'd like to think I was a good guy before I became a Nobody, you know?"</p>
      <p>"Could've fooled me." Shepard said with a smile, pulling her hand away only to nudge her shoulder up against his.</p>
      <p>"Hurtful, Shepard. Hurtful." Axel stated, shaking his head with amusement.</p>
      <p>Shepard only laughed lightly, No. VIII joining in with the two growing silent once again with a comfortable air being shared between them both.</p>
      <p>Coming out from the elevator leading to where Vigil was being kept, the one team composed of Liara and Della came back with some mixed looks of disappointment and bitter satisfaction.</p>
      <p>"You guys alright? Did something happen?"</p>
      <p>"Please tell us something good, 'cause I'm not liking the looks you're giving."</p>
      <p>Della gave out the response. "We got some good news and bad news."</p>
      <p>Releasing a sigh, Shepard decided to rip the bandage off and get it over with. "What's the bad news?"</p>
      <p>"Vigil's too degraded to be transferred, more to the fact that the VI's basically on its last moments in its digitized life. After we chatted with him, it finally passed on into the digitized afterlife." Answered the adventurer.</p>
      <p>Shepard released a sigh. "Figured as much."</p>
      <p>"Nothing lasts forever." Axel added in.</p>
      <p>"What of the Protheans in cryo?"</p>
      <p>"Gone by now, Shepard." Della bluntly said. "Seems Vigil failed on his one task in saving the rest of the species."</p>
      <p>"It did what it could." Liara said defensively.</p>
      <p>"...Boy, the researchers that will come on by later are gonna have an <em>interesting</em> time going through their corpses. Don't know if they're basically skeletons or just fleshy mush by this point." Axel earned some looks from the others. "What? I'm stating one thing that quickly came across my mind. They've been dead for over 50,000 years, give me some slack on my honest opinion."</p>
      <p>"Did you at least get some stuff from the VI?" Shepard said hopefully.</p>
      <p>"We did get a data packet on everything that Vigil could give us, a means of halting the Reaper Invasion as we've only delayed it." Liara said, much to Jane's relief.</p>
      <p>Della began listing off the gist of it. "What the Protheans had in their research on indoctrination, their notes on the Conduit project and a number of other things."</p>
      <p>Liara soon pulled up her Omni-tool as a hologram appeared before them. "One of which was this." She said.</p>
      <p>From what Shepard and Axel could see, the hologram showed something akin to a space probe. Asides from a large sphere, there was a set of four "legs" put off to the diagram's side. And along the parts were an array of Prothean script that were heavily broken up.</p>
      <p>"Any idea what it is?"</p>
      <p>"No clue. A lot of the specifics written down in the data file were too degraded to work with. Even its name is gone. All there is are blueprints and schematics." Spoke the Prothean expert.</p>
      <p>"From what I'm able to read off here, this thing is <em>massive</em>." Said the one adventurer.</p>
      <p>"Any thoughts, Liara?" Axel asked.</p>
      <p>"I wish I knew, but I'll look into everything I can to figure out the purpose of this… <em>thing</em>. It looked rather important in the data package."</p>
      <p>"More than the other stuff in the data package?"</p>
      <p>"It took up the most space. So Liara and I assume it had to be." Della revealed in their joint theory.</p>
      <p>Shepard nodded. "Then do what you can in your research, Liara, no rushes needed."</p>
      <p>"Of course, Shepard."</p>
      <p>"And I can help out from my end when I'm back home." Della offered. "Since we have some good connections with our two galaxies so far, communications and data sharing can help speed things out a lot."</p>
      <p>"Was there anything else, guys?" Asked the Nobody.</p>
      <p>"Oh yeah, there was." Della pulled up a map from her Omni-tool and presented it to Shepard and Axel.</p>
      <p>"What am I looking at here?"</p>
      <p>"Locations of Prothean caches on this planet. What tech, weapons and gear they stored away for a possible final push against the Reapers if they came here. Even some little plans they had in hopes of possible rebuilding on their civilization if there were survivors."</p>
      <p>"Are there any towards other planets?"</p>
      <p>"If there were, they would be too degraded to get accurate reads. It would take a long time to find them, even if the data was cleaned up. All there is -as of right now- is towards this planet." Liara stated.</p>
      <p>Della picked up from there. "If we didn't have this, then searching for the caches would've been more difficult, not to mention getting access to them."</p>
      <p>Shepard nodded and understood the situation quite well.</p>
      <p>Throughout the many known Prothean ruins across the galaxy, there've been little to no success in fully accessing them. One detail is due to not finding any ways of accessing any possible hidden bunkers and caches. Some attempts involved some very long and strenuous means which are too long for comfort. And for the too rash methods risk in destroying them and ruining any means of acquiring the caches.</p>
      <p>But at least now what they have here can at least speed things up along, even if it was just on this planet alone.</p>
      <p>"Anyone up for a <em>little</em> treasure hunt?" Della asked with contained fits of giddiness.</p>
      <p>Shepard and Axel released some chuckles from their lips.</p>
      <p>"Coordinate with the others, Della. They'll no doubt wanna know about <em>this</em>."</p>
      <p>Della smirked as she was already typing away on her Omni-tool. "Already on it."</p>
      <p>Soon enough, the rest of the team was gathered back together with Della and Liara explaining there could be some useful items down here to be found and that they have an idea as to where it was hidden here in the bunker.</p>
      <p>Guiding the team forward, Liara and Della followed the instructions they had been able to decipher on their Omni-Tools before coming across what appeared to be a large vault of some kind.</p>
      <p>Without waiting to be prompted, Roxas held his Keyblade up and sent a beam of light at the gated doors with the large slabs parting ways moments later.</p>
      <p>Walking inside, several members of the group gasped aloud upon realizing just where they were standing.</p>
      <p>This place… it was an armory!</p>
      <p>There were weapons of all kinds here that were in sealed off compartments within the walls or on display for them all to see.</p>
      <p>Needless to say, they had hit what was essentially a jackpot of a find with the group being divided up to take what they can and more and bring it back to the Normandy and in turn, the rest of the galaxy.</p>
      <p>Their trip to Ilos had ended on quite the high note.</p>
      <p>If only it had stayed that way afterwards.</p>
      <p>
        <em>-Scene Cut-</em>
      </p>
      <p>The team was assembled at the cargo bay, the group watching as Della was making the last preparations for her departure.</p>
      <p>She had packed up her supplies and food for her journey back home and now…</p>
      <p>"So, this is it huh?"</p>
      <p>"Jeez Axel, don't make it sound like she's leaving forever." Tali complained with Della chuckling aloud.</p>
      <p>"Of course not." The adventurous duck proclaimed. "I'll see you guys again soon enough. That's a promise."</p>
      <p>"But how soon are we talking?" Ash questioned. "Who knows what we'll be up to the next time we see you again."</p>
      <p>"Ah that's easy." Della said. "I'll just follow the chaos on mayhem and go from there."</p>
      <p>Several members of the team laughed aloud at that comment.</p>
      <p>"Hell, you do know we're gonna be all over the place pretty soon right?" Wrex said, making some look to him.</p>
      <p>"Wrex?" Shepard said in confusion.</p>
      <p>"I'll tell you guys later." Wrex waved off.</p>
      <p>"What're you gonna do, Della?" Liara inquired.</p>
      <p>"First of all, I'm gonna go see my boys and Uncle Scrooge as soon as I get home." Della said, reaching into her pocket. "Which reminds me. Wanna leave you guys a little something."</p>
      <p>From her pocket, Della pulled out a few Gummi blocks of similar shapes and sizes and held them out to the others.</p>
      <p>"What are these for?" Shepard asked, looking down at them.</p>
      <p>"These are specially made Gummi Blocks that come directly from my World." Della said. "Doesn't matter what ship you install them on, initiating their function will take you directly to Disney Castle on Disna."</p>
      <p>"Whoa really?" Roxas said, taking one out of her hands to inspect it.</p>
      <p>"Yup." She nodded. "These were specially made under the request for King Mickey for all his subjects, friends and any friend of theirs that would always take them to a safe place and sanctuary aside from Traverse Town. Uncle Scrooge made them himself after a lot of trial and error."</p>
      <p>"Nifty." Tali said, taking one for herself.</p>
      <p>Stitch ran by and swiped one out, inspecting it closely like a jeweler would to a diamond and nodded in satisfaction.</p>
      <p>"I don't got a ship-"</p>
      <p>"Yet." Della corrected the Krogan Battlemaster. "Just hold on to it if anything. My old travelling buddy Balthier always told me to have multiple backups in case of anything going wrong."</p>
      <p>"Like with you on your many escapades?" Shepard dryly asked, privy now to Della's somewhat planned, somewhat wing it style of adventuring and exploring after hearing about her stories of adventure.</p>
      <p>"Well when ya put it like that." Della said sheepishly, rubbing the back of head with her free hand as the rest of the Normandy squad each took a block for themselves.</p>
      <p>"When do you think we'll see you again?" Xion asked.</p>
      <p>"I'm not sure." Della admitted. "I'm probably gonna get chewed out by my Uncle and haven't spent time with my boys in a while. I also hope to find Donald and see how he's doing with Goofy and meet this Sora fella they've been travelling with."</p>
      <p>"If anything, you've got friends here Della." Shepard said.</p>
      <p>Della beamed happily. "You betcha."</p>
      <p>Soon enough, Della said her goodbyes to each of them, sharing hugs with every last one save for Axel who simply held her back by her head whilst he looked at his gloved nails and Wrex who told her not to even try it.</p>
      <p>She did.</p>
      <p>And he didn't do anything in response.</p>
      <p>Climbing into her ship, she gave them all one last look, waving at them as they waved back and a moment later, the Spear of Seline was dropped out from the Normandy and her ship flew out into the vacuum of space.</p>
      <p>The team made it back up to the cockpit in time to see her ship flying further and further away before she disappeared into her Gummi-Lane that would take her straight home.</p>
      <p>It was a bittersweet moment in seeing a friend they made depart. It reminded several of them all to real possibility and even eventuality of the group splitting off from one another.</p>
      <p>They knew that they would see her again yet still…</p>
      <p>"Alright guys." Shepard said. "Take us back to the Citadel, Joker."</p>
      <p>"Aye aye, Captain." Joker said, starting to punch in the Normandy's commands with the Gummi components initiating its jump back to the Citadel.</p>
      <p>Several moments later, sparks appeared around the SR1 before it was sucked into a Gummi Warp-portal that took them directly back to the Citadel.</p>
      <p>
        <em>-Scene Cut-</em>
      </p>
      <p>A couple of days had passed since the Normandy and Spear of Seline parted ways on the greatest of terms.</p>
      <p>Not much had really happened since then, outside of the occasional Heartless skirmish and little missions assigned here and there.</p>
      <p>Yet today was different when the Alliance ship and her crew was sent over to the Arcturus Station.</p>
      <p>Reason why was rather simple…</p>
      <p>In a private room of the Alliance station, a ceremony is being held for two Alliance soldiers who served onboard with Commander Jane Shepard and her ragtag crew that helped stop Saren and Sovereign.</p>
      <p>Jane stood back with Liara, Garrus, Wrex, Tali, Joker, Stitch, Roxas, Xion and Axel as they watched their two comrades and friends receive their rewards and commendations for bravery and actions beyond their call of duty. And Captain Anderson was present for the ceremony.</p>
      <p>Even Stitch was here, dressed in his uniform that he had dyed blue with the team unaware he even did such a thing.</p>
      <p>Axel and Jane -presently in her dress blues- stood closely together with Xion and Tali doing the same with Roxas. They smiled alongside each other when they watched the events proceed as Jane had her Omni-tool out to record the event so Della and Chakwas wouldn't really miss it.</p>
      <p>"Kaidan Alenko, please step forward." Admiral Hackett said as the Staff Lieutenant stepped up to stand before the man while Ashely remained at attention with a wheelchair situated not far away from her.</p>
      <p>Presently, Kaidan was in his dress blues and the only thing that was off about his appearance was the bandages wrapped around his head.</p>
      <p>Recently, the Adept marine had gone under surgery in replacing his L2 amp with the one designed by Gyro Gear loose and created by Mosh the Moogle. The surgery was a success with Kaidan feeling a whole lot better as he was recovering. Though he still has to go around in a wheelchair for a little while longer, due to the extensive issue the L2 amp left on him.</p>
      <p>Hackett held out a medal as well as two pins.</p>
      <p>"Your actions in aiding Commander Shepard, from stopping Saren, the Heartless and the Geth showed the exemplary meaning of an Alliance soldier. Willing to make the bigger sacrifice for the sake of saving the galaxy from Sovereign." Kaidan raised his chin slightly with his face completely serious. "I hereby promote you to Lieutenant-Commander."</p>
      <p>The aged admiral placed the medallion as well as the pins of the newly earned rank upon Kaidan with him saluting Hackett before stepping back.</p>
      <p>Hackett then turned to the next soldier. "Ashley Williams, please step forward."</p>
      <p>The Gunnery Chief now took Kaidan's spot before Hackett, who gave her a solemn look.</p>
      <p>"You've endured a great ordeal then most prior to taking part of this mission by being the sole survivor of the 212th on Eden Prime. From there, you took part in aiding Commander Shepard in stopping Saren, the Heartless and the Geth helped show our relentless determination of the Alliance as a whole." Hackett patted her shoulder with a small praising smile. "Your grandfather would be proud of how far the Williams has come. I promote you to Operations Chief."</p>
      <p>Ashley held her head high with a slight glaze in her eyes upon hearing the Admiral speak highly of her grandfather on top of her promotion to a new rank. She fought back the tears from spilling while saluting the admiral with a silent 'thank you'.</p>
      <p>Jane couldn't help but grin at the sight of her two teammates and friends that received such promotions and commendations. They truly earned it.</p>
      <p>Everyone clapped in appreciation for their friends getting this achievement. And Anderson wore a proud smile in seeing these two Alliance soldiers get their just rewards.</p>
      <p>Hackett looked to the entire Normandy crew with stony eyes.</p>
      <p>"The galaxy owes all of you an immeasurable debt that can't be repaid." Hackett began, tone holding nothing but honesty with his words. "Undoubtedly, that debt will stack upon itself as future events where your assistance and direct partaking will make others look to you as beacons of hope for the coming dark times. If you were all in the Alliance, I'd have promoted each and every one of you here and now. Unfortunately, I can't. But know that you all have an ally and friend with me and Captain Anderson."</p>
      <p>The team stood more at attention as the Admiral continued to speak.</p>
      <p>"The Reapers are coming." Hackett said. "Of that, I have no doubt. Anybody denying such a notion is either or a fool or delusional."</p>
      <p>"The Heartless are also a present danger that we must begin training Alliance personnel in fighting whenever and wherever they appear." Captain Anderson stepped in. "Thanks to what you've showed us and several recordings of your encounters with these enemies, we will begin showing this to any and all willing to learn."</p>
      <p>"The galaxy is in a state of momentary peace." Hackett went on. "But it's brief at best."</p>
      <p>"Thanks to what Della has given us and what you've brought back from the… Etherium." David was still wrapping his mind around the fact that the Normandy had gone to an entirely different galaxy and that in the future, they will be able to do the same eventually. "We will begin incorporating their technology into our own."</p>
      <p>"With that, we can't thank you enough." Hackett said firmly. "Sovereign left the fleets in shambles. Because of this, many people out in the galaxy will take advantage of this issue. We will take no more chances with the threats at large."</p>
      <p>"We hope that others will step up when the time comes." David said, briefly glancing over to Tali and Wrex in particular. "And those that do will be some of the individuals needed in the coming conflicts."</p>
      <p>"All of you have done a great deal." Hackett said. "And with your actions, it will undoubtedly inspire others to take action. We'll be ready for the Reapers when they come. Normandy, dismissed."</p>
      <p>Shepard, Kaidan, Joker, Ashley and Garrus saluted the Admiral and Captain whilst Roxas and Xion did a more comedic version of a salute.</p>
      <p>Those who saw this chuckled respectively.</p>
      <p>"Whew." The newly promoted Lieutenant Commander exhaled.</p>
      <p>Feeling exhausted now, Kaidan soon sat down onto his wheelchair with Xion soon pushing him along. He looked back at her with appreciation as the Normandy team left the room in much more higher spirits.</p>
      <p>It felt good knowing that individuals like Anderson and Hackett backed them up after everything they had gone through over the course of these months.</p>
      <p>-Scene Cut-</p>
      <p>The team, for the most part, were back aboard the Normandy with them simply spending time together.</p>
      <p>Xion sat with Stitch who had given her his guitar and was jabbering away as to how to play on the instrument. It was quite the amusing sight to see Stitch behave like a high strung teacher who gasped and moaned in overexaggerated pain at every wrong chord Xion played.</p>
      <p>To add to the funny situation, Xion visibly winced upon every screw up which was often with her crumbling under Stitch's "scathing" criticism. Ash watched all this, laughing all the while, only adding to Xion's flustered state at even more screw ups.</p>
      <p>Wrex was currently seated at one of the tables in the cafeteria with Kaidan, Garrus, Liara and Axel with the aged Battlemaster regaling them with tales of his time as a mercenary.</p>
      <p>In between all this, Liara was studying the Prothean ruins that she had recorded from Ilos whilst Garrus was fiddling with his sniper rifle.</p>
      <p>Axel and Kaidan both had Sea-salt ice creams in hand, the two occasionally sharing stories of their own. The former being his time spent with the Organization and some of the missions he went on and the latter during his rookie years in the Alliance.</p>
      <p>Shepard had joined the group a few minutes later, seating herself next to Axel and taking note of his attire.</p>
      <p>Instead of his typical appearance of his Organization ensemble, it was one of the outfits he got from Edna Mode's clothing establishment. Black plaid shirt and pants and with combat boots and a black short-sleeve hoodie.</p>
      <p>"Whoa, this is a first." Shepard stated, looking him over. "Where'd your cloak go?"</p>
      <p>Axel shrugged. "Wasn't feeling it today."</p>
      <p>"That is the biggest load of bull I've heard all day." Garrus said aloud. "You're always in that cloak."</p>
      <p>"Aren't you the same guy who said if it ain't broke don't fix it?" Kaidan tacked on.</p>
      <p>"What's with this inquisition?" Axel asked defensively. "Am I on trial for what I'm wearing?"</p>
      <p>Jane laughed at his predicament, patting him on his back. "Nothing, it was just easy to jump on to."</p>
      <p>"You guys enjoy this too much, you know?" Axel said sarcastically.</p>
      <p>"Yeah, we do." Wrex said without hesitation.</p>
      <p>"It has become quite an entertaining thing to do." Liara admitted, not looking up from her Omni-Tool.</p>
      <p>Axel gave the Asari a flat look before noticing what she was <em>actually </em>reading on her Omni-Tool.</p>
      <p>"Still don't know how to talk like a regular person, huh, dirt digger?" Axel rhetorically asked, making Liara flush in embarrassment at being caught with her switching back to her Prothean files.</p>
      <p>"But seriously, where is your cloak?" Kaidan asked with a curious look. He internally admitted to himself that seeing Axel out of the black coat is quite the unusual sight.</p>
      <p>Axel shrugged.</p>
      <p>"You'll find out if he decides to tell you about it later." Axel said in a vague manner.</p>
      <p>"What?" Jane said. "He? You mean Roxas?"</p>
      <p>Axel only gave her a sly smirk, turning away as he took another bite of his ice cream.</p>
      <p>The others could only look at each other in bewilderment, the main thought being that Axel had loaned Roxas his coat for a reason that didn't disclose.</p>
      <p>So…</p>
      <p>What did Roxas need Axel's coat for?</p>
      <p>Speaking of which…</p>
      <p>Roxas was walking towards the engine core room of the Normandy, his friend's black cloak draped over his shoulder.</p>
      <p>Entering the engine room, it took less than a second for the young Nobody to spot whom he was here to see.</p>
      <p>Walking over, Roxas saw Tali was on her Omni-tool as she was typing away.</p>
      <p>"Whatcha doing?" He asked, making his presence known to the Quarian.</p>
      <p>The Quarian looked back before gazing back at her present task.</p>
      <p>"I'm sending my father an early draft of my Pilgrimage gift."</p>
      <p>"Wouldn't you normally do it to the one captain of the ship you wish to join? The Neema, was it? And why a draft?"</p>
      <p>"I still wish to serve in the Neema, but the circumstances with everything I plan on bringing back is beyond what anyone of my people has ever achieved."</p>
      <p>"Figured as much, with the Gummi and Etherium tech on top of the Geth data."</p>
      <p>"Don't forget the painting from Rannoch." Tali exhaled a pleasant sigh. "My people will be happy to have something from the homeworld after our exile."</p>
      <p>"It'll be a good boost of morale overall."</p>
      <p>"That's putting mildly." Tali said, a slightly giddy feeling coming over her.</p>
      <p>Tali then took note of the spare Organization coat in his arms.</p>
      <p>"...Where'd you get that?"</p>
      <p>"Axel lent it to me." Roxas said, holding it out to her.</p>
      <p>"Why?"</p>
      <p>Roxas scratched his cheek a little as he was a little bashful. "I wanna show you something."</p>
      <p>Blinking in confusion, she slowly looked back at the spare coat in his possession.</p>
      <p>Wearing the coat can protect the wearer from traversing through a Dark Corridor, a means in-</p>
      <p>"You wanna-" Tali reeled back a little with a gasp escaping her lips. "You want to take me to another World?"</p>
      <p>"Pretty much, yeah." Roxas confirmed with a smile.</p>
      <p>"...And what is this place you're taking me?"</p>
      <p>Roxas had a mischievous smile now. "Secret. You'll have to keep your eyes closed until I say otherwise."</p>
      <p>Tali puffed her cheeks up and crossed her arms in a false huff with her head turned away.</p>
      <p>"Well, I'm not going anywhere unless you tell me."</p>
      <p>Roxas simply sighed in an overdramatic fashion, turning to leave.</p>
      <p>"Alright, I guess I'll just have to-"</p>
      <p>"Oh stop it." Tali giggled, grabbing the cloak over his shoulder and gently pulling him back.</p>
      <p>Slipping on the coat, Tali gave herself a little self-inspection once she zipped it up near her neckline.</p>
      <p>It was a little snug in a couple of places but couldn't argue on it as this is Axel's coat that she was borrowing for this surprise trip.</p>
      <p>Overall, it did look good on her. If only if she got one that actually fit to her measurements.</p>
      <p>"So, where are we going?"</p>
      <p>"Still not telling you." Roxas said as he opened a corridor of Darkness. "Now close your eyes. And I'll know if you're speaking."</p>
      <p>Tali stood there and didn't do anything. "Alright, they're closed."</p>
      <p>…</p>
      <p>"...You're not closing them." Roxas's voice was flat.</p>
      <p>"And how could you tell?"</p>
      <p>"Cause I can still see your bright eyes shining through your face plate."</p>
      <p>"Oh… uh, right, I forgot about that." Tali said a bit sheepish at forgetting about that little detail.</p>
      <p>Once seeing that her eyes were closed proper, Roxas smiled and took her hand into his own.</p>
      <p>The Quarian tensed up a bit with her blushing underneath her helmet as Roxas pulled her through the Corridor of Darkness.</p>
      <p>In all honesty, it felt rather odd walking through this Corridor. Despite the worn protection, she could feel this coldness creeping up on her. Like everything bright was trying to vacate her very being.</p>
      <p>She could only imagine what would happen if she traversed through this Dark Corridor without the coat on.</p>
      <p>"Alright, open them." Roxas instructed.</p>
      <p>Carefully, she cracked one of her eyes open and closed it momentarily as the rays of sunlight hit her.</p>
      <p>Upon opening them entirely, Tali was met with the breathtaking sight of a sun setting upon a slightly mountainous region with fauna around her.</p>
      <p>'Strange.' Tali internally thought to herself. There was something… weirdly familiar about this place.</p>
      <p>Which was odd cause she certainly had never been here before.</p>
      <p>Wind brushed over the two, the rustling the plants and a couple of flowers close by to them.</p>
      <p>The flower field nearby was rather large. Kneeling down, she inspected the flowers as she tilted her head as if utterly curious about them.</p>
      <p>Some part of her told her that these flowers were familiar somehow but couldn't place it where.</p>
      <p>Breaking away from the beautiful flower field, she looked to the side and saw a major city of some kind far off in the distance with some areas that seemed deteriorated while the rest was intact. The bright orange sun reflected off the windows and the sun lit up the land with a bright orange hue.</p>
      <p>If Tali were truly honest with herself, this was a truly beautiful sight to witness.</p>
      <p>Then why was this place bugging her so much?</p>
      <p>"Where are we Roxas?" She asked.</p>
      <p>The young teen smiled slightly and held out his hand for her to take which she did.</p>
      <p>Guiding her up what was a hill, Roxas positioned Tali in front of him and made her face the setting sun.</p>
      <p>"Take a moment and really think, Tali." Roxas said in a soft voice. "You've already seen this place. This is just your first time being here."</p>
      <p>Looking over at him, he nodded encouragingly with Tali looking forward once more.</p>
      <p>She gazed intently at the beautiful scenery before her and focused on it.</p>
      <p>What was so familiar about-</p>
      <p>Wait?</p>
      <p>This field…</p>
      <p>She had seen it before.</p>
      <p>A few times already!</p>
      <p>And that mountain range in the distance...</p>
      <p>Tali's heart skipped a beat as all the pieces began coming together.</p>
      <p>Her breathing started to become shallow as her eyes slowly widened. Her eyes stung as she momentarily lost her balance. Roxas quickly caught her, but she still fell onto the ground all the same.</p>
      <p>With her hand meeting the earth, her appendage grasped onto the dirt as it momentarily fell from her clasped hand.</p>
      <p>"Ke-Keelah." Tali whispered shakily, her voice cracking. "Keelah Se'lai."</p>
      <p>Without hesitating, Tali reached up and gently took her mask off and pulled her hood down.</p>
      <p>Roxas saw her long, jet black hair was tied into a neat bun and that her facial hue was gaining a more healthier purple. In fact, he noticed she only had one tube on the corner of her mouth.</p>
      <p>Her bright yellow eyes with black sclera were brightened even further due to the glowing sun. They glistened with the tears freshly spilling and rolling down her cheeks.</p>
      <p>Tears began to freely fall from her eyes, a hand over her mouth as she wept on her knees whilst leaning into Roxas who placed a comforting hand around her shoulder while she held his free hand.</p>
      <p>"R-Roxas *<em>hiccup*</em> is- is this re-really-" She couldn't even finish her statement as she broke into another fit of joyful and stunned tears.</p>
      <p>"It is." Roxas said, voice very tender as she clung to him tightly as if hoping this wasn't some kind of dream. "Welcome home, Tali."</p>
      <p>Tali cried aloud in complete and utter adulation, throwing her arms around Roxas who was caught a bit off guard and fell on his bum with his friend hugging him with all her might.</p>
      <p>There the two stayed for a minute or so as she wept onto his shoulder with her holding him with every ounce of her strength.</p>
      <p>Before long, her weeps became little fits of laughter with the tears still flowing ever so freely. And soon her laughter became louder and louder as a breeze swept throughout the flower field. The petals swished through the air as Tali gazed upon the land.</p>
      <p>"To… To think… I'm the first Quarian to set foot here… after three hundred years, let alone breath." Her speech was broken up in a few sniffles. "Roxas, you have no idea how I feel right now. I… I don't know what to say."</p>
      <p>Roxas only gave her a bright smile.</p>
      <p>"Then don't say anything… just… feel."</p>
      <p>She let out a shaky laugh, pulling back slightly from him yet remained in their small embrace as she looked back out at the sight before her.</p>
      <p>"Rannoch." She whispered to herself.</p>
      <p>She was here.</p>
      <p>She was home.</p>
      <p>Her homeworld, the homeworld that her people were driven off of and her father had promised to her when she was younger that he would one day take her to.</p>
      <p>This boy…</p>
      <p>The first friend she had ever made outside the Flotilla…</p>
      <p>By this point, he was her best friend in the entire galaxy.</p>
      <p>Him and the Normandy crew.</p>
      <p>Gazing back to him, she saw Roxas was gazing at Rannoch's orange sun as his appearance brightened up considerably. His sandy blonde hair looked lighter with his blue eyes holding much life in them now.</p>
      <p>So much has changed since they first met as he was becoming, in her opinion, more than a simple Nobody.</p>
      <p>"Oh right." Roxas said and from out of nowhere, he pulled out two sea-salt ice cream bars. "Never a complete sunset without them."</p>
      <p>"What the- Keelah Roxas, where do you keep those?" Tali asked, unable to contain her giggle as Roxas placed one in her hand.</p>
      <p>"Always have them on hand." Roxas declared with a wide grin, biting into his ice cream.</p>
      <p>Tali only smiled brightly at him before she began eating her own.</p>
      <p>"Hang on a second." Tali said, confusing Roxas for a moment as she stood up and had changed his position before seating herself in between his legs with her leaning her back against his and letting out a content sigh.</p>
      <p>She rested her head on his shoulder</p>
      <p>"Roxas…"</p>
      <p>"Yeah?"</p>
      <p>Before he could really register it, he felt something against his cheek. It was warm and soft to the touch with a waft of air caressing his skin. After a second or two, it left.</p>
      <p>Looking over, he saw Tali bearing a purple blush on her cheeks as she bashfully looked away.</p>
      <p>Bringing a hand to his cheek, he blinked in confusion as his mind slowly raced.</p>
      <p>A kiss?</p>
      <p>*Badump*</p>
      <p>'What was that?'</p>
      <p>Slowly, a red hue formed on his cheek as a tiny smile wormed its way onto his face. Adding to this feeling, Tali reached up with her free hand and took his own and interlaced her fingers with his own.</p>
      <p>He subconsciously squeezed her hand back, the two becoming more comfortable as the minutes ticked on by.</p>
      <p>"Tali?" he said softly.</p>
      <p>"Hmmm?"</p>
      <p>"Your mask… are you sure that-"</p>
      <p>"I know the risks Roxas." Tali said kindly. "But for right now… what you've given me is worth it beyond anything I had ever experienced. I just want to feel this moment. Here, right now… with you."</p>
      <p>Roxas only nodded with Tali snuggling back into a more comfortable position, taking both of his hands and placing them around her waist.</p>
      <p>She blushed profusely at this action but smiled all the same, exhaling softly as a serene feeling washed over her.</p>
      <p>It was still surreal and honestly, it felt too much like a dream.</p>
      <p>A perfect dream.</p>
      <p>Sitting on one of the hills of Rannoch within the arms of a… well, maybe not that.</p>
      <p>Not yet.</p>
      <p>Still… there was one thing that had crossed her mind.</p>
      <p>"Roxas."</p>
      <p>"Hmmm?"</p>
      <p>"How did you know to come here? Through the painting?"</p>
      <p>Roxas nodded. "Yeah. I figured that painting must have been based on a real place. I tested it out at one point just to be sure."</p>
      <p>"But… why?" Tali couldn't help but ask. "Why here?"</p>
      <p>Roxas had a bashful look on his face, reaching up to scratch his cheek as he smiled brightly.</p>
      <p>"It's just… well, I made you a promise, didn't I?" Roxas stated. "About getting you something after leaving you like that when I went back to the Organization for that time."</p>
      <p>Tali openly gaped, blushing furiously and giggling giddily.</p>
      <p>"R-Roxas." She stammered.</p>
      <p>'Keelah Se'lai.' Tali mentally said to herself. 'Could that be any more of a romantic line? I feel like I'm in Fleet and Flotilla right now.'</p>
      <p>"You- Roxas I-" Tali's mind soon became a jumbled mess as she felt her heart hammering against her chest.</p>
      <p>She bit her lower lip, turning away from him as her entire face felt like it was burning.</p>
      <p>"Tali?" Roxas looked down at her in concern. "Are you alright?"</p>
      <p>"Keelah, Roxas." Tali's voice was barely above a whisper.</p>
      <p>Turning up to him, she leaned forward and gently kissed the corner of his lip with her lingering on it this time before pulling away and letting out a content sigh as she leaned back against him with her arms over his own.</p>
      <p>The blush on Roxas's cheeks were far more pronounced.</p>
      <p>*<em>BA-DUMP BA-DUMP*</em></p>
      <p>That was…</p>
      <p>Was it…?</p>
      <p>No…</p>
      <p>It couldn't have been.</p>
      <p>Right?</p>
      <p>Unbeknownst to either of them, they were being watched from afar.</p>
      <p>From a rocky ridge, a unique Geth mobile platform gazed at the pair who was relaxing in the flower field. A gaping hole was present in his side, exposing a number of wiring to the warm Rannoch air. And from its right shoulder laid a black and red armor pauldron with white stripes running down it as it was used for some field repair.</p>
      <p>It's optic sensor had to momentarily reset once or twice in order to confirm what it was seeing wasn't an error. Yet what it was witnessing was indeed the truth.</p>
      <p>One was what was a human teenage boy while the other-</p>
      <p>"Creator has returned to the homeworld." the Geth spoke aloud, the collective of consciousness within the platform all unanimously agreeing upon what they were looking at.</p>
      <p>Combing through its systems and the main server collective, it pulled up a series of images of the boy in question along with several others. From the initial Normandy team to the two individuals who wore similar garments the boy and the Quarian -who the Geth guessed was Tali'Zorah- presently wore.</p>
      <p>"Roxas... Anomaly…"</p>
      <p>From a high rise cliff, another individual gazed at the scene with a smile hidden underneath his hood.</p>
      <p>Things have been going quite well since he last saw them back on the Citadel all those months ago. They were once weak but were now strong after what struggles they went through together with their band of friends.</p>
      <p>"Well now, this is certainly a surprise." The man spoke aloud with a pleased tone. "I knew I was right in keeping an eye on him."</p>
      <p>Eccentric and weird as he may be, he was also a bit of a sap.</p>
      <p>"Ah~ nothing like young love, blossoming in the hilly fields of flowers and affection."</p>
      <p>Gazing at them for a few seconds, he smirked beneath his hood.</p>
      <p>"May your Heart be your guiding Key."</p>
      <p>
        <em>-Scene Cut-</em>
      </p>
      <p>Sitting in a comfortable chair, a man gazed at the dying star that gradually transitioned between hues of blue and red every so often.</p>
      <p>The spectacle has been a form of entertainment of his for years since the station of his was set up. It helped him relax and think clearly in a whole number of ways.</p>
      <p>It also didn't hurt as he drank his bourbon and inhaled his freshly lit cigarette to enhance the experience.</p>
      <p>Through the hard light screens around him, the seated man looked through the various reports he received from his operatives for quite a while now. Processing every new bit of information as it may or may not prove beneficial to humanity in the long run.</p>
      <p>Just as he was about to continue more on his task, the door to his office slid open. And he didn't have to look back to know who it was, given the certain clacking of the heels being made on the metal flooring.</p>
      <p>"Operative Lawson."</p>
      <p>"Illusive Man." Said Miranda as she strode inside her superior's office for their in-person meeting.</p>
      <p>"I take it you were able to retrieve what was needed."</p>
      <p>"In all honesty, it was a little hard with how damaged the servers were, but I was able to retrieve what was needed while patching and organizing it all accordingly."</p>
      <p>The leader of Cerberus nodded as Miranda sent the data file to him. In mere moments, a large video file began playing.</p>
      <p>The feed was taken from what the Citadel security systems were able to pick up during Sovereign's invasion last week with the Geth and Heartless forces. But it was mainly focused on the Normandy ground team in particular.</p>
      <p>As TIM was watching the feed, he spoke to his catsuit wearing operative. "So I've been told you were able to retrieve some of this Gummi-tech from the Alliance, am I correct?"</p>
      <p>"I have, sir."</p>
      <p>"Good." The Illusive Man took a drag of his cigarette as he watched the Normandy team walk alongside the Citadel Tower and fight against enemy forces…</p>
      <p>With no helmets on!</p>
      <p>"Interesting…" He muttered, rewinding the clip to the elevator scene and seeing Roxas handing out some particular gum to the group that apparently allowed them to live and breathe in the vacuum of space.</p>
      <p>Another thing he'll have to look into in the future.</p>
      <p>"Still a shame that you weren't able to acquire the Spear of Seline." TIM said to his operative. "Having it in our possession would've helped speed our studies considerably."</p>
      <p>"I know, but the ship's owner was able to retrieve it before my team and I had the chance to take it."</p>
      <p>TIM took another swig of his cigarette, letting the taste linger before exhaling. "Granted I can let it slide, given Miss Duck helped defeat Sovereign alongside the Normandy and their little companion."</p>
      <p>"Still, to think that little furball is also a sentient alien." Miranda said as she berated herself in not realizing that upon her first encounter back at the Arsenal Arena.</p>
      <p>"And where is the ship with its owner?"</p>
      <p>"Last seen leaving with the Normandy."</p>
      <p>"See what you can do to get more information on its whereabouts."</p>
      <p>"Of course sir."</p>
      <p>The Illusive Man leaned into his chair, getting comfortable as his mind began to wander as it tended to do so.</p>
      <p>Since he was a child, he knew there was life out there in the universe -let alone the galaxy- outside of the known human territories.</p>
      <p>It was confirmed years later when he was an adult, serving as a mercenary who soon served under General Williams when the First Contact War commenced.</p>
      <p>Parts of his childhood wonder died during the encounters of that time of his life with what pain and suffering he experienced. From the Battle of Shanxi to what he and his friends went through on Illium and Palaven. He had to face the utter reality with what went on.</p>
      <p>It was those moments in particular that did conceive the Illusive Man.</p>
      <p>Yet, years later, that childhood wonder awoke and rose again when he saw the footage Miranda sent of him from what she recorded from the Citadel Council chambers.</p>
      <p>Upon seeing the new alien species conversing with the Council after the attack on Virmire made him really attentive. More than after hearing that this Della Duck came from the galaxy neighboring Andromeda!</p>
      <p>An entirely new galaxy with intelligent life.</p>
      <p>And from what he was able to learn from some planted bugs here and there, TIM was able to learn that humanity did in fact live in the other galaxies… somehow.</p>
      <p>That part did honestly keep him up at night as he grew a migraine trying to figure how <em>that</em> was possible.</p>
      <p>Yet it did give him comfort in knowing that humanity has a great part in the universe as a whole.</p>
      <p>Soon enough TIM's attention came to attention when he continued to watch the feed of Shepard's team combating against the horrific monstrosity that was the Heartless-Reaper with Sovereign holding the reins.</p>
      <p>The fight truly showed the team's fighting prowess ever since their journey began but were still overwhelmed with how powerful the enhanced Reaper was.</p>
      <p>Yet the tides turned when Roxas was able to surprisingly take over and beat up the dark synthetic over and over with new features the Keyblade bore that even its wielder didn't even know.</p>
      <p>In the end, they were able to prevail as Sovereign was defeated in the two front assault from both inside and outside of the Citadel Tower.</p>
      <p>As of right now, the Systems Alliance and the Council were studying some of the Reaper's corpse pieces that had been recovered after the battle. Some of his many planted agents were giving constant reports and updates on what was uncovered and found in studying the Reaper Corpse.</p>
      <p>It was all extremely fascinating to say the least.</p>
      <p>Who knows; perhaps they can find the means in which they could use the Reapers own technology against them. Even more so with this new Gummi-tech that's slowly being figured out as they speak.</p>
      <p>TIM had learned from what some of his top researchers and scientists had been able to deduce was the process would be incredibly slow at first.</p>
      <p>They were tackling a type of technology that was very alien to them, even more so than what the Protheans had.</p>
      <p>But The Illusive Man was anything if not patient.</p>
      <p>He knew in time that they would get results.</p>
      <p>As Miranda stood off to the side, given the fact that she wasn't told to leave, she soon heard the office doors slide open with another man strolling in.</p>
      <p>"Mr. Harper."</p>
      <p>"That's Illusive Man to you, Professor." Miranda stated in a sharp tone.</p>
      <p>"Ah, Miss Lawson, as graciously elegant as ever." The Professor said with an extravagant bow.</p>
      <p>He was a gauntly man with a pair of round spectacles placed above his sharp, crooked nose. His long, oily black hair was tied back into a ponytail that freely bounced on his upper back. His clean white coat was left open to show off his grey button up shirt with black pants and slick boots to finish off his appearance.</p>
      <p>"Hojo." The Illusive Man greeted, not bothering to turn his gaze towards one of Cerberus's top scientists and engineers. "I take it you have news?"</p>
      <p>"I do indeed sir." Hojo stated with a bow directed at his benefactor. "I do believe you will find this most pleasing. We have made great strides and advancements in Project: Adobansu."</p>
      <p>"Have you now?" Illusive Man now turned to speak with Hojo directly. "What kind of advancements?"</p>
      <p>"Two of our best field agents have shown great promise in accepting their new enhancements. They will prove to be valuable assets on field missions once they have properly adjusted to their enhancements." Hojo stated.</p>
      <p>"Very good." Illusive Man said with a nod of approval. "How long until you believe them both to be ready?"</p>
      <p>"Perhaps within a week or so." Hojo answered. "They just need some rest and time for their bodies to accept their new anatomy's lest they tear themselves apart."</p>
      <p>"Could more be added to them?" TIM inquired.</p>
      <p>"Over time, yes. But immediately, no; unless you want them to die all too soon." Hojo said, pushing his glasses up his nose. "And there would be a limit to them overall as too many changes may lead to a collapse of their bodies overall."</p>
      <p>"You surprise me, Professor Hojo." TIM stated, tapping his cigarette to get the ashes off. "I would have thought you would be unimpeded by such notions."</p>
      <p>"I am a scientist, Mr. Harper." Hojo said with a devious grin forming. "I would be a fool in wasting such valuable tools so hastily. They will serve as excellent blueprints for future tests to come."</p>
      <p>"I shall hold you to that, Professor." TIM said, turning back to the red sun outside their base. "Is there anything else you wish to discuss?"</p>
      <p>Hojo merely shook his head and bowed before departing from the room a moment later, leaving TIM and Miranda alone.</p>
      <p>"Ms. Lawson." TIM spoke up after a number of seconds.</p>
      <p>"Yes sir?"</p>
      <p>Her Omni-Tool made a ping with her bringing it up.</p>
      <p>"Your next assignment." TIM declared. "Prep yourself and leave as soon as you can."</p>
      <p>"Yes Illusive Man." Miranda said, immediately turning and walking away with her heels clacking against the floor.</p>
      <p>There, the Illusive Man sat, mind deep in thought as he smoked and drank his liquor.</p>
      <p>Everything across the galaxy was in motion.</p>
      <p>The universe was changing. One way or another, the coming conflicts will be needed to change everything.</p>
      <p>Heartless, Reapers, individuals of extraordinary powers, everything had changed in these last few months.</p>
      <p>Humanity had gained a seat upon the Council with a human Spectre being the savior of the galaxy.</p>
      <p>Much as the news propped it up that this was a united effort of Shepard and her team, the man formerly known as Jack Harper openly scoffed at the notion.</p>
      <p>This was a task given to a human and it was a human that succeeded.</p>
      <p>Even if she was assisted by many varying individuals, the majority of them were still human. Those aliens that were part of her squad were just there to fill up space, useful as they may be.</p>
      <p>Being honest with himself, after reviewing everything that had transpired, the galaxy would've fallen if it weren't for <em>that </em>boy.</p>
      <p>The coming of that young man in the black coat with the sandy-blond hair and crystal blue eyes was one of the many catalysts that would spark changes across the galaxy.</p>
      <p>And with those changes came chaotic conflicts and turmoil.</p>
      <p>Using all that madness, The Illusive Man and Cerberus would take advantage of any and all opportunities that would present themselves in order to get humanity on top of the food chain.</p>
      <p>In the end, this galaxy would submit to the superiority of the human race once all is said and done.</p>
      <p>It just didn't know it yet.</p>
      <p>
        <strong>AN</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>And boom, there's another one for the record book folks.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Though it was a slow chapter, this had many scenes we had planned out and was the start of the setup of </strong>
        <em>
          <strong>many </strong>
        </em>
        <strong>plot threads that will be prominent in many arcs to come in this story.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>And after such an action packed set of chapters back-to-back, I figured this one would serve as a nice slow down for the Normandy crew. Cause soon enough, things are gonna ramp back up again into pure insanity. We're still dealing with Kingdom Hearts after all.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Anywho, looks like the Normandy team has said goodbye to Della. Yeah, she was only a temporary stay as it was planned from the start. You guys probably already knew it was going to happen considering how blatantly we spelled it out for ya guys.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>So anyways, in other news, MY GOD, did you guys see that new episode of the Mandalorian? They </strong>
        <em>
          <strong>seamlessly </strong>
        </em>
        <strong>transferred Bo-Katan from animation into live-action. It was just incredible. Holy fuck, this season just reached a new level for me.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Other than that…</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Rate Read and Review and as Always Have Nice Day.</strong>
      </p>
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<a name="section0023"><h2>23. Back Where It Began</h2></a>
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      <p>
        <strong>GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Things are ramping up now everyone!</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Hope you're ready for this </strong>
        <em>
          <strong>and </strong>
        </em>
        <strong>the next chapter cause this is where shit starts getting interesting and crazy here.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Even though that's what I've been saying for the last 12 chapters overall cause I can't contain myself.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Rate Read and Review and as Always Have Nice Day.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>I'm Nobody Chapter 23: Back Where It Began.</p>
      <p>The Normandy crew was once again back at the Citadel, only this time, it was not one of relaxation.</p>
      <p>Though they haven't been all that present, the return of the Heartless made the team snap quickly into action with them taking out the dark creatures in rapid succession.</p>
      <p>It was a decent wave of them, a few dozen at most with the team taking them out in a united effort.</p>
      <p>"So, it looks like they feel comfortable enough to show themselves again." Shepard noted, resting her gun against her shoulder.</p>
      <p>"Wonder what took them so long?" Tali inquired, looking to the Heartless experts of the group. "Any ideas guys?"</p>
      <p>Axel let out a shrug, his Chakrams vanishing in a burst of flames.</p>
      <p>"My best guess has to do with us taking out Saren and Sovereign." No. VIII surmised. "They were a pair of Heartless conduits of sorts when the Spectre accepted the Darkness into his Heart. As for Sovereign, well, you probably have a small idea.</p>
      <p>"So an anchor?" Kaidan asked. "But the Heartless were showing before him. Why'd they suddenly reduce in numbers?"</p>
      <p>"The Heartless are always drawn to the Keyblade." Roxas said. "For most of the time, the Heartless appeared only because I was around."</p>
      <p>"But after Saren gained command over them, they had a more free range of being able to appear more freely across the galaxy." Xion said.</p>
      <p>"And then we took him and Sovereign out." Garrus stated.</p>
      <p>"Thus reducing their presence here for the time being." Axel said.</p>
      <p>"So why are they back now?" Liara asked.</p>
      <p>"It's inevitable." Axel said with a shrug. "They're always going to be around."</p>
      <p>That didn't really sit well with the natives of this galaxy. The idea of facing a perpetual enemy that would never go away?</p>
      <p>"There isn't a way of beating them permanently?" Kaidan asked.</p>
      <p>"Is there a way of preventing time from flowing or space from existing?" Axel asked rhetorically. "Sure there's Time spells and all but it always flows in the end. We can only theorize at this point. The Heartless have always been a mysterious bunch."</p>
      <p>"Well that just settled <em>all </em>of our worries and concerns." Came Ashley's sarcastic voice.</p>
      <p>Roxas pondered a little as his mind briefly flashed to parts of Sora's adventures.</p>
      <p>"It might be a bit of a stretch of halting their numbers in coming here, but it might be a stretch." He spoke up, gaining the group's attention.</p>
      <p>"Which would be what exactly?" Shepard asked.</p>
      <p>"Finding the Keyhole to this galaxy." Roxas stated gaining nothing but confusion from the others save for Xion and Axel.</p>
      <p>"I'm sorry, a Keyhole?" Garrus said.</p>
      <p>"To this galaxy?" Wrex tacked on.</p>
      <p>"What's that supposed to do?" Ashley asked.</p>
      <p>"Where we come from, a Keyhole is… I guess you could call it the access point to the Heart of the World." Roxas elaborated. "You get to the Heart of the World and… well, honestly I don't know what would happen if any normal person would find it. But with the Heartless, it means they could swallow up and consume the World into Darkness."</p>
      <p>Ashley pondered this for a moment. "Like what was going on with the Citadel when we were fighting Sovereign?"</p>
      <p>"Sorta." Roxas said giving an iffy hand gesture. "The Citadel I think is a bit of a different case and really, this whole galaxy is. It doesn't operate on the laws that our Worlds do."</p>
      <p>"But what would happen if this place, say, did have a Keyhole?" Liara brought up. "What would you do with it if you find it?"</p>
      <p>"Finding the Keyhole and locking it up will prevent the Heartless from consuming the world and letting it fall into darkness. But so far we haven't heard any reports of any worlds in this galaxy disappearing out of the blue or any catastrophic ones." Roxas answered.</p>
      <p>"Hopefully, it stays that way." Ash murmured.</p>
      <p>"I think that's highly unlikely." Axel said. "Again, like Rocky said, this Galaxy operates on a different set of laws from what we have."</p>
      <p>"I think there's a serious problem with us tempting fate like this." Kaidan stated. "Like we're really asking for just something bad to happen to us."</p>
      <p>"You do know that we all possess hazardous occupations right?" Shepard asked rhetorically. "Most of which we signed up for willingly."</p>
      <p>"Still, we-"</p>
      <p>"Excuse me?"</p>
      <p>The group turned over to see a human woman with a drone hovering over her shoulder and an expectant look directed at one Spectre amongst the team.</p>
      <p>Jane exhaled a sigh and muttered under her breath. "Oh not her again."</p>
      <p>"Who's she?" Xion asked, gazing over at her.</p>
      <p>"A major pain in my ass." Shepard stated, glaring at the woman out of the corner of her eyes. "Take five people. I'll handle this."</p>
      <p>Whilst the most the team left the Commander, Jane felt someone's elbow leaning on her shoulder.</p>
      <p>Looking over, she saw Axel casually leaning against her while looking up at the skies above in disinterest.</p>
      <p>"Axel?"</p>
      <p>"Hmmm? Oh, what, you say something?" Axel asked conversationally.</p>
      <p>"Axel, what-"</p>
      <p>"You really think you should be left alone with a reporter? Those guys are jackasses to the highest degree." Axel cut her off. "You're not facing this one alone."</p>
      <p>"Not <em>all</em> of them are." Jane defended.</p>
      <p>"Really? Then what was that face you made when you saw her?"</p>
      <p>Shepard's brow twitched at the mention of the reporter standing a few feet away from them. "This woman's different."</p>
      <p>"Right~ clearly."</p>
      <p>The Spectre let out a sigh. "Come on, I'd rather get this over with."</p>
      <p>The two redheads walked over to the woman who briefly gazed at Axel before turning back to her main target.</p>
      <p>"Commander Shepard, a pleasure to see you again."</p>
      <p>"What do you want, Khalisah?" Shepard asked bluntly, crossing her arms in annoyance.</p>
      <p>"I believe you should know the answer to that already, Commander." The reporter stated with a wry smile.</p>
      <p>Jane is very much not in the mood. "You tried to make me look bad by having me appear that I was selling out to the Council."</p>
      <p>"And yet you've proved me wrong." The reporter countered smoothly.</p>
      <p>"Then why are you here for exactly?"</p>
      <p>"Getting some information cleared up after what happened in the attack last week." Khalisah activated her hover drone right after. A blaring light quickly appeared, making Jane squint for a little moment before adjusting her sight.</p>
      <p>"Sources claim you were at the heart of the Presidium during the Battle of the Citadel. It's fair to say the course of the battle hinged on your words."</p>
      <p>"Yes, I was."</p>
      <p>"How was it that you arrived in time when other sources cite the Normandy departing from the Citadel?"</p>
      <p>"Let's just say it was a convoluted mess and leave it at that." Shepard said with a tone that brokered no argument. "All that mattered was my team and I made it here in time to prevent Saren and Sovereign from taking over the Citadel."</p>
      <p>"Of course." Khalisah said. "Am I also to understand that you had a direct hand in saving the Council that was aboard the Destiny Ascension correct?"</p>
      <p>"More or less." Shepard said, eyes narrowing.</p>
      <p>"If this is all true, you told Admiral Hackett to assist the Destiny Ascension, costing hundreds of human lives and securing the continued dominance of the Citadel Council."</p>
      <p>"The Turians lost twenty cruisers, each had a crew of around three hundred. The asari dreadnought we saved had a crew of nearly ten thousand." Shepard countered.</p>
      <p>"But surely the human cost-"</p>
      <p>"I'm well aware of the cost that humanity suffered that day. The Alliance lost eight cruisers, Shinyang, Emden, Jakarta, Cairo, Seoul, Capetown, Warsaw, Madrid and yes I remember them all as I wanted to know who we lost that day." Shepard said firmly. "The Alliance owes them all more than medals. The Council owes them a lot more than that. Their sacrifice assured their own survival. But to state that we were the only ones that had lost lives would be incredibly selfish on our part. The Turian fleet suffered tremendous losses as well with the number I mentioned earlier."</p>
      <p>"But many are still-"</p>
      <p>"Ma'am, you are not a soldier." Shepard cut her off once again. "You do not understand the intricacies and hard choices commanding officers and basic foot soldiers have to endure. While men and women go out there to openly throw their own lives out for the safety and sake of others, you get to talk about from the comfort of your own home and spin the story into something that would crank up your ratings rather than show them the truth."</p>
      <p>"I'm merely doing my job, Commander."</p>
      <p>"Yeah, well, so am I."</p>
      <p>Jane's patience was wearing thin, something which Axel took note of.</p>
      <p>"Okay, we're done here." Axel declared</p>
      <p>Khalisah took better note of the dark suited redhead when he jumped in to seemingly end the interview.</p>
      <p>"Ah, one of her team I presume."</p>
      <p>Axel crossed his arms with an unimpressed look being directed at her. "Yes I am."</p>
      <p>"Some people claim that you two are an item."</p>
      <p>"...I'm sorry what?" Jane asked after a moment.</p>
      <p>"Some people?" Axel quirked a brow. "Or just you cause you need shitty tabloids."</p>
      <p>"Oh, so you're not a couple?"</p>
      <p>"No." they both answered flatly.</p>
      <p>"I think I've had enough of your "interview" ma'am." Jane said with a small glare. "You're disingenuous insinuations coupled with your trying to pry into my personal life is rather unbecoming of a reporter."</p>
      <p>"Couldn't agree more, Commander." No. VIII proclaimed with a devious smirk and thought appearing.</p>
      <p>With his hand held low, Axel snapped his finger.</p>
      <p>In an instant, the drone beside Khalisah suddenly combusted into a ball of flame.</p>
      <p>"NO!" the reporter cried out in abject shock and horror at the sight of her drown falling apart as the fires consumed it.</p>
      <p>"Oh no." Axel said in false concern. "Whatever happened to your little buddy?"</p>
      <p>Jane barely held back her laugh at the sight of Khalisah falling to her knees before the scrapped metal of her drone.</p>
      <p>"It's gonna come out of my salary for a replacement!"</p>
      <p>Axel softly grasped Jane's arm and muttered loud enough for her to hear. "We should skedaddle."</p>
      <p>"Yes we should."</p>
      <p>Silently moving away from the scene, they soon bled into the nearby crowd so the one news reporter wouldn't be able to find them. Before long, they would be absent from the area.</p>
      <p>"You did something to that drone." Jane stated rather than asked.</p>
      <p>Axel shrugged noncommittally. "Maybe I did, maybe I didn't."</p>
      <p>Jane only smirked, bumping her elbow against him. "Nice work."</p>
      <p>"What was the deal with that bitch anyway?" Axel asked, thumbing back to her. "What'd she do to you last time?"</p>
      <p>"A news reporter trying to hastily up her ratings by seeking out 'good stories', instead of steadily climbing with normal ones." Jane spat out. "Really, she is just a bitch."</p>
      <p>"That's what I just called her."</p>
      <p>"And in case you forgot on what I said to her, she tried to make it seem I was backstabbing my people and sucking up to the Council." She said. "In all honesty, I was being professional so I won't make humanity look bad and yet…"</p>
      <p>"Eh~" Axel said, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Not much you can do about crooked little assholes like her."</p>
      <p>Jane snorted. "It's a bit of a contradiction of her name. Her attitude, I mean."</p>
      <p>"Why's that?"</p>
      <p>"Khalisah in the Arabic language means sincere and pure."</p>
      <p>Axel blinked before releasing a snort. "Yikes. She doesn't embrace her namesake at all. Instead she only embodies smear campaigns for her journalism."</p>
      <p>"Exactly."</p>
      <p>"And where'd she get the idea that we were a couple."</p>
      <p>"Who knows."</p>
      <p>"Ah come on <em>darling.</em>" Axel drawled out, throwing his arm over her. "Can't you see what we have is special?"</p>
      <p>"Fuck off." Shepard laughed, shoving him off.</p>
      <p>The Nobody laughed in return.</p>
      <p>As they kept on walking, Axel remembered something she mentioned earlier.</p>
      <p>"Didn't you say that not all reporters were bad?"</p>
      <p>"I did, why?"</p>
      <p>"Who was it?"</p>
      <p>Shepard blinked before the metaphorical lightbulb in her head lit up.</p>
      <p>"Emily Wong." Shepard said with a fond nod. "She's a good reporter. And better yet, a good person."</p>
      <p>"Really now? Good how exactly?"</p>
      <p>"The complete opposite of the bitch." Was the response. "Emily is a professional and didn't push the wrong buttons. Actually wanted to get onto real topics that would benefit the Citadel's populace and the like. She even asked me to plant a bug in the Citadel control center so she can tap into a number of things to get accurate data for her reports. Checked up on them and they were legit. Not once did she break away on what we agreed on."</p>
      <p>"Sounds like she has a good Heart." Axel murmured.</p>
      <p>The Spectre had her gaze linger upon the Nobody until she cleared her throat to continue on.</p>
      <p>"In fact she does." Shepard then adopted a thoughtful look. "Speaking of… I should probably get in contact with her."</p>
      <p>"Why's that?"</p>
      <p>"Promised her an interview when my investigation with Saren was over." She informed him. "It's been a week now and things are finally settling down, more or less, on the Citadel."</p>
      <p>"Then what are you waiting for? Call her up."</p>
      <p>With how well Shepard's speaking highly of this reporter, he wanted to see if she was the genuine article instead of having his leg pulled.</p>
      <p>He wanted to witness good journalism at its finest.</p>
      <p>Nodding, Jane pulled out her Omni-tool and scrolled down her contacts. Once finding it, she made the call and set up the meeting.</p>
      <p>
        <em>-Scene Cut-</em>
      </p>
      <p>Liara and Ashley were walking together, the duo walking around the Presidium Commons with the two trying to find a place to eat.</p>
      <p>They had settled for the Apollo's cafe, the two ladies enjoying a simple and quaint meal until…</p>
      <p>"Hmm?" Ashley heard a ping from her Omni-Tool, bringing it up.</p>
      <p>"What is it?" Liara asked. "Is something wrong?"</p>
      <p>Ash took a moment to read the message she had just received only for a smile to spread across her face. "No, just my sisters."</p>
      <p>"What about them?"</p>
      <p>"They decided to show up on the Citadel for a surprise visit." She exhaled a small sigh. "Yet they have no idea where to find me to spring the 'surprise'."</p>
      <p>"Oh? That sounds delightful." Liara said. "They came to see you."</p>
      <p>Ash had a bashful look appear now. "Yeah, my little bunch of troublemakers."</p>
      <p>"Did you inform them on your promotion?" Liara asked.</p>
      <p>"You kidding? It was the first thing I told my family after we left the Arcturus Station." Ashley chuckled out. "They thought I was joking until I showed off my new rank over a video-call and they utterly flipped."</p>
      <p>"So they came here to celebrate with you." Liara said, knowing this to be true.</p>
      <p>A loving smile was present on the promoted Marine's expression.</p>
      <p>"Basically yes."</p>
      <p>"Then go see them."</p>
      <p>"Huh?"</p>
      <p>"They're waiting for you aren't they."</p>
      <p>"Wha- Liara, I'm spending time with you right now." Ash countered. "That's rude just to leave you like that."</p>
      <p>"Ashley, it's fine. Be with your family." Liara insisted.</p>
      <p>"You sure? I don't wanna-"</p>
      <p>"I could play my mother card you know."</p>
      <p>"What?" Ash said in utter bewilderment.</p>
      <p>"Oh you know, how tragic it was that I didn't spend as much time as I could have with my mother and you should take advantage of the time you-"</p>
      <p>"Ok, first of all, that is some cold shit right there Liara." Ash cut her off. "Second, you've been spending time with Wrex and Axel, haven't you?"</p>
      <p>"I have no idea what you're talking about."</p>
      <p>Ash gave her friend a flat look that devolved into a small chuckle. "Okay. I'll head off. But I swear I'll make up for this."</p>
      <p>"We'll have all the time we need afterwards."</p>
      <p>"See ya later, Liara."</p>
      <p>Liara nodded as she saw her friend leave their table and make off to where her sisters were presently waiting for her.</p>
      <p>With her by herself now, the small smile she wore waned a little.</p>
      <p>All that talk of family…</p>
      <p>She looked down to her arm opposing where her own Omni-tool resided. There she saw her mother's Omni-tool, the last thing she has left of her.</p>
      <p>Despite already reading through the entirety of the device's contents -painstakingly memorizing everything there is in there- she still kept it for sentimental reasons.</p>
      <p>"Well now, this is a pleasant surprise."</p>
      <p>Liara blinked and turned over to see-</p>
      <p>"Zo?"</p>
      <p>The silver-grey haired man gave a small nod to her, a cup of tea in hand. "A pleasure to see again, Ms. T'soni. I hope you are doing well."</p>
      <p>"Well enough." Liara said neutrally to the man sitting at the table beside hers. "And the same goes for you, perhaps?"</p>
      <p>The man before her merely shrugged. "It is as well as it can be, Ms. T'soni."</p>
      <p>"Please, call me Liara." The Asari politely said with the silvery-grey haired man nodded in acceptance.</p>
      <p>"Is this seat taken?"</p>
      <p>The Prothean expert merely gestured silently for the man to occupy the chair which he did.</p>
      <p>"It seems I caught you at a bad time."</p>
      <p>Liara tilted her head. "What makes you say that?"</p>
      <p>"You seemed to be rather troubled by something when I saw your face." Zo pointed out. "Is there something amiss?"</p>
      <p>"Nothing bad, I assure you." Liara said. "Just… thinking on past matters."</p>
      <p>"It seems to have quite the effect on you." Zo murmured, crossing his arms with one hand up to his chin.</p>
      <p>Liara didn't respond, her eyes gazing back down to her mother's Omni-Tool.</p>
      <p>"You could say that."</p>
      <p>"What is it?" Zo asked softly. "If you don't mind me asking. I do not wish to infringe upon it if it is… personal."</p>
      <p>Liara gazed up at the silver-haired human, gazing at his aqua-colored eyes.</p>
      <p>They were highly unusual to her but… she couldn't quite place it.</p>
      <p>She couldn't deny that they were rather uncomfortable to look at due to them being a bit distant.</p>
      <p>Liara wasn't the most sociable person in comparison to a majority of her friends but she figures she has at least learned a decent amount in terms of social interactions.</p>
      <p>And with Zo's eyes… there was something off putting about them.</p>
      <p>Still, Liara had learned that it was better to sometimes just talk about what troubles her rather than hold it in.</p>
      <p>Even if it was to complete strangers.</p>
      <p>"I am… thinking about my mother." Liara admitted after a few seconds.</p>
      <p>"Your mother?" Zo said in intrigue.</p>
      <p>"My mother was… distant as years went by." Liara gazed back at her mother's Omni-tool. "Never really understood the reason why, no matter how much I looked into it as of late. I assume it was due to a series of mistakes she made throughout her life."</p>
      <p>"And this drove a wedge between you both I take it?"</p>
      <p>Liara nodded. "We didn't see each other for years, close to two decades."</p>
      <p>"Two decades?" Zo said in surprise. "How is- Ah, yes, apologies for my lack of awareness. I had forgotten the longevity that your species possesses."</p>
      <p>"Years can go by in a blink for an Asari." Liara said with a small, humored voice. "But with my mother… it was strange how it felt far longer and drawn out."</p>
      <p>Zo gazed upon Liara intently.</p>
      <p>"Were you able to make up in the end?"</p>
      <p>She sighed, slouching back into her chair. "...Not exactly. But she did tell me that she does love me and heavily regrets not being there for me prior to her passing."</p>
      <p>"Did that… assuage any regrets you yourself may have had?"</p>
      <p>"Regrets? No, I'm not truly sure." Liara said earnestly. "But… I just wished that I had known what caused our rift. What caused her divergence to wind up…"</p>
      <p>She left that last comment unfinished, prompting Zo to give his own reasoning.</p>
      <p>"Neither of you two bothered to get in contact with each other. A normal circumstance in your given situation."</p>
      <p>"It's not as simple as that." Liara stated, tone sharp now.</p>
      <p>"Apologies, but I'm just stating a small fact. Most people try not to speak with each other when their paths tend to branch off from one another."</p>
      <p>Liara gave him a hard stare until she let out a sigh.</p>
      <p>"I guess I never really tried to make amends with her."</p>
      <p>"And neither did she." Zo said. "Nothing to be ashamed of in that regard."</p>
      <p>"But I should have at least tried to." Liara argued back.</p>
      <p>"What of your father?" Zo inquired.</p>
      <p>"We never talked about her." Liara said quickly.</p>
      <p>The human man was certainly confused as to what she had just said. "Her? You mean-?"</p>
      <p>"My 'father' was an asari."</p>
      <p>Zo hummed aloud. "And… is this an… unusual topic?"</p>
      <p>"Are you familiar with the Asari and the means in which my kind reproduces?"</p>
      <p>"Can't say I have." Zo admitted.</p>
      <p>"If you'll indulge me." Liara said with Zo simply nodding for the go ahead.</p>
      <p>"We are a monogendered race who can mate and successfully reproduce with any other gender or species through a form of parthenogenesis. Yet our reproduction is very different from the norm. We provide two copies of our own genes to the offspring, one of which is passed on unaltered. The other is during our melding process."</p>
      <p>"And how does that work, if you don't mind?"</p>
      <p>"In the melding, the asari consciously attunes their nervous system to the partner's, sending and receiving electrical impulses directly through the skin for a more direct means during their brief time of being more intimately unified. Through that particular melding, the mother can procure the best genetic informational traits of the father to help create the child."</p>
      <p>"Then I assume the father is the one who doesn't give birth to the child. And said child will always be an asari." Zo surmised in a hum.</p>
      <p>"Correct on both counts."</p>
      <p>"Then what of your parentage of both being asari? Didn't you say asari can procreate with other races?"</p>
      <p>"They do, yet it's suggested we try not to mate with our own kind."</p>
      <p>"How so? From what you told me; wouldn't it be beneficial in having two of your best procreate in having a child that holds the best traits from both parents?"</p>
      <p>Liara actually smiled at that. "I wish it were as simple as you say. Growing up, it was a little difficult. Other asari who knew how I was conceived labeled me a 'pureblood', a slur that has gone on for centuries."</p>
      <p>Zo frowned at this moniker. "I don't understand why that's a problem?"</p>
      <p>"My people believe it's best to… procreate and birth newer generations with other species. If we were to mate with our own kind, our children have a higher risk of developing… <em>issues</em>."</p>
      <p>Zo could tell the present topic was difficult for Liara to continue on. Something else about it was a little unsettling to dwell even further so he decided to change things up.</p>
      <p>"Then… what did you do in response to all of this?"</p>
      <p>"Threw myself entirely into my research of the Prothean Empire." Liara freely admitted. "I had always held a deep fascination in the histories of civilization and the Protheans were the crown jewel for all to uncover. Isolating myself in my studies and education in my field."</p>
      <p>Zo found himself staring at the Asari, completely fascinated by her now.</p>
      <p>"I never really knew my parents." He revealed to her. "Or at least I might've but forgotten when I was a young child."</p>
      <p>Liara was certainly thrown off by this admittance but then she took a moment to gaze at his eyes.</p>
      <p>There was… something different about them now. They held a spark to them that showed there was more to this man than just his calm and collected visage he appears to always portray.</p>
      <p>"I had tried for many years to recall them yet… I never could, no matter how hard I tried." Zo murmured. "What I do remember about them is that they cared for me. That is good enough for me."</p>
      <p>Liara found herself fascinated now. "What happened to you afterwards?"</p>
      <p>"I was taken in by a man who I would eventually grow to call 'father', a man who became a great mentor of mine as years went on." Zo said.</p>
      <p>"And how was he a mentor to you?"</p>
      <p>"Taught me everything I know, the many fields of science, philosophies, etc. etc." Zo recollected. "He… fed my insatiable want for knowledge, encouraged it even. And though I was just a boy he… he even took my own suggestions and opinions into account to further our studies and research."</p>
      <p>Zo's entire demeanor had changed with Liara comparing it to what he had earlier. Before, he appeared very reserved and calm with a very stoic and cool aura that seemed unshakable.</p>
      <p>Yet now, it appeared far more relaxed and perhaps a bit more jubilant, if she dared to call it that.</p>
      <p>"What happened to this mentor of yours?" Liara found herself asking.</p>
      <p>In an instant, Zo's mood fell and reverted back to what he had when he first sat down with her.</p>
      <p>"There was… a falling out over about a decade ago. We haven't seen -let alone contacted- each other since." Zo said bitterly.</p>
      <p>"What happened?" Liara asked.</p>
      <p>"He was not the man he appeared to be." Zo's tone was cold now, sending a shiver down Liara's spine. "He lied and betrayed me and the other apprentices under him and…"</p>
      <p>The silver-haired man stopped himself, clamping his mouth shut.</p>
      <p>"Forgive my rambles, it's a topic that-"</p>
      <p>"No, no, no need for that." Liara quickly said. "You listened to me when I spoke of my parents. It is only fair that I do the same with your parental figure."</p>
      <p>Zo nodded with a soft exhale as he clasped his hands together. "It's just a sensitive subject to dwell upon. A hard time of my… <em>existence</em>."</p>
      <p>The Asari in front of him momentarily squinted at the last word he spoke, gaining a strange feeling of familiarity.</p>
      <p>He appeared to still be greatly troubled about what he had spoken of.</p>
      <p>"I just wish I could understand what led him to turn against us all."</p>
      <p>"You never found out?"</p>
      <p>Zo was silent, his expression blank but Liara saw a sudden haunting look of realization in his eyes. As a matter of fact, she had seen the same look once before on her own face after what had happened on Noveria.</p>
      <p>Letting out an understanding sigh, she gave the man a sympathetic look. "In the past few weeks Zo, I have learned from my own mother and the friends I've made that nothing is as always as it seems."</p>
      <p>He seemed to realize he hadn't responded, clearing his throat a moment later. "Seems that topic is in repetition."</p>
      <p>"Pardon?"</p>
      <p>"Sorry, a spoken thought, nothing more." Zo waved off.</p>
      <p>A momentary silence hung between the two with Zo taking the chance to sip his tea.</p>
      <p>"What have you been doing since we last spoke?" He asked.</p>
      <p>"I went to a Prothean site recently and I enjoyed it immensely."</p>
      <p>Liara wasn't lying when she said that. In fact, it was a mere sliver of how she felt when she made her proper return to Ilos.</p>
      <p>Despite the details on the full reason for the Normandy's venture to the Prothean planet, she learned so much more about the dead civilization than she did prior.</p>
      <p>Asides from what she and her friends were able to keep from their findings, the rest were silently given to a number of individuals and groups so the media wouldn't be heavily stirred for a massive public announcement.</p>
      <p>No one on the Normandy wanted to get more attention aimed towards them after what happened with the Battle of the Citadel.</p>
      <p>"Did you get something good from out of it?"</p>
      <p>"I most <em>certainly</em> did. Asides from the contributions made as of late, I did keep a number of things." Liara said with a pleased expression.</p>
      <p>"Like what?"</p>
      <p>Liara quickly chose her words wisely. "One of which was a painting."</p>
      <p>"Beg your pardon, Liara, but a painting?" The Silver-haired man said for clarity.</p>
      <p>"Not just any painting, but one that was still intact after 50,000 years."</p>
      <p>Zo hummed. "Interesting. What is the painting of exactly?"</p>
      <p>Liara bore a bright, soft smile. "A view of Ilos' landscape when it was still prosperous. A rather beautiful one."</p>
      <p>"And where is it now?"</p>
      <p>"A place where I'm keeping it safe for the time being until I properly find my own place to settle down." Liara said. "Would you like to see it, if given the chance?"</p>
      <p>"I shall hold you to that." Zo said. "I do not wish for you to go out of your way and leave your tea unfinished."</p>
      <p>Liara found herself chuckling and nodded, taking a sip of her own tea as they were silent for a few moments.</p>
      <p>"And what of you, Zo?"</p>
      <p>The silver-grey haired man was silent for a brief moment. "I was just carrying out my work and studies."</p>
      <p>"Studying what?"</p>
      <p>"Behavior." Zo revealed. "Interactions between individuals depending on circumstance, scenario and the relationships that had been developed."</p>
      <p>"Oh~" Liara found herself fascinated by such a concept. "What have you learned?"</p>
      <p>Zo was silent for a brief few moments until he let out a 'hmph' of amusement.</p>
      <p>"Things are always far more complicated than they seem." Zo stated. "Sentient life continues to be something we perhaps may never truly fathom to understand."</p>
      <p>Liara nodded as she was silent throughout his discussion.</p>
      <p>Despite his tone of voice, the asari could feel how passionate he was in his field of study. Dwelling into such things that could be arguably overlooked by many.</p>
      <p>Time passed between the pair as they went back and forth in expanding their own studious research.</p>
      <p>Eventually topics shifted which they found quite enjoyable. Stories of travels and experiences each other had to a number of other situations.</p>
      <p>"I have to thank you, Liara." Zo stated the Citadel station shifted to a darker setting. "This has been a refreshing change of pace from what I am usually doing and it was a pleasure speaking to you again."</p>
      <p>"I must thank you as well, Zo." Liara said truthfully. "I did not realize that I perhaps needed something like this."</p>
      <p>Zo gave her a small smirk that appeared genuine. "Perhaps… we may speak again. I find myself enjoying our talks, few times as they may have been."</p>
      <p>"I would like that very much."</p>
      <p>The silver-grey haired man nodded as he soon left the table. With a simple handwave, he vacated the area to head off to his own devices.</p>
      <p>Liara watched as he walked away until he was out of sight with her finishing her tea and departing shortly after.</p>
      <p>She didn't know what Jane thought of her warning towards Zo. The asari archaeologist thought he was quite pleasant and held nothing nefarious about him.</p>
      <p>
        <em>-Scene Cut-</em>
      </p>
      <p>Jane Shepard stood at the far end of the cafeteria with Garrus and Tali by her side as this trio observed the Nobody Trio currently seated at their own table.</p>
      <p>Well, seated would be putting it politely.</p>
      <p>More like the trio was strewn about the table with Axel leaning his head back over his seat with his arms hanging by his sides in a posture that conveyed utter boredom.</p>
      <p>Roxas had his face planted on the table and Xion had her arms crossed with her head placed upon them, half-lidded eyes.</p>
      <p>"And they've been there for how long now?" Shepard asked the two by her with Garrus holding up his Omni-Tool.</p>
      <p>"About… two hours by this point."</p>
      <p>"Stitch came by earlier and he couldn't get any of them to eat the brownies he made." Tali pointed out.</p>
      <p>Jane sighed aloud. "Alright. Guess there's only one way to find out then."</p>
      <p>She promptly marched over to them with Tali and Garrus on her heels.</p>
      <p>Arriving at the table, she seated herself by Axel, Tali by Roxas and Garrus by Xion.</p>
      <p>None of them responded to their arrivals making Shepard role her eyes.</p>
      <p>"Alright, theatrics aside. Stating the obvious here, but is there something the matter?"</p>
      <p>Roxas raised his head, chin resting on the table as he gave her a dull look.</p>
      <p>"I… don't… know…"</p>
      <p>"Yes we do, Roxas." Xion said, voice muffled as her face was now in her arms.</p>
      <p>"You guys are the epitome of dreary boredom." Garrus stated. "I feel like if I stay here too long, I might catch what's wrong with you all."</p>
      <p>"Come on." Tali lightly shook an unphased No. XIII. "What's the matter guys? You can talk to us."</p>
      <p>The Nobodies collectively groaned aloud at once with Jane now laughing.</p>
      <p>"Ok, that was boredom in stereo."</p>
      <p>"There's honestly nothing going on now." Axel complained. "No real destinations to venture towards and nothing interesting happening since Della left along with Kaidan's and Ashley's promotion."</p>
      <p>"Well… what do you guys normally do?" Tali asked.</p>
      <p>"Besides eating Ice cream." Garrus quickly chimed in just as he saw their mouths collectively open.</p>
      <p>"Well there goes half our usual plan." Roxas remarked.</p>
      <p>"What's the other half?" Jane inquired.</p>
      <p>There was a brief pause from the Nobodies until their eyes all began to widen in realization.</p>
      <p>"Wow… we've been so busy with everything we've done we completely forgot about <em>that.</em>" Axel groaned, palming his face.</p>
      <p>"Huh?" Tali said.</p>
      <p>"For those of us who aren't you guys, care to explain?" Garrus asked.</p>
      <p>Xion held a longing gaze in her eyes as she spoke. "We normally watch the sunset at the end of a mission or workday."</p>
      <p>Shepard, Tali and Garrus exchanged looks with each other.</p>
      <p>"Well… sunsets are relaxing, I guess." Shepard said.</p>
      <p>"More than that actually." Tali suddenly said with a happy tone.</p>
      <p>Roxas only shook his head. "Any normal sunsets are fine, but it's the location of the sunset in particular. Everywhere else seems to pale in comparison."</p>
      <p>As this was spoken, Roxas' eyes momentarily flashed back to when he and Tali were on Rannoch the other day. He could call himself blasphemous in thinking such a thing, but Rannoch's sunset was… <em>beautiful</em> and possibly equal to or better than the one he yearned to see once more.</p>
      <p>"And where would that be?"</p>
      <p>A solemn gaze fell over the young boy as he took a second to answer. "Twilight Town."</p>
      <p>Hearing this, Tali spoke. "I remember you telling me that once a while back."</p>
      <p>"Oh yeah, I did, didn't I?" Roxas said with a fond smile.</p>
      <p>"You were rather passionate about it if I remember it correctly." Tali noted.</p>
      <p>"So this Twilight Town is supposed to have the best sunset around?" Garrus asked with the Nobodies nodding. "What makes it so special?"</p>
      <p>"Well if we told you, that would ruin the surprise." Axel remarked cheekily. "You wouldn't want that, would you?"</p>
      <p>Garrus gave the fiery redhead a dry look with the man returning it with a wide grin.</p>
      <p>"Then this Twilight Town is a "World" I take it back in your galaxy?" Jane inquired with Tali and Garrus now greatly intrigued by this prospect.</p>
      <p>"Yeah, basically." Xion confirmed.</p>
      <p>"You know, that's actually the World where the Organization found Roxas." Axel revealed, making everyone turn their heads towards him.</p>
      <p>"Oh yeah, it was." Roxas confirmed.</p>
      <p>"So you guys… do you… wish to return to this Twilight Town?" Shepard asked.</p>
      <p>"We could, but we don't know if our presence there will tip off the Organization." Axel pointed out grumpily.</p>
      <p>"They are still searching for us." Xion murmured worriedly.</p>
      <p>Shepard frowned when she heard this.</p>
      <p>It was strange to consider the fact that technically, the Normandy was harboring three fugitives from another galaxy from a group of superhumans that defy the laws of nature.</p>
      <p>Some of the ground team, outside of the Nobody trio, already has experience with their brief encounter with Marluxia and he can be said to be terrifying in his own right.</p>
      <p>"I think we should go." Shepard declared after a few moments, surprising them.</p>
      <p>This got the three Nobodies to look at her in some respective bits of surprise.</p>
      <p>"Huh?"</p>
      <p>"Excuse me?"</p>
      <p>"You heard me." Jane said firmly. "Hey, it's either we go there or we just sit around and wait for another mission to come our way. And who knows when that will happen."</p>
      <p>Hearing Shepard say this did give a good argument.</p>
      <p>After some moments talking to each other, the three Nobodies addressed the Normandy's Commander.</p>
      <p>"Alright, we'll go."</p>
      <p>"Good." Said Jane. "I'll get the ship ready for a jump."</p>
      <p>"You got it."</p>
      <p>"Shepard, you sure about this?" Garrus asked.</p>
      <p>"Absolutely not." Jane admitted, nearly causing the Turian to fall to the ground at such a statement. "But frankly, I can't help myself. We have the chance to go to another galaxy and this time <em>intentionally</em>. And I'm pretty sure Ash, Wrex and Liara would be all for it since they missed out on it last time."</p>
      <p>"Last time was an accident. Things happened when he had to escape Virmire." Tali reminded them.</p>
      <p>"Yeah, but this time, it's intentional like Shepard said." Roxas stated with a wide smile. "Come on, let's go."</p>
      <p>"You heard him folks." Shepard declared. "To Twilight Town."</p>
      <p>Once the Normandy departed from the Citadel, Xion and Roxas had their Keyblades out. Pointing their respective weapons onward from the ship's helm, a beam was formed at their tips and shot out through the window.</p>
      <p>Reaching a certain distance away, a pathway opened up with the swirling mass of light forming before them.</p>
      <p>Having everything at the ready, Joker maneuvered the Normandy to traverse through the Lane before the doorway closed right behind the Alliance ship.</p>
      <p>
        <em>-Scene Cut-</em>
      </p>
      <p>
        <em>An array of lights went by with two large T's appearing before a glowing light formed into a city known as…</em>
      </p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>Twilight Town</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>-Insert Kingdom Hearts II: Lazy Afternoons-</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>Roxas walked forward in the Market Street of Twilight Town, an overwhelming wave of nostalgia washing over him when he gazed upon the World that he was "born" in.</p>
      <p>A wide smile found its way on the young Nobody with him feeling Axel place a hand on his shoulder whilst Xion leaned slightly upon him.</p>
      <p>"It's good to be back." Axel stated, unable to contain his own smile at being back here.</p>
      <p>Xion blinked slightly, reaching up to wipe her eyes with her sleeve whilst sporting a beaming grin the entire time.</p>
      <p>The others of the Normandy ground team looked at the sky above to see the orange-yellow hue it bore.</p>
      <p>To Kaidan, it reminded him of a perpetual sunset, something that occurred in some parts of Canada back home; especially when getting closer to the northern area of Alaska.</p>
      <p>Ashley found herself feeling a strange sense of comfort and laziness that washed over her yet there was a jittery feeling at the fact that she was in another galaxy. She could barely contain herself from just running forward and just taking it all in.</p>
      <p>This feeling was shared with her by Liara who was equally as enraptured with the fact that they were in another World and other Galaxy.</p>
      <p>Garrus and Tali shared the same thoughts as their asari friend. Even if he didn't show it, Wrex had a similar feeling.</p>
      <p>Jane was just surprised at how smoothly they had gotten here without much fuss and that this truly was possible.</p>
      <p>The air here was calm and soothing with Shepard feeling herself relax entirely.</p>
      <p>Stitch had joined them and quickly sniffed about in the air before going off in the direction that caught his scent.</p>
      <p>Without warning, Roxas ran forward with Xion going right after him.</p>
      <p>"Hey, Roxas, wait!" Tali said, rushing after the two. "We don't know this place like you do!"</p>
      <p>As those three ran off, Wrex simply walked off into a random direction to look around for himself.</p>
      <p>"Where do we even-"</p>
      <p>"This way." Axel gestured for them to follow after him.</p>
      <p>Walking through Market Street, they saw a train car moving along the tracks. The group stood back as some took note of them, especially the non-humans.</p>
      <p>"You don't see those every day." Ash muttered.</p>
      <p>"You mean, you don't see those <em>at all</em>." Kaidan stated. "Only see those on some parts of Earth, even then they're a rarity outside of museums."</p>
      <p>"What are those things again?" Garrus asked.</p>
      <p>"Train cars." Shepard simply said. "An early mode of transportation in our history."</p>
      <p>Breaking their attention away from the train car, the group traversed further through the town.</p>
      <p>"I find it really strange that I'm <em>only</em> seeing humans here." Ash admitted, rubbing the top of her head.</p>
      <p>"And yet none of the natives are really surprised to see us here." Garrus noted.</p>
      <p>"I have been seeing some occasional glances, but nothing too out of place." Liara murmured.</p>
      <p>"This is a World that rests within the realms between." Axel said. "It's a special World. And strange appearances are a common occurrence here."</p>
      <p>"That literally explains <em>nothing.</em>" Shepard deadpanned.</p>
      <p>Axel merely shrugged. "World order."</p>
      <p>"That doesn't help at all." Ash exclaimed in disbelief. "How are you the smart one out of you three?"</p>
      <p>"Cause I just am."</p>
      <p>Eyerolls were then made.</p>
      <p>"Yeah, keep telling yourself that." Jane said, reaching up to pat the man's head with him lightly swatting her hand away.</p>
      <p>"Hey, don't mess with the hair." Axel said in a joking serious tone.</p>
      <p>The group continued on as those freshly new to this world were given a tour by the three Nobodies.</p>
      <p>"Where's this lead?" Kaidan asked, standing in front of a large gate with the number 4 above it.</p>
      <p>"That's the underground concourse of the Town." Axel stated. "Connects the whole town together and can lead you to every corner of this place."</p>
      <p>"Should we-"</p>
      <p>"If you wanna get lost for a while."</p>
      <p>"Alright then." They walked away from the underground gate.</p>
      <p>"So where should we go then?" Jane asked.</p>
      <p>"Let's grab a bite to eat." Axel said. "I know a place around here with some juicy steaks that's to die for."</p>
      <p>Back with Roxas, Xion and Tali, the trio got some food together with Tali being unsure of whether or not her body would be capable of consuming this since it wasn't dextro.</p>
      <p>Roxas merely replied to her that the magic of this World would most likely allow for her to consume this without any issue.</p>
      <p>Unsure at first, she decided to trust in Roxas' words and ate her food and she was pleasantly surprised that she had felt no negative reactions from the food. They enjoyed their little meal, walking around the Town all the while. Roxas and Xion spoke of one last destination they needed to go to and that was the train station of Twilight Town.</p>
      <p>The trio walked through the Sandlot on their way to head over to Station Heights when the group was nearly run over by a trio of teenagers.</p>
      <p>"Oops." said a sheepish female voice. "Sorry about that."</p>
      <p>"Yeah, we were rushing to our usual spot." said an apologetic male voice.</p>
      <p>Roxas, Xion and Tali turned to see a group of three teenagers all around Roxas and Xion's age.</p>
      <p>The one in the center had spiky blond hair with brown eyes wearing baggy camo-capris pants, a short sleeveless grey vest and black muscular T-shirt that had a crudely drawn on skull and crossbones.</p>
      <p>To his left was a girl with green eyes and brown hair, wearing an orange tank-top with a white floral design at the bottom, khaki-colored capri pants, and orange socks with white hems. She also wears cream shoes with black and yellow accents and black laces.</p>
      <p>The third member of this little group was a heavy-set boy with brown eyes and black hair that was held up by a headband. He wore a short-sleeved, white shirt with dark cuffs underneath a red jersey with black and white lining. The jersey sports a black silhouette of a seemingly skeletal dog with three bones above it. The phrase "Dog Street" is printed along the left side in large, white letters. He also wears blue pants, blue and white shoes with grey soles, and a purple bandana around his neck.</p>
      <p>"No worries." Xion quickly said. "Sorry we didn't notice you."</p>
      <p>The lead teen of the group before them smiled until he scrunched up his face in thought as he got a good look at them.</p>
      <p>"Say~ are you guys new here?" The blond asked. "We've never seen you around here before."</p>
      <p>"Uh, yeah, we're not from around here." Roxas answered.</p>
      <p>"Out of town?" the Brown haired girl asked.</p>
      <p>"Like you wouldn't believe." Tali muttered.</p>
      <p>The three natives to this world blinked in confusion as they took note on how that was spoken.</p>
      <p>"Huh, that sounded exactly what they said." the headband wearing teen remarked.</p>
      <p>"What now?" Roxas said.</p>
      <p>"Some others we've met recently." The Brown haired girl stated.</p>
      <p>"Well it's nice to meet you guys." The lead teen of the Town natives said politely. "I'm Hayner."</p>
      <p>"Hey there, name's Pence."</p>
      <p>"And I'm Olette. Welcome to Twilight Town."</p>
      <p>"Thanks. I'm Roxas."</p>
      <p>"I'm Xion."</p>
      <p>"Tali." The Quarian was rather surprised at how casually she was being addressed by these teens. She had also noted how she didn't get that much of a reaction out of the inhabitants of this World. Just a few glances but nothing over dramatic.</p>
      <p>"So how are you guys liking Twilight Town?" Pence asked.</p>
      <p>"It's nice here." Xion said. "We've been here before but we never had the time to enjoy it."</p>
      <p>"Glad you're able to this time." Olette said cheerfully. "Much as we'd like to talk more, we've got Homework to do."</p>
      <p>Hayner let out a loud groan, slumping forward with his arms hanging down. "Aw come on, Olette, why'd you have to go and remember that?"</p>
      <p>"No excuses this time, Hayner." Olette said with her arms crossed. "The teacher knew you cheated off me last time so you have to do it on your own."</p>
      <p>Pence laughed at Hayners expense only for the boy to get caught in a headlock courtesy of his blond friend.</p>
      <p>"Laugh at me will you." Hayner growled comically. "Looks like I know who's going to help me this time."</p>
      <p>Pence could only flail in a vain attempt of escape being dragged away by Hayner.</p>
      <p>Olette giggled at her friend's antics, looking over to the trio in front of her with a smile.</p>
      <p>"Nice meeting you all."</p>
      <p>She then went to catch up with her friend's, leaving them there.</p>
      <p>"They seemed nice." Xion said.</p>
      <p>"I wish more people were friendly like them." Tali commented.</p>
      <p>"There you guys are."</p>
      <p>The trio looked over behind them to see Wrex approaching them.</p>
      <p>"Hey Wrex." Xion greeted.</p>
      <p>"Liking your little exploration so far?" Roxas asked.</p>
      <p>"It's alright." He gruffly said. "Very little selections of ware from the shops around here."</p>
      <p>"Not much to be found here." Roxas shrugged. "It's not like Traverse Town."</p>
      <p>Wrex only huffed. "Not much to do around here anyway."</p>
      <p>"Well come on then." Roxas said. "There's one place Axel, Xion and I always go to here."</p>
      <p>Leaving the Sandlot, they were back at Market Street and spotted Axel with the others eating a meal together. Stitch had also joined them with a stack of cakes he was devouring at a record rate.</p>
      <p>Once reunited with them, the large group departed from the Market Street and followed the three Nobodies.</p>
      <p>They all went up the streets of the Town, passing by people here and there.</p>
      <p>Eventually, they reached the Station Heights and the group soon came across the Nobody's' intended destination.</p>
      <p>"Here it is, Twilight Town's Clock Tower." Roxas said with a wide grin.</p>
      <p>The Normandy ground team -save for Stitch- took note of the piece of architecture as they vaguely remember seeing it. Not personally, but through the stained glass platform they were on through the accidental asari mind meld a while back.</p>
      <p>Seeing it plastered on a piece of artwork was one thing but seeing it in person was another as more details were seen on the beautifully constructed clocktower with roman numeral on the clock face.</p>
      <p>"This is the place then?" Ash said, hand over her eyes as she gazed high up at the clocktower.</p>
      <p>"So where exactly do you watch the sunsets again?" Tali asked, looking around. "I don't see anywhere accessible to get a good view."</p>
      <p>"Are you sure we have to go here?" Liara inquired.</p>
      <p>"We most certainly do." Axel said.</p>
      <p>"Then where is this "amazing spot" you guys talked about?" Shepard said with Axel smirking at her, tilting his head up.</p>
      <p>The rest soon followed with several mouths opening slightly.</p>
      <p>"Wait, up there?" Ash pointed to the top of the tower.</p>
      <p>"Yeah, where else would we go?" Roxas asked rhetorically, already walking towards the building.</p>
      <p>"Wait, isn't that a bit-"</p>
      <p>"If you're about to say dangerous then you should really rethink your career path, Kaidan." Axel interrupted, following after Roxas with Xion having already joined him.</p>
      <p>Hesitant at first, the rest soon followed after them.</p>
      <p>Around the side of the building, the group made inside a worker's entrance. Once climbing up the flights of stairs, they went through another door to exit the building.</p>
      <p>When they reached the top, they finally found the location as to where the three Nobodies occasionally hung out at, at the end of each mission.</p>
      <p>"Whoa." Was the first words out of Shepard mouth upon standing at the top of the Clock Tower of Twilight Town.</p>
      <p>"This is where you guys used to go after your missions with the Organization?" Ash asked, equally as enraptured with the vibrant setting sun as the rest of the team was.</p>
      <p>"Huh, you know, I'm not usually up for shit like this but…" Wrex held an expression that was a rarity for the Krogan Battlemaster. A feeling of content.</p>
      <p>Axel had already plopped himself down in his usual spot with Roxas and Xion doing the same.</p>
      <p>"Man, I didn't realize how much I missed this." Axel stated with a fond grin in place.</p>
      <p>Shepard took a seat by Axel with Ash on the other side. Tali sat by Xion followed by Garrus, Liara, Wrex and Kaidan.</p>
      <p>Stitch opted to rest himself atop Roxas's head, his four arms each holding an Ice Cream bar.</p>
      <p>The Nobody trio also had Sea-Salt ice cream in hand with the rest of their friends staring at them dryly while the three had handed out the ice cream to them.</p>
      <p>Ash stared down at her bar. "How do you guys-?"</p>
      <p>"Shhh~" Axel said. "Just enjoy the sunset."</p>
      <p>The newly promoted Chief gave the man a flat look but sighed and opted to look upon said sunset and without even realizing it, found herself relaxing as the sun's rays washed over them.</p>
      <p>"Alright… can't deny it." Garrus spoke up. "This is… really peaceful."</p>
      <p>"I can see why you all come up here so often." Liara commented. "The sunset is beautiful."</p>
      <p>Wrex only hummed, finishing his ice cream rather quickly. Within his mind, he would never let any other Krogan see him enjoying something like this but with these people…</p>
      <p>Tali herself was greatly enraptured by the brilliant picture-esque sight before her until she reached a mental snag.</p>
      <p>The Quarian was finding herself at a difficult choice in picking out which place had the better sunset.</p>
      <p>Here? Or Rannoch?</p>
      <p>While at first, her natural gut would go to her homeworld Tali can't deny the sublime beauty that this sunset presented before her.</p>
      <p>It was a really hard choice but eventually, Tali opted to go with her first choice of Rannoch but Twilight Town was an absolute close second. Literally off by a decimal point.</p>
      <p>Axel hummed aloud in amusement.</p>
      <p>"What's up, Axel?" Roxas asked.</p>
      <p>"Bet you guys don't know why most Sun's always set Red." Axel stated, earning confused looks from the others.</p>
      <p>"What do you mean?" Xion inquired.</p>
      <p>"You see, light is made up of lots of colors," Axel spoke confidently. "And out of all those colors <em>red </em>is the one that reaches the farthest."</p>
      <p>To emphasize this, he brushed one of his hands through his hair whilst lifting one finger up to conjure a small red flame.</p>
      <p>The small flame was promptly blown out by Shepard.</p>
      <p>"Like we asked, know-it-all." Shepard remarked making Axel grin.</p>
      <p>"Glad to see you know who's the smartest of us here."</p>
      <p>"I'd beg to differ." Liara sarcastically said which made the group share a laugh together.</p>
      <p>The group stayed there for a time until Roxas took a moment to look down at his stick.</p>
      <p>He saw that it didn't have "Winner" on it but there was something else to be seen. Looking past the ice cream stick and down to the plaza below were three <em>very </em>familiar figures walking towards the train station.</p>
      <p>"Is that…" Roxas squinted, leaning down a bit.</p>
      <p>"Roxas?" Xion looked at him.</p>
      <p>A moment later, Roxas's eyes widened with a small smirk appearing.</p>
      <p>"It is." Roxas proclaimed.</p>
      <p>"What?"</p>
      <p>Without warning, Roxas jumped up to his feet before literally <em>jumping off </em>the edge of the ledge. Stitch, who was still resting atop his head, let out a strangled cry and clutched onto his seat.</p>
      <p>"ROXAS?!" the others exclaimed in complete and utter horror until they saw him miraculously land on his feet with no sign of collapse or hearing any cries of agonizing pain.</p>
      <p>…..</p>
      <p>…..</p>
      <p>…..</p>
      <p>"...I keep forgetting he can't get hurt through normal means." Garrus muttered out, facepalming as he spoke.</p>
      <p>Wrex let out a bellow of a laugh. "Runt still has quads in making quite the jump."</p>
      <p>"Please don't follow his example." Ashley pleaded to the Krogan, knowing the reptilian alien would do such a thing.</p>
      <p>"Please do, you say?" Axel said before pushing himself forward.</p>
      <p>"Axel, wait!" Xion said, following after him as the duo fell down below and they to landed on the ground with little to no issue.</p>
      <p>….</p>
      <p>….</p>
      <p>…</p>
      <p>Shepard sighed aloud. "Alright, come on guys, let's head down."</p>
      <p>
        <em>-A few moments earlier-</em>
      </p>
      <p>Sora was walking back to Twilight Towns train station with his two friends Donald and Goofy by his side.</p>
      <p>"Gawrsh Sora, you think they're actually here?" Goofy asked, the trio walking up to the Station Heights.</p>
      <p>"Positive." Sora declared, hands resting behind his head.</p>
      <p>"How can you be sure?" Donald inquired.</p>
      <p>Sora hummed to himself in thought. "I dunno. Call it a feeling really."</p>
      <p>"Is cause ya think-"</p>
      <p>Goofy didn't have time to finish his line of questioning as suddenly, someone in a black coat landed before them with a blue fur ball atop his head.</p>
      <p>At first, the trio tensed but upon seeing who it was a moment later.</p>
      <p>"Roxas?" Sora said pleasantly surprised at seeing him.</p>
      <p>"Hey, Sora. Good to see you again." Roxas greeted. "Hey Donald, Goofy."</p>
      <p>Not long after, another pair of familiar faces landed on the ground not far away.</p>
      <p>Sora stepped back in surprise in seeing them. "Axel? Xion?"</p>
      <p>"Sup."</p>
      <p>"Hello."</p>
      <p>Sora proceeded to smile widely at them all. "Good to see you guys again."</p>
      <p>Goofy 'hyucked' as he waved at them. Donald, however, merely gave them a nod.</p>
      <p>"Where'd you guys even come from?" Sora asked, looking up at the tower.</p>
      <p>"We… literally dropped in." Roxas stated.</p>
      <p>"Huh?"</p>
      <p>"Jumped off the Clocktower." Axel clarified.</p>
      <p>"Oh."</p>
      <p>They soon heard gibberish of some kind coming from No. XIII</p>
      <p>"Who's this guy?" Sora asked, looking above Roxas' head.</p>
      <p>Roxas blinked in confusion before he soon remembered who was hitching a ride on him.</p>
      <p>"Oh, this is Stitch." Roxas said, the blue alien squinting at Sora, Donald and Goofy.</p>
      <p>He jumped off Roxas and went over to them and took a moment to inspect them all before stopping at Sora. After a few seconds of gazing at the boy, Stitch proceeded to give him a good slobbering.</p>
      <p>"AH!" Sora tried desperately to pull him off. "Stitch, Stitch, please!"</p>
      <p>Before long, Stitch left Sora before repeating the same process on Goofy, albeit briefly. Though it was Donald who received the most, much to his utter annoyance.</p>
      <p>"Get off me!" Donald flailed before unleashing an angry series of squawks.</p>
      <p>Stitch rolled up into a ball and rolled away from the Wizard, going to Xion who scooped him up.</p>
      <p>"There there. The angry duck man won't hurt you." Xion said gently.</p>
      <p>Stitch mockingly sniffled, rubbing his head against Xion's hand.</p>
      <p>"Hurt him?" Donald said incredulously.</p>
      <p>Stitch then looked back at Donald and blew him a raspberry, earning another angry outburst.</p>
      <p>Axel snorted out loud with Roxas merely chuckling beside Sora and Goofy.</p>
      <p>"Roxas, for God's sake."</p>
      <p>The group looked over to see Shepard and company walking over to them.</p>
      <p>"Hey Shepard." Roxas waved before he was trapped in a Biotic pull and was promptly flung towards a waiting Ashley Williams who grabbed his head and proceeded to dig her knuckles into his head.</p>
      <p>"AGAIN!"</p>
      <p>"Yes again!" Ash proclaimed. "If you just told us what you do half the time."</p>
      <p>"I'm sorry! Let me go!"</p>
      <p>"Fine, it's Xion's turn anyway."</p>
      <p>Xion's expression blanched. "What?"</p>
      <p>Axel laughed aloud while Stitch was quick to vacate Xion's grasp as the dark haired girl was quickly embraced by Ashley, who soon delivered the same treatment as previously.</p>
      <p>"Don't think you're escaping punishment." Shepard said in a false-threatening tone.</p>
      <p>"Really? And how are you gonna do-"</p>
      <p>In an instant, he was sent flying to the nearby wall via biotic throw.</p>
      <p>"...Like that can really hurt me, you know." Axel soon said as he gazed at the Spectre from his position on the wall.</p>
      <p>"I know it can't." Shepard said with a bland look. "It's the action that counts."</p>
      <p>"Uh-Huh." Axel expunged a small burst of fire that freed him instantly from the Biotic grasp. He dusted himself off while returning the bland look towards Jane.</p>
      <p>"I didn't know you could do that." Shepard murmured.</p>
      <p>"Neither did I." Axel stated. "First time for everything I guess."</p>
      <p>It was at this point that the others then turned their attention to the "matter" at hand so to speak.</p>
      <p>"So," Garrus turned to the trio in front of them. "Who are these guys? Guess they must be important since your three jumped off a building for them."</p>
      <p>"We're friends of Roxas, Axel and Xion." the Brown haired teen said with a friendly smile. "I'm Sora and this is Donald and Goofy.</p>
      <p>Liara took note of the anthropomorphic two and was able to recognize them. Not just because of the odd mind meld some time ago, but through a series of conversations.</p>
      <p>"Hello there, Goofy." Said the asari. "And you too, Donald. I'm Liara."</p>
      <p>The captain of the guard blinked in surprise. "You know us?"</p>
      <p>"Sora just introduced us, ya big palooka."</p>
      <p>"A-Hyuck, oh yeah." Goofy said, rubbing his head.</p>
      <p>"But in all honesty, I do know you a bit more Donald."</p>
      <p>"Huh, how?"</p>
      <p>"Your sister Della spoke about you quite often."</p>
      <p>This time the court wizard jumped in utter surprise. "Wait, you know Della?!"</p>
      <p>"Yeah, she's a good friend of ours." Tali answered.</p>
      <p>"Where is she?" Donald asked worriedly. "How is she? Is she alright?"</p>
      <p>"Back home with her sons and your uncle Scrooge back on Disna."</p>
      <p>"...Wait. How do you know that?" Donald said accusingly.</p>
      <p>"We got to really know her when she spent time with us."</p>
      <p>"Oh yeah, prove it."</p>
      <p>"Your nephews are named Huey, Dewey and Louie." Liara answered before a mischievous smile graced her lips. "And she spoke about the time you went on a date with your "special sweetheart" Daisy to your favorite restaurant on your fifth anniversary and-"</p>
      <p>"WHACK!" Donald grew bug-eyed as he instantly held a look of horror. "Okay! Okay! I get it, you know her! JUST SHUT UP!"</p>
      <p>"Wait, what happened on your fifth anniversary, Donald?" Goofy asked in utter curiosity.</p>
      <p>"None of your beeswax, ya big palooka!" Donald exclaimed until he slumped over with a small smile appearing on his face. "I'm just happy to know she's ok."</p>
      <p>Jane smiled at that comment. "She was a real big help to us on our missions. We were sad to see her go home but…"</p>
      <p>"Yeah, Della can't stay rooted in one spot for long." Donald said understandingly.</p>
      <p>"Wow, it's really great to meet you all after all this time." Sora said cheerfully. "You're Commander Shepard right?"</p>
      <p>The team was a bit surprised as to how quickly Sora pointed her out.</p>
      <p>"Uh… yeah…" Shepard looked at the teen in bewilderment. "And how do you know that?"</p>
      <p>"That's…" Sora had a sheepish look. "A bit of a complicated story really."</p>
      <p>"You're telling us." Donald said, looking to Roxas in particular.</p>
      <p>Roxas instead kept his eyes on Sora.</p>
      <p>"I get it." he nodded. "I got your message, Sora."</p>
      <p>"You did?" Sora said in surprise before grinning a moment later. "That's great. Yen Sid was right!"</p>
      <p>"Who now?"</p>
      <p>"Wait… that name sounds kinda familiar." Garrus murmured.</p>
      <p>"You guys have been studying under him, right?" Xion asked.</p>
      <p>"Sorta." Sora admitted. "Actually, it's a good thing you guys did come here. Yen Sid wants to meet you, Roxas and Axel."</p>
      <p>"Really?"</p>
      <p>"Wait, hold on a second." Jane spoke up. "Everything here is happening a bit too fast for my liking. Can we back up a bit and talk about whatever it is that's going on here?"</p>
      <p>"Yeah, I'm kinda confused about what's going on." Tali admitted.</p>
      <p>"Then come with us to Yen Sid's Tower." Goofy said. "That way, we can all talk about everything we need to."</p>
      <p>"Yen Sid mentioned that we should bring you all as well." Donald said, speaking primarily to the Milky Way Galaxy residents.</p>
      <p>"Huh? Us?" Ash said, gesturing to the seven of them getting nods out of Sora and co.</p>
      <p>"What does this guy want with us?" Garrus asked.</p>
      <p>"Better yet, how does he even know about us?" Wrex inquired with a suspicious look to his eyes.</p>
      <p>"That's kind of… also a long explanation." Sora admitted sheepishly.</p>
      <p>"You know, you're not all that helpful right now." Shepard said flatly.</p>
      <p>Sora visibly deflated. "Hey, I'm trying here."</p>
      <p>The Spectre couldn't help but snort at the boys antics when she frowned a bit.</p>
      <p>It was strange to her but… talking with Sora… kinda felt like she was talking to Roxas.</p>
      <p>What she didn't realize was that underlying sentiment was shared by the rest of the group as they watched how Sora spoke.</p>
      <p>He was a lot more animated in talking but there was just this bizarre familiarity they felt with him.</p>
      <p>Suddenly, all around them plumbs of silvery-white vapors started appearing around the assembled group.</p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>-Insert Kingdom Hearts II: Tension Rising-</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>And from the silvery-white vapors, a number of Nobodies appeared all around them.</p>
      <p>Surrounding them were a number of Dusks and Creepers and they appeared without Roxas, Axel or Xion doing anything about it.</p>
      <p>"Uh guys…" Shepard said warily. "Did you summon them?"</p>
      <p>Axel frowned, clenching his hand for a moment. "No we-"</p>
      <p>A moment later, several other Nobody types that the Milky Way Galaxy natives had never seen before appeared a moment later.</p>
      <p>The first were thin, dragon-like creatures with silver and purple skin. Their hands only have two distinct digits while it's feet have three long, purple toes each with the shared Nobody emblem seen on their thighs. They also have a thin, purple tail and sharp, white wings with purple tips lined with spikes. Their upper bodies and necks are covered in magenta straps and in their grapes were long, stylized lances.</p>
      <p>The second were a bunch of large humanoid beings with long yellow spikes for hands and feet. They wore dark grey body suits with white straps wrapping around their chests. Their sleeves flare out wide and end in a pointed fringe. They have gray hoods with the Nobody emblem on the front and a white scarf around their throats. They wore a gray sash belt that drapes down at the front. And above their spiked feet, they wear dark gray chaps with portions of the emblem fading from yellow to white.</p>
      <p>The third floated in the air were humanoid beings dressed in a primarily purple bodysuit. On their heads, there was a black eye patch over on the right side. From below their elbows appeared they wore massive gloves with the Nobody logo emblazoned on the right one. And they wielded large crossbows.</p>
      <p>The last of them were a pair of floating humanoids in a full body light grey robe. The sleeves of their arms never parted ways from the connection they made in front of them with only a blackened gap in between them. Their heads sport a black cross pattern that wraps around the back. The lower half of the robe-like body is mostly featureless, except for the few stray black markings and the white Nobody emblem at the bottom.</p>
      <p>These were the Dragoons, Snipers, Ninjas and Sorcerers, respectively.</p>
      <p>"No, <em>no we did not." </em>Axel sharply declared, his Chakrams appearing in his hands whilst Roxas and Xion summoned their Keyblades.</p>
      <p>"They're from the Organization." Roxas exclaimed, ready for battle.</p>
      <p>Sora, Donald and Goofy summoned their weapons with the rest of the Normandy team pulling out their own.</p>
      <p>There was a quick swishing sound from above, with Xion looking up in time to see several lances above them.</p>
      <p>"Look out!" Xion cried out and the group all dove out of the way as the lances came down.</p>
      <p>However, there was a particular split within the group that happened.</p>
      <p>Shepard, Ash, Kaidan, Garrus, Tali, Liara, Wrex and Stitch were on one side.</p>
      <p>And Roxas, Xion, Axel, Sora, Donald and Goofy on the other.</p>
      <p>In an instant, a hexagonal barrier appeared that separated the groups from each other.</p>
      <p>"What the hell is this?!" Shepard yelled, banging her fist against the barrier.</p>
      <p>Wrex headbutted the barrier to no avail.</p>
      <p>"What's going on?" Tali asked, gazing upon Roxas who had his back to her as he swatted away a Dusk.</p>
      <p>"Guys, we need to focus!" Kaidan said aloud, Biotics flaring up as he was fighting the small contingent of Nobodies that had them surrounded.</p>
      <p>Back with Roxas and company, they were fighting off the Nobodies until more began appearing, forcing them back slightly.</p>
      <p>Though they were outnumbered, they were undeterred by their enemies as they readied themselves once more for battle.</p>
      <p>"Alright." Sora declared, Keyblade in hand. "Let's do this."</p>
      <p>The six stood back-to-back in a circle with the Nobodies surrounding them.</p>
      <p>Axel went on the offensive first, stringing together a quick succession of strikes and throws with him taking out several Dusks.</p>
      <p>Sora and Goofy charged forward, the former grabbing the outstretched hand of the latter and throwing him forward with the thrown having his shield up. Sailing high into the air, Goofy dragged Sora long for the ride before the previous action repeated itself. This time, however, Goofy was on his own as he brought his shield down to strike the enemies down below. Once the impact occurred, a small shockwave went out as a number of Nobodies were destroyed while others were thrown back.</p>
      <p>Donald quickly cast a quick series of shielding Aeroga's on the team, swirling twisters around them all as a defensive measure before casting Thundaga to clear the area around them.</p>
      <p>Xion immediately went into a corkscrew thrust, slicing through a Ninja before bashing a creeper down and destroying a Dusk.</p>
      <p>Roxas jumped high into the air to meet with the Dragoons, clashing slightly with their lances. He broke through them after several strikes, casting a Gravity spell to bring them down.</p>
      <p>Once they were brought down, Goofy's form flashed.</p>
      <p>"<em>Come on!" </em>he yelled out, sliding forward and bashing through the Dragoons, taking out several of them.</p>
      <p>Sora ran up behind Goofy and jumped, using his friend's shoulder as a platform to get higher into the air before coming down to cleave through another Dragoon.</p>
      <p>Axel threw his inflamed Chakram at several of the Snipers, catching two of them as the others shifted about in the air with ease to avoid his attack.</p>
      <p>Out of utter instinct, the three present Keybearers dropped and slid around the incoming Dusks and Creepers to appear right behind them.</p>
      <p>Disoriented and thrown off balance with the enemy Nobodies looking around in utter confusion; Sora, Roxas and Xion went on the offensive.</p>
      <p>With a series of vicious strikes, the Dusks and Creepers before them were dispelled, bursting into silvery-white vapors.</p>
      <p>Despite them leaving, neither Keybearer stopped their attacks there and then. Joining the rest as they fought their present opponents.</p>
      <p>On the other side of the barrier, Shepard and co were finding themselves struggling a great deal more with these enemies compared to previous creatures of unusual size and powers.</p>
      <p>It appears that Nobodies were more durable then Heartless, having the need for more strength being used in taking them out.</p>
      <p>Luckily for everyone else, they've been constantly combatting Heartless for the past few months now.</p>
      <p>Still, their movements were difficult to predict and attack patterns were proving to be much more hard to block. With how fluid their movements were, a new challenge presented itself to them.</p>
      <p>"Back off!" Kaidan growled out, thrusting a Biotic thrust to disorient the Nobodies closing in on him.</p>
      <p>Somehow, only a portion of their bodies got caught up in the Biotics. Those freed sections of their bodies proved to be the means in which they used to escape from the Biotics, bewildering the team.</p>
      <p>"What the fuck?" Ashley said in bewilderment.</p>
      <p>"Ok, didn't know they could do that."</p>
      <p>Wrex growled, clutching his gravity hammer as he ran at a Dragoon. The Nobody shifted out of the way yet Wrex easily adjusted himself.</p>
      <p>Managing to catch the Dragoon by the neck, Wrex proceeded to repeatedly bash his hammer down against it which took a while as this damn thing was way more durable than any Heartless he had faced.</p>
      <p>All the while, Vakarian was having trouble of his own as he was attacked by the Sniper Nobodies.</p>
      <p>Rolling out of the way, Garrus opened fire on the hovering Snipers as they were quick to evade his hits coming from his assault rifle. Gritting his teeth, the Turian had to quickly evade the energy darts rapidly being fired upon him. Even from a high distance, they were narrowly making their mark as his kinetic shields were rapidly flaring.</p>
      <p>"Okay, let's see which Sniper is the best one." Garrus snarled, switching his assault rifle for his trusty sniper rifle.</p>
      <p>Activating his visor, he focused on not just the hovering Snipers but also the airborne Dragoons as he had to quickly run over the impromptu battlefield. Once getting a lock on them, Garrus thrusted his sniper rifle into the air and fired a compressed shot. A stream of energy fled out of the barrel and broke apart and struck the Snipers down.</p>
      <p>Unfortunately, the blasts they took wasn't enough to properly end them, making Garrus grit his teeth out.</p>
      <p>Luckily for him, Wrex was there to come on swinging his gravity hammer to crush them to the ground to help finish the job.</p>
      <p>The Turian gave the Krogan a thankful nod as they went back to work.</p>
      <p>The Dragoons flew upwards with their lances raised in attack with the Ninjas leaping back for a swift series of strikes.</p>
      <p>Ashley and Tali gritted their teeth as their present opposition. They were surrounded from above and were trying their best to avoid these foes.</p>
      <p>A biotic blast was able to help clear the space around them. The pair didn't pay attention to who gave them the breathing birth, but neither cared right now as they quickly moved out of the way in order to properly act on their assault.</p>
      <p>Tali thrusted her Omni-tool out and fired off a stream of lightning before quickly firing her shotgun at a recently paralyzed Nobody. It didn't do much work as she now had to flee as the paralysis soon ended with the Ninja throwing a volley of yellow kunai at the Quarian. She yelped in both surprise and shock as once the weapons struck her, she was getting electrocuted. Before long, she was struck in the abdomen and sent flying back some distance away.</p>
      <p>While on the ground, the Quarian quickly pulled out a breakable Potion and crushed it in her hand so she could heal accordingly. The green energy swept over her body, allowing her to get back up again.</p>
      <p>When the Dragoons tried to strike her down, she miraculously backflipped out of the way and fired a shotgun blast at the Nobody directly at its head. On the first blast, not much really worked, but the next one further down did as it disappeared in a plum of vapors.</p>
      <p>"... Ok… didn't know I could do that." Tali muttered though she couldn't dwell on it any further as Creeper that shape shifted into its sword formation began swinging at her, causing her to dodge and flee.</p>
      <p>Ashley quickly threw some mines on the ground as the Ninjas and Dusks chased after her. Most of the Nobodies fell to the quickened trap as explosives did some damage to them. The others, however, quickly maneuvered out of the way as they resumed their chase at the Alliance Chief.</p>
      <p>Seeing the chase occur, Liara and Kaidan rushed forward and fired off a combined Biotic warp to throw off those on Ashley's tail into the air. Not wanting them to quickly escape, they fired off another warp before firing off a volley of biotic rounds. One by one, the Ninjas and Dusks were destroyed just prior to the Warps no longer being present.</p>
      <p>After that, the trio went to assist the struggling Quarian, who soon joined Shepard and Stitch in fighting off their own grouping of Dragoons and Creepers.</p>
      <p>With the others, they were beginning to whittle down the endless stream of Nobodies with several of them having "learned" a few techniques that they utilized against certain Nobodies in particular.</p>
      <p>The three Keybearers high above in the air with their bodies angled downward. They proceeded to slam down and through their respective Dragoons, with a wave of energy pulsing out from the spot they landed.</p>
      <p>The energy wave knocked the Ninjas and Creepers back and momentarily disoriented. It was enough for Donald and Goofy to openly attack and finish them off.</p>
      <p>As this went on, the strange sound was heard in the battlefield as the Keybearers would occasionally appear right above another Dragoon and lancing right through their next target. It was as if they were "jumping" all over the place, destroying the last of them until more showed up to replace them.</p>
      <p>"Confounded Nobodies!" Donald proclaimed, throwing his staff up. <strong>"Magnera!"</strong></p>
      <p>Right in front of Donald, a vortex of swirling mass and energy appeared and in an instant, multiple Nobodies were pulled into it.</p>
      <p>Axel zipped around the area, over to where the Nobody cluster was and threw his Chakrams forward with fire damaging them until a pillar of fire engulfed them entirely.</p>
      <p>Over with Goofy, he had just finished a spinning Tornado to clear the surrounding area of Nobodies around him and Xion.</p>
      <p>Landing next to her, he held up his shield and Xion promptly swung her Keyblade and struck Goofy's shield forward.</p>
      <p>It smashed into a Sniper and destroyed it with the shield reappearing in Goofy's hand a moment later.</p>
      <p>Sora and Roxas were fighting side-by-side, swatting away Nobodies left and right when they were bashed away by a series of red cubes.</p>
      <p>Looking at the source, they saw the Sorcerers hovering overhead as they fired off more reddened cubes down below. Retaliating, Sora and Roxas fired off a number of Blizzards and Fires at them, yet the reddened cubes quickly blocked the casted spells before being sent out once more to crush them both.</p>
      <p>They bore down upon the two when Axel appeared behind one of them and smashed his fiery weapons down upon it.</p>
      <p>The Sorcerer Axel struck crashed down to the ground with Xion jumping forth into a front spin with her Keyblade being surrounded by thin flowing strips of wind and water.</p>
      <p>She sliced through the Sorcerer, destroying it.</p>
      <p>Roxas and Sora pounced upon the other Sorcerer.</p>
      <p>In a quick aerial reversal, Roxas appeared behind the Sorcerer and bashed his Keyblade against it. It was sent flying towards Sora who proceeded to swat it back and the two proceeded to smack it around until Sora cleaved through it to finish it off.</p>
      <p>When the last of the Nobodies fell, the barrier around the area came crashing down. With nothing separating them now, the two groups convened in the middle of the impromptu battleground outside of the Clocktower.</p>
      <p>The Normandy crew was panting heavily, greatly spent by that battle.</p>
      <p>"Jesus." Ash said. "I… never realized *pant*... how lucky we were… with our Nobodies."</p>
      <p>Stitch merely collapsed onto the ground with his tongue hanging out as he panted out rather loudly.</p>
      <p>"<em>Your</em> Nobodies?" Sora said, slightly breathing hard himself.</p>
      <p>"We were once part of the Organization, remember?" Axel said. "Those Nobodies you just fought that weren't the Dusks and Creepers? They each answer to a specific member."</p>
      <p>"And you guys have your own?" Goofy asked.</p>
      <p>"Bingo." Axel said. "Me and Roxas here. Got it Memorized?"</p>
      <p>Xion said nothing as she didn't know if she actually has a type of her own. Being a puppet and all.</p>
      <p>"We never fought guys like those." Kaidan murmured, getting his breath under control. "I figured they'd be strong but…"</p>
      <p>"We shouldn't stay here any longer." Donald declared.</p>
      <p>"Yeah, if we stick around, more Nobodies could appear and maybe even the Organization." Roxas surmised in concern.</p>
      <p>"Then where do we go now?" Tali asked.</p>
      <p>"To Yen Sid's place." Sora answered.</p>
      <p>"And where's that?" Garrus asked aloud.</p>
      <p>"We'll show ya." The brown-haired Keyblade wielder gestured for them to follow him and his party into the train station.</p>
      <p>Entering the train station underneath the Clocktower, they eventually came to a number of train cars situated on a number of rails.</p>
      <p>Those that weren't Sora, Donald and Goofy wondered why they needed to be here and how to get to Yen Sid in the first place.</p>
      <p>Yet they soon came across something clearly out of place.</p>
      <p>"So we're going to Hogwarts or something?" Kaidan commented.</p>
      <p>The train before them was quite… strange to be putting mildly.</p>
      <p>"Are you sure this wasn't vandalized?" Garrus asked, taking a look at the very, <em>very </em>purple train in front of them.</p>
      <p>There were specs of blue with yellow and white stars painted along the train car and situated on the top was a blue traffic cone like hat with yellow stars and a crescent moon seen across its surface.</p>
      <p>"This'll take us right to Yen Sid's tower." Donald explained, walking directly to it with Sora, Goofy, Roxas, Axel and Xion going over to it themselves.</p>
      <p>Stitch gave off a few tentative whiffs before nodding to himself and running over to join them.</p>
      <p>Upon seeing that, the rest really didn't see a point in arguing with them.</p>
      <p>"...If you say so." Shepard muttered, being the first to step forward to the bizarre train.</p>
      <p>A moment later, the rest quickly followed suit and the large group of fourteen people were in the train. Once the last of them entered the car, the doors quickly shut themselves before the mode of transportation took off.</p>
      <p>Most took seats while a few opted to stand and look outside the windows of the train as they passed on through Twilight Town.</p>
      <p>After a couple of moments, a bright light appeared from the windows, causing the others to momentarily be on guard.</p>
      <p>It was when the light died down did they see something unexpected.</p>
      <p>Instead of the twilight of colors of the sky, they saw a swirl of green, blue, purple and pink polar lights all over as far as their eyes could see.</p>
      <p>"What the-?" Ashley spoke up. "What happened?"</p>
      <p>"Where are we?" Tali asked a moment later.</p>
      <p>"We're on our way to the Tower." Goofy said.</p>
      <p>"Yeah but…" Shepard tried craning her head to see the bottom of the tracks. "Are… are we even <em>on train tracks?</em>"</p>
      <p>Those that were still trying to get adjusted to all this (you know who it is) were now trying to see exactly what Shepard was talking about and lo and behold…</p>
      <p>"So… this <em>is </em>a magic train." Garrus summarized in the blankest tone he could muster.</p>
      <p>"Yeah, it is." Sora said with a bright smile.</p>
      <p>The Normandy crew, save the Nobody trio and Stitch, sighed in resignation.</p>
      <p>"And where is this Yen guy supposed to be?" Wrex asked. "In another dimension or something?"</p>
      <p>"You'll see soon enough." Donald said.</p>
      <p>Eventually, the train came to a halt before a literal floating piece of land in the middle of this rather cosmic setting.</p>
      <p>When they deposited themselves from the train car, they all looked at the large gothic styled tower with dark cream bricks and green tiles for the coned roofing. There were other small towers branching off the central one as a number of clouds were covering most of the architecture to enhance its mysterious appearance.</p>
      <p>They looked up at it in wonder with Sora, Donald and Goofy already going forward.</p>
      <p>The rest however took a moment to get their bearings as to where they were.</p>
      <p>Looking over the edge, Garrus and Kaidan stepped back as they felt rather nervous now.</p>
      <p>"Are we on a floating island?"</p>
      <p>"Hovering above god knows how far above the ground?"</p>
      <p>"Yeah, we are." Sora said nonchalantly.</p>
      <p>"By the Goddess." Liara whispered in stunned awe when she momentarily looked down to see the swirling clouds in twilight colors.</p>
      <p>"Keelah, and I thought the Etherium was crazy." Tali added on.</p>
      <p>"My family is <em>never </em>gonna believe me about all this." Ash said. "Which is why I gotta record it all."</p>
      <p>"Good idea." Kaidan said. "I want my future kids to know their old man went through some crazy shit."</p>
      <p>Seeing the Omni-tools out, Sora looked back at Roxas.</p>
      <p>"Hey, where are those Omni-tools you promised us?!" Sora asked with a huff and a pout.</p>
      <p>"Huh? Oh yeah, right, right." Roxas shrugged. "We forgot."</p>
      <p>Sora, Donald and Goofy dramatically deflated at that.</p>
      <p>"Well, we honestly didn't expect to see you all." Xion admitted.</p>
      <p>"Aw man." Sora bemoaned.</p>
      <p>"But I promise I'll get some ready for when we see ya next." Roxas assured.</p>
      <p>"They know about the Omni-tools?" Shepard found herself asking.</p>
      <p>"Had to show off mine a while back when playing the recording I got on Xemnas and Xigbar." No. XIII explained.</p>
      <p>"Sora! Donald, Goofy, you're back!"</p>
      <p>The group all turned their heads to see a young teenage girl with platinum blond hair walking out of the tower and with her was another slightly older teen boy with silver hair.</p>
      <p>"Hey Sora, what took ya- who are all these guys?" The Silver haired teen asked aloud, only recognizing three of them. "Roxas? Axel and Xion too? What are you guys doing here?"</p>
      <p>"Hey Namine, Riku." Xion said towards the pair.</p>
      <p>"Xion!" Namine said aloud as she rushed forward and hugged her friend, who returned it in kind. "I've missed you. It's so good to see you again."</p>
      <p>"It's so good to see you too, Namine." Xion said happily as the two girls hugged each other tightly.</p>
      <p>"Oh, so Xion gets that type of greeting, but I don't?" Axel said in a mocking disappointed tone.</p>
      <p>"It's great to see you too, Axel." Namine said happily, breaking away from Xion and going over to her tall friend and hugged him around his waist.</p>
      <p>Axel gave her a fond smile, ruffling her hair as he did with Roxas and Xion.</p>
      <p>"Yeah, you too Namine."</p>
      <p>With the others, a couple of them were having a conversation on what they were witnessing.</p>
      <p>Garrus squinted at Namine before looking over to their richly dark brunette teammate speaking animatedly with the platinum blond haired girl.</p>
      <p>"Is it just me or does she look very similar to Roxas and Xion to some degree."</p>
      <p>Jane took a moment to look between them. "You know you're right."</p>
      <p>"Though I do think she might look more like Roxas' sister." Tali commented.</p>
      <p>"You kidding, with how she and Xion look, I think it's them who are the sisters." Ash pointed out.</p>
      <p>"I could see that." Garrus agreed.</p>
      <p>Stitch soon came up to Namine and greeted her.</p>
      <p>"Ha-ha-ha-ha-HIIII!"</p>
      <p>On the side, Axel had the sense of Deja vu all over again when he saw the sparkles in Namine's eyes. Seeing what was about to happen, he clapped his hands over his ears and was ready for the inevitable.</p>
      <p>"<em>Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa~!"</em></p>
      <p>The platinum blonde haired Nobody then latched onto the blue furred alien and let out the loudest 'squee' she could ever muster.</p>
      <p>"What the hell!"</p>
      <p>"Make her stop!"</p>
      <p>Stitch feared for his life as once more he was being squeezed with all of Namine's strength. He then limped in her embrace as the platinum blonde rubbed her cheek against him.</p>
      <p>"HE'S SO CUTE!"</p>
      <p>"I KNOW, RIGHT?!"</p>
      <p>"Oh god, they really are sisters." Ash said, rubbing her ringing ears.</p>
      <p>"Jeez, I didn't know Namine had that in her." The silver haired teen stated.</p>
      <p>"Me neither."</p>
      <p>The silver haired teen chuckled before his gaze turned back to the newcomers.</p>
      <p>"Hey Sora, you never answered my earlier question. Who are they?"</p>
      <p>"Oh right. These are the guys Yen Sid wanted to talk to." Sora said. "We can trust them Riku. Otherwise, why would Yen Sid wanna see them."</p>
      <p>Riku took a moment but he nodded all the same.</p>
      <p>"Alright. I'm Riku. Nice to meet you all."</p>
      <p>The Normandy crew all introduced themselves a moment later.</p>
      <p>"Now if ya'll follow us…" Goofy said, walking over to the front door of the Tower.</p>
      <p>Opening the tower's entrance, they all filed themselves inside.</p>
      <p>"Huh, bigger on the inside." Tali commented.</p>
      <p>"Like the Tardis." Kaidan said with a small grin.</p>
      <p>"I'm sorry, what?"</p>
      <p>"Don't worry about it."</p>
      <p>"Let's go." Sora said. "Yen Sid's at the top of the tower.</p>
      <p>When getting onto the winding stairwell, the group momentarily looked up and saw that it seemed to never end.</p>
      <p>"Uh…"</p>
      <p>"It's not as bad as it looks." Riku quickly said. "Come on."</p>
      <p>"You say that now 'cause I don't believe my legs can survive the trek." Ash said dryly.</p>
      <p>"That's just a security measure Yen Sid has on this place on any intruders." Donald said.</p>
      <p>"What kind of security measure is that?" Tali asked in bewilderment though her question went unanswered as they began walking up the steps.</p>
      <p>Reaching a certain point in the stairwell, a green portal opened up before them all. Those new to the place hesitantly moved onward after seeing those familiar with the place traverse through it with no problem.</p>
      <p>Once through, they saw they were now in a large room with a couple of doors surrounding the space.</p>
      <p>Riku went to the one on the far off wall and opened it up to reveal an office on the other side.</p>
      <p>"Come in, come in." Spoke an elderly voice. "I've been expecting you all."</p>
      <p>Before long, everyone entered the office space with the door closing up behind them.</p>
      <p>The Normandy crew stood before an aged individual in blue robes and pointy wizard top hat and long grey beard sitting in a chair with a large backrest.</p>
      <p>Standing not far away from him was an anthropomorphic mouse wearing a red outfit with a pair of yellow footwear.</p>
      <p>"Master Yen Sid." Sora, Donald and Goofy said with a snap salute. "Your Majesty."</p>
      <p>Mickey smiled at his friends before turning to the others present in the office space.</p>
      <p>The Master simply nodded his head before turning to the eleven newcomers.</p>
      <p>"It is a pleasure to meet you all at last." Yen Sid's voice was deep and baritone, conveying power and wisdom that resonated with them.</p>
      <p>"I understand that you've been waiting for us?" Commander Shepard spoke first.</p>
      <p>"I have." Yen Sid nodded. "Originally, I had wished to speak with Roxas, Xion and Axel here. But after a development regarding Sora and forces beyond our understanding, I knew I had to speak with <em>all </em>of you."</p>
      <p>"So then… where do we begin?" Roxas asked.</p>
      <p>"Let us begin with you, Roxas." Yen Sid said, making the boy straighten up slightly. "I believe it is important we understand the connection and relationship you have with Sora. Otherwise, he would not have been able to tell me about your time with Shepard and the rest of your friends here."</p>
      <p>"What does that mean?" Wrex asked. "Some kind of magic crap we don't understand?"</p>
      <p>"Perhaps." Yen Sid said enigmatically.</p>
      <p>Wrex squinted his eyes at the wizard who was nonplussed by the gaze as he returned his gaze to Roxas.</p>
      <p>"Roxas." Yen Sid spoke slowly. "From speaking with Sora prior to you all coming here, he told me of something truly strange. About how at times, when he sleeps, he sees visions and memories that are not his own. Of places he has never been to and people he has never met in person up until now."</p>
      <p>No. XIII only shifted about, briefly looking over to and locking eyes with Sora for a moment.</p>
      <p>This was sounding a bit <em>too </em>familiar.</p>
      <p>Shepard, hearing all this, found herself frowning in thought.</p>
      <p>She momentarily thought back to a previous conversation she had with Roxas about him having trouble sleeping.</p>
      <p>"And unlike passing dreams, these were very descriptive with details rather that most would miss." Yen Sid went on.</p>
      <p>"Ok, so we're here to talk about Sora's… Dreams?" Ash asked. "I don't think we travelled all the way over her for that."</p>
      <p>Yen Sid nodded and turned to the aforementioned teen. "Sora, if you would. Recount specific details that you have heard and seen in your visions."</p>
      <p>Sora crossed his arms, closing his eyes in thought.</p>
      <p>"Ashley has three sisters…"</p>
      <p>The Alliance Chief blinked, slightly startled at the precise number he rattled off.</p>
      <p>"Garrus has a habit of saying calibrating often."</p>
      <p>The Turian blinked.</p>
      <p>"Wrex is 700 years old."</p>
      <p>The others, minus those aware of this, were certainly surprised.</p>
      <p>"Liara is a Prothean expert."</p>
      <p>The Asari in question gazed at Sora in bewilderment.</p>
      <p>"Kaidan has a habit of cooking steaks. Stitch loves his Elvis music. Shepard wants to get a hamster and Tali drinks not out of a straw but an induction port."</p>
      <p>The Normandy crew all stared at Sora in slight shock, before looking to Roxas, Axel and Xion.</p>
      <p>"Have you guys been in contact with them or something?" Ashley asked suspiciously.</p>
      <p>"Only Roxas has been in contact with Sora." Yen Sid spoke up, getting their attention again. "And not through conventional means."</p>
      <p>"Cause Roxas and all of you guys are anything but conventional." Shepard couldn't help but point out.</p>
      <p>"To you, yes." Yen Sid said in good humor. "But even to us, this is certainly a unique case."</p>
      <p>"So then what is it?" Tali asked. "From what you're saying it has to do with Roxas and Sora."</p>
      <p>"Right you are, Ms. Zorah." Yen Sid nodded. "Now, before that, I must ask. Are you familiar with the Heartless and the Nobodies?"</p>
      <p>The group all murmured that they are.</p>
      <p>As they did so, two magical projections of a Shadow and a Dusk appeared next to the desk of Yen Sid, startling a few.</p>
      <p>"As you should know then, when a person with a strong heart is lost to the Darkness, two beings are formed. As you see before you now."</p>
      <p>The group nodded.</p>
      <p>"But since you are travelling with some, there are some individuals that possess such extraordinary gifts, powers, strength of will and heart that even after losing their Heart hold the capacity to retain their body and will after the loss of a Heart."</p>
      <p>The two projections vanished to be replaced with one of several individuals in familiar black cloaks with their hoods up covering their faces.</p>
      <p>"Organization XIII." Yen Sid said gravely. "A group of powerful Nobodies that seek to bring back Kingdom Hearts. In their efforts and pursuit of such a goal, the Heartless have been unleashed upon countless Worlds once more bringing danger to all. Something all of you have now been facing constantly."</p>
      <p>The entire group all nodded grimly.</p>
      <p>"And this is where the uniqueness of Sora and Roxas come in to play." Yen Sid stated, looking to them both. "When a Nobody and a Heartless is created, the original being is meant to disappear into the Darkness unless they can be saved. But Sora is a special case. When he lost his Heart, rather than being consumed by the Darkness, he was saved and brought back as he was by his dear friend Kairi."</p>
      <p>They looked to him who looked a bit sheepish.</p>
      <p>"But, regardless of his return, Sora's Nobody was indeed created." Yen Sid said. "A unique circumstance that is difficult to comprehend. A Nobody that was born without any memory or thought of who he once was. And an appearance different to his original incarnation."</p>
      <p>As he spoke, an unusual dawning began to occur.</p>
      <p>"A Nobody separate from his original self that has attained their own sense of individuality."</p>
      <p>By this point, it was all too clear as to who it was that Yen Sid was referring to.</p>
      <p>"So, you're telling us…" Shepard said slowly. "That <em>Roxas</em> is the Nobody of Sora?"</p>
      <p>Yen Sid nodded and Roxas held a slightly melancholy look to him.</p>
      <p>"You're not surprised, Roxas?" Tali asked in worry.</p>
      <p>"No, not at all." Roxas stated. "I guess… I should have known from the get-go really."</p>
      <p>"Then what does this all mean exactly?" Garrus asked the old Master. "And what does this have to do with us?"</p>
      <p>"I shall get to that in time." Yen Sid said patiently. "But first, we must discuss this unique situation. Roxas. Sora. The two of you share this connection due to the former coming from the latter. With this, we have the fortunate circumstance of having an additional Keyblade wielder that can combat the coming Darkness. But it may come at a cost."</p>
      <p>"What's that supposed to mean?" Ashley asked.</p>
      <p>"A Heartless and a Nobody are two parts of a whole. One cannot be completed without the other." Yen Sid elaborated. "But Sora is here and now without his Nobody. A piece of him is missing. Half of his whole making Sora incomplete."</p>
      <p>A feeling of dread began washing over the Normandy crew as Yen Sid went on.</p>
      <p>"In order for Sora to become complete once again, his Nobody must return from whence he came."</p>
      <p>"And what does that mean for Roxas?" Kaidan asked, tone sharp and dangerous.</p>
      <p>"I believe you are intelligent enough to come to your own conclusions." Yen Sid said plainly.</p>
      <p>"What happens to Roxas?" Tali's voice held a threatening edge to it.</p>
      <p>Yen Sid closed his eyes with a frown marring his face.</p>
      <p>"Roxas would fade away from existence, returning to where he had come from originally."</p>
      <p>Now that certainly got the Normandy crew on edge.</p>
      <p>"If you think we came <em>all this way</em> over to this little galaxy just to see the runt go, then you've got another thing coming ya old shit." Wrex growled out savagely.</p>
      <p>Those not used to this sort of vernacular visibly winced as the rest of the Normandy crew began to grow defensive with them all leveling glares at the aged Wizard.</p>
      <p>Yen Sid however took it in stride, raising a calming hand.</p>
      <p>"I have no intention of doing so." Yen Sid said. "The choice is entirely up to Sora and Roxas, but the former had already made his choice on the matter."</p>
      <p>Roxas turned to see Sora giving him a friendly smile.</p>
      <p>"There's no way I could ask you for something like that." Sora said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "You're your own person. Even if you're my Nobody, you're Roxas, not Sora. And there's only room for one of <em>me</em>."</p>
      <p>"Yeah, otherwise the World would explode." Riku quipped, making Sora round on him.</p>
      <p>"Like you're any better."</p>
      <p>Riku only let out an amused 'hmph', shooting a cocky smirk at his friend.</p>
      <p>Roxas only stared at Sora in disbelief. "You… don't want to do that?"</p>
      <p>Sora turned to him in confusion before gaping in shock.</p>
      <p>"Wha-What?! No! That's horrible!" Sora declared without an ounce of reservation. "How can I do that to you when you have your own life to live? That wouldn't be fair at all. You have your own friends and life now."</p>
      <p>The Nobody couldn't help but gape now in astonishment at how blunt his original self was before he found himself smirking. Of course he'd tell him this.</p>
      <p>"Then that settles it." Yen Sid with a pleased smile. "In doing so, we have now one more Keyblade Wielder in our ranks. But I must ask something personal to you Roxas."</p>
      <p>Roxas straightened up as Yen Sid addressed him directly.</p>
      <p>"You are half of Sora but are a unique case." Yen Sid stated. "Due to having your full autonomy, I ask this. When the time comes, will you come to our aid in bringing down the Organization."</p>
      <p>"I have no choice really." Roxas said without missing a beat. "I left the Organization because they lied to us about the whole purpose for us being a part of it. And I know they won't stop until they bring me, Xion and Axel back and will continue threatening the Worlds. They've already targeted my friends. We <em>have </em>to bring them down."</p>
      <p>The former Keyblade Master gave the boy a satisfied smile, looking back to the rest of the Normandy crew.</p>
      <p>"Now, there is much that we have to discuss with the seven of you from outside our collection of Worlds."</p>
      <p>The seven in question returned their gaze to the aged wizard who held out his hand.</p>
      <p>On his table, a magical projection of the Milky Way Galaxy appeared with another galaxy popping up though it was unusually shaped. They couldn't quite distinguish it.</p>
      <p>"Now, as you are already aware, we reside within two different galaxies separated by vast distances and other means unknown to us for centuries." Yen Sid began. "Similar to the barriers that separate the Worlds here yet also one that has yet to be explained. There are many questions that we all seek answers to. Unfortunately, not all will be discovered for quite some time. If at all for that matter."</p>
      <p>"So then what exactly can we know?" Shepard inquired. "There's honestly a lot that doesn't make sense to us to begin with."</p>
      <p>"Like humans being in other places that don't originate from Earth." Kaidan stated.</p>
      <p>"And how exactly the laws of these "Worlds" even operate." Garrus brought up.</p>
      <p>Yen Sid nodded in agreement as he displayed multiple Worlds now. Worlds Sora and company have been to.</p>
      <p>"What you see before you are the representation of many Worlds that Sora, Riku and their friends have travelled to on their adventures." Yen Sid began. "As you can see, they are a great deal more different than what all of you are used to."</p>
      <p>"You could say that again." Jane commented.</p>
      <p>"How do these… Worlds even function the way they do?" Liara inquired in wonder and confusion.</p>
      <p>The Worlds weren't shaped like anything they were familiar with. It was certainly a bizarre sight to say the least.</p>
      <p>"We were once separated." Yen Sid. "But now, due to what has transpired in these last few months, many things have changed."</p>
      <p>The magical displays vanished to be replaced by three galaxies.</p>
      <p>"Though it was inadvertent, Roxas' accidental foray into your galaxy as well as the Etherium has inexplicably linked them all together now." Yen Sid explained. "Very soon, all that once was will not be as has been in the past."</p>
      <p>"And what does that mean?" Ash asked in complete and utter loss of this all.</p>
      <p>"Elements that have been uniquely found in both our realms shall now be affecting one another, changing the foundation of our realities in ways we cannot comprehend." Yen Sid stated.</p>
      <p>"That doesn't really explain much." Jane said wryly.</p>
      <p>Goofy hummed aloud in thought. "You know, maybe it has to do with our laws and such."</p>
      <p>"Whaddya mean Goofy?" Namine asked.</p>
      <p>"Commander Shepard." Goofy looked at the Spectre. "Before any of you met Roxas, did you ever even see stuff like the Heartless or magic?"</p>
      <p>Shepard shook her head. "No, none of that sort."</p>
      <p>The rest of them murmured in agreement.</p>
      <p>Sora spoke up. "So that means, Roxas appearing there drew the Heartless to your galaxy."</p>
      <p>"And without realizing, changed a lot in how your galaxy operates." Riku surmised.</p>
      <p>"So it was Roxas' fault then, huh?" Shepard said with a flat look making the boy jolt back.</p>
      <p>"Wha- hey! I didn't know that. How could I? I came to the Citadel without even trying to."</p>
      <p>"Yeah, the Heartless did that." Xion said quickly after. "I saw them do it, but… I never could figure out why."</p>
      <p>"And the changes have already begun." Yen Sid said calmly. "Though most of you probably don't see it, but you have all been affected by this change. And it will continue on well after even if you no longer associate yourselves with Roxas, Axel and Xion here."</p>
      <p>"What's that supposed to mean?" Tali asked nervously.</p>
      <p>"It means that no matter what happens after, our galaxies have been inexplicably changed." Yen Sid said.</p>
      <p>"Ok, I get us and all." Garrus said. "I mean with our weapons and such but how are we gonna affect <em>this</em> place? Magic is outside any of our understanding cause that's what feels like what is dictated here."</p>
      <p>"It is subtle and unseen, but there is a steady influence beginning to be seeped in." Yen Sid said.</p>
      <p>"I hadn't noticed it at first." King Mickey spoke up for the first time in this conversation. "But there's been a shift in things around here. The barriers that once separated the worlds aren't what they used to be."</p>
      <p>"What do you mean, Mickey?" Riku inquired.</p>
      <p>"It was subtle at first and you might miss it if you don't look carefully enough but…" The King of Disney Castle hummed aloud in contemplation. "The best way that I could describe it really are these "holes" that are appearing in between the barriers. And they're reshaping into something else entirely. I just don't know what it is."</p>
      <p>"Something to investigate, then." Garrus stated. "And has any of the well-known scientists come up with anything here, King Mickey?"</p>
      <p>"That is where we're at a bit of an impasse." Mickey said with a sullen look. "Many of our best, most brightest minds vanished. We could only guess for the most part."</p>
      <p>"Who do you and your people need to look for?" Liara inquired.</p>
      <p>"Aside from Master Yen Sid here and maybe Merlin… the only other person who may have any idea as to what is happening is Ansem the Wise."</p>
      <p>When hearing the name Merlin, a couple of the present humans from the Milky Way blinked in wondering if it was a coincidence… or...</p>
      <p>"Wait, wait, wait, slow down a second." Ashley held up her hands into a T-shape. "Merlin? You mean Merlin the Wizard? The same Merlin from the Arthurian legends?"</p>
      <p>"You know him?" Mickey said in surprise.</p>
      <p>"But what's this about Arthurian legend?" Goofy asked.</p>
      <p>Kaidan explained in summarized detail. "Back home on Earth, Merlin is an extremely famous person in a string of fairy tales. Essentially a major part with him being King Arthur's mentor throughout his life and his chief advisor after he pulled Caliburn from the stone. For years Arthur recruited the best of the best to help form the legendary kingdom, Camelot, a utopia beloved by all. Yet a string of events eventually lead to Camelot's downfall, like Merlin's disappearance for one example. Later King Arthur perished in battle by the hand of his son, Mordred, due to the machinations of Arthur's half-sister, Morgan Le Fay."</p>
      <p>"Golly." Mickey crossed his arms. "Merlin never spoke of being a mentor to a King Arthur of sorts. Nor about him being in any World called Camelot and this Morgan Le Fay you mentioned. He always told me that Hollow Bastion was his Homeworld."</p>
      <p>"Maybe we could ask him next time we see him." Donald suggested. "Clarifying details and all."</p>
      <p>As they spoke on this topic, Axel crossed his arms with a deep frown appearing on his face.</p>
      <p>"Ansem the Wise…"</p>
      <p>Hearing Axel say this from his lips drew attention from the others. He practically spoke of the man with a slight sneer being visible for all to see.</p>
      <p>"Axel?" Jane said in surprise at seeing such an expression on the normally laid back redhead.</p>
      <p>"You know him?" Mickey said in surprise.</p>
      <p>"You bet I do." Axel stated. "I was apprenticed to him before my World fell to the Heartless."</p>
      <p>"Really/What?!" Many of those, save for the Normandy crew exclaimed in disbelief.</p>
      <p>"Why didn't you tell us?" Sora asked.</p>
      <p>Axel scoffed, turning away from the group. "Didn't seem important at the time. And I'd rather not really talk about that guy, honestly."</p>
      <p>"Axel, this is serious." Mickey said, voice conveying a stern edge to it. "Ansem the Wise is someone who would understand <em>exactly </em>as to what's happening or at least have an idea on it."</p>
      <p>"Well couldn't really tell ya much to begin with." Axel rebuked. "I got no idea what happened to that old coot. One minute, Isa and I are apprenticing under Ansem the Wise and then next thing I know, we're both waking up as Nobodies and being thrown into the Organization."</p>
      <p>"You don't remember anything else?" Mickey asked with his expression falling.</p>
      <p>"Nadda."</p>
      <p>Hearing this, Namine pondered. "Perhaps… your memories were altered."</p>
      <p>"What now?"</p>
      <p>"Altered memories?" Liara murmured. "How is this possible?"</p>
      <p>Namine shifted in her spot in the office space. "I have a unique ability to see a person's memories. And if I focus hard enough, I could manipulate them."</p>
      <p>That certainly garnered everyone's undivided attention save for those who were already familiar with this ability.</p>
      <p>"Wait, what?" Shepard said. "You can change people's memories?"</p>
      <p>Namine nodded with a glum look upon her face.</p>
      <p>"It was a reason why Xemnas took a lot of interest in me shortly after finding me at Castle Oblivion. More so with Marluxia, especially when he wanted to use me for his plans with Sora." Namine said. "But… before all that, I remember when Xemnas first found me, he asked me to delve into the memories of the first six members of the Organization that came after him and Xigbar. And he asked me to make sure nothing was out of place."</p>
      <p>"What was he looking for?" Axel asked now, eyes wide and disturbed.</p>
      <p>Namine shook her head. "I don't know. I didn't detect anything out of the ordinary honestly. Just that nothing was out of place when he asked me to."</p>
      <p>"Did you do anything?" Xion said.</p>
      <p>"No, just that. I made sure everyone's memories were in place and that nothing was changed or rearranged." Namine said. "But… I don't know. Xemnas perhaps was looking for something or rather… someone."</p>
      <p>The trio of Nobodies all frowned, thinking about how it was the first six members <em>after </em>Xemnas and Xigbar that had their memories looked through.</p>
      <p>Turns out Xigbar knows more than he's letting on.</p>
      <p>But as for the possibilities of memories being manipulated, the idea did waft in the air.</p>
      <p>"Just asking this on the fly, but given you were looking into their memories, do you possibly know those Organization members more than they do?" Riku asked.</p>
      <p>"More or less." Namine said with a shrug.</p>
      <p>"Why'd you comply with all that?" Roxas couldn't help but ask.</p>
      <p>"Finding my purpose." Came Namine's response which surprised Roxas.</p>
      <p>That… felt a lot like the same reason why he had joined up with the Organization to begin with. Because he was born without a purpose.</p>
      <p>"I was more or less a blank slate as I had no idea on what to do, no drive at all. Xemnas gave me one after he asked me to do a couple of tasks in order to figure out what to do with me. So I only obeyed and sought nothing else." Namine elaborated.</p>
      <p>Axel raised a hand to his chin, tapping it slightly. "Hmm… Would explain the notes I found in Vexen's lab on the Replica Project."</p>
      <p>"Vexen did visit me the most when he was researching memories back at Castle Oblivion." Namine revealed. "That was… before Marluxia took over for a time."</p>
      <p>"Then what changed?" Xion asked.</p>
      <p>"I can thank you, Xion, for that."</p>
      <p>The brunette girl blinked at that answer. "Me? Why?"</p>
      <p>"Not just you, but Axel as well. You two helped me start feeling something I never really thought on having before: a sense of yearning." Namine said happily. "It's cause of you two I was able to get out and get even more friends. I owe you both everything."</p>
      <p>Xion only beamed whilst Axel glanced away at the girl with a bashful expression.</p>
      <p>His cheek was soon tugged on with him lightly glaring at Shepard who turned away whistling innocently.</p>
      <p>"Urgh." Wrex groaned aloud. "Save me from the sappiness of this all."</p>
      <p>Yen Sid chuckled at this.</p>
      <p>"Much as there is more to discuss, I believe now isn't that time." Yen Sid stated. "There is much to be done in preparation as Sora, Riku, Donald, Goofy, Namine and King Mickey deal with things here. The rest of you must return to your own home galaxy and be prepared for the coming dangers of what you call the Reapers."</p>
      <p>A grim feeling befell the Normandy crew at the mention of the race of hyper-advanced AI.</p>
      <p>"When Sora had told me of the vision he saw with all of you combatting the one called Saren being possessed by the Darkness of the Heartless, this in turn leads me to believe that if the Heartless can appear and influence your galaxy…"</p>
      <p>"The Reapers can come here and do the same." Shepard said in a dark tone.</p>
      <p>The thought alone was not pleasant for those within Yen Sid's office.</p>
      <p>"Wait, but shouldn't that be impossible?" Liara asked. "Would the Reapers not need the capabilities of travelling here via Mass Relay or another form of FTL?"</p>
      <p>"The Heartless can travel between the Worlds with their own methods outside our controls." Yen Sid stated. "And they have influenced The Reapers thus, giving them new paths in getting around previous obstacles."</p>
      <p>"And I saw how bad it is taking on <em>One Reaper</em>." Sora said looking greatly uncomfortable at the mention of this matter.</p>
      <p>"Your galaxy would be unmatched, let alone unprepared. It'll be a one sided slaughter." Tali muttered out in dread.</p>
      <p>"Maybe, maybe not." Yen Sid said. "Though the Reapers are undoubtedly formidable in their own right, if they fully accept the Darkness, it will come as a double edged sword."</p>
      <p>"Huh?" Was the collective response from the group.</p>
      <p>"They will either risk destroying themselves with the Heartless consuming them..." Riku theorized aloud.</p>
      <p>"Or, they can be taken out by people of Light." Sora declared, calling forth his Keyblade.</p>
      <p>"I don't think we fall into the category of people of Light with our professions." Ashley dryly pointed out.</p>
      <p>"Perhaps." Yen Sid nodded. "But that does not mean you all can't be given a fighting chance."</p>
      <p>"We'll be ready, sir." Shepard said firmly. "The Alliance and the Council are already making preparations for their arrival as we speak."</p>
      <p>"Yes, but please, if you'll allow me." Yen Sid closed his eyes and outstretched both hands towards them.</p>
      <p>His form glowed in an ethereal light which were channeled into his hands before out came seven orbs of pure light that hovered before Shepard, Kaidan, Ash, Garrus, Tali, Liara and Wrex.</p>
      <p>"What's this supposed to be?" Jane asked, gazing at the glowing orb before them.</p>
      <p>"A little insurance, if you will." Yen Sid said. "Taking them into you will unlock the latent potential for greater power that you all have yet to achieve."</p>
      <p>The Normandy all gazed up at the Wizard in confusion.</p>
      <p>"Yet to achieve?" Tali parroted. "What's that mean?"</p>
      <p>"With what you already have in terms of your tools is a great benefactor to combatting forces beyond your own current strength." Yen Sid stated. "Eventually, however, overtime you would all have gained a greater degree of power due to your prolonged battles with the Heartless and the Nobodies. But time now, is of the essence. There are multiple grave dangers assembling on many ends. Which means we need to speed up the process for all of you."</p>
      <p>"So what does it mean if we are to take these… things into us?" Jane asked, cautiously raising her hand up to the orb in front of her.</p>
      <p>"If I'm guessing this correctly…" Axel said aloud. "Basically, you'll be able to do the cool shit Roxas, Xion and I do a lot more freely."</p>
      <p>"Huh?!"</p>
      <p>"You-you mean like magic and all that?!" Tali asked excitedly.</p>
      <p>"And those crazy moves you guys always pull off?!" Garrus said, vibrating with excitement.</p>
      <p>"That and more." Yen Sid confirmed. "Taking these into you will accelerate your abilities tenfold and you will all develop your own sets of skills and abilities.</p>
      <p>The seven individuals from the Milky Way Galaxy gazed upon their orbs for a brief moment. After a few seconds, they together reached out and the orbs of light entered into their hands.</p>
      <p>All seven of them glowed alight with small winds kicking up around them.</p>
      <p>Wrex was the first to respond after the aura died down.</p>
      <p>"I don't feel any different."</p>
      <p>"Same here." Muttered the Alliance Chief.</p>
      <p>Yen Sid raised a calming hand. "Give it time and it will be noticeable. These are abilities that will be brought out naturally through combat and practice."</p>
      <p>"Figured it wouldn't be instantaneous." Shepard said expectantly.</p>
      <p>All the while, as they were looking upon all this, Riku held a neutral look to this all until he flinched with a small grunt escaping his lips. A hand shot up to his chest, the young teen steadying his breathing.</p>
      <p>He managed to go unseen for the most part save for two who had heard him.</p>
      <p>Mickey… and Namine.</p>
      <p>They both turned to him and looked at him in concern but he gave them a look as to not say anything.</p>
      <p>Reluctantly, they acquiesced to his silent plea and turned back to the others.</p>
      <p>"Alright, so now what?" Shepard asked. "We came here to speak with you and all but you said there's other matters to attend to."</p>
      <p>"Yes." Yen Sid nodded. "Whilst you and your companions must return home in preparations for the Reapers, Sora, Riku and company must remain behind to deal with the Heartless that have been unleashed upon the Worlds here."</p>
      <p>"But how do we get back to our ship?" Ashley asked. "The train."</p>
      <p>Yen Sid smiles slightly. "I have that matter taken care of."</p>
      <p>Suddenly, they heard their Omni-tools go off.</p>
      <p>Blinking, Shepard activated hers and heard a familiar voice through the comms.</p>
      <p>"<em>Commander, you there?"</em></p>
      <p>"Joker?"</p>
      <p>"<em>Yeah, it's me."</em></p>
      <p>"Where are you?"</p>
      <p>"<em>That's the thing, have no idea where we're at. One moment was minding my own business when this flash of light came about and next thing I knew we were… </em>somewhere<em> else."</em></p>
      <p>"Yeah, you and me both, Joker." Shepard remarked. "We're about to-"</p>
      <p>"<em>Oh, wait, I got a ping on where you… guys are… is that a floating island with a… what is that? A tower?" </em>Came the response of the pilot of the SR1.</p>
      <p>The group heard the familiar engines sounds of the Normandy from outside the Tower.</p>
      <p>Rushing over to the nearby crescent moon and star shaped windows, the Normandy team saw their ship was hovering outside.</p>
      <p>"There she is." Shepard said in relief.</p>
      <p>Sora and the others were next to follow.</p>
      <p>"WHOA! That's your ship!?" Sora exclaimed.</p>
      <p>"Unreal!" Riku said aloud in absolute awe.</p>
      <p>"Golly, sure puts our ships to shame." Mickey stated in wonder.</p>
      <p>"Wanna check it out?" Roxas suggested, getting the others to nod their heads rapidly.</p>
      <p>"You kidding? Of course I wanna!" Sora cheered out.</p>
      <p>"Della did get in contact with Scrooge with technology and ship designs from our galaxy." Liara informed the Ōkoku natives. "So you and your people could make ones of your own… in time."</p>
      <p>Soon, a lot of people filed out of the office space and made their way towards the Normandy outside of Yen Sid's Tower.</p>
      <p>As they had all quickly vacated the room and Tower, only King Mickey and Yen Sid remained behind.</p>
      <p>"Well, that went better than expected." King Mickey said cheerfully with his former master nodding in agreement. "But… what do you think?"</p>
      <p>Yen Sid closed his eyes, deep in thought.</p>
      <p>"It is as you said, he is a spitting image of Ventus."</p>
      <p>Mickey nodded his head. "Yeah. Golly, you have no idea how shocked I was when I first laid eyes on him."</p>
      <p>"I share this sentiment, my old protege." Yen Sid stated. "But I never would have expected to see Ventus yet it turns out not to be him."</p>
      <p>"That's what my Heart told me." Mickey said, placing a hand over his chest. "The minute I saw him, I thought of Ventus but my Heart… it told me that wasn't the case."</p>
      <p>"As did mine."</p>
      <p>"Still… why not speak to him about it?" Mickey asked.</p>
      <p>His former Master shook his head. "There is enough that we have already discussed for today as is. Anymore and we would be here for a prolonged time trying to sift through all this confusion. And in that time…"</p>
      <p>"Worlds are still being threatened by the Heartless the Organization unleashed." Mickey finished for him, the Wizard nodding in agreement.</p>
      <p>"The next time we see them, shall speak with him on this matter." Yen Sid said.</p>
      <p>"Do you think we'll find out anything?" Mickey asked.</p>
      <p>"More questions than answers. Hopefully, in time, they too will be brought to light."</p>
      <p>
        <strong>AN</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Well now, this was certainly a big chapter don't you all agree?</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>The Normandy crew meets Sora and co with Yen Sid and they get a small inkling of an idea as to what's going on and what's coming. And hey, look at that, Roxas knows where he comes from now, look at that.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Jebest4781: With Roxas' reaction of knowing Sora is his Somebody, you would think we're downplaying his reaction. Sure that is indeed the case, but it's to be expected as the events of Chain of Memories went into play which eventually led to his self-identity crisis.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>FMW: Then again, I do remember a reviewer talking about how Roxas should have easily figured out that he was Sora's Nobody but kinda agree and disagree. Agree cause Roxas has actually been stated to be a bit more intelligent than Sora in some fields but I think him denying it primarily comes from how he sorta does and doesn't look like Sora.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Jeb: It is one of those subjects that is a little touchy to dwell into. Blame Nomura for how he originally wrote that out.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>FMW: But other than that, love the enthusiasm for Hojo's reveal and the anticipation you guys are showing off for the coming arcs. Trust me when I say this, J and I have something </strong>
        <em>
          <strong>very special </strong>
        </em>
        <strong>in store for you guys. It's gonna be a fun time for us all. And the Normandy crew got "little" power boosts that are gonna be very fun to explore later on and I can't wait to show off what they're gonna be capable of later on down the line.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>So yeah, another chapter is done with A LOT of crazy shit to come within the gap between this and KH2/ME2. We have </strong>
        <em>
          <strong>so much shit </strong>
        </em>
        <strong>that's been planned for this period that will shake things up greatly for the rest of the story.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Hope you're all ready for it.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Rate Read and Review and as Always Have Nice Day.</strong>
      </p>
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<a name="section0024"><h2>24. Tensions Rising</h2></a>
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      <p>
        <strong>Rate Read and Review and as Always Have Nice Day.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>I'm Nobody Chapter 24: Tensions Rising</p>
      <p>
        <em>-The World That Never Was-</em>
      </p>
      <p>Within the personal chambers of the Cloaked Schemer, said member of the Organization was currently seated at a desk he had set up for himself with a book he was finding difficult to read.</p>
      <p>And it wasn't that the book wasn't interesting.</p>
      <p>It's just that his mind wasn't really helping him to focus on the literature.</p>
      <p>Gritting his teeth, Zexion promptly slammed the book shut and leaned back into his seat though he stood up a moment later.</p>
      <p>"Something troubling you?"</p>
      <p>No. VI whirled about to the front of his room to see none other than the Luna Diviner standing at the door.</p>
      <p>"Saix." Zexion said cordially. "What can I do for you?"</p>
      <p>"Seems like I should be asking you that question." Saix countered. "It is rare to see you so bothered."</p>
      <p>"Is there a reason for this visit?" No. VI inquired icily.</p>
      <p>"Perhaps." Saix said. "Our scouts have recently encountered not only Sora and his companions in Twilight Town, but our wayward traitors as well."</p>
      <p>Zexion snapped his head in Saix's direction with the blue haired Organization member continuing on.</p>
      <p>"And with our traitorous three were a group of individuals that were true anomalies from what we are to understand." Saix said. "Or, what we at first assumed to be anomalies."</p>
      <p>No. VII raised his hand and waved it before him horizontally.</p>
      <p>A moment later, seven projections of three humans and four unique looking aliens were displayed in front of the two.</p>
      <p>Aliens that Zexion recognized.</p>
      <p>"These are-"</p>
      <p>"Yes." Saix nodded. "They're from <em>that </em>place from where our traitors had been hiding from us. It appears they had gotten bold in coming here themselves."</p>
      <p>"Why were we not informed of this sooner?" Zexion inquired sharply.</p>
      <p>"They were gone as quick as they appeared." Saix said. "They vanished beyond our sight and Lord Xemnas reckons it has something to do with King Mickey and his Master."</p>
      <p>The Cloaked Schemer frowned in thought.</p>
      <p>He only knew so much about the King and his Master that had trained him but if it was someone Lord Xemnas took note of in repelling their sight and forces, it must speak volumes on the capabilities of this individual.</p>
      <p>"So they have returned here then?"</p>
      <p>"Perhaps." Saix stated. "But not for long as they have not been seen since our scouts spotted them in Twilight Town."</p>
      <p>"Twilight Town." Zexion mused aloud. "Where Roxas was found."</p>
      <p>Saix nodded. "They appeared to slip right through us."</p>
      <p>"What are Lord Xemnas's orders?" No. VI asked.</p>
      <p>"We shall be making our move against them very soon." Saix said, taking a moment to gaze upon the seven individuals that were projected in between them.</p>
      <p>"Anyone in particular planned on being deployed for their retrieval?"</p>
      <p>"Xemnas hand picked him." Saix said. "Enough to either send them a message or bring them all back."</p>
      <p>"Oh? Are we not going with the original plan of eliminating Axel?" Zexion inquired.</p>
      <p>"That shall come in time." Saix's tone was firm. "But… Lord Xemnas has stated that there is something that Axel is more than likely aware of. Information that he has received from Roxas and there's an obvious possibility of the Puppet being aware of it as well."</p>
      <p>"Secrets Xemnas isn't privy in sharing?"</p>
      <p>"Perhaps…"</p>
      <p>Zexion's eyes narrowed slightly at the rather… unusual behavior the normally cold and emotionless Luna Diviner was displaying.</p>
      <p>There was something off about him.</p>
      <p>Though, when he thought about it momentarily, ever since those three up and betrayed the Organization suddenly Saix has been rather ill-tempered at times.</p>
      <p>Whenever the Organization spoke of Axel in particular, a dark aura began to radiate off from No. VII, something that many had taken note of. Zexion was aware of the past friendship that Saix and Axel had shared prior to the two becoming Nobodies and joining the Organization.</p>
      <p>It was easy to infer that despite giving off a callous and unfeeling demeanor for the most part, No. VII apparently still held value in the past friendship of No. VIII with him.</p>
      <p>Understandable as in a manner of speaking, both of them really only had each other when they joined and still remembered their past lives.</p>
      <p>However, the more Zexion dwelled on this matter, the more he felt as though there was a missing peace to all this.</p>
      <p>"Then I thank you for informing me of this latest development."</p>
      <p>Saix soon left, leaving No. VI to his thoughts.</p>
      <p>Standing there to himself for a moment, Zexion once again conjured forth the projection of the seven individuals that Saix had brought up earlier.</p>
      <p>Looking them over in an analytical manner, his eyes stopped upon the blue skinned alien of the group.</p>
      <p>He bore into her with his gaze, feeling his hand suddenly begin to tremble without him not even realizing it until holding it up. Clenching it tightly, Zexion found himself in mental war with himself until he conjured a corridor of Darkness and vanished a moment later.</p>
      <p>Elsewhere within the Castle of Organization XIII, standing at one of its many balconies was one Graceful Assassin who stood alone as he gazed out into the endless nothingness that surrounded the World.</p>
      <p>He wore a deep frown, multiple thoughts running through his mind.</p>
      <p>Marluxia recalled his momentary time spent in the Etherium, encountering Axel with those two companions of his that he had made in his time away from the Organization. A brief bout of the memory of envy and jealousy suddenly spiked within the scythe wielding Nobody.</p>
      <p>It was honestly still a blow to his ego and his overall plans that they had fallen through so suddenly and rapidly with an instant shock of three members just turning coat on the Organization themselves.</p>
      <p>His own meticulous planning was thrown by the wayside only for him to be upstaged by two of the Organization's newest members and perhaps the ultimate wildcard in the group.</p>
      <p>Much as Luxord enjoyed his themes of gambling with dice and cards, most everyone always knew of the unpredictable nature of Axel.</p>
      <p>"Urgh, how much longer are you just going to stand there brooding like that?"</p>
      <p>"I believe you are mistaking brooding and contemplation as two separate entities, Larxene."</p>
      <p>"With you, the former outweighs the latter." Larxene responded with a flat look.</p>
      <p>Marluxia merely rolled his cold blue eyes as the Savage Nymph stood beside him.</p>
      <p>"Joking aside, Munny for your thoughts?"</p>
      <p>"Take a wild guess." No. XII said sourly. "I'm basically grounded here 'cause of everything falling apart for us. That jerk Axel.<em> And</em> those two little brats. Who the hell do they think they are stealing our thunder?"</p>
      <p>Marluxia raised a brow at her choice in words, something No. XII immediately realized.</p>
      <p>"You know what I mean." Larxene scoffed in a bitter fashion.</p>
      <p>"If I recall correctly, was it not <em>you </em>who suggested we bring Axel into the fold?" No. XI asked rhetorically. "I even remember just before our departure to Castle Oblivion that you had even considered bringing on Roxas as a part of our coalition."</p>
      <p>"For one, the little twerp would've been easy to mold at the time." Larxene said offhandedly. "For another, we would have gotten two under our thumb. Both the original and the leftover."</p>
      <p>"Perhaps that would not work." Marluxia stated. "It appears that Axel would be rather… <em>resistant </em>to the idea."</p>
      <p>Larxene groaned aloud in aggravation. "Are we really gonna just let them collar us like this?"</p>
      <p>"You know that's not what you and I had in mind when we first spoke." Marluxia reminded her, causing the Savage Nymph to stare intently at him.</p>
      <p>"So what's the plan then?"</p>
      <p>"What we had originally intended to do?"</p>
      <p>Larxene gave him a disbelieving look. "Are you kidding me? That failed before it could even get off the ground. Besides, we needed Namine to pull this off. And she's under the protection of Sora and all his friends."</p>
      <p>"Namine is undoubtedly a harsh loss but one we can deal with." Marluxia said. "And though she was the key to our success, losing her should not deter us in the slightest."</p>
      <p>Larxene crossed her arms impatiently. "Ok genius, so what's gonna be different this time?"</p>
      <p>Marluxia's expression morphed into one that held a devious and sinister smirk that he directed towards his fellow colluder.</p>
      <p>"Simple. Namine was the key because she was the shadow." No. XI revealed. "So if she's out of the question, why not go for the original source then?"</p>
      <p>The Savage Nymph blinked at this reveal before her own expression matched that of the Graceful Assassins.</p>
      <p>"Well, well~ why didn't you start with that?"</p>
      <p>Marluxia 'hmphed' in amusement, turning back to the endless void.</p>
      <p>"Let's not rush this time around." He said calmly. "We shall bide our time. Watch what develops on all sides until we make our move."</p>
      <p>"You know they probably won't trust us ever again." Larxene pointed out.</p>
      <p>"Perhaps… but with everything that's happening… with everything to come." Marluxia's smirk turned deadly. "Who's to say what will happen in that time?"</p>
      <p>"Exactly what I wanted to hear."</p>
      <p>As the two had spoken of this in the belief that they went unheard, neither were aware of the Organization member that sported an eyepatch standing upside down in midair with seemingly nothing holding him there.</p>
      <p>No. II smirked at the two as he gazed down at them from above.</p>
      <p>"When will they ever learn to keep up their constant vigilance…"</p>
      <p>
        <em>-Scene Cut-</em>
      </p>
      <p>Across the cosmos, far off from the World of endless nothingness, within a cosmic cloud was the large structure of the Citadel.</p>
      <p>Ships passed by around it, some going in with others going out.</p>
      <p>Repairs were still going about after the battle that had occurred here nearly three weeks ago by this point.</p>
      <p>Unsurprising considering the wide scale damage that had occurred on that day.</p>
      <p>As all this had gone on, one of the people who were in the center of the battle was currently enjoying a nice lunch near the presidium.</p>
      <p>She had a simple sandwich to sate her appetite since she wasn't all that hungry and was reclined back in her chair as she took a sip of her drink.</p>
      <p>Jane Shepard abruptly flinched as she felt something small hit above her eyebrow and she lightly glared at the man sitting on the other side of the small table who was whistling innocently.</p>
      <p>"Was that necessary?"</p>
      <p>"Huh, what?" The red haired man said, pretending to break out of whatever it was that was "distracting" him. "You say something?"</p>
      <p>Shepard's response was to pluck a piece of her lettuce from her sandwich and flicked it right at her friend.</p>
      <p>The piece didn't reach far as a quick flare burnt it away before it could even get a few inches close to his face.</p>
      <p>"Ah, you're gonna have to try harder than that, Shepard." He cheekily remarked.</p>
      <p>"You're just asking for hard payback, Axel." Shepard deadpanned though she smirked soon after.</p>
      <p>"Now what in the World could I possibly be doing to get such a response?" Axel inquired in false shock and disbelief.</p>
      <p>Shepard only shook her head at his antics, grabbing her sandwich for a bite. She frowned slightly as it had gotten slightly cold.</p>
      <p>Looking over at Axel expectantly, he only raised a brow at her as she gestured her eyes down at her sandwich.</p>
      <p>Rolling his eyes, he gave her sandwich a quick intent look.</p>
      <p>Shepard felt her meal increase in heat slightly with the Commander smirking in satisfaction and appreciation.</p>
      <p>"That was childish." Axel remarked. "Aren't you supposed to be a Commander?"</p>
      <p>"And flicking paper at me isn't?" Jane asked rhetorically.</p>
      <p>"No."</p>
      <p>His response made it seem like he was being honest about it.</p>
      <p>No… no, yeah, he was being honest.</p>
      <p>'Cheeky bastard.' Shepard internally mused.</p>
      <p>The Nobody gave her a small grin which she couldn't help but return after a second, shaking her head at how easily she caved on her intentions of small revenge.</p>
      <p>He'll get it eventually; of that she was sure.</p>
      <p>Just not now.</p>
      <p>Good things come to people who wait.</p>
      <p>And Shepard was anything but patient… sort of.</p>
      <p>As she munched on her sandwich, Axel propped his leg up for him to rest his arm on while grabbing his own sandwich that he had ordered.</p>
      <p>"I hear Udina got the Counselor position." Said the Nobody, biting into his food. "Would've thought the Captain could've gotten it."</p>
      <p>Jane snorted at that. "You kidding? David hardly stands politics. He's more suited anywhere else besides behind a desk."</p>
      <p>"I thought they would've chosen him as Counselor." Axel shrugged. "He's a man of action and could've helped push the other Counselors to get the job done instead of sitting on their asses all day and delaying things."</p>
      <p>"You know things don't exactly work like that."</p>
      <p>"Can it?"</p>
      <p>"It's politics, Axel." Shepard reminded. "By default, it doesn't work."</p>
      <p>"Well if Anderson is going to stick around and assist, I hope he can reign in Udina's douchebaggery."</p>
      <p>Jane rolled her eyes as she fought back a smirk. "You don't have to go that far, Axel."</p>
      <p>"You kidding? With what interactions I've had with the new Counselor, I get the impression he'll act that way. You sure there weren't any other candidates for the role?"</p>
      <p>"There had to be."</p>
      <p>"Yet we got Udina."</p>
      <p>"More like <em>we </em>got Udina." Shepard pointed out. "You have the luxury of leaving whenever you feel like it and not have to deal with him anymore."</p>
      <p>"True." Axel mused. "But pretty sure Roxas and Xion would get upset at me if I tell them we're leaving."</p>
      <p>Jane couldn't help but smile at her fellow redhead. "Yes, heaven forbid Roxas and Xion getting upset at you for something like that."</p>
      <p>"Right?" Axel said jokingly. "They're a couple of spoiled kids now, if ya ask me."</p>
      <p>The Commander could only chuckle slightly at his comments, wiping her mouth clean after taking the last bite of her meal.</p>
      <p>Axel finished shortly after, the two falling into a comfortable silence shared between the two.</p>
      <p>From nowhere, as it usually seems to be the case by this point with the Nobody trio, Axel pulled out two bars of Sea Salt Ice cream and wordlessly held one out for Shepard to take.</p>
      <p>The Spectre nodded at him in appreciation, though her mind was still trying to figure out just <em>where in the hell </em>do they keep these on them.</p>
      <p>Seriously, the Nobody trio just whip it out of seemingly thin air with them either being packaged and at times not and they <em>still </em>remain fresh somehow.</p>
      <p>There must be some cosmic levels of bullshit magic revolving around these damn ice cream bars.</p>
      <p>By this point, Jane had learned not to at least verbally question how in the hell they keep doing it. But it's a secret research project with the others. They'll get the answers to this crazy question.</p>
      <p>Someday.</p>
      <p>"So, any word from your Alliance brass or the Council about anything?" Axel inquired conversationally.</p>
      <p>"You need to be a bit more specific."</p>
      <p>The Nobody threw his arm up slightly. "I dunno. Aside from the Heartless popping up here and there with our patrols and taking out whatever comes the way of Alliance and Citadel controlled space, seems a bit quiet for now."</p>
      <p>Shepard opened her mouth to answer, only to close it a moment later as she briefly contemplated on this manner.</p>
      <p>What Axel said holds true, it has been a bit quiet for the most part.</p>
      <p>They had encountered Heartless here and there, both on the ground and in space but this had become routine by this point.</p>
      <p>Given what they've been through, it was a little unsettling.</p>
      <p>Why was everything so quiet?</p>
      <p>"I… wish I knew the answer to that myself." Shepard said with a frown. "Which is what worries me."</p>
      <p>The Flurry of Dancing Flames gave her a silent look that asked why this was troublesome.</p>
      <p>Shepard only released a sigh, leaning her elbows against the table with her ice cream dangling slightly in between her fingers over the table's edge.</p>
      <p>"It's honestly a universal law by this point." Shepard stated. "Things go up before they go down. And that applies in the reverse. In order for things to start for everything to go up, we've got a down period. A calm before the storm."</p>
      <p>"And you feel a shitstorm coming, dontcha?" Axel asked expectantly.</p>
      <p>Jane grimaced as she nodded.</p>
      <p>"I'd try not to tempt fate, but…"</p>
      <p>"Then don't say a thing or else it will rear its ugly head."</p>
      <p>"I don't have to." Shepard said. "It's gonna happen whether we like it or not. The Reapers, the Heartless, your Organization. Whatever other shit that just wants to pop out of the woodwork."</p>
      <p>Axel didn't respond to that, knowing full well that those words held a great amount of truth to them.</p>
      <p>She was right of course. It was all only a matter of time until things start to go sideways again.</p>
      <p>Looking back on it all, it all started with Roxas vanishing suddenly.</p>
      <p>And since then, it has been a marathon sprint from beginning to end with them at long last coming to this momentary lull period.</p>
      <p>"We'll just have to take things one day at a time." Axel said after a few seconds of silence with Shepard only nodding in agreement.</p>
      <p>"Got no choice on the matter."</p>
      <p>Her friend nodded, the two rising out from their seats a moment later as they departed from the area.</p>
      <p>What they were unaware was they were spotted by several other teammates of theirs that just so happened to be close by.</p>
      <p>"Hey, ain't that Axel and Shepard?" Garrus asked aloud, with the others turning to the Turian.</p>
      <p>"What?" Xion asked, Stitch resting atop her head.</p>
      <p>"Yeah, there." Garrus pointed. "See?"</p>
      <p>The group gazed at the direction that he was pointing at and true to his word, there was Commander Shepard and Axel walking away while casually conversing with one another.</p>
      <p>"Should we call out to them?" Xion asked, looking up at Garrus who waved his hand down.</p>
      <p>"Nah, leave them be." The Turian stated. "No need to bother them when we'll see them later. Besides, they're going in the opposite direction we're going. Come on, let's get going."</p>
      <p>Xion nodded with Stitch grunting in agreement.</p>
      <p>They had turned to leave yet their other two friends that were with them momentarily stayed behind.</p>
      <p>Their gaze lingered on the two redheads as they saw Axel say something that resulted in his getting a flick on the side of his head from Shepard with the man only laughing at the action.</p>
      <p>One glanced to the other and saw they had shared the same look that they had.</p>
      <p>"So… You wanted Shepard too huh?" Kaidan Alenko said expectantly.</p>
      <p>"What? Oh, I, uh…"</p>
      <p>The recently promoted Alliance marine only smiled understandingly, placing an arm around her shoulder.</p>
      <p>"It's alright, Liara." Kaidan said calmly. "I was in the same boat as you."</p>
      <p>"Really?" The Asari turned to Alenko in slight surprise.</p>
      <p>The LT-Commander sighed aloud, nodding his head.</p>
      <p>"Yeah, it sort of came up as time went on when we were after Saren." Kaidan admitted with a somber smile.</p>
      <p>Liara gazed at him sympathetically.</p>
      <p>"How?"</p>
      <p>Kaidan rubbed his cheek and chin slightly.</p>
      <p>"It just… sorta happened." Kaidan said. "Every moment I saw her, I just got drawn towards her more and more. Her relentless attitude, her laser focused demeanor, how kind she was even if she can fight like a Krogan on a blood rage…"</p>
      <p>Liara soon placed her own arm around his shoulder in response, feeling the same way as he was right now.</p>
      <p>"I'm not in high school anymore. I'm… disappointed. Sure. But she made her choice and I'll deal with it. I'll do my duty. So don't worry about that." Kaidan stated after a few seconds.</p>
      <p>With things coming out in the open, Liara spoke next. "I admit I was originally interested in her because of her Prothean visions, something that sparked my initial interest. But it has grown beyond that."</p>
      <p>"Being…"</p>
      <p>"Something I hoped to explore. Yet I'm completely fine with being professional with her. And I can even love her, platonically I mean."</p>
      <p>"Pretty sure we're at that point really." Kaidan said with a shrug. "We spend almost every day together since we all came together."</p>
      <p>The asari nodded as she gazed back at the red haired duo who had rounded a corner and disappeared.</p>
      <p>"Your thoughts with Axel?" Liara inquired.</p>
      <p>"He's a nice guy. As long as he treats her right, then that's good enough for me." Came Kaidan's response. "You?"</p>
      <p>"I see they have a connection forming, even if they cannot." The Archaeologist said.</p>
      <p>"Kinda puts the whole notion of no emotions and Heart and all to rest, huh?"</p>
      <p>"Maybe." Liara said. "I admit, even I still have a hard time trying to understand what they are supposed to be at times."</p>
      <p>Kaidan snorted. "You got that right. Still… There are more fish in the galactic sea of ours."</p>
      <p>"What does that… ah, human expression." Liara said with Alenko nodding in confirmation. "We just have to keep on looking, I suppose."</p>
      <p>"Agreed."</p>
      <p>"Oi."</p>
      <p>The two looked back to see Xion, Stitch and Garrus not far from them with the Turian throwing his hands up slightly.</p>
      <p>"You guys coming or what?"</p>
      <p>"Right, right, sorry about that." Kaidan said, he and Liara quickly walked over to rejoin their friends as they walked off towards their next destination.</p>
      <p>Whilst these five teammates of the Normandy spent their time together, the rest of the squad had paired off together to do their own thing.</p>
      <p>Axel was still with Shepard while Ashley and Wrex went out for a few drinks together.</p>
      <p>Roxas and Tali on the other hand…</p>
      <p>
        <em>-Earlier today-</em>
      </p>
      <p>"Pleeeaaase~ Roxas." Tali had her hands clasped together in front of her making it look like she was praying really in front of her sandy-blond haired friend.</p>
      <p>The boy in question raised a brow at her gesture.</p>
      <p>"Please what?"</p>
      <p>Tali groaned aloud. "Didn't you hear anything I was saying?"</p>
      <p>Roxas blinked at the Quarian, turning back to the book he held in his hands before back at her with a sheepish smile appearing.</p>
      <p>"Er… sorry, not really Tali. Sorry."</p>
      <p>Tali leaned her body back dramatically. "Roxas~"</p>
      <p>No. XIII found himself chuckling at his friends behavior with her huffing at that and crossing her arms to forcefully turn away from him.</p>
      <p>"What is it, Tali?" He asked.</p>
      <p>"Hmph, why should I bother telling you?" Tali inquired, keeping up her annoyed act. "You could ignore me again."</p>
      <p>Roxas rolled his eyes at her behavior yet he still smiled as he knew what she was doing.</p>
      <p>"Well I didn't mean it the first time." Roxas said, closing his book. "Come on, tell me."</p>
      <p>He saw one of her glowing eyes underneath her faceplate gaze at him until she "relented" and turned to him properly.</p>
      <p>"Well…" Tali shifted about slightly, rubbing her arm with her hand slightly. "I was hoping… the two of us could go back to Rannoch again."</p>
      <p>Roxas tilted his head a bit at her request, frowning in thought.</p>
      <p>"Already?" He asked. "Why so soon?"</p>
      <p>Tali gaped at the boy, beneath her helmet.</p>
      <p>"Roxas, how could I not want to go back?!" Tali nearly exclaimed. "It's thanks to you, I got to go back to my home planet and live! My people are never gonna believe me! I need proof this time."</p>
      <p>He flinched at the volume of her voice as he soon held his hands up in defense. "Sorry, I didn't mean- Look, we already went there less than a few days ago and I didn't expect you wanting to go back so soon."</p>
      <p>"But I <em>need to.</em>" Tali now whined, sounding a bit like a child now. "<em>Pleeeeaaassee Roxas~"</em></p>
      <p>Roxas found himself chuckling slightly at the lengths in which Tali was going to for this. When he thought about it, he could sorta understand why she wanted to do this couple with the fact that as of right now, he really didn't have anything to do right now.</p>
      <p>He shrugged after thinking about it for a few seconds. "I don't see why not. Let me get in touch with Axel so he can lend you his coat."</p>
      <p>Tali proceeded to let out a whoop of joy and jumped in the air before hugging him tightly to the point that he was starting to lose his breath until she broke off and ran to get herself ready.</p>
      <p>Eventually procuring Axel's coat, the pair made their second trip to Rannoch.</p>
      <p>Stepping through the Dark Corridor, they ended back in the flower field they were in their first visit.</p>
      <p>Gazing around, Tali reached down and caressed one of the scarlet star-dye flowers. The color seems faded, yet it radiated from the sunlight. The tips were white as they seemed to glow as well. And there were others like the scarlet flower from lapis blue and vertigo green. Just a whole rainbow of colors with similar traits.</p>
      <p>Roxas gazed at his friend who was quite literally radiating pure joy at being here and he couldn't help but smile warmly at her.</p>
      <p>She sighed aloud, both content and morose.</p>
      <p>Given their symbiotic relationship with it, the Quarian people wanted to express their love towards their planet.</p>
      <p>They sky… the rock formations… They wrote poems about them. About everything.</p>
      <p>For their entire culture revolved around their homeworld.</p>
      <p>Reading about the descriptions was one thing but seeing it in person was another.</p>
      <p>Now while they heavily detailed the majestic beauty of the planet prior to the Geth uprising, there were scholars who recorded it's tragedy. A sad reminder for Rannoch's people when they were forced into exile.</p>
      <p>A motivation for what the Quarians fought to regain in their exile in the stars.</p>
      <p>"I wish… we could be here all day." Tali said. "I wish everyone on the Flotilla could be here right now with me."</p>
      <p>Roxas' expression fell. He reached out to place his hand on her shoulder comfortingly.</p>
      <p>"One day you and your people will, Tali. This is just the first steps of reclaiming your homeworld. Just be patient."</p>
      <p>Tali glanced back up at him with an appreciative look in her eyes, reaching up to place her hand over his and squeezed it tightly in gratitude.</p>
      <p>When preparing their second trip to Rannoch, Roxas and Tali wanted to do a proper exploration. Not an extensive one, given the Geth still occupy the planet. Just enough where they could at least gauge the current state of the planet and see what they could take back with them.</p>
      <p>Thus both had to take the silent approach so neither would be spotted and make a hasty retreat via the Dark Corridor. And neither had to use their hacking capabilities or else they'd alert the present "locals".</p>
      <p>When exploring the city nearby the flower field, Tali and Roxas took note of its present condition. They expected that most, if not all of the buildings and structures were in complete ruins from the Geth uprising. The rubble and debris still littering the planet's surface with the local flora growing over the damage like a scar.</p>
      <p>Instead the pair saw something else.</p>
      <p>The windows looked all clean with hardly a sign of rust on the metal of the buildings. What bits of concrete and stonework there were in the surrounding structures were whole with hardly a crack out of place.</p>
      <p>"It's… It's like the Quarians never left." Roxas noted.</p>
      <p>Everything seemed so prim and proper in the order of things. Some of it even looked… sort of new. Like it was made or built not too long ago.</p>
      <p>It was rather unsettling.</p>
      <p>Neither knew how this came to be. There had to be extensive damage with the war.</p>
      <p>It was 300 years ago by this point. If anything, Tali would have thought to have seen more rubble and wreckages when she thought about it.</p>
      <p>Tali brought a hand to her chest and breathed in deeply as she gazed at the sight before her. "It most certainly does." She said softly.</p>
      <p>"But how? Didn't the war…"</p>
      <p>"I'm not sure." Tali murmured with a troubled tone.</p>
      <p>"Do you think… it was the Geth?"</p>
      <p>Tali didn't know what to think on that matter.</p>
      <p>Did the Geth repair the buildings, the cities?</p>
      <p>If so, then why? It would serve no practical purpose. They're AI, aren't they?</p>
      <p>What purpose would it serve in doing this?</p>
      <p>"I wish I knew, Roxas."</p>
      <p>She wanted to learn more about all this but knew that as of right now, they wouldn't be getting any answers.</p>
      <p>Not unless they wanted to look for trouble.</p>
      <p>"Come on." Tali said. "If we stay here out in the open, we might be found by the Geth."</p>
      <p>Roxas nodded, following after Tali as they moved towards the city structure.</p>
      <p>They had soon come across a boutique and took a look around its contents. There were a number of clothing items such as scarves and cowls. Some of which looked very similar to the cowls worn by Quarians for their pilgrimages. Yet… this was from a time where they didn't need their suits.</p>
      <p>And the accessories in the boutique were rather pretty good, but they don't hold a candle up to how well the ones they currently wore, courtesy of Mosh the Moogle. They were more useful and practical as they helped improve their skills and defenses. The ones here, however, were just to spruce up one's appearance in a certain clothing ensemble.</p>
      <p>Nonetheless, the clothing and accessories were taken for some cultural significance on what else Tali wished to give back to her people.</p>
      <p>By the end of their little trip here, Tali was once again tearing up as she held some of the clothing they had collected close to her.</p>
      <p>"When I get back to the Flotilla… They're never gonna believe how I got all this stuff."</p>
      <p>Roxas tilted his head at that with a thoughtful look on him.</p>
      <p>"Why don't I come back with you then?" Roxas inquired, surprising her slightly. "Show them how we did it."</p>
      <p>Tali stared at him in open surprise. "Are… Are you sure you want to come with me?"</p>
      <p>"Why not. With how much you talk about the Flotilla and a number of people you're close to, I thought…"</p>
      <p>Tali giggled aloud, unable to contain herself as she reached out with one hand and placed it over Roxas' cheek.</p>
      <p>"You're really sweet Roxas." She said with the kindest tone Roxas had ever heard from her. "I would love to have you with me on my return."</p>
      <p>The Nobody gazed upon the Quarian with a strange swelling going up in his chest.</p>
      <p>*Badump*</p>
      <p>There it goes again…</p>
      <p>Why?</p>
      <p>Why is this happening to him? And how?</p>
      <p>Eventually leaving Rannoch once more, the pair made their return to the Citadel, but more specifically the Normandy to drop off their pilfered goods.</p>
      <p>Once separating and organizing the collected goods accordingly, the pair decided to head over to Edna's clothing boutique.</p>
      <p>"I must say, I wonder how you both were able to procure such… items." Said the designer in her private office. The short woman gazed at the assembly of goods sprawled over her workstation. "Tell me, was it from the black market or did you raid a private collector? I won't blame you if it were either."</p>
      <p>Tali held up a finger to where her mouth was with a mischievous look in her eyes. "Trade secret."</p>
      <p>Edna could only smirk back at the answer, a look of understanding appearing on her face before she returned to her inspection of the Quarian clothing and accessories.</p>
      <p>"At least you were able to give me all this to help inspire me to create new lines for your people, Miss Zorah. A little renaissance if you will."</p>
      <p>"I can't wait to tell them about it, Ms. Edna."</p>
      <p>"Just Edna for you, my darling." the fashion designer said kindly. "You and your friends have done a great service for my business that I can never repay."</p>
      <p>Tali took the moment to briefly look over to a holo projection of none other than Roxas wearing a skintight tank top with some stylish pants that showed off his physique. Her eyes then lingered over to several women, Asari and human all whispering to one another while eyeing the individual on the projection who was currently speaking to Edna.</p>
      <p>Suddenly, Edna said to those nearby about how much she owed Roxas for the success of her shop and was open to questions and pictures should they ask.</p>
      <p>A moment later, Roxas was promptly swarmed by the ladies in the shop, the boy going bug-eyed and panicked at the overwhelming amount of women surrounding him.</p>
      <p>Tali saw all this with a flat look on her face as she gazed down at a smug and amused fashion designer.</p>
      <p>"...You just love torturing him on this, don't you?" Tali asked dryly.</p>
      <p>"I don't know what you mean."</p>
      <p>The smile Edna wore was not helping the matter at all.</p>
      <p>"Oh don't worry, you have a far better shot in being with him than either of them." Edna said off handedly.</p>
      <p>Tali blushed profusely beneath her helmet with her jerking slightly which Edna took note of with her smile widening.</p>
      <p>She wanted to refute this claim yet she knew that if she were to respond, it would end with her stammering and stuttering her way into her embarrassing herself.</p>
      <p>"I don't even know if it would even work." Tali found herself muttering in a low, downtrodden tone.</p>
      <p>Edna scoffed at such a statement.</p>
      <p>"I've personally known my fair share of couples throughout my life. Helped get a couple of them together here and there, one way or another." Edna stated firmly. "If anything is possible of having things work out in the end, it is the power of love, my darling. Prudish as I may seem to appear."</p>
      <p>Steam was now rolling out from underneath her hood as she watched Roxas try to survive the mauling of women who were constantly either taking pictures with him or blatantly feeling him up.</p>
      <p>"Word of advice, darling, do try to work through his density as he's a rather naive teenager."</p>
      <p>"That's… putting it mildly." Tali said, now feeling her brow begin to twitch at seeing a human girl not much older than Roxas place a daring kiss upon his cheek.</p>
      <p>"Then perhaps you should mark your territory now."</p>
      <p>Tali could only nod, shoving her way through the crowd of women to the overwhelmed Nobody and reached out to grab him by the wrist.</p>
      <p>"Alright you Bosh'tet harpies, leave him alone." Tali said aloud, managing to pull him out of their grasps. "We have important work to do. So leave us alone."</p>
      <p>With no further notice, the Quarian left the establishment with Roxas in tow.</p>
      <p>"Do come again." Edna waved off as she returned to her work while her customers slowly went back to their normal businesses.</p>
      <p>Tali had her grip on Roxas not loosening in the slightest.</p>
      <p>"Tali, not that I mind you helping me out back there, but what's going on?" He asked aloud.</p>
      <p>They were already away from Edna's place of business, but why is she still holding onto him?</p>
      <p>"Because I need to make sure you are as far away from those Bosh'tets." Tali said after a moment.</p>
      <p>Roxas glanced back at where they came from, a momentary feeling of dread washing over him as he looked back at Tali, nodding his head rapidly.</p>
      <p>"I appreciate it."</p>
      <p>Tali only laughed lightly, the two eventually standing in between a walkway that was built over one of the routes the vehicles within the Citadel utilized in getting around.</p>
      <p>They gazed around the area, watching as people passed by until Roxas felt a small chill go down his spine.</p>
      <p>His eyes widened briefly before they narrowed a moment later, his gaze darting about around him.</p>
      <p>Tali saw this and was slightly put off by his sudden change in demeanor.</p>
      <p>"Roxas?" Tali reached out to him in concern.</p>
      <p>His response was him throwing his hand out to the side and calling forth Oathkeeper into his hand and getting into position.</p>
      <p>"Everyone, clear out of here <em>now!</em>" Roxas bellowed aloud with many passerby's looking at him in stunned surprise.</p>
      <p>Jerking back slightly at this action, Tali's eyes widened, quickly realizing what was about to happen.</p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>-Insert Kingdom Hearts II: Tensions Rising-</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>Without another word being spoken, Tali pulled her weapon out with her Omni-Tool lighting up as she stood beside Roxas.</p>
      <p>A second later, plumbs of silvery-white vapors, a number of Nobodies surrounded them.</p>
      <p>There were a dozen Dusks and Creepers and a new variant that was blended into the mix.</p>
      <p>They were bronze armored beings with spikes jettison out of the shoulder pauldrons and knees. On the left arm were a relatively large shield formed around the arm grieve and from its right arm was an axe. Coming from the handle was the blade that resembled the Nobody emblem.</p>
      <p>It took a moment for Roxas to analyze these Nobodies as he had not seen them in quite some time now but eventually he knew who they were.</p>
      <p>These were the Gladiators.</p>
      <p>And they were placed under the order of the most physically powerful and imposing member of the Organization.</p>
      <p>Gritting his teeth at the number of Nobodies, Roxas flicked out his hand and a dozen Samurai appeared around the two.</p>
      <p>"Find Shepard and the others." Roxas said to a few of his Nobodies. "Get them here <em>now."</em></p>
      <p>Four of the Samurai simply nodded, quickly disappearing a moment later whilst the other eight remained by their leader.</p>
      <p>They had their swords all drawn as Roxas and his group faced the opposing Nobodies.</p>
      <p>The Gladiators banged their axes against their shields before they charged forward with their weapons raised.</p>
      <p>Roxas was quick to intercept the coming blow towards Tali. He grunted slightly, arms jolting slightly at the power they possessed. Though that was to be expected considering who it was they served directly.</p>
      <p>Tali in the meantime was quick to pull out her shotgun and blasted the Nobody directly into its chest. It stumbled back which Roxas took advantage of, slashing it several times before destroying it.</p>
      <p>"Keep your distances from these Nobodies, Tali." Roxas warned. "They're one of the absolute strongest in terms of physical strength. Only Saix's come close to these guys."</p>
      <p>Tali only nodded, moving back slightly as Roxas' Samurai moved in to engage the other Nobodies.</p>
      <p>One of the Gladiators swung its sword down, its blade clashing with those of a Samurai.</p>
      <p>The two unique Nobodies struggled momentarily until the Gladiator's head was pierced by two blades.</p>
      <p>The Gladiator trembled before it popped out of existence. The Samurai Nobody simply nodded, its pillar like head at its two compatriots with them returning their attention to the coming Dusks and Creepers.</p>
      <p>Roxas was fighting against the other Gladiators, making sure their focus was on him and only him.</p>
      <p>These guys were obscenely strong in the physical sense.</p>
      <p>If they were to run rough shot around here, who knows what sort of pandemonium and damage they would cause.</p>
      <p>Tali in the meantime was running around the area, firing at the Dusks and Creepers who were combating Roxas's Nobodies.</p>
      <p>She fired off several Omni-Bolts, the arcs of lightning lasting a great deal longer this time around.</p>
      <p>The bolts managed to destroy several of the Creepers whilst shocking several Dusks, inflicting damage upon them.</p>
      <p>The Samurai were quick to take out these stunned Dusks, moving onto their next set of enemies.</p>
      <p>Tali continued these means of attack, supporting the Samurai until she suddenly had several Nobodies surrounding her.</p>
      <p>Three Dusks and a Creeper.</p>
      <p>Tali panicked slightly but didn't have any time to think on the matter as one of the Dusks bent down and began wiggling its way towards her in the air.</p>
      <p>She shot it several times, with her rounds appearing to damage it slightly yet it still came at her.</p>
      <p>Instinctively diving forward to the ground, she pivoted her body as to land on her back with her holding her gun up to shoot directly at its unzipped face at last taking it out.</p>
      <p>She quickly rolled out of the way as the other Nobodies pounced at her, leaving a grenade behind that blew up in their faces.</p>
      <p>The Creeper was taken out, but the other two Dusks floated upwards into the air with their bodies being singed.</p>
      <p>Before she was able to take them out, a familiar circular weapon covered in fire appeared, cutting straight through one dusk where the other was shot down rapidly.</p>
      <p>Landing right next to Tali, the Quarian was greeted by the sight of Axel and Shepard standing above her with the latter holding out her hand to her.</p>
      <p>"Commander." Tali said in relief, Jane helping her up to her feet. "Axel."</p>
      <p>"Glad we didn't miss anything." the Fiery Nobody said, holding out his hand as his Chakram returned to him.</p>
      <p>"You alright?" Shepard asked straight away.</p>
      <p>"I'm fine." Tali said. "But we need to help Roxas."</p>
      <p>The two new arrivals spotted the young Nobody clashing with one of the new Nobodies that the Spectre did not recognize before.</p>
      <p>"Those guys are new." Shepard noted upon seeing the Gladiators.</p>
      <p>Eyeing them, green eyes narrowed as their owners barely showed his teeth. "Great, <em>them</em>."</p>
      <p>"Any useful advice?" Shepard asked, Biotics flaring around her.</p>
      <p>"Get them off their feet if you can." Axel said, cracking his neck as he twirled his weapons before dashing forward.</p>
      <p>Nodding, Jane's biotics flared as she threw an attack at the bunch.</p>
      <p>Several of the Gladiators got caught in a stasis field.</p>
      <p>They immediately struggled to free themselves yet Roxas cut some down with the last of them being promptly destroyed by Axel gliding in to incinerate them.</p>
      <p>"Axel." Roxas said happily.</p>
      <p>"Always taking the fun for yourself, huh Roxas?" Axel asked rhetorically with a wide grin.</p>
      <p>"You just gotta learn when to keep up." Roxas retorted, a grin to match his friends as the two went on the attack together.</p>
      <p>Shepard and Tali joined in moments later, the Samurai Nobody also still fighting on.</p>
      <p>With the four of them fighting together along with Roxas' Nobodies, they began to tear right through these enemy Nobodies with ease.</p>
      <p>When everything was seemingly settled, a Corridor of Darkness formed not far away from the group.</p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>-Insert Kingdom Hearts II: Organization XIII-</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>Stepping out of it, a large hooded being disbursed the passageway behind him.</p>
      <p>Shepard and Tali tensed at the sight of this large and imposing man.</p>
      <p>He easily towered over their friends like Garrus and Wrex and looked astonishingly powerful in the physical department.</p>
      <p>Numbers VIII and XIII glared intently at the imposing figure</p>
      <p>The man simply stood there until he reached up and pulled his hood back to reveal a face with very angular and strong features, such as having a square chin, straight nose and sharp cheekbones. His ginger hair was slicked back into messy spikes that seemed to curl at several ends.</p>
      <p>"Lexaeus." Axel said tensely.</p>
      <p>"Roxas, Axel." The largest member of the Organization peered down at the traitors with his light blue eyes. "You have done well so far, hiding from the rest of the Organization."</p>
      <p>"Glad to know we impressed the others." Taunted the Flurry of Dancing Flames, grasping his weapons tightly.</p>
      <p>The Silent Hero was nonplussed by this mocking tone, simply crossing his arms and closing his eyes.</p>
      <p>"But you already know that this charade ends here and now." Firmly said No. V of the Organization. "Return and you will be spared."</p>
      <p>"And if we say no?" Roxas shot back, getting back into his ready stance with the others mirroring the gesture.</p>
      <p>Lexaeus simply stood there until he unfolded his arms.</p>
      <p>Raising his hand, grains of sand and rubble erupted from Lexaeus' palm. Moments later, he grasped onto it as the earth disbursed. In his grasp was a massive, heavy axe sword that was about a meter long. The blue handle was roughly as long as the blade made of black, red and yellow metal. To any normal being, it would be laborious to use without extreme strength.</p>
      <p>Moments later, No. V rested his weapon, Skysplitter on his shoulder as he went into his battle stance.</p>
      <p>Lexaeus opened his eyes with an intense gaze to them now. "Then you shall fall."</p>
      <p>With a bellowing shout, dark power quite literally exploded off of the Nobodies form with winds whipping up from and around him.</p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>-Insert Kingdom Hearts II: The 13th Struggle-</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>"Your rebellion ends here." Lexaeus roared, raising his Axe Sword and slammed it down on the ground.</p>
      <p>The earthquake that came caused them all to stumble as it appeared to shake the whole damn Citadel.</p>
      <p>Roxas was the first to recover, jumping into the air and gliding straight for him with him spinning in the air for a downward strike.</p>
      <p>No. V simply raised his hand and caught the Keyblade in the middle and swung Roxas, tossing him away.</p>
      <p>"Roxas!"</p>
      <p>"Stay focused." Axel declared, zooming straight at the large man who saw him coming.</p>
      <p>Lexaeus quickly slammed his weapon down onto the ground, a wall of Earth appearing around him.</p>
      <p>Undeterred, Axel charged up his fire stopping a foot away from the Earth wall and threw his Chakrams down to the ground. The weapons embedded themselves into the ground, spinning rapidly before rapidly going in circles around the Earth until they created a large fire pillar that surrounded the barrier entirely.</p>
      <p>It subsided moments later to reveal molten earth with Tali and Shepard momentarily believing the day to be won, only to see Axel still on alert.</p>
      <p>Their hopes were quickly squashed as Lexaeus literally burst out from the ground behind Axel.</p>
      <p>The redhead, however, appeared to anticipate this as he instantly ducked down to avoid Skysplitter from splitting his head open.</p>
      <p>Leaping into a corkscrew spin in the air, Axel flung his Chakrams several times with No. V deflecting them with either his hand or weapon.</p>
      <p>Lexaeus then began swinging his weapon around which appeared to be wild at first yet every time he seemingly "missed", his Skysplitter "struck" the air which sent shockwaves all around that momentarily stunned No. VIII.</p>
      <p>Axel saw this coming and hastily jumped back to avoid this, throwing up his chakrams in defense.</p>
      <p>Though he did have them up in time and was a good distance away from the Earth-wielding Nobody, the very edge of his Skysplitter managed to strike Axel's weapons.</p>
      <p>This was enough of a hit to send Axel flying back, crashing hard onto the ground.</p>
      <p>"Keelah!" Tali said aloud.</p>
      <p>Shepard growls after seeing this, raising her rifle.</p>
      <p>"Hey you bastard! Eat this."</p>
      <p>She began firing rapidly at the large Nobody with Tali joining in a moment later.</p>
      <p>No. V flinched slightly, though not from getting damaged at the bullets peppering his body.</p>
      <p>Quirking a brow, Lexaeus rounded on the two with him casually raising his weapon to deflect the shots.</p>
      <p>"Alright, how bout this." Shepard said in response to his lack of a response, throwing out a Biotic stasis field at him.</p>
      <p>The ginger haired Nobody then did something Shepard didn't quite expect.</p>
      <p>He swatted the Biotic stasis field she shot at him aside with ease.</p>
      <p>Tali and Shepard both lowered their weapons in disbelief.</p>
      <p>"...Oh that's bullshit-"</p>
      <p>They were interrupted when Lexaeus leaped into the air with his weapon poised high. When he came falling back down, they dived out of the way from the coming strike.</p>
      <p>The moment his weapon met the ground, rocks and pieces of metal jutted out and went all over the place.</p>
      <p>"<em>Shitshitshit!" </em>Shepard exclaimed, trying to avoid all the oncoming metallic pieces.</p>
      <p>To add more assault to the mess, Lexaeus swung his axe sword down again and again, causing more and more quakes to be felt throughout the station, to have more debris burst out of the ground in forming large pillars. With a mighty swing of his weapon, he broke off the formed pillars and had them flying towards his present opponents.</p>
      <p>Shepard and Tali desperately moved about to dodge the coming attacks as they would no doubt crush them quite easily if they were to properly land their mark.</p>
      <p>One of the pieces of debris was about to hit Tali, who's eyes widened in terror.</p>
      <p>However, from behind her, she felt two pairs of thin hands grab her and quickly threw her towards nearby cover.</p>
      <p>At the last second, Tali managed to catch sight of a Samurai that appeared to be the one to have saved her burst out of existence as the large piece of debris went right through it.</p>
      <p>"Oh that Bosh'tet." Tali muttered before crashing down to the ground.</p>
      <p>As Lexaeus stood back up again, he deftly ducked a second later from the slash Roxas directed at him as the boy appeared right next to him.</p>
      <p>He casually brought up his Axe Sword, deflecting several attacks from Roxas before attempting to grab him which No. XIII deftly flipped away from.</p>
      <p>Just before he landed on the ground, Lexaeus hefted his weapon up and slammed it down to the ground with an orangish-red shockwave appearing around the area he struck.</p>
      <p>The ground shook violently and everything abruptly began to tilt and angle itself in a bizarre fashion that threw most everyone off.</p>
      <p>Landing on the ground, Roxas immediately had a sense of shaking vertigo as the world around him shifted entirely.</p>
      <p>"Keelah, it feels like the entire Citadel is shaking!" Tali exclaimed, barely being able to maintain her balance.</p>
      <p>"It might as well be." Shepard grimly said.</p>
      <p>Tripping forward, Roxas unfortunately stumbled right into Lexaeus's hand that grabbed him by his neck.</p>
      <p>Multiple pillars of Earth rose up from the ground around them.</p>
      <p>No. V flung XIII into one of them, Roxas grunting aloud in pain as his back lit up upon impacting the rocky wall.</p>
      <p>"Just give up!" Lexaeus shouted, bursting forward with his Skysplitter reared back to strike the Key of Destiny down.</p>
      <p>Just before he could reach the boy, a large bolt struck his chin, making him flinch with a blue furry blur tackling his face.</p>
      <p>"RAAAAA!"</p>
      <p>"Gah, insect." Lexaeus snarled, grabbing the blue creature off his face and threw it away.</p>
      <p>He did it in time as he saw someone falling down towards him with a weapon being directed right at his head.</p>
      <p>Lifting up his Skysplitter, he met his weapon with that of a Keyblade.</p>
      <p>"Ah, the puppet at last." Lexaeus commented, gazing back at the young brunette girl who was struggling to try and overpower the Silent Hero.</p>
      <p>More shots suddenly struck him with Biotics encasing him a moment later followed by Axel reappearing in front of No. V, unleashing his spinning Chakrams that caused a visible wince from Lexaeus this time.</p>
      <p>Gritting his teeth, Lexaeus roared out with darkness exploding off of his form that sent several small shockwaves.</p>
      <p>Axel had jumped up and grabbed Xion, getting her away from No. V and he quickly managed to snag Roxas as well.</p>
      <p>He landed right next to Shepard and Tali who were now joined by Garrus, Liara, Kaidan and Stitch.</p>
      <p>"Are you guys alright?" Liara asked in worry.</p>
      <p>"We're alive." Tali said with a foreboding tone.</p>
      <p>"Axel, is that-"</p>
      <p>"Yeah Gary, one of our old chums." Axel said, back in his ready position once more.</p>
      <p>Lexaeus gazed upon the group before him, eyes focusing on three of them specifically whilst holding his Skysplitter by its handle with the edge embedded slightly into the ground.</p>
      <p>They stared right back at him, weapons in hand as the air grew silent momentarily.</p>
      <p>"All three traitors stand before me now." Lexaeus said aloud after a few seconds of silence. "Good. At least you're willing to face me rather than flee like you all did at the start."</p>
      <p>The Normandy crew was wary as they waited for the man to make his move.</p>
      <p>What they did not expect was a grin to appear upon the stoic expression of No. V.</p>
      <p>"Perhaps I can enjoy this."</p>
      <p>Lexaeus crouched down slightly, his dark power exploding off of his form with dark wisps mixed with earthy colors added into the aura.</p>
      <p>"Darkness, give me power!"</p>
      <p>Roxas, Axel and Xion threw their weapons up defensively, simultaneously grunting as they were slightly pushed back but remained standing firm.</p>
      <p>The rest had to use their own means of standing strong.</p>
      <p>Stitch clenched Roxas' leg with Shepard and Garrus grasping Axel's shoulders. Kaidan and Liara mimicked the action with Xion and Tali held on to Roxas.</p>
      <p>Once the shockwave ended, Roxas, Axel and Xion dashed forward together.</p>
      <p>Xion spun her Keyblade in circular fashion, winds whipping up around them with Axel flicking his right hand. A small flame turned into a raging inferno that served to propel the three of them right towards Lexaeus who lowered his stance and had his Skysplitter resting on his shoulder in anticipation.</p>
      <p>As they drew closer, Lexaeus angled his left foot slightly into the ground itself.</p>
      <p>The floor from him up to the trio of Nobodies charging at him cracked apart with pieces of rock and metal jutting out.</p>
      <p>They were not to be deterred however as they simply leapt and dodged the sudden obstacles.</p>
      <p>Getting in close, Roxas thrusted his Keyblade forward which met with Lexaeus's weapon. The impact sent a small shockwave with five pillars of light bursting out from Roxas' Oathkeeper.</p>
      <p>Two of them struck No. V, making him barely flinch.</p>
      <p>But it was enough of a visible reaction for the triple attack to press on.</p>
      <p>Axel appeared right by Roxas and the two of them raised their weapons together and swung down with all their might. The combined effort managed to strike Lexaeus's weapon and lowered it enough for Xion to come in for a Wind and Light laced Keyblade strike.</p>
      <p>Lexaeus skidded back slightly but remained standing strong.</p>
      <p>"Good, good." The Silent Hero praised. "It appears you have not neglected yourselves in strengthening your power. Perhaps I shall be in for a proper fight."</p>
      <p>They didn't have a chance to respond as the large man threw his Axe Sword forward, the weapon spinning in the air as it came at them.</p>
      <p>The trio dove out of the way and their friends behind them did the same as they saw it was coming for them as well. Skysplitter spun around the area before returning to its owner who then let out another burst of energy and power.</p>
      <p>"Fucking hell, this is like some Dragon Ball Z type shit." Shepard said aloud, the energy once again pushing them back.</p>
      <p>Stitch roared, rolling up into a ball and going at full speed towards the Nobodies battling one another.</p>
      <p>"Stitch, wait!" Tali called out to him.</p>
      <p>"Forget it, Tali." Garrus said, holding up his rifle, firing several times. "He's probably the only one out of all of us who can directly help them."</p>
      <p>Much as they hated to hear this, the Normandy team knew that Garrus wasn't wrong about that.</p>
      <p>They had been able to take on the Heartless, the lesser and higher ranked Nobodies and even a possessed Reaper and Heartless enhanced Saren.</p>
      <p>But the way this fight was going?</p>
      <p>Even they knew they were outclassed by this point.</p>
      <p>"Really wondering if those "special powers" from Yen Sid are gonna kick in at all." Kaidan said, firing rapidly at the Lexaeus who was currently swinging his Skysplitter in wide arching motion in front of and around his entire body to get their three friends away from him.</p>
      <p>As he finished his swing, Lexaeus smashed his weapon down to conjure forth another pillar of Earth and metal which he punched, shattering the pillar into dozens of smaller pieces. The chunks bounced around the area, managing to strike Roxas, Axel and Xion several times when four were grabbed out of the air and thrown at Lexaeus's head.</p>
      <p>The ginger-haired Nobody felt each one break upon hitting him, looking towards the small blue furred alien that growled at him challengingly.</p>
      <p>Lexaeus' response was to charge up once more, a rustic colored aura flaring up around him.</p>
      <p>He had been doing this continuously throughout the fight and with each one, it grew bigger and more intense. The rustic color slowly became more red as time went on.</p>
      <p>In mere moments, Lexaeus leaped into the air with his aura exploding and swirling around him.</p>
      <p>"Oh <em>Shit!" </em>Axel yelled out. "Everyone clear the area!"</p>
      <p>No. V came crashing down as his axe sword cleaved through the ground. Large crevices were formed as they started spreading outward. Even going so far as to hitting the nearby structures.</p>
      <p>Seeing this, some of the others knew it would be a matter of time until the fight will be beyond the confined space.</p>
      <p>"Jesus Christ, how the hell are we supposed to fight him?!" Kaidan exclaimed in stunned horror.</p>
      <p>"We can only support them from afar." Liara said solemnly, worry etched on her face.</p>
      <p>Sirens were soon heard in the air, making Garrus grit his teeth.</p>
      <p>"Dammit. Can't let them get involved. They can't handle a guy like this." The Turian said.</p>
      <p>"Go, Garrus. We more or less have it handled now." Shepard said, shooting again at No. V who didn't even register her shot.</p>
      <p>No. V unleashed another wave of large rocks that were flung at Roxas and Xion but Axel jumped in front of them and threw his hands out horizontally.</p>
      <p>A large wall of flames appeared in front of them, the fire being so intense that the rocks were melted away and turned to steam.</p>
      <p>Once they subsided, Xion went on the offensive first.</p>
      <p>She jumped back slightly, spinning her Keyblade before she went in for a Sliding Dash her Keyblade striking Lexaeus in the chest.</p>
      <p>Roxas followed that up with Stitch having made a warble of a sound before jumping up into the air into his ball form. No. XIII reared his Keyblade back like a baseball bat and struck Stitch with his Light infused weapon.</p>
      <p>The blue, literal furball, rocketed into the air and smashed right into Lexaeus' face actually managing to stun him.</p>
      <p>Axel went in for another attack, Chakrams charged up with fire.</p>
      <p>Getting right in front of Lexaeus, Axel flicked his spinning weapons at the Earth Nobody.</p>
      <p>"<em>Let the Flames </em><em><strong>Burn You!</strong></em><em>"</em></p>
      <p>In an instant, the air around Lexaeus crackled and combusted into a large explosion of flames.</p>
      <p>The flames were not to last as they heard a bellow from within, the fires being disbursed off of the charging form of No. V.</p>
      <p>Even though he appeared unscathed, there were a few tears and scratches upon the man's cloak that were appearing to stitch themselves back up.</p>
      <p>"Impressive." Lexaeus praised, slamming his Skysplitter into the ground that caused rock formations to burst out form around him.</p>
      <p>Roxas, Axel and Xion jumped away from them with Stitch simply going around them and pouncing at Lexaeus only to be swatted away.</p>
      <p>"Stitch!" Xion cried out, looking back at No. V with a glare.</p>
      <p>Her form flashed momentarily, thrusting her Keyblade forward, she went into her newly named move Corkscrew Rave.</p>
      <p>She had taken inspiration from the Sonic Raid she had seen before in her dreams at times and had developed her own variant where she is more nimble and airborne.</p>
      <p>Her spinning body struck Lexaeus, going into a 90 degree angle upwards before spinning down again for another hit, angling herself to fly away from No. V before repeating the process another twelve more times.</p>
      <p>The last one however was caught by Lexaeus, with him swinging Xion around up into the air before slamming her hard down into the ground.</p>
      <p>He raised his Skysplitter up when he was suddenly engulfed in bluish-white aura that made him levitate momentarily before his black and red aura expelled whatever it was that caught him. As he fell back to the ground, he saw the same aura surround Xion and had her pulled away from him towards one of those other individuals that kept firing those pebbles at him.</p>
      <p>Lexaeus glared at them but was unable to do anything as Roxas and Axel reappeared and went in for a dual attack, forcing him to refocus his efforts on them.</p>
      <p>Once Xion was pulled towards her friends, she was quickly assisted back up though she was slightly wobbly on her feet.</p>
      <p>"Are you alright, Xion?" Shepard asked, concern clear as day for all to hear.</p>
      <p>"Just need to catch my second wind is all." Xion panted out, casting a Cura one herself.</p>
      <p>"Goddess Xion, how are you even standing right now?" Liara inquired, momentarily flinching at the shaking ground.</p>
      <p>The group turned to see Lexaeus having his weapon embedded into the ground whilst his other hand is raised defensively up to hold back Axel and Roxas' attacks.</p>
      <p>"Keep back." Xion shakily said, consuming a Potion to get more of her health and energy back.</p>
      <p>"We can't just stand back and watch you three fight this monster." Kaidan said aloud.</p>
      <p>"That's <em>exactly</em> what you're going to do." Xion said, uncharacteristically fierce with an intense look directed at her friends. "Lexaeus is physically the strongest member from the Organization. You saw just how much damage he could do with a one hit and how much he could take."</p>
      <p>"Xion, you can't seriously expect us to just watch while the three of you get yourselves killed." Tali implored.</p>
      <p>No. XIV's posture slacked slightly. "Yeah, I know… but you guys just can't."</p>
      <p>"But you nearly got killed there." Kaidan emphasized.</p>
      <p>"I know and thanks for the save, everyone." Xion said earnestly. "But you need to keep back. You could all get killed if he gets his hands on you."</p>
      <p>Much as they wanted to dispute such a notion, they hated how right she was.</p>
      <p>They could only watch as Xion sprinted forward to rejoin Roxas and Axel.</p>
      <p>"What do we do, Commander?" Kaidan asked nervously, wincing at how effortlessly Lexaeus destroyed a wall that Roxas had back up to.</p>
      <p>Roxas was fine thankfully but he was starting to look winded as the fight went on.</p>
      <p>Axel was frazzled yet he fought on with a growing ferocity one matched by No. V.</p>
      <p>All the while, one Turian detective was fleeing from the area of the fight for an important task of his own.</p>
      <p>When the C-Sec vehicles arrived, Garrus was the first to greet them.</p>
      <p>"You guys need to get out of here now! It's not safe here!"</p>
      <p>One of the officers was quick to recognize the Turian and spoke. "Vakarian, what the hell is going on?!"</p>
      <p>"What the fuck is causing all these damn Earthquakes?!" A human yelled out.</p>
      <p>"Is the Citadel under attack again?" A Salarian asked.</p>
      <p>"We got a big mess on our hands, that's what!" Garrus shouted back at them. "This area is not safe and if you guys go in, you <em>will </em>die."</p>
      <p>That sent a visible chill down those that had arrived.</p>
      <p>Garrus began shouting out orders to the assembled C-Sec officers.</p>
      <p>"Keep back and secure a perimeter. Make sure nobody comes through here. Commander Shepard and the rest of her squad are fighting the cause of these quakes."</p>
      <p>Seeing various debris sailing through the air and breaking through the nearby structures, Garrus was quick to bark out an order.</p>
      <p>"We need to evacuate these buildings, immediately. I don't wanna see any civilians get crushed by these collapsing on them."</p>
      <p>No. V kept his gaze at the traitors in order to keep track of their movements.</p>
      <p>Lexaeus cannot measure up to their speed, but he can overwhelm them with his strength.</p>
      <p>Getting the timing right, he was able to snatch one of the Organization's traitors and hurled them into the air. Jumping right after them, he soon intercepted their trajectory and brought his axe sword down onto their back and sent them rocketing down to the ground.</p>
      <p>"Axel!"</p>
      <p>Lying in the ground, No. VIII gritted his teeth as his body ached from the recent blow.</p>
      <p>Before Lexaeus could smash his weapon down onto the traitorous redhead, he was smacked around by the Keyblades. They were able to push No. V back far enough to give Axel some breathing room.</p>
      <p>"Hold on Axel." Xion said, throwing her Keyblade up to cast a Curaga.</p>
      <p>Feeling his pain subside, Axel gave her a thankful nod before seeing Roxas continue his assault on Lexaeus.</p>
      <p>He was going in for a series of blows that were rapid and frantic.</p>
      <p>Ars Arcanum.</p>
      <p>When the assault came to an end, No. V let out a roar as his flame-like aura exploded.</p>
      <p>The surrounding aura grew much larger and far more intense than before with black, red, yellow and purple colors were present.</p>
      <p>"He just keeps powering up." Xion whispered in dread.</p>
      <p>"Not gonna stop us." Axel grunted, rising up to his feet while pulling out a Hi-Potion from his coat. Tossing it up above him, Axel felt more of his damage dissipate.</p>
      <p>By his side, Xion tossed an Ether for herself to restore her magical reserves and the duo ran forward as Lexaeus and Roxas continued their duel.</p>
      <p>Bringing his axe sword down, Roxas was soon quick to throw up a Barrier. The coming blow crashed onto the hexagonal defense the Keybearer threw up, resulting in it cracking significantly while having the surrounding ground area bend from the pressure to form a massive crater.</p>
      <p>"So you could deflect that." Lexaeus commented as he quickly brought his weapon back up. "But what of another."</p>
      <p>Canceling out his Barrier, Roxas quickly swerved around Lexaeus and delivered a volley of strikes onto the ginger-haired Nobody.</p>
      <p>When the attacks landed on him, there was hardly a flinch made from the hits.</p>
      <p>Quickly grasping onto Roxas' Keyblade, Lexaeus threw No. XIII to a nearby structure. Roxas struck it's surface and was about to recover. Yet this was halted when the ginger haired Nobody slammed Skysplitter onto the nearby ground area and shattered the building's foundations.</p>
      <p>In mere moments, the building started to topple and collapse.</p>
      <p>Not wanting to get crushed by this, Roxas quickly formed a Dark Corridor around himself and vacated out of there.</p>
      <p>From any onlookers, they could only gape in seeing the building topple down as it soon crashed into the neighboring one, halting any further fallout.</p>
      <p>"Holy shit." Muttered one of them.</p>
      <p>Appearing not far away, Roxas realized he needed to up his game.</p>
      <p>Focusing on his Keyblade, he switched out Oathkeeper for Pirate's Dream. One done, Roxas took the initiative and advanced.</p>
      <p>Pirate's Dream was soon met with Skysplitter as the two wielders went on to see who was superior. Lexaeus won the little bout as he swatted Roxas away. Yet he wasn't deterred as No. XIII threw his Etherium-styled Keyblade at his opponent. Lexaeus maneuvered his head around to avoid the hit, but he didn't pay attention to see the Keyblade quickly return to Roxas' grasp.</p>
      <p>Soon after, Roxas delivered a volley of sword strikes onto the surprised Nobody. After that, he dashed forward as he performed Sonic Blade onto Lexaeus as he kept rushing back and forth onto him.</p>
      <p>This onslaught came to an end when Lexaeus leaped high into the air. And with his fiery aura surrounding him, No. V came soaring down like a meteor strike.</p>
      <p>The resulting impact caused a massive crater to form with a fiery shockwave breaking more of the surrounding structures.</p>
      <p>When this occurred, Roxas leaped back and had his Keyblade out to block the blast. It was rather much as he ended up propelled back too quickly. Looking back, he saw he was coming closer to colliding against a ruined structure.</p>
      <p>Focusing power into his Keyblade, he shifted it into its Pirate's Sail Form change.</p>
      <p>Quickly hopping onto the solar surfboard, Roxas used the shockwave force to ride himself out of there and ride into the sky above.</p>
      <p>Seeing this occur, Lexaeus bellowed. "You can't run from this!"</p>
      <p>"I'm not!" Roxas said out loud, riding his Form changed Keyblade.</p>
      <p>Maneuvering around, the sandy blonde Nobody activated the thrusters and shot towards Lexaeus down below. When he was getting in close, Roxas shifted his Keyblade into the Pirate Thruster gauntlet Form change. Landing behind his opponent, he had the thruster go off to propel his arm upward. The strike was met as Lexaeus stumbled forward.</p>
      <p>Roxas didn't let up on the assault as he continued delivering propelled punch after propelled punch. Lexaeus retaliated in swinging his weapon around, but Roxas weaved through the swings left and right at his own command.</p>
      <p>It wouldn't be long before Lexaeus broke through and managed to close the gap, prompting Roxas to retreat. Soon after, he shifted his gauntlet into the Solar Flagpole form.</p>
      <p>Making it to a nearby building, he ran along its surface before leaping off once high enough. Thrusting his weapon forward, he focused onto his opponent as green light gathered just above the hexagonal patterned flag before an 'X' appeared on Lexaeus' form.</p>
      <p>In mere seconds, the light broke as green beams of energy shot out and rapidly struck down No. V.</p>
      <p>When the dust settled, Lexaeus hotly glared at Roxas.</p>
      <p>"I tire of these tricks of yours."</p>
      <p>"Then do something about it." Roxas challenged.</p>
      <p>However, before Lexaeus was able to move, a series of explosions went off around him and a large body in red armor tackled Lexaeus though he was promptly booted back into Roxas.</p>
      <p>Grunting, Roxas used his own strength to push the large Krogan off of him.</p>
      <p>"Sorry about that, runt."</p>
      <p>"You sure took your time, Wrex." Roxas remarked.</p>
      <p>"Give me a break. I was on another arm of the Citadel when I felt the quakes go off." Said the Krogan Battlemaster. "You have any idea how annoying it was to procure a skycar in this mess and get over here in time?"</p>
      <p>"Roxas." The blond looked over to see Ashley running towards them. "What the hell is going on? Who's this bastard?"</p>
      <p>"More insects appear." Lexaeus snorted. "Perhaps these may serve as a better challenge."</p>
      <p>Wrex growled aloud, taking a moment to give Lexaeus a once over.</p>
      <p>"So you're one of those Organization bastards, huh?"</p>
      <p>No. V didn't respond, merely hefting his weapon back upon his shoulders.</p>
      <p>"Keep back you two." Roxas warned, getting back into position.</p>
      <p>Wrex only huffed, grasping his gravity hammer with both his hands.</p>
      <p>"And miss out the chance to <em>really</em> test my mettle against someone like him?" The Krogan already broke into a run. "Fat chance!"</p>
      <p>"Wrex, wait!" Roxas ran forward to stop him but the Battlemaster already jumped at the large man with his hammer reared back.</p>
      <p>As Wrex swung at the imposing Nobody, he barely registered the hand that put a stop to the weapon.</p>
      <p>Wrex blinked, grunting slightly as he tried in a vain attempt at pulling the weapon out of the Earth-wielders hand.</p>
      <p>Lexaeus grasped the gravity hammer that Wrex tried to hit him with, a fierce glare directed at the Krogan Battlemaster.</p>
      <p>"I'll show you power!" Lexaeus stated, proceeding to toss the Krogan away with complete ease.</p>
      <p>"Fucking bastard." Ash yelled out, firing her incendiary rounds at No. V who was unaffected by the rounds until the last one she fired was quite the volatile explosion that sent Lexaeus stumbling back slightly.</p>
      <p>Ashley blinked, looking at her gun then back at the man in the black coat before she grinned.</p>
      <p>"Not so tough now, are ya?"</p>
      <p>"Do you really think you should be mocking him like that?" said a voice next to her that made her jolt momentarily.</p>
      <p>Seeing who it was, she punched him across the shoulder.</p>
      <p>"Don't scare me like that, Axel."</p>
      <p>Axel smirked momentarily, holding out his hand to catch his returning Chakram. Seeing this, Williams put two and two together and…</p>
      <p>"Ah man, it wasn't my own?" She said dejectedly.</p>
      <p>"Gonna need a lot more than what you have to hurt Lexaeus." Axel warned, already running forward having seen Roxas re-engage the enemy.</p>
      <p>"Ashley."</p>
      <p>The Alliance Chief turned to see Shepard, Liara, Tali and Kaidan running over to her with Stitch hanging off of Tali's shoulder.</p>
      <p>"Shepard, everyone." Ashley let out a breath of relief. She then jolted her head up at the sight of Xion leaping over them and going in for a corkscrew attack that clashed momentarily with Lexaeus's weapon.</p>
      <p>"What took ya so long, Ash?" Kaidan asked.</p>
      <p>"The whole damn Citadel is shaking." Ashley exclaimed. "People are freaking out and panicking everywhere. They think we're under attack again."</p>
      <p>"We might as well be." Liara said grimly, looking over to the Nobody trio combatting the much larger Nobody.</p>
      <p>"What can we even do in this situation?" Tali asked nervously, stumbling from another quake caused by Lexaeus slamming his Skysplitter down to where Axel stood a moment ago.</p>
      <p>"What <em>can </em>we do?" Ash asked rhetorically.</p>
      <p>"Sure ain't stopping Wrex." Kaidan commented.</p>
      <p>Everyone looked over to see the Krogan Battlemaster having recovered and running at full speed towards the quartet of fighters.</p>
      <p>"Wrex, wait!" Jane yelled out.</p>
      <p>It was too late as he had reached Lexaeus and swung his gravity hammer, striking No. V's back.</p>
      <p>The man only jolted slightly, rounding about on the Krogan and punching him square in the stomach.</p>
      <p>Wrex keeled over, falling to his knees while he clutched his stomach and let out several wheezing coughs.</p>
      <p>Lexaeus was about to finish him when his face was struck with a dual Keyblade swing courtesy of Roxas and Xion.</p>
      <p>Wrex was quickly pulled back by Axel, throwing a Potion into the air that washed over the Krogan.</p>
      <p>"You reckless idiot." Axel berated, being joined by the others. "What were you thinking going in to fight him like that?"</p>
      <p>"And let you three have all the fun?" Wrex asked rhetorically, grunting with pain still.</p>
      <p>"Wrex, don't you <em>ever</em> do something that <em>suicidal</em> again!" Jane snarled.</p>
      <p>The Krogan was about to respond but the steel melting glare made him rethink his response.</p>
      <p>"It's gonna take a while for that to get out of his system, you know. Hundreds of years' worth of habit won't change in an instant." Commented Axel.</p>
      <p>Wrex rounded on the redhead with a glare of his own which left No. VIII unphased, as he had already turned his attention back to Lexaeus who had just sent Roxas flying.</p>
      <p>"How can we beat him?" Tali asked, trying to calm herself from freaking out at the sight of her friend being rag dolled.</p>
      <p>"We need to break through his aura. It's the only means of actually putting any hurt on him." Axel said. "That aura is only gonna get stronger as time goes on unless we stop it or pierce it."</p>
      <p>"Got any bright ideas on <em>effectively</em> doing that?"</p>
      <p>Axel opened up his mouth to say something when he was interrupted by Shepard.</p>
      <p>"And don't say just hit him really hard."</p>
      <p>…..</p>
      <p>…..</p>
      <p>"You shut him up real quickly." Ash pointed out.</p>
      <p>"Roxas said the same thing when we fought Sovereign and I couldn't take up with the bullshit behind it." Shepard rebuked.</p>
      <p>"...To be fair, that fact hasn't been proven wrong."</p>
      <p>"Shut up, Axel." The Commander looked on ahead to see Xion and Roxas continuing their bout against Lexaeus.</p>
      <p>"Just need to get him off his feet, most likely." Kaidan noted.</p>
      <p>"How is that supposed to help?" Axel asked in bewilderment.</p>
      <p>"I don't know, I'm spit balling here!" The LT-Commander responded in kind.</p>
      <p>"Better do it fast, cause those two are gonna need help." Ash pointed out.</p>
      <p>"Right, 'scuse me." Axel bolted forward, unleashing a torrent of flames; propelling him to join back into the fight.</p>
      <p>"What do we do, Shepard." Tali asked.</p>
      <p>The Commander was at a momentary loss, thinking at a thousand miles a second until she noticed around them the damage that was beginning to accumulate here.</p>
      <p>Buildings were beginning to show visible signs of damage and the screams of terrified civilians were not subsiding.</p>
      <p>"We need to get to a more open and less populated area." Shepard stated. "It may help that big bastard but maybe it'll help our friends out too. They can stop holding back and go all out on him."</p>
      <p>"That's a gamble Shepard." Ash pointed out.</p>
      <p>"It's all I got right now." Shepard admitted, turning to the Nobodies. "Roxas, Xion, Axel! Follow us!"</p>
      <p>"What?"</p>
      <p>"Just do it." Kaidan said, holding up his rifle to fire at Lexaeus before he and the rest of the Normandy team turned tail to run.</p>
      <p>"Should we-"</p>
      <p>"Forget it, let's just go along with it." Axel said, throwing up a wall of flames to blindside No. V before the three of them quickly followed after their friends.</p>
      <p>They knew the trio were Lexaeus' target and would go after them, no matter what the battlefield may be. He will follow, no doubt about it. But will he intercept them too soon prior to reaching safer grounds?</p>
      <p>Rushing forward as fast as they could, the three traitors sped after the others.</p>
      <p>In the meantime, instincts screamed at them to come up with a plan to take down the Silent Hero.</p>
      <p>Little strategies formed with what they presently had. Some worked, others didn't. But what choice did they have in their present situation?</p>
      <p>Garrus had linked back up with them midway from their run via a commandeered C-Sec vehicle that had the rest of them save for the Nobody trio pile in as the chase went on.</p>
      <p>After a grueling cat and mouse chase throughout most of the one arm of the Citadel, the group ended up at a large park with a lake with the only buildings in sight were located a couple of miles away.</p>
      <p>The moment the Normandy crew entered the premises, Lexaeus crashed into the area some distance before them. Staring down at them with his enlarged aura flaring wildly.</p>
      <p>The Krogan Battlemaster, who was the last one to arrive in the vicinity, snarled as his adrenaline was starting to kick up a notch.</p>
      <p>He hadn't felt this way in a long time, only recently when he joined in the fight against Sovereign. And the earliest he could recollect in feeling such a way was during his Rite and taking out a Thresher Maw all on his own to ascend into "adulthood".</p>
      <p>Not letting up on the charge he kept up once arriving in the park, Wrex kept moving onwards. His grip on his gravity hammer tightened even further as the aura inside of the weapon flared even more.</p>
      <p>"God dammit Wrex, STOP!" Shepard yelled out to him yet it was for naught.</p>
      <p>Mustering much of his strength, even added with a biotic flare, the Krogan swung his weapon with all of his might.</p>
      <p>Wrex's attack was stopped dead in its tracks when his hammer swing was parried by Lexaeus' axe sword. Before the Krogan could properly register what happened, he was grabbed by his neck and slammed right down to the ground. He didn't even have a chance to breath as it was quite literally knocked right out from him via a kick to his chest that sent him flying.</p>
      <p>The others were about to rush forward only for multiple rocky pillars and growths to explode out from the ground.</p>
      <p>Wrex was wheezing, clutching his chest with one hand whilst the other was loosely grasping his hammer and trying to get back to his feet.</p>
      <p>"I admit." Lexaeus said, walking towards the downed Krogan. "Your tenacity and unwavering will is something to be commended. But you are an ant facing against someone like me. There is no shame in admitting defeat. However, you insist on getting in our way. I have a mission to complete to bring those traitors in. Stand down now."</p>
      <p>Something inside Wrex snapped upon hearing that.</p>
      <p>This being… was showing him mercy.</p>
      <p>How dare this Pyjak piece of shit show him, Urdnot Wrex, <em>mercy?</em></p>
      <p>Especially after seeing how he had harmed his comrades, his brothers and sisters in arms.</p>
      <p>His Krantt.</p>
      <p>He was here to take three of them away and do God knows what to them.</p>
      <p>And he would not allow that.</p>
      <p>"THAT'S IT!"</p>
      <p>Wrex's body let off a very unusual red flash that encompassed his very being when his blue biotics started shifting.</p>
      <p>The Krogan Battlemaster rushed forward, a small curving barrier began to appear just above Wrex's crested head which in turn was starting to transition into a glowing blood red color.</p>
      <p>One the Krogan reached Lexaeus, he reared his head back and struck the Nobody at full force.</p>
      <p>Rather the previous times that he had been struck by anybody that wasn't a Nobody, this attack had a visible impact on the Silent Hero.</p>
      <p>Lexaeus recoiled with his expression indicating clear to all that this headbutt damaged him.</p>
      <p>Wrex wasn't done as he proceeded to bash his head several more times against the Nobody with him then switching over to his hammer and reigned down a series of blows upon No. V.</p>
      <p>The others stared on in open shock and awe as to what they were witnessing.</p>
      <p>"Wha-what the-?" Ash could barely form her words right now.</p>
      <p>"What's happening?!" Liara exclaimed aloud in stunned disbelief at seeing Wrex at last go toe-to-toe with the Nobody that seemed untouchable.</p>
      <p>It took them a moment, but the Nobody trio of the Normandy soon began to recognize this themselves.</p>
      <p>This was something they had seen before be performed by extraordinary individuals back home in their Worlds. Individuals that were able to tap into a power that allowed them to fight the Heartless, fight Nobodies and other individuals of incredible power.</p>
      <p>And now…</p>
      <p>Wrex was tapping into his own.</p>
      <p>"It's what Yen Sid did back at his tower." Xion said aloud. "What he gave you all."</p>
      <p>"What he… wait, you mean-"</p>
      <p>"Yeah." Roxas shook his head excitedly. "Come on."</p>
      <p>Roxas charged forward, with Xion, Axel and Stitch running after him.</p>
      <p>The others hesitated until Garrus and Shepard were the first to move in with the others following after them a second later.</p>
      <p>They unleashed everything they had on the Nobody, their strongest members quickly joining in on the beatdown with Wrex and were beginning to simply wail on Lexaeus.</p>
      <p>The assault upon the Earth based Nobody was devastating and effective with the team starting to see how No. V was beginning to feel the accumulation of damage.</p>
      <p>"Keep pressing it-"</p>
      <p>"GRAH!"</p>
      <p>Once more, the dark aura that they had seen Lexaeus call upon from before was back and it was larger than ever.</p>
      <p>The explosion of power sent them all flying back with an overwhelming pressure in the air.</p>
      <p>No. V pounced forward, grabbing Roxas and slammed him down to the ground. Roxas coughed aloud, a wad of blood flying out of his mouth.</p>
      <p>"You only delay your defeat!"</p>
      <p>Roxas managed to crack an eye open, glaring heatedly back at him until an aura of light appeared around him.</p>
      <p>"Hey Lexaeus, remember the first few days when I was with the Organization? Remember what <em>you </em>specifically taught me?"</p>
      <p>In an instant, Roxas broke free of Lexaeus' grasp and reared his Keyblade back that was encompassed in his Light and grew into a larger sword.</p>
      <p>A second later, No. XIII began to deliver a torrent of light based attacks as he beat Lexaeus back with his Limit.</p>
      <p>No. V kept hissing in pain, feeling the burns of Light upon his body. It was a different sort of burn in comparison to the fire damage that Axel had inflicted upon him.</p>
      <p>To escape from this onslaught, Lexaeus conjured forth several pillars of earth between himself and Roxas that gave room between the two.</p>
      <p>Lexaeus then smashed his Axe Sword into the pillars of earth, with the debris crashing into Roxas.</p>
      <p>No. XIII fell to the ground, bouncing several times until he splashed down into a nearby lake with the lower portion of his body getting soaked. He let out a groan in pain as he began to feel the effects of the fight more prominently.</p>
      <p>Just how long will they last against a Nobody with such fortitude?</p>
      <p>Gritting his teeth, Roxas attempted to rise but found his body screaming in protest.</p>
      <p>He truly was beginning to reach his Limit and he wasn't sure how much longer he was able to go on.</p>
      <p>Hearing heavy footsteps, Roxas looked up to see Lexaeus approaching him.</p>
      <p>The others were scattered about from the last explosion of No. V's aura that had sent them all flying and were all quite frankly dazed after such a defensive attack.</p>
      <p>"Why do you continue to resist, Roxas?" Lexaeus asked calmly. "You know that no matter what you try, we will eventually bring you back. Why waste such frivolous actions?"</p>
      <p>Roxas hissed aloud, rising to his knees as he glared defiantly at the much larger Nobody.</p>
      <p>"You don't know anything, Lexaeus." Roxas retorted. "You're working for Xemnas who lied to us all."</p>
      <p>"What is this? A last ditch effort?"</p>
      <p>"You're fighting for a liar, Lexaeus." Roxas stated. "Xemnas lied to us all. About everything. Kingdom Hearts, the purpose of the Organization, everything."</p>
      <p>No. V found himself pausing momentarily.</p>
      <p>Due to this momentary lapse in the man's posture, he was met with a silver Keyblade strike to the head which slightly staggered him.</p>
      <p>Snarling, he grabbed the next swing with his hand and flung Xion away who crashed down hard.</p>
      <p>"Xion!" Roxas yelled out only for him to get struck down as Lexaeus turned his attention over to the Puppet that returned to her feet with blood running down the side of her head.</p>
      <p>Her entire form was filled with cuts and if one looked closely under the holes of her coat, there were multiple scratches and bruises she hadn't healed yet.</p>
      <p>Trembling, she raised her Keyblade in front of her as Lexaeus began walking towards her.</p>
      <p>"No matter what you do, it's useless." Lexaeus said to the No. XIV. "There is nowhere you can run where we can't find you."</p>
      <p>"It's as you say, but that doesn't mean we'll give up without a fight." Xion proclaimed, standing on shaky legs.</p>
      <p>"Hmph, I must say, you've impressed me greatly Xion." Lexaeus praised. "I had assumed that being a puppet created to emulate No. XIII's capabilities, you would possess some level of power. But you've shown me that you are not as worthless as a doll some within the Organization believed you to be."</p>
      <p>"I should feel so honored." Xion sarcastically said, wincing as her body was sore by this point.</p>
      <p>"If you surrender yourself, Lord Xemnas shall show mercy upon you."</p>
      <p>"And return to a life where I have no choice but servitude and slavery to those bastards?!" Xion hissed aloud, momentarily startling the normally stalwart Nobody.</p>
      <p>That… was far too genuine of a reaction to be falsified.</p>
      <p>"No." Xion proclaimed passionately. "I'm never going back to the Organization just to be their tool or destroyed cause I'm expendable in Xemnas' eyes. I am <em>me</em>. Nothing else. And I have a life here now. I have friends here who I care for more than anything in any and all Worlds. You may claim that we're Nobodies, but…"</p>
      <p>From her pocket, the Thalassa seashell keychain she procured back from the Etherium galaxy was starting to shine. In mere moments, it faded away from its confinement.</p>
      <p>"I… I love them." Xion declared without a hint of doubt holding up her Keyblade. "I love my friends with all I have and I will do everything in my power to fight for them and stay by their side."</p>
      <p>A few seconds later, Xion's Kingdom Key was encompassed in a pillar of light as the Keyblade started to change. Water swirled around it rapidly as the shape began to morph into something much more unique then the skeletal base design of her old Keyblade.</p>
      <p>Lexaeus's eyes widened greatly at seeing such a sight, completely caught off guard by this.</p>
      <p>Once it was over, something new was held within Xion's grasp.</p>
      <p>The weapon was reminiscent of cresting waves, both along the shaft and at the teeth as it seemed to glow like crystallized sapphire water. The heart-shaped hilt was surrounded by some smaller bits of water with a leather handle in the middle. And hanging off from pommel was the Thalassa seashell keychain.</p>
      <p>"Pretty…" Xion muttered to herself as she inspected the details.</p>
      <p>Seashell's Resonance… That was the name that seemed to pop into her head.</p>
      <p>A name that suited this Keyblade quite marvelously.</p>
      <p>Such a shame she couldn't marvel her new Keyblade any further as she heard Lexaeus charging right towards her.</p>
      <p>In an instant, she instinctively somersaulted away from the charging Nobody.</p>
      <p>Remembering details from the book she read alongside Roxas, and recollecting attributes of Demyx's skills, Xion started to form ideas on what she can do with her new Keyblade from what inspiration she recently acquired because of it.</p>
      <p>And with a surge of energy, she enacted her assault.</p>
      <p>Once some distance away, Xion quickly fired a volley of Water Shots to knock Lexaeus back before using the surrounding water to help unleash a mighty Wateraga attack. The explosion of water swallowed No. V whole as he was momentarily drowned in its substance.</p>
      <p>Xion didn't let up on the assault as she zoomed in and batted the towering man for a bit. She ended the physical assault by jabbing her Keyblade into the lake as she set off a massive Water Bomb to knock Lexaeus into the air. No. XIV then casted a Triple Blizzaga prior to a Thundaga on the soaked Nobody, which added more damage onto him.</p>
      <p>Recovering in the air, Lexaeus flared his dark aura as he dive bombed towards No. XIV. In an instant, she threw up a Mine Barrier around her as the water covered up its presence. She then threw up a Barrier, she let the attack hit. The moment it broke, she casted a Counter Blast. With both that and the Mine Barrier finally going off, Lexaeus was sent flying into the air once more.</p>
      <p>Leaping into the air, she focused with all her might in being sure Lexaeus was in her line of sight. Thrusting her Keyblade forward, a mixture of light and water particles rapidly gathered at its tip. The mixture enlarged and condensed in mere seconds.</p>
      <p>As Lexaeus started to fall once more, Xion unleashed her Shotlock.</p>
      <p>The water orb exploded as shining projectiles shot out and homed into the form of Xion's opponent.</p>
      <p>The barrage of light water orbs crashed into him and exploded upon impact as he was hurt quite enough.</p>
      <p>Landing back into the lake, Xion saw Lexaeus crash not far away as he laid in the watery terrain.</p>
      <p>"You like it?" She mocked with a cheeky smile prior to using a Hi-Ether onto herself.</p>
      <p>No. V slowly got up as he hotly glared at the young Nobody.</p>
      <p>"Don't mock me!" Lexaeus growled out.</p>
      <p>Swinging down hard, No. V struck the ground with crevices and rocky pillars exploding out and going directly towards Xion.</p>
      <p>Clenching her teeth, Xion quickly swung her Keyblade forward and a torrent of water shot out in response. Yet rather than it being just a random deluge of water, the water formed into a proper stream that weaved itself around the multiple rocky protrusions coming from the ground.</p>
      <p>Xion thrusted her Keyblade forward and the flowing rapids of the water pathway took the puppet for a ride, dodging the oncoming earth attack until reaching the end of her watery path.</p>
      <p>Arriving in front of Lexaeus, she threw herself upwards with a gust of wind whipping up in her wake.</p>
      <p>Pointing her Keyblade at No. V, she concentrated on her magical reserves and in a stroke of improvisation…</p>
      <p>"<strong>Wataeroga!"</strong></p>
      <p>A spiraling spear of Winds and Water was sent flying straight at the Silent Hero who had his Skysplitter at the ready.</p>
      <p>He swung it at full force, striking the spear with seemingly shattered it.</p>
      <p>However, what he did not expect were the droplets and arches of wind to reshape and reform into smaller spears of the dual element attack that proceeded to shoot right at him.</p>
      <p>The large Nobody let out a yell of pain, momentarily feeling his grasp on his weapon falter.</p>
      <p>Then, from nowhere, Axel and Roxas appeared on either side of No. V with both their weapons being enshrouded by their elemental affinities.</p>
      <p>"You're finished!" they both exclaimed, cleaving through Lexaeus.</p>
      <p>A moment later, they were on opposite end with their target falling to his knees while clutching his weapon.</p>
      <p>"Roxas, Xion, now!" Axel yelled out with both his friends getting ready to go in for the final attack.</p>
      <p>Collapsing onto one knee, Skysplitter dematerialized with No. V breathing heavily.</p>
      <p>"This… isn't over."</p>
      <p>In an instant, he was swallowed up in a Dark Corridor as he soon disappeared from the Citadel.</p>
      <p>The Nobody trio stood warily, checking their surroundings for anything else that may spring up until…</p>
      <p>All three fell to the ground with their weapons vanishing from their hands.</p>
      <p>Roxas and Xion leaned upon one another and both leaned back on Axel who had his head resting atop theirs.</p>
      <p>"Fuuuuuuuuuuuuck~" Axel let out after a long moment of extended silence for them to catch their breaths.</p>
      <p>"Is he really gone?" Xion asked nervously.</p>
      <p>"Yeah." Roxas said in tired breaths. "For now. Just licking his wounds and all."</p>
      <p>"He won't be the only one." Axel grunted out, slowly sliding down between the two until he plopped face first down to the ground. "Just leave me here for a few days."</p>
      <p>Roxas and Xion said nothing as they simply collapsed on top of him, all three letting out simultaneous groans of relief and agony. Their bodies were aching from head to toe and no amount of magic or Potions would alleviate them of this soreness.</p>
      <p>Injuries maybe.</p>
      <p>But this was just too much.</p>
      <p>It didn't take long for the rest of their friends to find them and rather than asking questions as to where Lexaeus had gone off to, they simply joined the trio on the ground.</p>
      <p>They were all exhausted and tired beyond compare.</p>
      <p>Far worse then what they had gone through with Saren.</p>
      <p>Right now, they just were gonna lay there together and rest.</p>
      <p>No amount of C-Sec or other officials were gonna pry them away from their resting spots.</p>
      <p>What they did know was the fallout that all of them were gonna have to deal with in regard to speaking to the Council about what had transpired.</p>
      <p>That <em>and </em>the fact that all the hard work of repairs that the Citadel had been undergoing had been quite literally spat upon and thrown by the wayside.</p>
      <p>Who knows how long it'll be for the Citadel to be repaired now after this recent attack.</p>
      <p>For now, those of the Normandy ground team didn't care.</p>
      <p>"Roxas… Axel… Xion…" Jane managed out.</p>
      <p>"Huh?" Was all they could muster.</p>
      <p>"You guys are weird."</p>
      <p>Nothing but pained laughter was what came out of the entire team as C-Sec began arriving at the bizarre scene of the dog piled team.</p>
      <p>
        <strong>AN</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>So, this one was in essence, a really, </strong>
        <em>
          <strong>really</strong>
        </em>
        <strong> fucking long fight.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>One I had been DYING to get to.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Jebest4781: Sorry for the wait on the upload here guys. Things on our end have been a tad stressful, given the stuff leading up to Thanksgiving. Workloads being an utter mess for both of us, respectively.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>FMW: Yeah, new job and more responsibilities and all that shit has been a pain in the ass.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Jeb: Not to mention writing out this whole fight had been… a strenuous thought process. There being not much in references that could've been used to help write out on how to work out the Lexaeus encounter.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>FMW: There was meant to be SO MUCH MORE believe it or not but think on this. This was basically 30 pages from our POV of nonstop action. We had to get creative and EVERYTHING with this fight but by god, pretty sure we delivered. I cannot stress enough just how powerful we intend on portraying the Organization members in their own respective manners. They are some of the hardest bosses in the KH series (KH2 final mix in particular; even on Critical/Proud Mode) for a reason.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Jeb: Trying to keep things in accordance with said series elements and translating them into this story needed to be carefully brought in with present environments. For instance, this whole fight happens on a giant space station and Lexaeus' strength and seismic powers cause shit to occur.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>FMW: Yeah, there's gonna be some serious fallout after this fight in the next chapter. But, aside from that, hope everyone's happy at seeing Xion's brand new Keyblade. If you guys want a proper visualization as to what her Keyblade looks like, Jebest found a brilliant rendition of it on DeviantArt. Find the artist Hexalys or search on DeviantArt Xion's Keyblade: Seashell Resonance and you will see a good visual of the Keyblade. That's Xion's now.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Jeb: Though if you want to speed things up, think of the Brightcrest Keyblade and change up a number of details and that's essentially it.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>And it's really blue.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>But there is one important little thing I should say. We're gonna be slightly slowing down now for the time being. J and I have been on a marathon run with this story, pumping out 24 chapters in two months with over 400K words in that time.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>We'll cool our jets a bit on this one for a bit while returning to our other works. We need to return to A Song of Fire, Ice and Hearts, gotta get back to Infinite Wars and my two Halo/Mass Effect stories I have with BulletStormX.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>We'll still update this one consistently as possible just not a crazy fuck like we did in these past two months. Need to cool our jets on this one.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>So folks, other than that, thanks again for reading.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Rate Read and Review and as Always Have Nice Day.</strong>
      </p>
    </div>
  </div>
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  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>An idea of what Xion's Keyblade looks like</p><p>https://www.deviantart.com/hexalys/art/Xion-s-Keyblade-Seashell-Resonance-799897810</p><p>and what Lexaeus's Nobodies look like </p><p>https://www.deviantart.com/lynxgriffin/art/Heartless-Comm-3-Ventus-142459077</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0025"><h2>25. Lot's More Explaining To Do</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
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    <p></p>
    <div>
      <p>
        <strong>After a decent time away from this story, high time Jebest and I returned to it.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>We wanted some time away from this passion project cause holy shit, those 24 chapters were some of the fastest pieces of work he and I had ever put out in a short amount of time.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Kinda burnt ourselves out afterwards and had to slowdown and take some time away from this one.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>This is a story the two of us know we make in large quantities with short bursts. It's what happens when two minds know the franchises we're working on together so well that while there is always much to discuss, when we get down to it, this shit just flies out like no tomorrow.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>So having a comrade like Jebest4781 is a rarity cause he and I have a mind link in regards to Kingdom Hearts and Mass Effect. What a strange pairing of fandoms.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Anywho, let's pick up where we left off.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Rate Read and Review and As Always Have Nice Day.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>I'm Nobody Chapter 25: Lot more Explaining to do.</p>
      <p>"You got a lot of explaining to do, Shepard."</p>
      <p>"Yeah, yeah, I know, I heard you the first time Anderson."</p>
      <p>The Alliance Captain could only snort, looking down at the human Spectre that was currently bedridden and refused to get out of it.</p>
      <p>It had only been several days since the latest incident that had occurred on the Citadel but the cleanup will undoubtedly take some time.</p>
      <p>And that was on top of the already ongoing one that came from the attack on the Citadel by one former Spectre.</p>
      <p>Suffice to say, the multiple businesses and individuals involved in reconstruction were going to have their hands full for the foreseeable future.</p>
      <p>But that matter didn't concern Anderson right about now.</p>
      <p>What did was what Shepard and her crew had faced or more specifically, <em>who</em> they faced.</p>
      <p>He had gone over the footage captured from multiple vantage points repeatedly and was still having a difficult time wrapping his mind around what he had witnessed.</p>
      <p>This… this <em>man</em> that Shepard and co. fought was unlike anything he had ever seen before.</p>
      <p>The team that Shepard had assembled in these past few months had tackled a multitude of foes.</p>
      <p>From mercs, to the Geth and whatever these Heartless creatures were, the Normandy team had fought them all off.</p>
      <p>Even Saren and that possessed form of his was taken down by the team.</p>
      <p>Only this time, they didn't defeat their enemy.</p>
      <p>No, it was more like they had endured and survived their adversary.</p>
      <p>The power and capabilities this individual displayed was downright frightening because it was just a single man.</p>
      <p>A single man that when he swung that unusually shaped weapon of his, the entire Citadel shook violently as if it were experiencing an Earthquake.</p>
      <p>It was a terrifying experience to say the least.</p>
      <p>The confusion, the panic, the pandemonium.</p>
      <p>All of it was felt throughout the Citadel with everyone basically freaking out as to what was happening. When the attacker was identified, the Captain didn't recognize his face.</p>
      <p>And after running the face through the Alliance data-files, they came up negative.</p>
      <p>Like it was with Roxas, Axel and Xion.</p>
      <p>On top of that little connection, the only thing recognizable Anderson could spot on the man was his attire as it was the same presently worn by the three Nobodies in Shepard's team.</p>
      <p>Undoubtedly, there was a connection here between this man and the trio of similarly dressed people with Shepard.</p>
      <p>And if he were to hazard a guess that if he could make this assumption, the Council would come to the same conclusion.</p>
      <p>"I am being serious here, Shepard. The Citadel being attacked in such a manner left the station in a panic. People are seeking answers to their growing number of questions."</p>
      <p>The human Spectre curled up slightly beneath her blankets, exhaling aloud.</p>
      <p>"I've noticed." She said softly. "I know the Council has been hounding your ass for answers."</p>
      <p>"That's putting it mildly." Anderson grimaced. "They've been wanting to speak with you all week."</p>
      <p>"Well in case you haven't noticed or they didn't realize it, I'm still recovering from that fight with that axe swinging earth bender so cut me some slack." Shepard bitingly said. "Even with all those potions and ethers Mosh gave us, I'm still sore all over."</p>
      <p>"Uh huh and now long will you keep up with that excuse?"</p>
      <p>Shepard gave him the flattest look she could muster. "Anderson, did you not see just <em>who </em>I was fighting? I'd rather go after Saren all over again then fight someone like <em>that</em> again."</p>
      <p>Anderson simply nodded, placing a hand on her shoulder. "I've noticed. Someone who could possibly be a one person army and actually carry it out. It's a frightening enemy to face."</p>
      <p>He felt her shift about uncomfortably.</p>
      <p>"I'm glad you're alright, Jane."</p>
      <p>Shepard gazed at her former superior and father figure, giving him a kind smile a moment later.</p>
      <p>"Thanks Captain." She said appreciatively.</p>
      <p>David returned her smile with one of his own.</p>
      <p>A moment later, he threw the covers off her.</p>
      <p>"Alright, now get up. Council's waited long enough for you and your team."</p>
      <p>The human Spectre gaped at him before letting out an unrelenting groan of disapproval.</p>
      <p>"Why did I have to be the first Spectre?"</p>
      <p>"Cause you're good at it." Anderson said with a mischievous smirk. "Now get to it. Get the rest of your squad together and head to the presidium."</p>
      <p>"Yes sir." Shepard bemoaned, intentionally flopping out of bed to delay the meeting for as long as humanly possible.</p>
      <p>
        <em>-Scene Cut-</em>
      </p>
      <p>These recent days had sure put Urdnot Wrex into a damn loop.</p>
      <p>Ever since he tagged along with Shepard in taking out Saren Arterius, a whole lot of crazy shit he never thought possible would occur in his lifetime.</p>
      <p>Magic, Heartless, Rachni, Reapers and so much more.</p>
      <p>Most can arguably be said to be something from storybooks, yet he ended up living through them all and things were just getting started.</p>
      <p>He got his ass handed to him by the dark synthezoid during the Battle of the Citadel and once again had it occur when one of his Nobody companions' former colleagues reared their ugly head around and wrecked the station up sky high.</p>
      <p>If that weren't enough, he started feeling ever more stronger; more so ever since he rode this crazy train after taking the job of killing Fist.</p>
      <p>"What's on your mind, big guy?"</p>
      <p>Wrex's eyes shifted over to his friend who was sitting beside him, idly twirling an ice cream stick in his mouth.</p>
      <p>"Nothin'." Wrex waved off.</p>
      <p>"That didn't sound like nothin'."</p>
      <p>"Well it is, Axel, so drop it." Wrex said stiffly.</p>
      <p>The redhead Nobody eyed the large Krogan Battlemaster and let out a dramatic sigh.</p>
      <p>"Normally, I'd take that as it is but unfortunately I can't do that."</p>
      <p>Wrex's eye twitched. "And why is that?"</p>
      <p>"Cause you're my buddy so that means I have no choice but to slightly show some concern." Axel said cheekily.</p>
      <p>The Krogan let out a small growl. "I am not your <em>buddy.</em> Don't even use that word with me."</p>
      <p>"Whatever, friend, if that's easier for ya."</p>
      <p>Wrex only grunted, not denying that one at least.</p>
      <p>"But seriously, somethin's bothering you." Axel stated. "Or at least ya got a lot on your mind right now."</p>
      <p>"And how do you think you know that?" Wrex asked challengingly.</p>
      <p>The fiery Nobody shrugged, flicking his stick away to a nearby trash can.</p>
      <p>"I'm a great judge of character." He said with a smirk.</p>
      <p>Wrex rolled his eyes at that, shaking his head in amusement.</p>
      <p>"I've been feeling… different lately."</p>
      <p>"Different?" Axel repeated. "Different how?"</p>
      <p>"Just… everything really." Wrex raised a hand, flexing it slightly. "I've been feeling stronger, lighter recently. I didn't notice it at first but after that fight with that big bastard…"</p>
      <p>Axel eyed the battlemaster for a few moments.</p>
      <p>"Hmmm, well, you seem surprised."</p>
      <p>"That's cause I am." Wrex admitted to him. "I'm 700 years old, Axel. Krogan are tough fuckers but even they begin to lose their strength after a while. It's the law of the universe."</p>
      <p>Axel gestured to himself. "Case you haven't noticed…"</p>
      <p>"I know." Wrex grumbled. "You weirdos are different, yeah, way to make it obvious."</p>
      <p>Axel chuckled slightly when he adopted a more contemplative look on him.</p>
      <p>"Hmmm." Axel rubbed his chin in thought. "Maybe…"</p>
      <p>"What?"</p>
      <p>"Maybe it has something to do with what Top Hat the Wizard said to us back at his tower." Axel stated. "Remember? He talked about the link our galaxies share now and the effects we're gonna have on each other. This could be one of them."</p>
      <p>"Me getting stronger is one of them?" Wrex said in a tone wanting clarity. "How does that work?"</p>
      <p>"Well Roxas, Xion and I always get stronger whenever we fight." Axel said casually. "That's always how it was. Only natural that you guys should be going through the same thing yourselves now."</p>
      <p>Wrex observed his hand once again, clenching and unclenching his fist several times experimentally.</p>
      <p>"So what's that mean for us?"</p>
      <p>"Who knows." Axel said truthfully. "If we keep this up, skies the limit on what can happen really."</p>
      <p>Wrex only hummed aloud, accepting the answer for the time being.</p>
      <p>Continuing on with their walk, Wrex spotted a group of individuals that had been following them for some time. He was sure Axel was well aware of them and figured they would need to take action soon as the pair were approached by a trio of Krogan.</p>
      <p>Their skin was mostly orange in color while their head crests were richly brown, light brown and green, respectively. And their armors were of some standard make but had a number of scrapes and marks to show what experience they each bore.</p>
      <p>"Can we help you?" Axel asked, hand resting on his hip whilst the other hand twitched slightly in case of anything happening.</p>
      <p>The trio of Krogan didn't budge, appearing to only observe the duo in front of them silently.. Seeing neither of the newly arrived Krogan weren't going to move along, Wrex growled out a response.</p>
      <p>"The hell do you pyjacks want?"</p>
      <p>"You're Urdnot Wrex, aren't you." Stated the green crested Krogan.</p>
      <p>Wrex's eyes narrowed. "Yeah, what's it to you?"</p>
      <p>The light brown crested Krogan stepped forward, coughing into his hand.</p>
      <p>"We have been searching for you for some time." His tone was a bit awkward.</p>
      <p>"For what purpose?" Wrex was getting ready for a fight. Krogan only sought each other out for-</p>
      <p>"We wish to pledge ourselves to you and join your clan."</p>
      <p>The Krogan Battlemaster froze and blinked several times, registering what he had just said. "...I'm sorry, what?"</p>
      <p>The richly brown Krogan placed a hand over his chest and bowed his head slightly.</p>
      <p>"Urdnot Wrex." The Richly Brown Krogan began. "Tales of your exploits as of late, while argued on legitimacy, have been viewed and heard by many of our people."</p>
      <p>The green crested Krogan then spoke. "During your rite, many centuries ago, you single handedly slew a Thresher Maw and in these recent few months, word and witnesses of you slaying countless dark creatures plaguing a number of planets has only added to your growing reputation amongst the Krogan."</p>
      <p>The light brown crested Krogan was next.</p>
      <p>"But most of all, you combated against a warrior who single handedly wrecked this station all by his own strength and hammer-sword alone. Despite the assistance of your krantt, you were able to gain the upper hand and turn the tide with no other weapon other than your hammer and power alone." The Krogan said with utter reverence. "The holo-vids showed your relentless onslaught with your Krantt against this worthy foe and you did not falter even when beaten back by such strength."</p>
      <p>"We have been searching for a Krogan like yourself for some time." The green crested one said with the utmost respect. "Please. Allow us to pledge our lives to the service of Clan Urdnot."</p>
      <p>Well now…</p>
      <p><em>This</em> certainly wasn't what Urdnot Wrex was expecting to happen today.</p>
      <p>Beside him, Axel let out an impressed whistle.</p>
      <p>"Huh, you've got yourself a fan club Wrex." Axel commented. "Who knew you were so popular."</p>
      <p>"Axel, shut up." He said quickly before gazing at the three Krogan who had now gone to their knees in the traditional ceremonial position to signify their pledge.</p>
      <p>'Shit, they're serious.' Wrex internally thought.</p>
      <p>Well now, this is certainly an unusual dilemma Wrex found himself in right about now.</p>
      <p>He hadn't led Krogan in a very long time and in those times, they were fleeting at best being primarily for some form of wealth or compensation.</p>
      <p>Yet before him were three relatively young Krogan given their lack of scars for the most part all kneeling before him to pledge their loyalty to his clan.</p>
      <p>His very much fractured and scattered clan, but his all the same.</p>
      <p>Strange…</p>
      <p>Wrex briefly reflected on what he had gone through in these past few months and he'd be lying to himself if he denied everything he had learned in that time.</p>
      <p>The power that came through unity and strength in relying on others and the times where your own strength is needed to help one another.</p>
      <p>Something that the Krogan clearly lacked right about now.</p>
      <p>Steeling himself, Wrex stepped forward and gazed down at them.</p>
      <p>"What are your names?"</p>
      <p>"I am Ratch." The green crested one said before pointing to the lightly brown then rich brown crested Krogans. "And these two are Dagg and Darg."</p>
      <p>"What clan were you three apart from?"</p>
      <p>Ratch was the one to answer. "The brothers are clanless as their leader died some time ago with a coup commencing soon after and had been seeking work and a new clan to join. I, on the other hand, am from Clan Bragus."</p>
      <p>Wrex narrowed his eyes as he was processing this bit of information.</p>
      <p>"And what of the rest of your clan?" he asked.</p>
      <p>"Scattered." Ratch stated with shame. "Shattered like all Krogan are since the genophage. Leaderless and eager to simply die and be a memory then working to restore the days of our glorious ancestors."</p>
      <p>Wrex's frown deepened upon hearing that. It appeared these young ones shared his underlying concerns and sentiments.</p>
      <p>The thought of the Krogan eventually going well towards their demise.</p>
      <p>He momentarily looked over to his companion who gave him a shrug that conveyed 'this is your show man'.</p>
      <p>Snorting, Wrex regarded the trio before him again.</p>
      <p>"There's several matters I still have to attend to with my Krantt right now. Give me your contact info so I'll message you lot later."</p>
      <p>The Krogan looked up at Wrex with anticipation.</p>
      <p>"When the time comes, I plan on heading back to Tuchanka very soon to regain my seat for Clan Urdnot. But once I stake my claim, we will have the proper rites for you to join."</p>
      <p>"We understand." the Krogan said loudly, thumping their fists over their chests.</p>
      <p>"We shall await your call, Urdnot Wrex." Ratch proclaimed with Dagg and Darg nodding in agreement.</p>
      <p>"Then that's all I have to say to you three." Wrex stated. "Now go."</p>
      <p>The three Krogan stood and departed, leaving the two standing there.</p>
      <p>"That's something you don't see every day." Came Axel's comment.</p>
      <p>Wrex didn't answer at first instead gazing at the trio that were walking away, further and further.</p>
      <p>"You alright, big shot?" Axel asked teasingly, nudging the Battlemaster with his elbow.</p>
      <p>"Fine." Wrex grunted. "Come on, I know those Council shits are waiting on all of us."</p>
      <p>"Wow, look at you being a responsible politician." Axel mocked, slapping his back a few times, eliciting a growl from the Krogan.</p>
      <p>"I swear, I'll eat your hair if you keep talking."</p>
      <p>"Hey! Do <em>not </em>mess with the <em>doo</em>."</p>
      <p>
        <em>-Scene Cut-</em>
      </p>
      <p>Tali'Zorah Nar Rayya wrung her hands nervously as she sat within the human embassy with Roxas sitting right next to her along with Xion, Ashley, Kaidan and Liara.</p>
      <p>They had been here for the past hour, having been summoned here by Anderson to meet with the Citadel Council.</p>
      <p>"Why did we all have to be here for this?" Xion asked inquisitively. "Doesn't Shepard normally handle this sort of thing?"</p>
      <p>"She needs to give her reports to the Council directly. Unfortunately, she's bedridden for the time being." Liara said.</p>
      <p>"Oh please." Ashley snorted. "Like that's gonna stop the Council. I bet you ten credits she's already on her way here."</p>
      <p>"But why do <em>we</em> have to be here?" Roxas asked.</p>
      <p>"Cause we were all involved with Lexeaus." Kaidan pointed out. "And I don't think it's outside the realm of possibility that the Council wants to speak to the two of you and Axel in particular."</p>
      <p>Roxas and Xion exchanged glances with one another and figured he did have a point.</p>
      <p>They could play it off really but when one thinks about it, news of the battle has been covered every single day since it happened.</p>
      <p>And in that time, the faces of the entirety of the Normandy team was shown for the entire Citadel and possibly even the galaxy to see.</p>
      <p>Specifically, a few of the more keen eyed news reporters highlighted a very important detail that some might have not noticed at a first glance, what with the mass destruction caused by the fight.</p>
      <p>Those that had noticed it pointed out that out of all those that had participated in the battle, three members of the Normandy crew wore similar black cloaks to the one of the aggressor.</p>
      <p>Questions were being thrown around all over the place and a few had wondered if there was a connection between the trio of the Normandy and the Citadel attacker.</p>
      <p>So here they all were, waiting to meet with the Council.</p>
      <p>"What should we even tell them?" Roxas inquired to no one in particular.</p>
      <p>"What do you mean?" Liara asked.</p>
      <p>"It's just… I don't know how'd they react to the Nobodies and the Organization." Roxas said with an unsure tone. "They could just brush the whole thing off like they did with the Reapers."</p>
      <p>"At least they were a bit more convinced with the Heartless." Xion added in.</p>
      <p>"Alright, I figure the Council is stupid sometimes but not idiotic." Ash wryly stated. "I mean, for the love of God, there's so much footage that's out there now of the Heartless and Nobodies and us taking them out."</p>
      <p>"This will not be something that is so easily ignored." Liara pointed out. "The Citadel has been attacked twice now and this time, there are multiple audio and visuals of Lexeaus. Brushing off such an event would be extremely foolish."</p>
      <p>"Who's to say."</p>
      <p>Ashley patted Roxas's shoulder sympathetically. "Most likely they'll just point the blame on you two given how close of a relation you three have with the Organization."</p>
      <p>Roxas' head hung low with a storm cloud forming over her head.</p>
      <p>"But we're no longer-"</p>
      <p>"They don't care." Kaidan cut them both off with a cross of his arms. "You know how fickle politicians are."</p>
      <p>Roxas slumped further in his seat and let out only one word.</p>
      <p>"Fuck."</p>
      <p>"Well lookie here, I'm not that last one."</p>
      <p>The group turned to see none other than Garrus Vakarian walking over to them.</p>
      <p>"You sure took your time getting here." Ash complained.</p>
      <p>"In case you forgot Gunney, I'm still associated with C-sec." Garrus thumbed to himself. "Had to deal with a mountain of bullshit in trying to coordinate clean up and all that other spirits damned Omni-paperwork."</p>
      <p>"Couldn't you have gotten others to do it?" Liara inquired.</p>
      <p>"And explain to them what exactly we fight and what we're all now capable of?" Garrus rhetorically asked in a dry voice. "Yeah don't think that's in the cards. That's how you humans say it, right?"</p>
      <p>"Yes." Ash and Kaidan confirmed for him.</p>
      <p>"At least we can give Shepard some crap in not coming on time." Williams remarked.</p>
      <p>"Yeah but where's Axel and Wrex?" Xion asked. "I thought they'd be here by now."</p>
      <p>"And like that, we appear."</p>
      <p>The others turned over to see Wrex and Axel walking towards them.</p>
      <p>"Seeing as the Council ain't here yet or you guys called up shows we've got here just in the nick of it." Said Axel.</p>
      <p>"And what were you guys doing?" Kaidan asked.</p>
      <p>"Wrex here started a cult." Axel said chipperly, slapping the Krogan's shoulder.</p>
      <p>"Huh?" was the collective response.</p>
      <p>"Shut up matchstick." Wrex growled, turning to the rest of the team. "Just some Krogan wanting to pledge loyalty and join my clan."</p>
      <p>"They can do that?" Roxas asked.</p>
      <p>Wrex nodded. "It's a complicated manner to sum it up, but yeah. It'll be something I'll need to address when I return to Tuchanka."</p>
      <p>"So… what does that mean for you?" Tali asked in a rather quiet voice.</p>
      <p>The Battlemaster regarded the Normandy team… his Krantt.</p>
      <p>It was a strange feeling to realize that he had come to see these people as his comrades and friends.</p>
      <p>When he had joined the Normandy, he had never thought that this would happen. It felt like it was supposed to be a standard mission.</p>
      <p>Find the bastard rogue Spectre and be on his way.</p>
      <p>But now…</p>
      <p>Shaking his head, Wrex eyed them all with a resolved glint in his eyes.</p>
      <p>"I'm going to do what I should have done a long time ago." Wrex declared. "I'll need to make my return and properly reclaim my lands and titles after everything that happened. It's time the Krogan race was reunified under one banner again."</p>
      <p>"Are you sure they're ready for such a thing?" Liara asked nervously. "Your people have been shattered for so long."</p>
      <p>Wrex huffed with a growl coming out. "It'll be a hard process, no doubt about it, but I'll see it done one way or another. It's either that or extinction."</p>
      <p>The group shifted about uncomfortably at the thought of such a thing happening but Wrex's tone conveyed how serious he was about that likelihood.</p>
      <p>"Well… if ya need any help, you can count on us." Garrus proclaimed a moment later.</p>
      <p>Wrex snorted. "Leave it to the Turians to butt their heads into the business of the Krogans when the Salarians aren't around."</p>
      <p>Garrus gave off a mock-affronted look before sharing a laugh with the group.</p>
      <p>"Much as I would like my pride to say that I gotta do this alone…" Wrex held a contemplative look momentarily. "If I do need help, I know who to call on."</p>
      <p>Nothing much was said afterwards as the team was finally called up to finally meet the Council.</p>
      <p>Ascending the stairs, the group soon met with the four Council members as they stood behind their respective podiums.</p>
      <p>They were used to seeing the Salarian, Turian and Asari representatives there, but Udina would be one that'll take time to get used to.</p>
      <p>The first to greet them was the Asari Councilor Tevos.</p>
      <p>"I see you're all… here…"</p>
      <p>She had trailed off after taking a moment to do a headcount of the Normandy crew.</p>
      <p>"Where is-"</p>
      <p>"Sorry I'm late."</p>
      <p>Running up towards them was Jane as she was slightly panting.</p>
      <p>"Cutting it really close there, Commander." Udina chimed in from his podium.</p>
      <p>Axel on the other hand smirked at seeing the Commander in such a state.</p>
      <p>"You're tired from running here?"</p>
      <p>"I was rushing."</p>
      <p>"You do realize we've gone through hell these past few months, right?"</p>
      <p>"It was a long run!"</p>
      <p>"Or maybe… you've been eating those ice cream bars a bit too-"</p>
      <p>"Don't you even with that!" Shepard practically whined. "You eat <em>way</em> more of those than any of us ever-"</p>
      <p>A loud cough, coming from the Turian councilor, interrupted the pair.</p>
      <p>"Councilors." Shepard said in the most cordial voice she could muster.</p>
      <p>"Shepard." Sparatus said dryly, unamused it seems. "Mind explaining why you are late whilst your team is present."</p>
      <p>"I was… resting after what occurred, Councilor Sparatus."</p>
      <p>"Right…" The Turian turned to the Normandy crew. "And I take it you all have been doing the same?"</p>
      <p>"No?" Roxas answered, honest and unsure. "We're ok really."</p>
      <p>A bland look was aimed towards the N7 marine soon after.</p>
      <p>"Ok fine." Shepard bemoaned aloud. "I just wanted to sleep a little more after all the bullshit we've been dealing with. Is that too much to ask?!"</p>
      <p>The crowd was silent for the most part until Valern cleared his throat, prompting Tevos to speak again.</p>
      <p>"Excuses aside," the Asari representative began, "we would like to finally address the issue of this meeting."</p>
      <p>"Who was it that attacked this station?" Spoke the Salarian. "He single handedly caused so much damage that would seem utterly impossible."</p>
      <p>"Lexeaus." Axel answered straight away. "A man with too much power and someone none of you should <em>ever</em> engage."</p>
      <p>The Council was a bit taken aback by Axel's rude and blunt tone.</p>
      <p>"Why is it that we shouldn't do <em>that</em>?" Udina inquired.</p>
      <p>"What are you, blind?" Axel asked rhetorically, the human Councilor becoming red in the face with anger at such a dismissive address. "Did you not <em>see</em> what that guy was capable of doing? The whole damn Citadel was having an earthquake. In <em>space.</em>"</p>
      <p>"Now see here-"</p>
      <p>"See what? I'm telling you guys the truth." Axel retorted. "Not some half assed cockamamie story."</p>
      <p>Udina was about to fire back when Tevos placed a hand on his shoulder.</p>
      <p>"He is right Udina." Tevos said softly. "You saw what that man was capable of."</p>
      <p>Udina bristled slightly but relented, glaring a bit at the unphased redhead.</p>
      <p>"Can we please get back to the main topic at hand?" Sparatus inquired impatiently. "There's a lot of questions that need to be answered and it appears you all seem to know exactly what's going on."</p>
      <p>The Salarian Councilor now stepped forward.</p>
      <p>"Given what footage we were able to view, there does come the question as to why he came to the Citadel." Spoke Valern. "From what I was able to discern from his actions, this man was clearly after you all in particular. Not to mention what those odd creatures that were here before his arrival."</p>
      <p>Sparatus then eyed the three Nobodies and addressed his thoughts. "I doubt him wearing a similar attire as you three is the only similarities there are."</p>
      <p>"Ah, picked that up, did ya?" Axel tauntingly asked.</p>
      <p>"Young man, this is a very serious matter." Tevos said in a firm voice. "Please take it seriously. The Citadel, the very heart of galactic civilization was just attacked in a short span of a few weeks. The entire galaxy is thoroughly scared and confused."</p>
      <p>"Yeah, no kidding." Muttered out Garrus.</p>
      <p>Wanting to speed things along, Axel spoke up. "Would you like the long version or the short one?"</p>
      <p>"Either one would work as long as we can know what happened exactly." Tevos said cordially. "It's obvious that the three of you know about this man more than the rest of your compatriots."</p>
      <p>It was Roxas' turn to address the Council. "We… used to work with him and the others before… we departed on bad terms."</p>
      <p>"Bad terms is putting it lightly." Axel chortled out.</p>
      <p>"We were able to discern such a matter considering the viciousness and relentless nature in which he engaged you all." Valern said. "We have seen the Heartless before as you told us of them and have even seen some of the other extraordinary abilities your team has been displaying. But what he did was unlike anything we had seen thus far."</p>
      <p>"There's an entire Organization of them." Xion said quietly, making the councilors snap their heads to her direction with eyes widening in alarm."</p>
      <p>"An… entire Organization of them you say?" Tevos asked in a low voice.</p>
      <p>"How many of them are there?" Valern asked.</p>
      <p>"About…" Axel held up a hand, listing off the members in his head. "Bout eleven of 'em right now. Maybe twelve if they're using that faker Vexen made."</p>
      <p>Sparatus scoffed. "Only twelve?"</p>
      <p>"You saw what one was capable of." Valern coldly reminded the Turian, making Sparatus visibly wince. "An entire Organization you say?"</p>
      <p>The Nobodies nodded.</p>
      <p>"And just so you know, they aren't human." Axel added.</p>
      <p>That caused the Council to pause in thought, staring in complete and utter bewilderment as to what he just said.</p>
      <p>"I beg your pardon?" Udina was the first to speak.</p>
      <p>"They aren't human." Axel said with a shrug. "Technically speaking, they aren't even supposed to exist. They just are."</p>
      <p>The Council was at a loss of words briefly, Tevos looking over to the mostly silent Normandy crew.</p>
      <p>"It's complicated." Shepard said, feeling a slight headache coming on.</p>
      <p>"I fear that's a term that's going to be associated with you all quite often." Valern stated.</p>
      <p>"Unfortunately." Garrus and Kaidan said in sync.</p>
      <p>Tevos tried her best to not let out a sigh, instead focusing on the more important matter at hand.</p>
      <p>"What was the reason why this… Lexaeus attacked the station?"</p>
      <p>"Taking us back or getting rid of us after we defected from the Organization." Xion summed up.</p>
      <p>"And I take it the reasons behind this action are… <em>complicated</em>." Seeing the nods coming from the three Nobodies made Udina exhale a sigh. "Of course."</p>
      <p>"What are they then?" Valern asked. "You told us they aren't human, correct? So what exactly can we classify them as?"</p>
      <p>Sharing a look, the three Nobodies soon told the Councilors the truth… to an extent. Neither of them wanted to lay out everything to them, only the essential information.</p>
      <p>After a good chunk of time had passed, the Council members were silent as they had to digest the recently given information and processed what they could.</p>
      <p>"This is rather troubling." Tevos said softly.</p>
      <p>"Troubling?" Sparatus snorted derisively. "Is that what you would call it? Had it not been for what we have seen and heard of in these past few months, I would have outright rejected this fanciful tale."</p>
      <p>"Oh, so you're going to do just that then?" Axel asked mockingly.</p>
      <p>"I'm not as stubborn a fool as you may think I am." The Turian councilor growled out.</p>
      <p>"Uh huh." Axel drawled out, seemingly not buying that.</p>
      <p>"Will be quite hard to keep an eye and ear out on these members of Organization XIII." Valern murmured.</p>
      <p>"More like impossible." Shepard said.</p>
      <p>"What makes you say that?" Valern asked.</p>
      <p>"To put it plainly, they will not be seen unless they allow it." Shepard said cryptically. "They've got quite the interesting way in getting around through unconventional means."</p>
      <p>"Like what? Knowing unmapped routes, having unregistered ships one would find unknowingly?"</p>
      <p>Shepard didn't verbally answer, instead looking to the Nobody trio.</p>
      <p>Getting the message, Roxas stood up and in an instant, the familiar ovular dome of the Corridor of Darkness enshrouded and swallowed the boy whole.</p>
      <p>The Councilors jumped back in shock at the boy's sudden disappearance.</p>
      <p>"Cause they have <em>this</em>."</p>
      <p>They then flinched violently, whirling around to see Roxas appear out of another corridor some feet away from them. He then disappeared soon after through the same method as before to wind back up with the rest of the Normandy ground team.</p>
      <p>"That was the Corridor of Darkness." Roxas said straight away. "It's the means in which the Organization uses to get around from world to world, without needing any ship or any relay, element zero, none of that. They exist on a separate set of rules that allow them this type of travel."</p>
      <p>Valern regarded the trio with greater intrigue. "Is this a means of… instant teleportation?"</p>
      <p>The Nobody's nodded.</p>
      <p>"...This is troubling."</p>
      <p>"Regardless, we thank you for informing us of this threat." Said Tevos.</p>
      <p>"That's it?" Udina said in disbelief. "That's all there is to say?"</p>
      <p>"And what would you suggest we talk about further, Udina?" Tevos asked patiently. "These three practically gave out the profiles of their former associates and their capabilities."</p>
      <p>"Much as I loathe to admit this…" Sparatus mandibles flared slightly. "There's nothing we can do <em>unfortunately</em>. I take it that even <em>if</em> we were to try fighting these individuals off-"</p>
      <p>"You'd be taken out in an instant." Xion said with a stern tone. "Please, <em>never</em> fight these people unless <em>we</em> are present."</p>
      <p>"What if we were to have no choice?" Udina countered.</p>
      <p>"Then… well… fuck, improvise." Axel declared. "Do whatever ya can to keep them distracted or at bay till one of us comes in to help out."</p>
      <p>"That's not a comforting thought." Tevos said.</p>
      <p>"We're not here to be comforting." No. VIII said with his arms crossed. "We're here to tell ya the truth. So take it or leave it."</p>
      <p>"We'll take your advice into consideration."</p>
      <p>Some of the Normandy team had to hold back from rolling their eyes, knowing that might be exactly done.</p>
      <p>"Well…" Udina coughed slightly into his hand. "Since we are on the topic of the fantastical and unnatural. Commander Shepard."</p>
      <p>The Spectre turned to the human Councilor who held up his Omni-tool and sent her a series of files towards her own Omni-Tool.</p>
      <p>"When you have time, look these over with your team." Udina instructed. "Hackett knows more, so speak with him when you have the chance."</p>
      <p>"Of course, Councilor Udina."</p>
      <p>With nothing else to address, the team left the Council Chambers.</p>
      <p>From another section of the room, a small camera went off as it finished recording the proceedings before it's owner went to transmit the footage back to her boss.</p>
      <p>
        <em>-Scene Cut-</em>
      </p>
      <p>The crew of the Normandy exited the presidium, thanking all their deities and makers that the meeting was over at last.</p>
      <p>The Council wasn't as grating on their nerves as they usually were but still, no matter the scenario, dealing with politicians was always a pain in the ass.</p>
      <p>As they were walking around the Citadel, Wrex was uncharacteristically aloof until he simply said he'd meet up with them later and left the group entirely.</p>
      <p>Whilst confused about this, Axel simply told them that he'll tell them about it later.</p>
      <p>So, for now, the team went about the Citadel to pass the time for now.</p>
      <p>There haven't been any calls for any missions or assignments yet and there have been hardly any encounters with the Heartless nor the Nobodies.</p>
      <p>Separating into their own little groups, each spread out to do their own thing for who knows how long before meeting back up later.</p>
      <p>Presently, Axel and Shepard were talking on a small subject when they heard someone speak up to them.</p>
      <p>"Wow… it's really you!"</p>
      <p>Jane glanced over and saw a man with light blonde short hair with a small beard on his face. There were some hints of bandages seen on some parts of his body, no doubt someone affected by Lexaeus' attack and still recovering.</p>
      <p>"Can I help you?" Asked Jane.</p>
      <p>"You're Commander Shepard, hero of Eden Prime and the first human Spectre! It's an honor to meet you."</p>
      <p>Not wanting to be rude, the N7 marine spoke. "Nice to meet you. And you are…?"</p>
      <p>"My name is Conrad. Conrad Verner. They say you killed more than a thousand geth on your hunt for Saren!"</p>
      <p>"Probably. Didn't exactly keep count of my kills." Jane stated. "I've been more focused trying to stay alive and helping people."</p>
      <p>Conrad gave a quick nod before pulling out a notepad and pen.</p>
      <p>"Hey, I know you're probably busy, but do you have time for a quick autograph and picture?"</p>
      <p>Shepard gave a quick shrug, seeing no harm in doing the act.</p>
      <p>Once doing a quick signature, she handed back the items back to her apparent fan before ending up taking a quick selfie with him.</p>
      <p>"Thanks. I really appreciate it. My wife is going to be so impressed!" He chuckled out. "I mean the vids have been talking about you non-stop lately."</p>
      <p>"Being what exactly?"</p>
      <p>"Fighting for all of us back home and that you don't take crap from anybody."</p>
      <p>"More or less."</p>
      <p>Conrad nodded furiously as he eyed the recently taken photo and autograph. Hundreds of years from now, humanity's going to remember Commander Shepard for her deeds towards the galaxy and his family has her autograph and picture. They're pretty much priceless now.</p>
      <p>"You did help save my life the other day with that attack and I can't thank you enough." Conrad said with great reverence.</p>
      <p>"No problem." Axel said offhandedly.</p>
      <p>Axel and Jane were about to walk away when Conrad spoke one more time.</p>
      <p>"Can I run something by you, perhaps?"</p>
      <p>Jane shifted back to face the blonde man. "Depends on what's on your mind."</p>
      <p>"Human colonies have been attacked and I'm not sure that one Spectre is enough. What if you signed me on as another Spectre."</p>
      <p>Both redheads blinked in utter confusion upon hearing this.</p>
      <p>"...I'm sorry, what?" Said Axel once his mind rebooted a little.</p>
      <p>"Conrad, I don't think that's a good idea." Stated Shepard.</p>
      <p>"But I'd make a great Spectre." The blond human argued with a great passion. "I'd be right there with you, showing the Council what humanity is capable of. I know you're afraid to trust people and lose them, but I'd never let you down."</p>
      <p>"Ok, first of all, there's like a thousand reasons off the top of my head why you are the last person who should be a Spectre." Axel pointed out dryly.</p>
      <p>"And what would they even be?" Conrade asked challengingly.</p>
      <p>"Ever been in a fight?"</p>
      <p>"Course I ha-"</p>
      <p>"Wildly swinging your fists around don't count." Axel cut him off. "I'm talking about the shit we've seen. What we've experienced."</p>
      <p>"Uh… I…"</p>
      <p>"What about your wife, Conrad? She trusts you too." Jane said rather quickly. "Aren't you letting her down?"</p>
      <p>Conrad tilted his head in confusion as he felt out of the loop. "What? I don't understand."</p>
      <p>"You know what keeps me going out there, knowing that people back home are keeping humanity strong. Even those who I deeply care about. And I bet she'll need your support and vice versa. But that won't happen if you go off on your own without her knowing."</p>
      <p>It took some moments for things to set into the blond before the red haired pair.</p>
      <p>"You… You're right. I just got so caught up in all of it, I wanted to help. I'll go home right away. Thanks again for all of this and setting me straight."</p>
      <p>Without another word, Conrad left the two alone.</p>
      <p>"That was handled well."</p>
      <p>"Yeup."</p>
      <p>"Think we'll ever see him again?"</p>
      <p>"God, I hope not."</p>
      <p>"I don't know. He seems rather fanboyish to me." Axel said with a teasing smile. "Did you see his eyes? Looked like he was about to cry and do… other <em>unmentionables</em> at the sight of you."</p>
      <p>"Please, don't." Jane groaned out.</p>
      <p>"Whelp, I'm starved." Axel said, clapping her back. "What are you up for?"</p>
      <p>"Can't join up." Shepard said with a sigh. "Admiral Hackett wants to speak with me about something."</p>
      <p>"Why don't you just skip out?"</p>
      <p>All he received was an annoyed glare making him chuckle.</p>
      <p>"Just be ready for anything." Shepard said. "That's how most of these meetings always end."</p>
      <p>Axel simply nodded, separating from the N7 marine as they went to their own.</p>
      <p>He had sent out a message to the others, asking as to where they were and teleporting away to meet them a moment later.</p>
      <p>A majority of the crew opted to go out to get a bite to eat for now.</p>
      <p>Wrex and Shepard were the only two that didn't join them as the latter had several matters to attend to once separating from Axel and the former… well, he just said he had his own personal business to take care of.</p>
      <p>The rest had scattered across the area they had chosen to eat at.</p>
      <p>Liara, Kaidan and Tali went off in one direction with the others doing the same.</p>
      <p>Currently, the Asari of the Normandy sat alone having already gotten her meal.</p>
      <p>"Liara? Liara, is that you?"</p>
      <p>Looking around in momentary confusion, the Asari soon saw a familiar sight.</p>
      <p>"Zo? What are you doing here?"</p>
      <p>"I should be asking you the same question." The Silver haired human said. "Your face has been all over the news as of late with the rest of your team about the events that had transpired days ago."</p>
      <p>"You saw that?" Liara winced slightly.</p>
      <p>"Dr. T'soni, I believe it would be a fair assessment to say that the entirety of the Citadel has seen those videos." Zo remarked. "You would be hard pressed not to have seen them."</p>
      <p>Azure cheeks could only darken upon their owner hearing this.</p>
      <p>"Are you alright?" Zo asked a moment later. "I had witnessed several nasty bumps you and your team took fighting that… that man… if he could be considered as such."</p>
      <p>"I am. Just needed some well-deserved rest after that tussle."</p>
      <p>"I imagine so." Zo said, taking a moment to look at the table she was seated at. "Are you with your friends right now?"</p>
      <p>"Oh, why yes I am." Liara said with a small smile.</p>
      <p>"Then perhaps I shall leave you be for the time being." Zo turned to leave.</p>
      <p>"Wait." Liara blurted out. "You.. you don't have to if you don't wish to."</p>
      <p>Zo gave her a surprised look. "I do not wish to impose."</p>
      <p>The Asari shook her head. "I would appreciate your company until my friends return."</p>
      <p>The man didn't move momentarily until Liara asked again.</p>
      <p>"Please."</p>
      <p>Zo appeared to contemplate on this for a few seconds until slowly seating himself adjacent to Liara with the Asari giving him a kind smile.</p>
      <p>"Thank you."</p>
      <p>He only nodded silently, propping his elbows up on the table.</p>
      <p>"I take it that it would be rude to inquire about just who it was that attacked you all." Zo said.</p>
      <p>"He is… something that we ourselves don't fully understand." Liara answered.</p>
      <p>"That's understandable." Zo said with a small smirk. "I had seen the footage on multiple viewings. This… man appeared to wield awe inspiring power."</p>
      <p>"Indeed he has. It was quite frightening what he'd done." Liara shook her head, a troubled look appearing on her face. "I don't quite understand how we had survived such a foe."</p>
      <p>Zo merely nodded his head.</p>
      <p>"Liara, there you are."</p>
      <p>The Asari didn't need to look over much to see Tali walking up to them.</p>
      <p>"Were you looking for me?"</p>
      <p>"Sort of." Tali admitted. "Kinda lost you getting back to our table."</p>
      <p>The Quarian soon noticed that her friend wasn't alone.</p>
      <p>"Oh? And who is this?" Tali asked politely.</p>
      <p>"This would be Zo."</p>
      <p>"A pleasure to meet you, Ms. Zorah." Zo said, getting up to offer his hand. "Your name along with the Normandy crew has been broadcasted quite extensively on the news these past few days."</p>
      <p>"Oh." Tali was bashful, setting down her bowl of noodles she had bought and shook the man's hand. "I didn't think anyone would bother to remember any of our names."</p>
      <p>"I'm a man who tends to pay attention more than most." Zo quipped. "Besides, ten names aren't that difficult to recall when every large screen across the Citadel projects it in your face."</p>
      <p>Tali and Liara let out a small laugh at that comment.</p>
      <p>"Well it's nice to meet you." Tali said, sitting down. "Are you a friend of Liara?"</p>
      <p>Zo turned to the Asari in question briefly. "I… would like to believe so."</p>
      <p>"You are." Liara said kindly.</p>
      <p>"Ah, then yes, I am her friend." Zo said plainly, making Tali giggle.</p>
      <p>"It's nice to meet you then. Any friend of Liara is a friend of mine."</p>
      <p>"A pleasure."</p>
      <p>Liara smiled a little before asking the Quarian a simple question. "Where would the others be right now?"</p>
      <p>"Around here somewhere and getting something to eat. Though I believe Kaidan went elsewhere. Something about being dragged away by someone he helped save during the attack."</p>
      <p>Liara nodded and pressed no more on the matter as she'll probably hear it from Kaidan at a later time.</p>
      <p>"So, tell me," Tali leaned forward on the table. "What do you do, Zo? That lab coat you're wearing makes you look all sciency."</p>
      <p>Zo snorted. "In a manner of speaking, yes, I am. I study social behaviors and interactions."</p>
      <p>The Quarian hummed aloud in interest as Zo went on to elaborate his profession, the trio now trading stories.</p>
      <p>As they conversed, Tali eyed Zo a bit more than usual. Not out of purposeful interest like what she's done with Roxas, but of something else.</p>
      <p>Gazing at the lab coat wearing individual, the Quarian recollected a set of descriptions she had started to memorize as of late.</p>
      <p>With the looming presence of the Organization now gunning after her three Nobody friends, the rest of the team needed to know each member so they can hopefully be prepared when facing another one of them.</p>
      <p>Hearing of their descriptions was one thing as it can only go so far. But seeing them can be another.</p>
      <p>Narrowing her eyes ever so slightly, Tali couldn't help but compare Zo's description to what she knows of the other member of Organization XIII, Zexion.</p>
      <p>The Quarian honestly did her best to remember what she saw in her peculiar dreams of seeing the Nobodies, yet it was hard to remember them all right away. So she had to rely on the spoken word from their Nobody allies.</p>
      <p>So far, Zo seemed rather similar to what was detailed.</p>
      <p>As much as she'd want to call out on him, Tali would rather wait and get some confirmation before jumping the gun.</p>
      <p>The one she had seen in her visions prior had hair that covered the entire right side of his face. This man's hair only slightly covered his right eye though it was still visible.</p>
      <p>Still… if it wasn't his hair or its color… there was his eyes.</p>
      <p>They were filled with a degree of curiosity and interest, most of which was directed at Liara.</p>
      <p>There was emotion there but…</p>
      <p>It could be a coincidence, but that could be highly unlikely these days.</p>
      <p>For now, Tali had to at least stay and help entertain the pair she was seated with. More than ever, she will probably plan to be with Liara whenever she will come and see Zo in order to protect her dear friend.</p>
      <p>She didn't know Liara's thoughts on the matter at hand if she bore similar ideas as Tali or not. Did she have similar suspicions or was she naively ignorant?</p>
      <p>For now he seemed rather genuine and innocent so she would allow for Liara and Zo to speak with each other.</p>
      <p>In another location, Roxas, Xion, Axel, Ash and Garrus sat at a table each one eating a meal of their own and chatting idly with one another.</p>
      <p>"What do you think?" Ash asked Xion who was eating some noodles.</p>
      <p>No. XIV slurped down the noodles she was eating and hummed aloud before shuddering with a squirmy smile.</p>
      <p>"Kinda spicy." She said with a small cough. "But it's not all bad."</p>
      <p>Axel chomped down on a hearty piece of meat from his own bowl. "Didn't take ya for one who likes fiery flavors, Xion."</p>
      <p>Ash shrugged, answering for the young girl. "Everyone has their preference in ramen. I don't have the right to judge on that."</p>
      <p>"This ramen stuff is delicious." Garrus said, already on his second bowl. "I can't get enough."</p>
      <p>"Since when do you eat so much?" Roxas inquired, eyeing the other two steaming bowls next to the Turian.</p>
      <p>"I dunno." He answered honestly, gazing at his extra bowls. "I've been… a lot hungrier lately. Like I gotta keep my energy up or something."</p>
      <p>"Huh." Was all Axel said. "You guys have been feeling different?"</p>
      <p>Ash opened her mouth to deny this but clamped it shut a moment later. "Now that ya mention it… kinda."</p>
      <p>She took a moment to gaze at her hand, flexing it experimentally several times.</p>
      <p>"Recently, I've been feeling a bit weird." Ash admitted aloud. "Sometimes I feel like… like I'm faster than others. Yesterday I saw this girl drop a bag and… I couldn't describe it. It's like it slowed down when it fell."</p>
      <p>Axel let out a loud hum. "You know, Wrex mentioned something like this earlier today. Bout how he's been feeling like he's got a bounce in his step."</p>
      <p>"What'd he say?" Garrus inquired with great interest.</p>
      <p>"Stronger was the gist of it."</p>
      <p>"Is it Master Yen Sid's magic?" Xion asked inquisitively, looking between Roxas and Axel. "He did do that weird light orb thingy when we were at his tower."</p>
      <p>"It could be those latent powers you all have that Yen Sid spoke about." Roxas said with him rubbing his chin. "It's supposed to have awakened or something like that."</p>
      <p>"Huh, interesting." Ashley chuckled out.</p>
      <p>"So what, are we gonna be able to start blowing up building and all that crazy crap you do?" Garrus jokingly asked.</p>
      <p>"I wouldn't go that far." Axel said. "But~ with enough practice… maybe~."</p>
      <p>"I can't tell if you're serious or not." Ash deadpanned.</p>
      <p>"It could happen." Xion said with a hopeful tone. "That way you can keep up with us."</p>
      <p>"That's kinda depressing to hear." Garrus flatly stated. "Makes me realize just how freakishly weak we all are compared to you three crazies."</p>
      <p>Roxas and Axel laughed aloud whilst Xion blushed with a bashful smile.</p>
      <p>A comfortable silence befell the group, continuing to eat their meal in peace.</p>
      <p>"So what do you figure is next on the menu for us all?" Ash asked, finishing her bowl.</p>
      <p>"What do you mean?" Xion inquired.</p>
      <p>"Well that's easy." Garrus said. "Missions."</p>
      <p>"Playing it by ear, mostly."</p>
      <p>"What about Wrex?" Roxas asked with a small frown with nobody answering him at first.</p>
      <p>Axel scratched the back of his head.</p>
      <p>"Most likely he'll tag along a little while longer before heading back to his homeworld. He did say he has business to take care of there that was quite important."</p>
      <p>"And the rest of us?" Xion said, almost nervously.</p>
      <p>"Hey, what's the matter?" Axel looked at her with slight concern.</p>
      <p>"It's just that… it feels like everything is too quiet but there's so many changes coming." The young Nobody said with a sad frown. "With the Organization still out there and those Reapers and Heartless, but they haven't really done anything when ya look at it. I'm… I'm scared that we might not be ready for everything to come."</p>
      <p>"Where's all this coming from?" Ash asked, now worried while placing a hand on the girl's shoulder.</p>
      <p>The girl was silent for a few seconds, a slight tear coming out of the corner of her eye.</p>
      <p>"I'm worried that we might all go our separate ways." Xion said, folding her hands together. "That we may never see each other again. I don't want us to separate, I want us to stay together. But Wrex is talking about leaving and Tali even mentioned her Pilgrimage coming to an end soon and she'll have to go back to her people."</p>
      <p>"Hey, hey, don't think like that. Of course we'll see each other, just not through the traditional sense." Ash said quickly, scooting her seat closer to Xion. She wrapped her hand around her and hugged her tightly. "I know this all seems sudden and scary but these things happen sometimes."</p>
      <p>"But why?" Xion looked up to her with tears streaming down her cheeks now. "Lexaeus attacked us. They're always going to be after us now. And soon… we're gonna separate from each other."</p>
      <p>"Xion." Ashley was truly surprised by this sudden display of raw emotion from the usually shy but overall happy teen. To see her like this…</p>
      <p>"We may never meet again…" Roxas suddenly spoke up. "But we'll never forget each other."</p>
      <p>"I wouldn't go <em>that </em>far." Garrus said.</p>
      <p>"Where'd ya even hear something like that?" Axel asked.</p>
      <p>Roxas didn't answer at first, instead locking eyes with Xion, giving her a knowing look.</p>
      <p>"Just something I once heard." Roxas stated. "But I think we'll all see each other often enough."</p>
      <p>"What makes ya say that?" Ash asked.</p>
      <p>No. XIII shrugged. "Aren't we like the only team in this entire galaxy that knows about every threat out there? Wouldn't it be smarter that we stay together?"</p>
      <p>Axel guffawed aloud. "Good point. But considering that we <em>do know, </em>when people do start realizing the shit storm coming their way, they're likely gonna have us teach them everything we know."</p>
      <p>"Probably." Ashley said with a nod.</p>
      <p>A small ping was heard from each of their omni-tools. Being the first to check his, the Turian quickly read the message and spoke.</p>
      <p>"Don't wanna be the guy to ruin this wholesome moment, but just got a message from Shepard." Garrus said to them. "Need to get back to the Normandy when possible."</p>
      <p>"Another mission, most likely."</p>
      <p>Slurping up the rest of their bowls' contents, the group paid for their bill and headed back to the ship.</p>
      <p>
        <em>-Scene Cut-</em>
      </p>
      <p>The entire Normandy crew had assembled with the ship's war room, each member taking a seat with a holographic display of Hackett in the center.</p>
      <p>Within Xion's lap was Stitch who was napping whilst she gently stroked his fur.</p>
      <p>"Okay, so we're heading off to the Sol System, Hackett." Axel started off. "Any reason why?"</p>
      <p>The Admiral pressed something on his end and a red planet appeared in front of them all. <em>"Recently we've been researching more into the Protheans after the massive caches you found on Ilos; even the archives in case of anything that was overlooked the first time around."</em></p>
      <p>"Did you find anything?" Liara waited in anticipation.</p>
      <p>"Don't leave us in suspense, Admiral." Shepard said. "What have you found?"</p>
      <p>Hackett simply nodded. <em>"Our researchers have studied the ruins extensively at first believing it to be misreading's or glitches of some kind. Especially with the data degradation over the millennia. But after utilizing several different methods and equipment once introducing the Ilos package, we have come to discover these unusual and unidentifiable energy readings don't match anything we have on file."</em></p>
      <p>Soon a holographic map of Mars appeared with a location highlighted.</p>
      <p>"And this place?"</p>
      <p>"<em>They all traced these coordinates for some reason."</em></p>
      <p>"So why us? Why not send a task force or another research team?"</p>
      <p>"It should be obvious." Hackett said plainly. "The Normandy Team is arguably the leading experts in this galaxy of the unknown. If nobody is aware of it or understands it, your team will eventually put it together."</p>
      <p>"I think you're relying a bit too much on the "expert" bit." Kaidan admitted.</p>
      <p>"The only two "experts" we have here are Tali and Liara." Ash pointed out. "And Liara actually has a doctorate or PHD or… what do you have again?"</p>
      <p>"Both." Liara said. "I am a Prothean expert afterall."</p>
      <p>"See?"</p>
      <p>"You're heavily putting all sorts of trust in us on this, you know that right?" Shepard admitted.</p>
      <p>"<em>I understand that but I'm not doing this haphazardly. I'm taking all kinds of precautions in case anything goes south."</em> Hackett informed them. <em>"Right now, a team is stationed a mile outside of the coordinates and waiting for your arrival. Rendezvous with them and they will coordinate with your team and transmit whatever findings back to me in case of anything. Hopefully, this will be a smooth operation, but I have my doubts."</em></p>
      <p>"No kidding." Garrus snorted.</p>
      <p>"Everything that can go wrong with us <em>will</em> go wrong with us." Wrex rumbled out with a crooked grin.</p>
      <p>"That's not really filling me with a lot of confidence, Wrex." Tali flatly told him.</p>
      <p>"Murphy's Law just loves us, doesn't it?" Kaidan said with a sigh.</p>
      <p>"I wouldn't say that…'' Liara said, having read up on Murphy's Law in her spare time since she had been spending so much time with humans as of late. There was a lot within the simple statement of <em>Anything that can go wrong</em> will <em>go wrong </em>that applied to the team.</p>
      <p>"Is there anything else you want to inform us, Admiral?" Shepard asked.</p>
      <p>"<em>Not as of right now. But once this mission is done, I would like to speak with Dr. T'Soni on what other details we found in the archives."</em></p>
      <p>This perked up the Asari a bit more, making her give a firm nod.</p>
      <p>As much as she'd like to know what was found immediately, this present mission came first.</p>
      <p>Besides, this could lead to something rather interesting that could greatly improve her career and the scientific community as a whole.</p>
      <p>"<em>I'll keep you all notified if anything comes up until your arrival at Mars." </em>The Admiral said with Shepard nodding at him. <em>"Hackett out."</em></p>
      <p>It wasn't long after the meeting ended did the ground team finish getting ready for their present mission.</p>
      <p>Entering the atmosphere of Mars, the Normandy flew towards the coordinates where Hackett's team was presently stationed. Making the landing, the dock doors opened up and had the ramp come out for the Mako.</p>
      <p>Walking down the ramp, most of the team went to address the Alliance team as they were presently on guard.</p>
      <p>Before them stood a dozen soldiers with one stepping forward to greet the newly arrived team.</p>
      <p>"Hello, I'm Commander Shepard. Admiral Hackett sent us."</p>
      <p>"Sergeant Cassidy, at your service ma'am." Said the Alliance officer.</p>
      <p>"What's the situation? Hackett gave us the gist of the situation. What else could you tell us?"</p>
      <p>The sergeant gave a brief nod before giving Shepard the rundown. "Ever since we tracked down the source of the energy readings, we've been monitoring them at a safe distance."</p>
      <p>"Did you guys send in any drones or mechs with a camera feed?"</p>
      <p>"We did… and whatever is there ends up short circuiting their systems before reaching the mouth of this one cave."</p>
      <p>"A cave?"</p>
      <p>"Yeup. Whatever's there seems to possibly emit a pseudo EMP of some kind given how strong the readings are." The Sergeant pointed up ahead to where a fortification was formed at the base of a mountain. "After that, we had to call it in to the admiral to request additional help."</p>
      <p>Shepard hummed a little as she pondered to herself.</p>
      <p>If what was said was true, then their airtight suit will more or less not work entirely; even on the life support functions. Even the possibility on the off chance their omni-tools could be shut down until the present issue is resolved.</p>
      <p>Luckily for them, they already have a precaution with the packs of oxy-chew on them for such an occasion.</p>
      <p>"Alright. Thanks for letting us know, sergeant. Is there anything else we should know before we head out?"</p>
      <p>"Not that I know of Commander. But hopefully we can have radio contact before you reach the cave's entrance. After that then we'll have to pray you guys make it out alright with no issues.</p>
      <p>Shepard gave a firm nod and asked a few more questions before the sergeant went to speak with his squad.</p>
      <p>"So, any ideas?" Shepard asked the team as they began to walk towards the bases that had been established.</p>
      <p>"Won't know till we get there, really." Axel said with a shrug as he presently wore an oxygen mask similar to what Roxas first wore.</p>
      <p>"We can guess to pass the time." Ash suggested. "Could be anything really."</p>
      <p>"Like what?" Xion asked.</p>
      <p>"Heartless?" Tali threw out there.</p>
      <p>"No… doesn't feel like their usual shtick." Roxas remarked thoughtfully.</p>
      <p>"Nobodies? Organization XIII?" Liara said.</p>
      <p>Axel shook his head. "No way. After that shit show with Lexaeus."</p>
      <p>"Could be Prothean." Wrex said.</p>
      <p>"Possibly." Liara hummed to herself. "Is this not the place where humanity discovered element zero?"</p>
      <p>"It is." Kaidan confirmed with a nod. "So you think it's Prothean?"</p>
      <p>"Didn't the Admiral say it was an unusual Energy reading that they couldn't identify?" Xion asked.</p>
      <p>"There's much we still have yet to learn about the Protheans." Liara said, voice slightly tilting into a more excited tone. "This could be a chance to learn something new about them."</p>
      <p>With nothing else said, most of the team got into the Mako while the Nobodies situated themselves on the roof. After confirmation from Sergeant Cassidy on getting the OK and their connected readings, the Mako took off.</p>
      <p>It was more or less a smooth ride aside from the occasional bumps. There were no hazards to find right away, but from the readings being radioed in by Sergeant Cassidy stated it was getting stronger with each passing second.</p>
      <p>Eventually parking the Mako at the front of the cave, the team filed out of the vehicle while the three Nobodies hopped off its roof.</p>
      <p>"So who wants to be the first to walk into the creepy dark cave of possible doom?" Kaidan asked aloud</p>
      <p>Without warning, Shepard gently nudged Roxas forward.</p>
      <p>"Shepard?!" Roxas looked at her incredulously.</p>
      <p>The Spectre chortled, ruffling the boy's hair before stepping forward. "Just messing with ya, Roxas. Commander always leads first."</p>
      <p>With that little exchange done, Shepard held up her rifle with the rest of the team bringing out their own weapons.</p>
      <p>Whilst they hoped they wouldn't encounter any form of resistance or enemies here, with their luck, they can never be too sure by this point.</p>
      <p>Sure enough once entering the cave, Roxas could no longer feel his oxygen mask emitting filtered air into his mouth. Pulling it off, he popped in a stick of oxy-chew and started chewing, having its effects quickly take hold.</p>
      <p>He walked further in as the others followed suit as they soon started chewing their own stick of oxy-chew so they could breathe in this odd cave. As for Tali, she did have to shut the face plate back in once the gum's affects were administered.</p>
      <p>"Huh, minty." Tali said with a satisfied chew to her gum.</p>
      <p>Pulling up her arm, Tali saw her omni-tool was still functioning albeit barely. It was a little staticky at first but got it working as she had the flashlight shine out. The others mirrored the action in order to help brighten up their path and the space around them.</p>
      <p>Once walking through several minutes, with Shepard barely radioing in back to Cassidy's team, the Normandy team came upon something quite interesting.</p>
      <p>"What… is this place?" Kaidan asked, hands trailing over several carvings engraved into the wall.</p>
      <p>"Are these Prothean carvings?" Shepard asked the resident Prothean expert who had her Omni-tool up.</p>
      <p>Liara was glancing down at her extensive notes and then back up at the carvings with her eyes squinting several times.</p>
      <p>"No." Liara said after a few moments of analysis. "These don't match any known Prothean ruins or carvings from any known findings."</p>
      <p>"So are they undiscovered ruins? Another Prothean language maybe?" Garrus suggested.</p>
      <p>"Not likely." Liara said, holding up her Omni-tool for the team to see. "Look at how the Protheans wrote their language. Notice the angular and slightly rigid way in which their alphabet flowed. There were some variations here and there but the connections between them could always be made. This here is far to… free form if that's how I could best describe it. There's some consistency but this is something else entirely."</p>
      <p>"Perhaps another species in the Prothean era, or one before them?" Tali said.</p>
      <p>"Your guess is as good as mine."</p>
      <p>The group then started to take photos of everything they could of the carvings so they'll be researched later on.</p>
      <p>As this went on, Xion saw something peculiar along a dark corner of the ceiling. Aiming her omni-tool's flashlight there, she saw what appeared to be a mineral vein.</p>
      <p>"Hey guys, I found something."</p>
      <p>The others quickly rushed over to her end, crowding around her.</p>
      <p>"What you got?" Axel asked, looking over her shoulder.</p>
      <p>"I'm no expert on Eezo, but is that mineral vein something with that?" Xion said, pointing to said vein that appeared to be glowing.</p>
      <p>"It ain't Eezo. It's not purple, this is too blue and too bright." Garrus stated.</p>
      <p>"So what is it then?" Xion asked no one in particular.</p>
      <p>Liara stepped forward and crouched down with her Omni-tool hovering over the vein.</p>
      <p>Getting a scan of the ground and vein, the readings appeared to match what Cassidy's team found.</p>
      <p>"Whatever this stuff is-is the source of it all."</p>
      <p>Looking around, Garrus noticed that the vein went deeper into the cave. "And by the looks of it, there's more of the vein going further in."</p>
      <p>The team saw what Garrus had pointed out and looked on ahead to where the mineral vein went towards or more aptly was connected to.</p>
      <p>Following the impromptu path, the team kept their attention towards the walls in case of finding anything else out of the norm.</p>
      <p>They followed down the glowing mineral vein and began to notice more and more of them appearing as they followed down the path that all connected to the one they had first found.</p>
      <p>Eventually, they had appeared to reach the end of their path.</p>
      <p>Entering a semi-large chamber, they saw more carvings along the walls. The veins seemed to work with the depictions, greatly highlighting them while whatever else seemed to spread along the ground and reaching towards a lone object in the center of it all.</p>
      <p>"Right… don't know about you but an alter in an ominous room just screams something hazardous."</p>
      <p>"This ain't one of your horror flicks, Ashley." Kaidan said.</p>
      <p>"I'm just saying, this is awfully suspicious."</p>
      <p>"Yeah… can't help but agree with Ash on this one." Garrus said. "Something's real off about this place."</p>
      <p>"What is it?" Wrex asked, eyes wandering around the cave.</p>
      <p>"It's not Prothean, that's for sure." Liara said confidently. "Nothing here matches up with any known Prothean Ruin."</p>
      <p>"So what are we looking at then?" Ash asked with a slightly unusual tone. "Are you saying that… there was a civilization? Here on Mars?"</p>
      <p>"We did say the theory before that there could've been an alien race here either during the Prothean era or before them." Garrus stated.</p>
      <p>No. XIV had her eye wandering around the cave until she spotted what appeared to be the center of the cave considering that there was actually some kind of engraving there.</p>
      <p>It almost looked like an altar actually.</p>
      <p>"Roxas." Xion said, looking to him since he was right by her side.</p>
      <p>He turned to her and watched as she looked ahead, his eyes trailing over to what she saw and spotted the strange engraving.</p>
      <p>The two began to walk over to the strange engraving, wondering what it was.</p>
      <p>Reaching the altar, Roxas and Xion saw an odd depiction of nine lines all congregating towards a small imprint in the stonework that vaguely looked like a keyhole of all things.</p>
      <p>Oddly enough, this very surface didn't emit any light at all unlike the rest of the chamber.</p>
      <p>Yet, for some reason, there was something quite… off…</p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>*FLASH*</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>"HUH?"</p>
      <p>Without noticing, Oathkeeper and Seashell Resonance appeared within their owners' grasp. Their startled reactions quickly drew in their teammates' attention, more so when the altar started to glow.</p>
      <p>This instantly got the attention of everyone else, their heads snapping in their direction.</p>
      <p>"What the hell did you guys do?" Shepard asked aloud.</p>
      <p>"Nothing!" they both said, nervously clutching their Keyblades defensively.</p>
      <p>Soon after, the light within the chamber started to glow and radiate ever more as a hum was soon heard.</p>
      <p>From outside of the mountain, Sergeant Cassidy and his team saw the readings spiking considerably. He tried radioing Shepard and her team, but all he was met was static.</p>
      <p>Before anything else could be done, he and his team saw a bright blue light shoot right out of the mountain and into the sky.</p>
      <p>"What is that?!" A random Alliance soldier shouted.</p>
      <p>"Radio Admiral Hackett. He'll need to know of this immediately."</p>
      <p>
        <strong>AN</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Well, well, good to be back everyone.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Been a while, figured that rather than a gargantuan chapter as we usually do it, a smaller one is better to ease back into things considering how much we have planned out in the next set of chapters.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Jebest4781: Of course this setting up to the next "World" we'll be tackling in this story. No hints here to say from us, given what we wrote down. We'll leave the guesswork to you all for our amusement.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>FMW: We've also been busy with other matters, both personal, work related, new story ideas and ALL that other shit that comes with it.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Jeb: Sorry for the wait and all as per usual work and personal lives had to take precedent. For me, I had finished moving and got myself situated at my new home. Things had been a mess beforehand as I had to run all over the place to finalize a whole number of details so I won't get in trouble after the move.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>FMW: I got a new job recently myself, not stressful, just taking some time to adjust is all. New story up and things are picking up in Infinite Wars and A Song of Fire, Ice and Hearts and are gonna be returning to Spirit Unto Dawn and Halo Effect shortly thereafter. But there's also lots within the world of entertainment. Mandalorian season 2 was glorious and Wandavision… Holy fuck, Disney's using everything they got in full.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Jeb: With Mandalorian, surprised that it's nominated for a golden globe for best tv drama.. That was quite the interesting shock. And yeah Wandavision is driving me insane with the weekly episodes, making me guess so much on the details of the full story behind the latest MCU story.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>FMW: Of course, with everything happening in Wandavision, there are </strong>
        <em>
          <strong>so many</strong>
        </em>
        <strong> ideas to play around with in the future with Wanda and all her powers but with how I've established Avenging Remnant and Infinite Wars and with all that Jeb has compounded upon in expanding both stories, it can go in many directions with both those stories. But that's something for another time.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Jeb: For now, just need to figure things out accordingly for everyone's enjoyment.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>So until that time folks, until the next chapter.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Rate Read and Review and as Always Have Nice Day.</strong>
      </p>
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<a name="section0026"><h2>26. Barsoom</h2></a>
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      <p>
        <strong>Rate Read and Review and as Always Have Nice Day.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>I'm Nobody Chapter 26: Barsoom</p>
      <p>From the vast emptiness of space, the sun shined it's bright rays onto a red dust ball of a planet.</p>
      <p>"<em>Mars, so you name it, and think that you know it. The Red Planet. No air, no life."</em></p>
      <p>From the void surrounding the planet, one would be drawn ever closer.</p>
      <p>"<em>But you do not know Mars, for it's true name is…"</em></p>
      <p>From whatever cosmic winds there were, they swept through the reddened dust clouds to form and spell out...</p>
      <p>"<em><strong>Barsoom."</strong></em></p>
      <p>Reaching the planet's surface, there were fresh tracks formed onto the reddened earth as they were leading towards a great machine.</p>
      <p>"<em>And it is not airless, nor is it dead, but it </em>is<em> dying. For the city of Zodanga saw to that."</em></p>
      <p>The great machine, a mobile city, practically crawled across the reddened earth as it traveled endlessly. Hundreds of its massive mechanical legs quake the ground with every movement it did to advance forward. From the majority of its surface, sentries patrolled the city day in and day out. And yet it seemed to show other life within the city as the moving structure was dark and seemingly lifeless.</p>
      <p>"<em>Zodanga, the predator city; moving, devouring, draining Barsoom of energy and life."</em></p>
      <p>From the mobile city's main hangar platforms, a light battlecruiser took off into the sky as it's solar panel-like wings gathered energy from the sun to move towards whatever destination it's crew had in store.</p>
      <p>One such place was heading towards a mighty city. It consisted of two sections with its own large tower with a long bridge connecting them from a canyon to a lone pillar-like island. And from the city, it was bright and full of life.</p>
      <p>"<em>Only the great city of Helium dared resist, stood strong, matched Zodanga airship for airship, holding fast for a thousand years."</em></p>
      <p>From its hangar, a pair of light battlecruisers flew out and took off towards parts unknown.</p>
      <p>"<em>Until one day, the ruler of Zodanga became cornered in a sandstorm… And everything changed."</em></p>
      <p>A battle soon commenced as the Heliumite battleships ambushed the Zodangian one in a surprise attack.</p>
      <p>From the Zodangan ship's bridge, a man was barking out orders to his crew as they had to go to battle against their sworn enemies in order to survive this confrontation. He then commanded them to get their ship out of the sandstorm in order to get some advantage over the Heliumites. And while successful in getting out of the chaotic storm, they were still being bombarded by their eternal foes.</p>
      <p>The Zodangans were soon overwhelmed and were losing the fight… until something miraculous occurred.</p>
      <p>From out of the sky, a beam of bright blue light struck one of the Heliumite ships before it connected with the others. In mere moments they were vaporized into dust with everyone aboard them killed soon after.</p>
      <p>All but one person survived this encounter, a lone Zodangan by the name of Sab Than, the Jeddak (leader) of his kingdom.</p>
      <p>Sab looked around in astonished fright and wondered why he was able to survive while everyone else perished. But his answer was soon given upon the arrival of a trio of bald albinos wearing grey robes and a medallion around their necks. Each floated down from the heavens and stepped foot onto the ship.</p>
      <p>One of them approached Sab Than, presenting him with a glowing blue wire construct which soon formed around his right arm. After pondering for some brief moments, he aimed his given item towards the bald trio and sought to kill them for their latest actions towards his people.</p>
      <p>And yet the attack was never met as Sab was blown back not long after.</p>
      <p>Once getting back up, Sab was once more approached by the bald trio as a bargain was soon discussed, causing the Jeddak of Zodanga to smile wickedly.</p>
      <p>…..</p>
      <p>From the vast plains of Mars, a figure appeared lifeless on the surface. Their body was unmoving and never stirred-</p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>*GASP*</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>In an instant, Commander Jane Shepard's eyes snapped open as she let in a deep breath before immediately shutting them as the blaring sunlight hit them dead on.</p>
      <p>Groaning aloud, Jane sat up and since she didn't have her helmet on, rubbed her eyes to get the damn floaters out of her vision.</p>
      <p>"What the hell…" The human Spectre bemoaned. "What happened?"</p>
      <p>Slowly, the black splotches disappeared from her eyesight and her vision cleared.</p>
      <p>She saw that she currently sat within what appeared to be an endless desert with some rocky outcroppings off in the distance.</p>
      <p>Other than the desert, she spotted several figures not too far off from where she sat and identified them as her teammates Ashley Williams, Liara T'soni, Axel and Urdnot Wrex.</p>
      <p>"Guys." Her voice was raspy, dry.</p>
      <p>Coughing slightly, Shepard cleared her throat which only served to make her cough more violently.</p>
      <p>Reaching behind her, she pulled out a small cylindrical canister and took its lid off before raising it over her head to get a gulp of water.</p>
      <p>"Ah~ that's better." Jane said, voice still slightly raspy.</p>
      <p>Putting the water container back, Jane promptly stood up…</p>
      <p>And went flying in the air momentarily with her arms flailing about.</p>
      <p>"Oof!" Shepard grunted out as she crashed down to the ground, wincing as she had hit the side of her head.</p>
      <p>Getting up to her knees, she was confused for a second before getting up much more slowly.</p>
      <p>Now standing at her full height, Jane took a few more steps until that weightless feeling from before returned with her once again flailing and landing hard on the ground.</p>
      <p>Letting out a small growl of frustration, Shepard pounded both her fists into the ground with a greater degree of force than she had intended to and launched herself high into the air.</p>
      <p>"WAAA!" She exclaimed aloud, flapping her arms and legs rapidly as a means of trying to steady herself in the air.</p>
      <p>Seeing that she was now plummeting back to the ground, she grit her teeth and successfully managed to angle herself so that she could land on her feet.</p>
      <p>Closing her eyes, her body tensed as she felt the ground get closer and closer until she landed…</p>
      <p>Perfectly fine.</p>
      <p>Opening her eyes, she looked down at her slightly wobbly legs and it wasn't from the landing.</p>
      <p>Getting a few experimental stomps on the ground now, she looked ahead to her friends that were still knocked out.</p>
      <p>Bracing herself, she went traversed forward and ended up dashing rather quickly before tripping and soaring in the air for several moments. Right after, she crashed onto the planet's surface and tumbled for a bit before getting up from an impromptu recovery roll.</p>
      <p>"...The hell?"</p>
      <p>When moving once more, Jane was utterly bewildered witnessing herself perform such a feat when she ended up in the air as she performed an unintentional high jump.</p>
      <p>"...That was weird." She commented. "I'm not using my biotics to do that."</p>
      <p>For some little part of her, she pondered if the gifts she received from Yen Sid finally affected her in some way. She had already got a rough idea from Wrex on what occurred to him. So perhaps the same could be said towards her and the rest.</p>
      <p>Afterall, their three Nobody friends can do such simple feats quite easily and make it Childs play while seeming impossible to others.</p>
      <p>Regaining her bearings, she carefully moved forward to finally reach her unconscious teammates.</p>
      <p>"Axel." She crouched down to him, placing a hand on his face.</p>
      <p>"Urgh." His face fell to the side slightly though that didn't deter the Spectre from grabbing his shoulders and hefting him up into a sitting position.</p>
      <p>"Wha-?" Was the bleary response of the fiery Nobody, flinching from several light slight slaps from Jane.</p>
      <p>"Come on, wake up matchstick." Jane's voice pierced through his slightly ringing ears.</p>
      <p>"Shepard?" Axel mumbled as his vision slowly drew into focus. "That you? What the hell happened?"</p>
      <p>"Isn't that the question of the day." Jane said with a small chuckle. "Come on Axel, up and at 'em."</p>
      <p>Wrapping her arm under his own, she helped get him up to his feet with the Nobody using his other hand to reach up to his face.</p>
      <p>Craning his neck around, the fiery redhead saw the others were unconscious and spread about the semi-barren field.</p>
      <p>"Okay, I don't know about you but weren't we in a cave before?"</p>
      <p>"We were and I gotta tell ya but have no idea how we wound up… here."</p>
      <p>Axel looked around to get a better idea of where they were.</p>
      <p>"And where's the rest of the team?" Axel said, noting that aside from the two of them and three of their unconscious friends, the rest of the Normandy squad wasn't present.</p>
      <p>"Your guess is as good as mine."</p>
      <p>"Can't be too far then." Axel said, giving her a nod to signify that he was alright.</p>
      <p>Pulling up his Omni-tool, he saw it briefly on the fritz before it finally stabilized. Figuring his device was trying to adjust itself after whatever occurred before it went out like a light, Axel activated a ping to spread out a certain range. After some moments, he got a reading.</p>
      <p>"They're over there, scattered around." Axel thumbed behind him with Jane looking over his shoulder.</p>
      <p>"Least they're not far." Shepard said in relief. "I'll go get them. You get these three up and about."</p>
      <p>Axel nodded and took a few steps forward until he experienced the same thing Shepard had gone through minutes prior.</p>
      <p>His eyes went slightly bug-eyed as he felt all the weight of his body seemingly leave as he flew through the air before landing down on the ground.</p>
      <p>"Ow." Axel groaned, rubbing his head as he propped himself up on his knees.</p>
      <p>Shepard winced aloud and lightly jumped over to him, landing in a slight stumble before steadying herself. "Yeah, forgot to tell you about that."</p>
      <p>"The hell was that Shepard?"</p>
      <p>"Don't know for sure. Figured it could be something wrong with me through Yen Sid's gift. But just seeing you end up like that made me think otherwise." Shepard said, helping him up to his feet.</p>
      <p>"Being what exactly?" Axel asked, slapping some sand off his coat.</p>
      <p>Shepard held a temporary look of thought as she mulled over what the two of them had gone through just now.</p>
      <p>"When you were in the air for that second, did you feel sorta like you had no weight at all?"</p>
      <p>Axel frowned for a moment until he nodded. "Yeah, kinda. Felt like I was a feather."</p>
      <p>Jane nodded. "Wherever we are, there could be a change of gravity that we aren't used to."</p>
      <p>"So like what? We jump higher and move faster?"</p>
      <p>"Basically yes."</p>
      <p>Axel exhaled a groan, running his gloved hand through his hair. "This is gonna get annoying, that's for sure."</p>
      <p>Shepard merely chuckled. "It's sorta easy actually. Just… take a few light jumps. It's kinda weird but you adjust rather quickly."</p>
      <p>Axel gave her an inquisitive look but he shrugged his shoulders and looked ahead at Liara. Taking an experimental step forward, Axel performed a decent leap forward towards the Asari doctor.</p>
      <p>His landing was alright, tripping a bit on his own footwork but remained standing.</p>
      <p>"Ha." Axel declared with a triumphant grin, taking a few steps forward until the low gravitational field caused him to go tripping up with him lightly flying in the air before crashing right into Liara's stomach which jolted her awake.</p>
      <p>Seeing this, Shepard couldn't help but snort aloud at the whine Liara let out at being awakened in such a fashion and Axel apologizing sheepishly for it.</p>
      <p>With that amusing scene out of the way, she ended up awkwardly dragging her feet onto the ground to reach Wrex since he was the closest one to her.</p>
      <p>"Wrex." Shepard said aloud, placing a hand on the Krogan and gently shaking him. "Wake up big guy."</p>
      <p>Seeing that it didn't really have much of an affect, Shepard put more effort into it this time, lightly shoving him.</p>
      <p>"Huh? What?" Wrex's eyes snapped open. The one that Shepard could see shifted over to her.</p>
      <p>"Shepard?" Wrex said for confirmation which Jane did by nodding. "The fuck happened?"</p>
      <p>"Something went on in the cave and we wound up somewhere else."</p>
      <p>"Clearly." Wrex grunted, preparing to stand.</p>
      <p>"Easy now." Shepard warned. "There's something weird about this place and its gravity."</p>
      <p>"Gravity?"</p>
      <p>Shepard simply jumped high up into the air, far higher than any human should be able to achieve and fell down with a more graceful landing.</p>
      <p>"Ah, got ya." Wrex said as he tried his best to not lose his footing per say. "Rare to find a planet with low gravity."</p>
      <p>"You've been on them?" Shepard said in surprise.</p>
      <p>"They're rare in the galaxy but they're out there." Wrex said, testing himself by lightly bouncing up and down. "Been a while since I was on one. 400 years give or take with some change."</p>
      <p>Shepard only shook her head in amusement. "Of course you would."</p>
      <p>Wrex gave her a wry grin until something caught the corner of his eye.</p>
      <p>Looking over to it, the Krogan blinked.</p>
      <p>"Incoming." He said aloud, making Shepard turn in time to see one Liara T'soni flailing her arms about with a panicked look to her face.</p>
      <p>"Shepard!"</p>
      <p>Seizing up, Shepard barely held her hands up in time to catch the flying Asari before the two fell to the ground.</p>
      <p>"Urgh, Liara?" Shepard groaned. "You alright?"</p>
      <p>"I'm sorry Shepard." Liara said with an apologetic face. "I didn't realize that I would jump so far like that."</p>
      <p>"Geez Liara, I told ya to take it slow."</p>
      <p>The three of them looked over to see Axel landing in front of them and carefully walking over to them.</p>
      <p>"Apologies." Liara said, standing up with her helping Shepard to her feet. "I had heard about planets with gravitational anomalies but I had never been to one."</p>
      <p>"You'll get used to it." Wrex assured. "Everyone does after a few minutes of practice."</p>
      <p>"Uh guys?"</p>
      <p>The four of them heard the voice of one Ashley Williams with them looking over to see the recently promoted Operations Chief was standing with her arms outstretched looking a bit nervous.</p>
      <p>There was a smudge of sand on her cheek and forehead with dirt all around uniform.</p>
      <p>"Having fun there?" Axel couldn't help but tease.</p>
      <p>Ash's brow twitched. "Bite me."</p>
      <p>"Sorry, I'm not into that sort of thing, Chief. Better luck finding someone else who does."</p>
      <p>All Axel got in return was Ashley flipping him off.</p>
      <p>"Can you just help me, jackass?"</p>
      <p>"What's the magic word?"</p>
      <p>"I will shove my Omni-blade up your ass, does that work for ya?"</p>
      <p>Shepard chuckled before voicing the obvious question. "Are we ready to find the others now?"</p>
      <p>Nods were received with the group moving towards the pings Axel got from his Omni-tool.</p>
      <p>It was outright awkward, to some degree, in reaching their destination as it took some further trial and error to properly move in the low gravity they were experiencing.</p>
      <p>Upon reaching a small mountain rise, they were able to find a few more of their group.</p>
      <p>Roxas, Xion and Tali were situated in close proximity of each other with Garrus and Kaidan slightly up ahead with Stitch resting atop Alenko's face.</p>
      <p>"Come on." Shepard said.</p>
      <p>She gestured to Wrex and Ash to go wake Garrus, Kaidan and Stitch whilst she herself with Axel and Liara went over to the other three.</p>
      <p>Axel went over to Roxas and grabbed the boys head, shaking it slightly.</p>
      <p>"Wu-huh?" Roxas blearily opened his eyes. "Axel?"</p>
      <p>"Rise and shine, zombie." Axel said cheerfully. "We're all alive?"</p>
      <p>"What-"</p>
      <p>"Happened? Don't know yet. Still trying to figure all that out." Axel stated, hefting the boy onto his feet. "Take a second there, rucksack. You gotta get adjusted."</p>
      <p>"Adjusted to what?" Roxas asked, rubbing the splotches out of his eyes.</p>
      <p>"This place has some freaky gravity that makes us lighter than other places." Axel said, keeping a hand on his shoulder. "Just jump around a bit and get a grasp of it."</p>
      <p>Roxas gazed up at the redhead who only gestured for him to do as he suggested.</p>
      <p>Looking down at the ground, Roxas bent his knees down and jumped…</p>
      <p>Way, way, <em>way higher </em>than he was used to.</p>
      <p>"YAAAAA!" Roxas yelled out, arms rapidly moving around erratically.</p>
      <p>"I said jump to get a grasp, not fly!" Axel shouted in exasperation at the sight of his friend practically performing a jump that would go over tall buildings.</p>
      <p>"Roxas!" came the voice of a distressed girl.</p>
      <p>"Hang on Xion, he'll be fine." Axel said, looking back to the brunette teen who was wildly looking between Roxas and Axel.</p>
      <p>Shepard, who was with Tali, had seen this and gave a bemused sigh.</p>
      <p>"What am I gonna do with him?" She said with an amused smile.</p>
      <p>"Shepard?" Tali was awake now and looking in slightly bewildered panic at the sight of a falling Roxas.</p>
      <p>"We'll explain once we're all together." Shepard said, assisting the Quarian to her feet.</p>
      <p>She got up in time to see Roxas come back down to the ground…</p>
      <p>Landing flat on his face. All that was heard was a muffled groan of pain.</p>
      <p>Shepard winced, noting the small dust cloud that had kicked up.</p>
      <p>"Come on. Let's see if he's alive."</p>
      <p>Over with the other</p>
      <p>As the recently promoted lieutenant-commander stirred awake, his first sight was the rear end of 626, causing him to outright gag.</p>
      <p>"Get the hell off me." Kaidan groaned, pushing the koala-like alien off his face.</p>
      <p>After the rough wake up call, Stitch went into an odd freak out and started babbling in his native tongue.</p>
      <p>"Stitch, not now." Kaidan groaned aloud, rubbing his face.</p>
      <p>Stitch's ears perked up, recognizing the LTC and crawling up to him.</p>
      <p>"Glad to see you're alright."</p>
      <p>Kaidan looked up to see Ashley standing over him with her hand outstretched to him.</p>
      <p>"Ash? What the hell is going on?" Kaidan grunted, grasping her hand slowly getting pulled up.</p>
      <p>"Don't rush it." Ash said. "You're gonna feel a bit of… buoyancy."</p>
      <p>"Buoyancy?" Kaidan repeated the words in confusion.</p>
      <p>"Yeah, best way I could describe it." Ash stated. "This place we're in has some weird gravitational anomaly. Or just a lighter gravitational field really. Makes us jumpy."</p>
      <p>"Jumpy how?"</p>
      <p>Ash wordlessly leapt a good few dozen feet into the air before landing with a slight wobble in her step.</p>
      <p>"Still gonna need to get used to that." Ash said with a sheepish smile.</p>
      <p>"Whoa." Kaidan said in open awe.</p>
      <p>"Crazy, ain't it?"</p>
      <p>The duo looked over to see Wrex walking over to them with Garrus taking slow steps to ensure he won't go flailing from the gravity.</p>
      <p>"Where are the others?" Kaidan asked with Wrex inclining his head off to where the LTC saw the rest of the team gathering around some rocky cliffside.</p>
      <p>"Come on." Wrex gestured for them to follow with him taking a few steps to perform a leaping long jump.</p>
      <p>"Spirits." Garrus said, gaping slightly. "Where the hell are we?"</p>
      <p>"Ain't <em>that</em> the question of the day." Ash said aloud, flicking Stitch's nose who had climbed atop her head. "Let's go. Just lead with your foot and your momentum will carry you forward."</p>
      <p>It wasn't just the fact they realized they were able to jump rather high, but they were able to move a bit faster as well.</p>
      <p>Upon reaching the others, the group conversed with one another in order to get caught up to speed on their current predicament.</p>
      <p>"With that out of the way, how the hell did we wind up at this place?" Kaidan questioned before eyeing the two Keyblade wielders. "All I remember were you two having your Keyblades out in the cave chamber and a bright light."</p>
      <p>"I don't know." Roxas said with a frown, calling forth Oathkeeper with Xion summoning Seashell Resonance.</p>
      <p>Both inspected their Keyblades, trying to figure out if it was them or their own Keyblades.</p>
      <p>"We didn't do anything." Xion said. "Our Keyblades… they just appeared themselves."</p>
      <p>"They've done that before, right?" Shepard asked with Roxas nodding.</p>
      <p>"After Virmire, when we got sent to the Etherium." He confirmed.</p>
      <p>"So your Keyblades can act on their own accord?" Liara asked in confusion and wonder.</p>
      <p>"Apparently." Xion said, recalling her blade.</p>
      <p>"So… is there a possibility we're not in our own galaxy anymore like last time?" Tali asked somewhat nervously.</p>
      <p>"I dunno." Roxas said with a frown, Keyblade flashing out of his hand. "We can't really be too sure."</p>
      <p>"Are we able to get in contact with the Alliance or Council?" Kaidan asked.</p>
      <p>"Let's give it a try." Shepard said, though her tone conveyed that she wasn't too certain about this endeavor.</p>
      <p>Lo and behold…</p>
      <p>"Yup, getting nothin' here." Shepard groused out.</p>
      <p>The others followed suit and just like the Commander, they received nothing but static.</p>
      <p>All they got were the pings from each other's Omni-Tools that they could at least know one another's location.</p>
      <p>"Ok, so great, we're stuck here." Ash said. "... are we?"</p>
      <p>"Well the three of us can leave with the Corridor." Xion said. "But…"</p>
      <p>"Yeah, we know." Garrus remarked. "We're stuck here."</p>
      <p>"That means we gotta figure out our way home." Kaidan said with his arms crossed.</p>
      <p>"So how the hell do we do that?" Wrex asked in a grumble, looking to the Nobody trio. "How'd you guys come back from that ether-whatever-place?"</p>
      <p>"Gummi technology." Axel said blandly. "And in case ya haven't noticed-"</p>
      <p>"That's out of the options." Shepard said.</p>
      <p>"Normandy ain't here to take us back and-"</p>
      <p>"Then what, we wander the desert like those old 20th century movies?" Ash asked in annoyance.</p>
      <p>As this went on, Roxas heard something in the wind. It would've brushed it off, but it started to get louder.</p>
      <p>"Guys." Roxas said aloud, getting the group's attention. "… Listen."</p>
      <p>The others were momentarily silent as they indeed heard something in the wind.</p>
      <p>Kaidan tilted his head up with his right ear inclined upward. "Are those… drums?"</p>
      <p>"Sounds like it." Wrex stated now looking around to find the source of what was undoubtedly some drum-like sound echoing across the valley they stood in.</p>
      <p>No doubt wanting to investigate, the reassembled team climbed up the small mountain as they were able to hear more of the drum-like sound. Upon reaching the top and moving closer towards the edge of the landmark, the Normandy team saw something oddly peculiar.</p>
      <p>Down below, they saw a settlement, a primitive settlement by the looks of it.</p>
      <p>Using his scope to get a better look, Garrus saw they were a rather tall species of at least 7-8 ft tall with green skin, tusks coming out of the sides of their jaws and wearing primitive clothing.</p>
      <p>"What do ya see, Gary?" Ash asked, Stitch standing atop the Chief's head with his hand above his eyes trying to get a better look himself.</p>
      <p>"Believe we found the locals." Garrus informed them.</p>
      <p>When hearing the particular detail of them having an extra pair of arms, Stitch perked up a bit more as he brought out his extra pair of limbs for little emphasis.</p>
      <p>"Let's just hope we can understand one another, cause I doubt our translators will understand anything not registered." Liara commented.</p>
      <p>"I can probably know a way to talk to them." Said Wrex.</p>
      <p>"Please don't use your firearms." Jane groaned.</p>
      <p>"Is there anything going on down there?" Roxas asked.</p>
      <p>Looking once more Garrus saw the locals were surrounding a particular pillar with a pair of individuals. He couldn't quite get a good read due to the present angle he was in. But he did notice another feature about them.</p>
      <p>"Huh, four arms." Garrus noted offhandedly.</p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>*KABOOM*</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>The sudden noise startled the team, making them wonder what was going on.</p>
      <p>During the partial investigation, Garrus spotted something from his visor.</p>
      <p>"Over there in the sky!" He barked out, while pointing towards a general location.</p>
      <p>The others turned to where Garrus was aiming at and some let loose a surprised gasp on what they were gazing towards.</p>
      <p>Outside of the factor of seeing quite the alien flying ships, it appeared that a battle was commencing with several red themed ships attacking a lone blue ship as it tried to flee.</p>
      <p>As this commenced, the inhabitants of the alien settlement down below ran towards cover as they didn't want to be a part of the present confrontation.</p>
      <p>"Those ships look rather interesting." Kaidan commented as he gazed at the airborne vehicles.</p>
      <p>Pulling out his sniper rifle, Garrus used the scope and took better detail of some parts of the flying ships.</p>
      <p>"Those wings appear insectoid in style." He informed the others. "And if I'm seeing it right, I think they're like solar panels."</p>
      <p>"Solar panels?" Ash repeated, squinting her eyes at the ships. "That's ancient tech from Earth."</p>
      <p>"Is it like the solar tech from the Etherium Galaxy?" Tali inquired, earning some interested looks from Liara and the Nobodies.</p>
      <p>"Perhaps. It's a working theory, Tali."</p>
      <p>In an instant, a bright beam of blue light was shot out from one of the red ships, striking the blue one. The action seemed to have the airborne vehicle crippled enough to slow down and possibly hard to move any further.</p>
      <p>Though it appeared to be a miracle that it was still airborne.</p>
      <p>"I don't know about you, but that doesn't look like a fair fight." Kaidan noted.</p>
      <p>"That blue light…" Liara observed. "There's something familiar about it."</p>
      <p>Garrus turned back to the Commander. "What should we do, Shepard?"</p>
      <p>The N7 marine started pondering, not knowing what to do.</p>
      <p>They were on an alien planet within some possible uncharted region. Maybe even another World like the one's the Nobody trio had spoken of on a number of occasions. A fight is ensuing and doesn't exactly know which side is good and which is bad. And she didn't want to risk siding with the group that is outright "nefarious" in nature that would conflict with her own.</p>
      <p>Yet before anything could be delivered, something was happening to the airborne ships.</p>
      <p>One of them appeared to be moving rather suddenly and crashing right into one of the red ships. The collision caused the one moments earlier to drastically tip over.</p>
      <p>Seeing a speck shooting out of the one ship, Garrus peered through his scope to see what was happening.</p>
      <p>"We oughta do something fast, cause someone is just hanging onto dear life now on one of the wings."</p>
      <p>As he said this, Garrus looked towards the three Nobodies.</p>
      <p>"You guys are the fastest of us all and I bet either of you can reach there before any of us, even with our recent 'skill'. So hop to it, guys."</p>
      <p>The Nobodies nodded, ran forward and drastically leaped high into the air.</p>
      <p>"...<em>Hop to it?</em> Seriously?" Kaidan said to the Turian.</p>
      <p>"...Shut up."</p>
      <p>Seeing their companions take off, some of the Normandy team ended up catching a figure moving away from the alien settlement.</p>
      <p>At first they thought it was nothing… until they noticed something rather surprising.</p>
      <p>It was jumping rather high and rather fast and going right towards the person hanging onto dear life.</p>
      <p>From the wing of the light battlecruiser, the person hanging onto dear life was slipping more and more. Before long, the figure fell and screamed at the top of their lungs. This person was surely gonna perish in a gruesome death.</p>
      <p>Luckily for them, someone leaped onto the scene and snatched them from the air.</p>
      <p>Landing on a piece of ruins some moments later, the two individuals gazed at one another as the person held in a bridal carry was gently placed back down onto their feet.</p>
      <p>The person who recently fell was a woman with tanned olive skin with red tattoos covering some parts of her skin. Her richly brown hair reaching past her shoulders appeared black, but with the bright sun overhead helped show parts of her brunette locks. And presently she wore an armor get up consisting of silver colored metal with blue cloth which matched her bright blue eyes.</p>
      <p>This is Dejah Thoris of Helium.</p>
      <p>The one who saved her was a man with pale Caucasian skin, grey eyes, frazzled shoulder-length brown hair and a five o'clock shadow wore nothing but calf-high leather boots and a pair of ripped up shorts with some sort of battle cloth around his waist which matched his dark brown eyes. And clamped onto his left wrist was a long chain.</p>
      <p>And this is John Carter of Virginia.</p>
      <p>The pair looked at each other in a way that spoke of utter confusion and interest as thoughts of "strange" and "exotic" were quick to be present.</p>
      <p>Before they could introduce themselves, let alone saying their "thanks" and "your welcomes", the enemy ship touched down with its ramp folding out for its occupants to run out.</p>
      <p>The pair soon broke their staring contest with their eyes gazing at the enemy before back at each other.</p>
      <p>"Beg your pardon, ma'am." Said the woman's savior before he reached down and took hold of the handle of the sword tied to her hip. "If you'll kindly just stand behind me. This might get dangerous."</p>
      <p>Withdrawing the sword from its sheath, John rushed forward and swung his borrowed sword to intercept the one wielded by an enemy combatant. Performing a parry, he then swung his other arm for the chain to quickly hit down the neighboring Zodangan.</p>
      <p>When John blocked a downward sword swing from his opponent, said person delivered a spartan kick to his midsection. The action caused him to drastically step back and let go of his borrowed weapon. It twirled in the air as it sailed backward, only for Dejah to miraculously catch it by the handle.</p>
      <p>Once adjusting her grip, the woman rushed forward and brought her sword towards her opponent for a coming block before pushing back and slicing against their chest. Kicking the one person away, the Heliumite swung to her side to intercept the blow to her midsection and sliced the person up before striking down on another. And to finish things off, she reared her sword back and pierced the chest of the final Zodangan to confront her.</p>
      <p>Pulling her sword free, Dejah looked back to her savior and saw him bearing a surprised startled look.</p>
      <p>"...Or maybe I ought to get behind you."</p>
      <p>Dejah couldn't hold back her smile at his verbal and visual response.</p>
      <p>She was about to confront him when more Zodangans came rushing forward to their position.</p>
      <p>Right when the pair were about to act-</p>
      <p>"Heads up!"</p>
      <p>The two fighters looked over and saw a trio of dark suited individuals with red hair, blonde hair and richly dark brown hair wielding peculiar weapons on their person.</p>
      <p>The blonde cloaked figure landed, swinging his oddly shaped weapon into a random Zodangan warrior to parry a swing.</p>
      <p>"Seems you two would like some help." He said as his two companions were quick to dispose of a few others. From the dark haired girl smacking a Zodangan down to the ground to the redhead sending his opponent flying.</p>
      <p>"Much appreciated, strangers." Said the woman in the blue/silver armor.</p>
      <p>John could only nod a little, not knowing how to process this recent event. And yet he was quick to recover in order to rush forward to help assist the new arrivals.</p>
      <p>Punching a Zodangan across the face, John grabbed their arm and unintentionally broke it to take their sword before throwing them away. From there he clashed his newly acquired weapon against another foe who tried to strike down the dark haired girl.</p>
      <p>When Xion gave John a thankful nod, she saw him look upward towards the sky. Looking at the general direction, she quickly got a general idea on what was racing through his mind.</p>
      <p>The moment he leaped into the air, Xion was quick to follow after him. After their quick leaps, they landed on one of the Zodangan ships before leaping once more towards the other.</p>
      <p>Landing on the ship's deck, the pair were momentarily thwarted by Zodangans who tried to attack or apprehend them. Yet Xion quickly casted Aeroga around herself and John, causing any surrounding fighters to be knocked back some feet away.</p>
      <p>John momentarily got out of his shocked state on what he just witnessed before giving the younger woman a thankful nod. With them having enough space, the pair leaped once more towards the Zodangan flagship present in the air. Crashing through the protective glass of where the cannons were placed, the pair went to work.</p>
      <p>"Can you cover for me please?" John requested of her.</p>
      <p>"Will do."</p>
      <p>Xion dashed forward and swung her Keyblade to intercept a Zodangan soldier's blade. Pushing them back, she swung once more to strike them down before casting Watera to drench the coming fighters as they were shot back some distance.</p>
      <p>As this went on, John inspected the nearby cannon and was quick to figure out how it operated. Resting part of the weapon on his shoulders, he peered through the scope and aimed towards the one Zodangan ship connected to the Helium one and fired a few times. Each blast was successful as the two connected ships now combust into flames and fell towards the terrain down below.</p>
      <p>As this went on, Dejah could only look on in amazement on what she had witnessed not long ago. Her savior and the young teenage girl had miraculously leaped dozens, perhaps hundreds of feet into the air with utter ease. And through their actions, they were able to cripple the Zodangan forces.</p>
      <p>As much as she wanted to view more at the spectacle above, Dejah looked towards the one down below where she presently stood as she kept fighting against the Zodangans.</p>
      <p>Roxas twirled his Keyblade once, a light sheen of aura surrounding the Oathkeeper before he flung it into a one throw Strike Raid. The raid cleaved through several Zodangan soldiers, disappearing a moment later.</p>
      <p>Reappearing back in its owner's hand, Roxas instantly went into a 180 degree horizontal slash to a soldier that attempted to get the jump on him.</p>
      <p>Axel had a loose stance, his chakrams casually dangling from the tips of his fingers. He watched with a cocksure smirk as the Zodangan warriors rushed recklessly towards him with their blades raised.</p>
      <p>Grinning maniacally as they were less than a yard away from him, a firewall erupted behind the Nobody and he promptly leapt back into it and vanished in a flurry of wisps and flames.</p>
      <p>The soldiers screeched to a halt in utter fear and bewilderment, trying to make sense as to what they had just seen.</p>
      <p>This was to be their undoing as Axel appeared behind them in a burst of fire and tossed his fiery Chakrams forward.</p>
      <p>The flames engulfed the Zodangan soldiers who screamed in complete pain and agony, falling over as the fires burnt their bodies away.</p>
      <p>Far above on the Zodangan flagship, Sab Than gazed down at the five combatants who were decimating his forces.</p>
      <p>One was the Princess of Helium whom he'd been pursuing for some time now, but the other four…</p>
      <p>'Who in Barsoom are <em>they</em> supposed to be?!' Sab Than wildly thought internally. For these newcomers were utterly decimating his forces!</p>
      <p>"You better have an explanation as to who those are?" Sab snarled, glaring at the Zodangan beside him.</p>
      <p>The "Zodangan" could only shake his head as he was just as surprised as Sab was.</p>
      <p>"If I knew, I would have told you outright." Matai Shang said in a cold voice, eyes narrowed at the sight of the four individuals with incredible physical capabilities.</p>
      <p>"Are you not servants of the Goddess?" Sab asked with a sneer. "Is it not your duty to know <em>everything</em>?"</p>
      <p>"Our duty is to <em>serve</em>." Shang shot back coolly. "Knowledge is one of our benefits but we do not know <em>everything </em>Sab Than. No one ever does."</p>
      <p>The Zodangan war monger could only scoff dismissively, raising his right arm as a blue webbed gauntlet formed around his forearm and hand.</p>
      <p>"Perhaps I can finally use this blasted thing." Than growled, pointing his arm forward as his weapon started to glow.</p>
      <p>Hearing no rebuttal from the Thern -or perhaps there was one but was ignored- Sab smirked and fired a blue bolt down towards one of the fighters in the black cloaks.</p>
      <p>The one in question was Roxas who felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up on end.</p>
      <p>Whipping his head up at the sky, Roxas saw a blue energy beam coming straight at him.</p>
      <p>"LOOK OUT!" Dejah screamed, fearing for his life.</p>
      <p>Gritting his teeth, Roxas threw up his Keyblade and grunt aloud as the blue bolt slammed into his Oathkeeper. He was pushed back, his boots digging into the ground slightly but he angled his legs to keep himself firmly planted in place.</p>
      <p>The beam was seemingly continuous and he felt his entire being struggle to keep it at bay.</p>
      <p>Calling upon his power, Roxas's form had a flash of white light and a moment later, he swung his Keyblade forward and redirected the beam away from him. In fact, it crashed into the cliffside near the alien settlement as rubble came loose and fell.</p>
      <p>His actions had caused the sender of the attack to halt in his assault, the Jeddak of Zodanga gaping with his eyes widening in shock and disbelief.</p>
      <p>Sab Than had never seen anyone do such a thing.</p>
      <p>He whipped his head around to the disguised Thern next to him. "What was… that…"</p>
      <p>The Jeddak experienced yet another shock at the sight of the cool and composed messenger of the Goddess displaying such open and genuine fear in his eyes.</p>
      <p>Matai Shang was in a similar state as the man beside him as he felt his blood run cold.</p>
      <p>No one… ever… had survived, let alone deflect the power of the Ninth Ray.</p>
      <p>Who… who was this boy?!</p>
      <p>"Shang." Sab's sharp voice cut through the Thern's thoughts, making him look to his "chosen" avatar. "What do we do now?"</p>
      <p>"Leave them be… for now."</p>
      <p>Before Sab could question the request, the pair then heard commotion down below, causing them to look over to see what was happening.</p>
      <p>Sab was the first to act as he rushed below deck with his sword drawn out. There he saw two of the four newcomers as they were taking out his soldiers left and right. It was outright embarrassing on one hand while concerning on another.</p>
      <p>Rushing in, Sab drove his sword down towards the savage-looking man who was momentarily unguarded. But a shout from the black cloaked girl got him to quickly act and intercept the coming blow.</p>
      <p>John and Sab soon continued their duel as they traversed the floor while other Zodangans gave them space. Yet they were knocked back by Xion, who tried to get back to her ally in this fight.</p>
      <p>"There's two of us here." Xion taunted, throwing her Keyblade up to cast a burst of an encircling Aero that cleared the area around her.</p>
      <p>No. XIV whirled around, running to assist Carter.</p>
      <p>Seeing the Nobody coming in to assist John, Sab activated his 9th Ray gauntlet as it formed into a second sword. The Zodangan Jeddak spun around and let his newly formed weapon clash against the Keyblade while the normal one went against the one wielded by the <em>savage</em>.</p>
      <p>Swinging back his left arm, he whirled it forward so the attached chain could whip Sab. Unfortunately, his one weapon was cleaved through by the blue wire-looking blade wielded by the enemy.</p>
      <p>The man he fought grinned viciously though that was quickly wiped away when a black heeled shoe was firmly planted into his cheek.</p>
      <p>Stumbling down to the ground, Sab massaged his cheek and rotated his jaw with a crack being heard before getting back up.</p>
      <p>He saw as the two were practically making fools out of his men, fighting back with great ease.</p>
      <p>"What are you two? You aren't red men, nor quite white ape!" Sab roared at the pair.</p>
      <p>John and Xion faced him with the trio exchanging glares with each other.</p>
      <p>"I find that rather rude, you know." Spoke the Nobody.</p>
      <p>"I agree with the young lady." Said John as he and Xion stood at the ready at the next part of their fight against Sab.</p>
      <p>Sab snarled with a menacing grin appearing as he spun his sword several times with his other arm being shrouded by the blue gauntlet.</p>
      <p>"No matter. You both will still bleed like-"</p>
      <p>Sab was interrupted when he heard a loud noise down below. Glancing slightly, he saw a large congregation of figures moving across the terrain below. Upon a closer look, the Jeddak of Zodanga quickly realized who they were.</p>
      <p>"THARKS!"</p>
      <p>Upon his yell, the alien locals started firing at the flagship and whatever Zodangan vessels were still in the air.</p>
      <p>Using this moment of surprise in their favor, John and Xion ran out of the ship's deck and leaped towards the sky vessel below them. From there, they jumped off before making their way towards safer grounds.</p>
      <p>Before long, one of the Zodangan ships finally succumbed to the Thark weaponry and was set ablaze. As that sky vessel plummeted towards the earth, Sab Than ordered his flagship to retreat back to Zodanga.</p>
      <p>With the ship taking off, Matai Shang could only look on with many questions on his mind. But one thing was for certain he will be taking quite the interest on those four newcomers.</p>
      <p>The wild looking man with the broken chain and the trio of black cloaked individuals were undoubtedly a threat that the Therns now had to deal with.</p>
      <p>Normally, he would take just an interest in them but one had managed to accomplish something he had never seen before.</p>
      <p>Deflect the power of the Ninth Ray.</p>
      <p>Whoever these newcomers are to Barsoom, they were <em>not</em> to be taken lightly.</p>
      <p>Down below, Axel, Roxas and Dejah watched as several of the Zodangan ships retreated whilst one fell to the ground having been damaged by the endless barrage of the Thark fire.</p>
      <p>"Hey now, looks like they have that taken care of." Axel said with a wide grin of approval.</p>
      <p>"Are your friends going to be alright?" The woman next to him and Roxas asked.</p>
      <p>"Yeah, see." Roxas pointed up towards two figures leaping out from the ships. "Xion's fine."</p>
      <p>Landing near some of the ruins, John and Xion rushed towards where the others were at. By the time they arrived, they witnessed the other Zodangan ship take off into the air and rush towards catching up with the flagship.</p>
      <p>"I see you guys were able to do fine up there." Said Axel.</p>
      <p>"We did." Spoke John before eying the teenager beside him. "I do have her to thank."</p>
      <p>Xion smiled at him in response. "No problem. Couldn't let you go out on your own like that."</p>
      <p>"Extraordinary." They heard the armored woman mutter aloud in astonishment, gazing upon the four of them in open awe. "Simply <em>extraordinary</em>."</p>
      <p>Axel snorted. "Lady, you ain't seen nothin' yet."</p>
      <p>The redhead got a jab in his side from Xion which he ignored.</p>
      <p>"I honor you and thank you, strangers." The woman in armor said, saluting them with her hand over her chest. "I am Princess Dejah of Helium."</p>
      <p>Upon her proclamation, some reactions were no doubt delivered as they were momentarily shocked by her royal status.</p>
      <p>"Uh… I'm Roxas, your maje-grac-er…Majesty, right, your majesty." the blonde Nobody introduced himself. He was glad he had Sora's memories of King Mickey right now.</p>
      <p>Dejah smiled at the boy. "No need for such formalities. You and your friends have done me a great service that I can never repay."</p>
      <p>"Hey, I like this one." Axel said approvingly.</p>
      <p>"I'm Xion." The black haired girl said with a smile.</p>
      <p>"Names Axel. Got it memorized?" Axel said with his usual cocky grin.</p>
      <p>"I will make sure of it." Dejah assured with a wide smile. "I shall never forget you three in assisting myself and this man in our time of need."</p>
      <p>"John Carter." The man next to her said gruffly, eyeing the trio with slight suspicion and curiosity.</p>
      <p>He had noticed that like him, the three dark coat individuals were able to perform quite the high jump with utmost ease. Perhaps they were like him somehow…</p>
      <p>Then again… he was certain that could never do some of the more fantastical displays that they had.</p>
      <p>Conjuring fire, wind and light like that.</p>
      <p>"Guys!"</p>
      <p>The five turned to see the team of the Normandy running towards them.</p>
      <p>John and Dejah's eyes widened considerably at the sight of the team.</p>
      <p>It wasn't the humans that caught their attention but the alien members that they had never seen before.</p>
      <p>"What…" Dejah stared in open wonder and awe, slowly walking over to the Normandy team.</p>
      <p>The team of course noticed the two, giving them inquisitive looks.</p>
      <p>"So, you must be the locals." Shepard greeted. "Hope our advance team gave off a good impression."</p>
      <p>"What are you?" Dejah asked, eyes alight with enraptured intrigue.</p>
      <p>"Wanna take a picture?" Garrus asked cheekily. "It'll last longer. You like that one? Just learned it recently."</p>
      <p>"You should probably realize they have never seen our kind before, Garrus." Tali chimed in.</p>
      <p>"So, who are these guys?" Wrex asked. "Humans here?"</p>
      <p>"Least the Etherium was more creative." Jane muttered.</p>
      <p>Before any introductions could be further exchanged, the assembled group heard a cheering noise in the air and it was growing louder by the second. Viewing towards the source, they all witnessed the tall green aliens charging right at them.</p>
      <p>"Should we be worried about them stampeding right towards us?" Liara inquired.</p>
      <p>"Perhaps." Spoke Wrex, boring a savage grin. "Though I'd like to see-"</p>
      <p>"We will not be attacking them, Wrex." Shepard ordered the Krogan.</p>
      <p>"You say that now…"</p>
      <p>The assembled group were soon surrounded by the Tharks, as to who Dejah and John knew of them, as one of them approached John with a mighty smile on his face.</p>
      <p>"Did I not tell you he could jump!?" Said the Thark, known as Tars Tarkas, who clamped two of his arms onto John's shoulders. "You are ugly, but you are beautiful." He then unclamped a harness off his shoulders and chest before equipping them onto the "leaping man". "And you fight like a Thark."</p>
      <p>More cheers were made from the large crowd from there. Soon other Tharks moved to place other trinkets onto the "leaping man" but were soon halted.</p>
      <p>"Enough." A Thark with one horn stepped in, shoving aside the one that had greeted Carter so boisterously. The only other thing about him which stood out the most were the white furs worn across his neck and shoulders. "It appears your little pet has proven his worth Tarkas. And he has more friends."</p>
      <p>"Got a problem with us, short stack?" Wrex growled challengingly with a step forward.</p>
      <p>The single horned Thark snarled back, all four of his arms clenched with one reaching for a sword strapped to his back.</p>
      <p>"Wrex." Shepard said sharply. "We're not here to start a fight with the locals."</p>
      <p>The Krogan simply gave a disbelieving look in Jane's direction, briefly glancing over to the recently destroyed wreckage of ships with an explosion going off in the background.</p>
      <p>"Ok, that didn't count, I thought we were just helping a few people." Shepard quickly rebuked. "But this is a first contact situation. Let's not go all gung-ho on a species we're just meeting."</p>
      <p>While whatever nearby Tharks could look on in question on what was mostly spoken, John included in the bunch, Dejah seemed a bit more understanding.</p>
      <p>Nevertheless, the princess of Helium had something to speak of utmost importance.</p>
      <p>"Jeddak of the Tharks." Dejah spoke towards the Thark wearing the white ape furs. "I am Dejah Thoris, regent of the Royal Helium Academy of Science."</p>
      <p>The Single horned Thark, known as Tal Hajis, glared suspiciously at the princess though she appeared nonplussed by his gaze.</p>
      <p>"My research vessel-"</p>
      <p>"I don't care where you come from or your purpose, Heliumite. You will leave now or become property."</p>
      <p>Dejah's expression became fierce now. "My purpose is of the utmost importance, Jeddak of the Tharks. It is what will decide the fate of Barsoom and all its peoples, you included."</p>
      <p>"Bah." The Thark Tribe leader turned to leave.</p>
      <p>"Listen! You are all in danger!"</p>
      <p>"Let someone take her." Commanded Tal Hajis. "I don't care who."</p>
      <p>Upon hearing the open request from their Jeddak, one of the Tharks roughly grabbed the Heliumite.</p>
      <p>Not liking where this was going, John was quick to act as he leaped at him and punched the Thark in the face. The blow was quite surprising and harsh, sending the one Thark flying some feet away. When he landed on the ground, many saw the Thark's neck was snapped at an awkward angle.</p>
      <p>"...Holy hell that is one strong punch." Ashley commented.</p>
      <p>"Like a… One Punch."</p>
      <p>Ashley groaned aloud. "You're such a weeb, Kaidan."</p>
      <p>As the others looked on, John saw the gazes around him and held up his hands in defense. "I'm so sorry…"</p>
      <p>"Tal." Tars spoke up. "She assisted Virginia in beating back the Zodangans and Heliumites, did she not?"</p>
      <p>"She is their princess, Tarkas." Tal growled back. "We will have nothing to do with those arrogant and vain tribes."</p>
      <p>"My journey is for the benefit of all of us on Barsoom." Dejah said pleadingly. "Please, you must listen to me. Once Sab Than has conquered us, he will turn his attention upon you all."</p>
      <p>Tal only huffed aloud, giving the princess one final glare before snorting.</p>
      <p>"Let the Zodangans and Heliumites kill each other. We will survive in the end if we don't bother getting involved." Spoke the Thark Jeddak. "And since Virginia killed Sojat, he will claim his 'name' and <em>property</em> like what occurred last night." Tal said as he eyed the Heliumite princess.</p>
      <p>"I am not <em>property</em>." Dejah growled now.</p>
      <p>"You are <em>now</em> as you belong to <em>Dotar Sojat</em> as of this moment."</p>
      <p>Tal spoke no more on the matter and ordered all of his people to raid the sky ships for anything useful for them.</p>
      <p>As the other Therns left, John looked towards Dejah and scratched his head in an awkward manner.</p>
      <p>"Sorry… on what happened."</p>
      <p>Releasing a frustrated sigh, Dejah gazed at her "owner". "It's alright, I suppose. Things might've been worse."</p>
      <p>John gave a brief nod as he looked away to see the other newcomers.</p>
      <p>As this happened, Dejah studied him a bit more on his physical language. By the tone of his voice and the look in his eye, John was sad and very tired about a number of things. And it was quite obvious he didn't want to be a threat to her at all. But she also realized that John wasn't the type of man to take advantage of their present "relationship" in a negative manner.</p>
      <p>In all honesty, the Heliumite didn't understand why a stranger such as him was willing to save her. It wasn't quite the way of Barsoom.</p>
      <p>"So… what just happened?" Ash asked aloud to them all.</p>
      <p>"More shit to deal with now." Carter groaned out.</p>
      <p>The group then heard a tussle coming from behind, turning to see Stitch having pounced atop what was some… gigantic… space doggo of some kind… the blue fur ball crawling around the creature excitedly.</p>
      <p>"What's that supposed to be?" Tali asked, staring at the large lizard-like dog creature which has six legs.</p>
      <p>"Some sort of… monster dog." John answered to the best of his abilities. "Only met the thing last night."</p>
      <p>"Seems like it." Shepard muttered. "Stitch seems to like him… her… it? Whatever, looks friendly enough."</p>
      <p>"For the most part." John said with an unamused look directed at the large creature who was now happily panting in his direction. "Now with things settled down… who might you all be?"</p>
      <p>Wanting to be curious, the Heliumite spoke to the Normandy team first.</p>
      <p>"As you probably didn't hear me earlier, my name is Dejah Thoris, princess of Helium."</p>
      <p>When seeing the stares landed on him, John introduced to himself next.</p>
      <p>"And I am… John Carter of Virginia."</p>
      <p>Upon hearing the names, the human members of the Normandy team were quick to recognize things on a few matters.</p>
      <p>"Virginia?" Kaidan repeated.</p>
      <p>"John Carter." Ashley whispered in a low voice.</p>
      <p>The Nobodies looked on in curiosity as they, along with their alien teammates, wondered what was running through Jane, Kaidan and Ashley's minds.</p>
      <p>"Virginia you say?" Jane repeated, eyeing the light-skinned human.</p>
      <p>"I am." Spoke Carter. "But who are <em>you</em>?"</p>
      <p>Dejah placed her undivided attention towards the strange assortment of individuals with utmost interest.</p>
      <p>Liara was the first to speak up to him. "I am Liara T'Soni. And with me are Garrus Vakarian, Urdnot Wrex, Tali'Zorah Nar Rayya and Stitch." She said to introduce the others before pointing towards the three Nobodies. "And you probably know our other friends."</p>
      <p>"We do." Said Dejah before eying the rest of the assembled group. "And what of you?"</p>
      <p>"I'm Commander Shepard and this is Operations Chief Williams and Lieutenant Commander Alenko."</p>
      <p>"...They let women in the army?"</p>
      <p>"That's a rather sexist thing to say." Spoke Shepard, rather affronted on the comment.</p>
      <p>Ashley held up her hand to Jane, momentarily prompting her to be quiet.</p>
      <p>"What's your rank?"</p>
      <p>"What?"</p>
      <p>"Your rank."</p>
      <p>The others looked at Ashley for some moments before Carter gave his response.</p>
      <p>"I was captain of the Confederacy."</p>
      <p>"...And what year is it?" The Operations Chief asked.</p>
      <p>John Carter blinked at the question. "Excuse me?"</p>
      <p>"What <em>year</em> is it?" Ashley requested. "Humor me."</p>
      <p>"...1868. Why are you asking?"</p>
      <p>"..."</p>
      <p>"..."</p>
      <p>"..."</p>
      <p>"What?"</p>
      <p>Like Carter, Dejah was utterly confused as to where this was going. But seeing the reactions of most of these newcomers seemed to have been unsettled on the given answers.</p>
      <p>"So… I think there is quite the large, complicated matter to address."</p>
      <p>"Being what?" Inquired the Virginian captain.</p>
      <p>"That there is a 300 year difference between us." Tali said. "Our calendars need to line up a bit."</p>
      <p>"Maybe it's another World with their own calendar date?" Roxas suggested.</p>
      <p>"No, it's not that." Ashley shook her head. "This… actually, it may be a weird combination of that and something else."</p>
      <p>The comments and questions started to make John utterly confused, along with Dejah.</p>
      <p>"Maybe we should hang back and soften the blow a little." Axel stated as he motioned Roxas and Xion to come with. "You guys go off and do whatever. We got things covered."</p>
      <p>The Nobodies then dragged John and Dejah away from the other members of the Normandy team. And soon after, Stitch went after them but had to get around the lizard-like dog creature that seemed to greatly bother him now.</p>
      <p>As they were left alone, somewhat, the N7 marine soon broke the silent tension.</p>
      <p>"Ashley." Jane looked to the Chief. "You seem to know more than you're letting on."</p>
      <p>"Why the military rank? Why the year?" Said Garrus. "Those seemed rather sudden like you wanted to confirm something."</p>
      <p>Seeing the looks from the others, she released a sigh and spoke.</p>
      <p>"Not here where <em>they</em> are nearby." Ashley said, gesturing towards John and Dejah.</p>
      <p>"And why's that?" Liara asked, looking over to the clearly confused and lost duo.</p>
      <p>Ashley sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose. "Because what I might say could end up shattering their minds."</p>
      <p>Only having more questions on their minds, the group followed Ashley off to the Thark settlement while the three Nobodies and Stitch went off on their own to entertain the Heliumite princess and Virginian captain.</p>
      <p>"Ok Ash, what's this about?" Shepard asked straight away. "What do you know?"</p>
      <p>"This is just… beyond anything I would have expected." Ash stated, running her hand through her hair. "Ok guys, so, we already know the crazy shit that comes with Roxas, Axel and Xion right?"</p>
      <p>The group simply collectively nodded which prompted Ashley to go on.</p>
      <p>"Alright, so… you're gonna have to <em>really </em>suspend your disbelief on this one guys." Ash stressed. "Like, almost to stupidity."</p>
      <p>"Enough wordplay, Williams." Wrex grumbled. "Spill it. What do you know?"</p>
      <p>The Operations Chief let out a heavy sigh, eyeing her group of friends.</p>
      <p>"The planet we're on is called Barsoom." Ash elaborated. "Or as we know it, Mars."</p>
      <p>"Mars?" the team repeated back to her.</p>
      <p>"How the hell are we on Mars?" Kaidan asked in bewilderment. "Weren't we just on Mars before we were knocked out?"</p>
      <p>"We were… but this <em>Mars</em> is just not the one we all know. You could almost say we're in a story." Ash revealed. "A fictional story dating back to 1912. Something I grew up reading with my family. We're in the fictional story of John Carter of Mars."</p>
      <p>The silence that she was met was honestly to be expected.</p>
      <p>"What now?" Liara was the first to voice the unified thought from the others.</p>
      <p>"That's quite the stretch on the claim there, Williams." Wrex added in.</p>
      <p>Ashley gave a brief nod. "I know and this is quite the circumstance for us to really keep an open mind on. Hell I would've been ignorant and played it off as coincidence if it weren't for Axel, Xion and Roxas." She then elaborated her thoughts. "For instance, when we all saw those memories of Roxas and unintentionally of Sora, all those weird places that Sora's been to, right?" The group nodded. "I caught this one place that looked like something out of some Greek or ancient Roman lookin' place."</p>
      <p>"And when we saw some of the other memories of Sora, we saw him interact with those princess looking gals." Shepard recounted.</p>
      <p>"Why are they important?" Liara asked.</p>
      <p>"Well back on Earth, there were these old stories that were told centuries ago." Shepard explained. "They were these fairy tale stories that were about princesses and magic and weird and kinda freaky moral stories. The Brothers Grimm Fairy Tales."</p>
      <p>Ashley nodded along with Shepards statement. "Wasn't able to make out on their introductions, but I might've been able to recognize one of them being Cinderella and another kinda reminded me of Snow White. Don't know about the others, unfortunately."</p>
      <p>"Now that I think about it, there was a place rather reminiscent to… well, I can't tell if it <em>was </em>Wonderland, but it kinda reminded me of Wonderland." Alenko remarked. "Just a more brighter version really. And Sora had even interacted with Alice."</p>
      <p>"And when we were at Yen Sid's Tower as you spoke of a brief summary of Merlin's history, the others didn't seem to try to correct us of Merlin being a coincidence or something." Ashley added in to drive more into the point.</p>
      <p>"So what then? This place is Mars and we're in a story book?" Garrus asked for clarification. "How is that even possible?"</p>
      <p>"Uh… actually." Tali spoke up making Garrus groan.</p>
      <p>"What? What is it?"</p>
      <p>Tali looked a bit sheepish. "I remember when I was talking with Roxas after coming back from that Wizards tower, we were talking about the whole World order that he saw through Sora's eyes. He mentioned something about being able to enter a literal story book about talking plush animals from Earth."</p>
      <p>"Ok, ok, stop." Wrex said, hands held up. "This is all <em>fascinating," </em>The Krogan's tone said otherwise. "But that doesn't explain how the hell we got here or how we're supposed to go home."</p>
      <p>"Good point." Garrus nodded. "Ash, any ideas?"</p>
      <p>"I wish I can give you the answer to that one. Unfortunately, we have to play it by ear and go with the flow with whatever will come next."</p>
      <p>"But if we're here, won't the flow change or something?" Shepard pointed out.</p>
      <p>Ash opened her mouth only to close it and hummed aloud in the thought.</p>
      <p>The Operations Chief could greatly feel a migraine coming along as this was too complicated for her as this was going into meta territory.</p>
      <p>"Maybe." Ash said, sounding unsure. "I dunno. If we're gonna be involved, I figure we will change some things here."</p>
      <p>"Who are the bad guys?" Tali asked straight away.</p>
      <p>"Zodangans and these other versions of the Tharks, the Warhoon..."</p>
      <p>As this one conversation took place, the Nobody trio and Stitch were speaking with John and Dejah on a different topic.</p>
      <p>"What were those strange weapons you all possessed?" Dejah asked the two teenagers. "I had never seen the like."</p>
      <p>"Well these are Keyblades." Xion said, summoning hers with Roxas.</p>
      <p>"Fascinating." Dejah said, slowly raising her hands up to the puppet Nobody. "May I?"</p>
      <p>Xion nodded, holding out her Keyblade for the princess to take into her own hands.</p>
      <p>"The craftsman ship, the balance." Dejah said.</p>
      <p>In mere moments, the Keyblade disappeared from her grasp and came back to Xion's, much to her surprise.</p>
      <p>"Wha-"</p>
      <p>"Yeah, sorry about that." Xion said apologetically.</p>
      <p>"It's every Keyblades caveat." Roxas chimed in. "Every Keyblade chooses its wielder. Anyone else can only hold onto it for so long till it comes back to its owner."</p>
      <p>"Drat." Dejah pouted, making the two teens laugh at her reaction.</p>
      <p>Axel saw John's reaction and nudged him a little.</p>
      <p>"I take it you have never witnessed magic before."</p>
      <p>"I have not." Carter confirmed. "But neither did I see the Tharks before either until just yesterday."</p>
      <p>Whatever conversation was to come up next was halted when they all came across the wreckage of the fight done earlier.</p>
      <p>As this went on, Dejah gazed at the massive wreckage of the sky ships. She had momentarily forgotten who were onboard those vessels, more specifically those from Helium.</p>
      <p>People who swore allegiance to her, her family to their fellow men. They all risked their lives to protect her and they all died because of it.</p>
      <p>"War is a terrible reality." John said solemnly.</p>
      <p>Dejah had to wipe away the tears flowing down her cheeks as her throat seemed to clench upon itself from the emotional pain she was suffering right now.</p>
      <p>Seeing her discomfort, Stitch waddled up to her and hugged her leg in order to help her out.</p>
      <p>Looking down, Dejah smiled a little at the action the koala-like alien was giving her. She even patted the small creature's head as a sign of thanks.</p>
      <p>"Not when a noble cause is taken up by those who can make a difference." Dejah firmly said, turning her gaze at the four beside her. "You have made a difference today."</p>
      <p>"Helping people is what we do, princess." Roxas informed her.</p>
      <p>"And in doing so, I have indebted myself to you." Dejah said. "Whatever it is you wish for; I shall do everything within my power to help achieve what you want."</p>
      <p>"Really now?" Axel said with a gleam in his eyes.</p>
      <p>"Axel." Both his young friends said in a flat voice getting the taller Nobody to chuckle.</p>
      <p>The little atmosphere seemed to help lift Dejah's spirits, even by a small margin.</p>
      <p>"How and where did you learn to jump that way?" She inquired.</p>
      <p>John merely shrugged. "I honestly don't know how that happened."</p>
      <p>Dejah then looked at the Nobody trio, who quickly answered 'training' and left it at that.</p>
      <p>"Training?" Dejah repeated.</p>
      <p>"We're… a special case." Roxas vaguely said.</p>
      <p>"Aren't you all?" Dejah inquired.</p>
      <p>Axel snorted. "Well when ya put it like that-"</p>
      <p>"I do have a question." John cut in before anyone else can speak. "How did those ships fly?"</p>
      <p>"Your ships cannot sail on light in Virginia?" Dejah asked, remembering where Captain Carter was from.</p>
      <p>"No, princess. See, our ships sail the seas." He said to her slow ascension of confusion. John then elaborated, speaking to her as if she didn't know what a sea was. "Endless water everywhere."</p>
      <p>Dejah gave him a bewildered gaze which shifted into a more somber tone. "There are no seas on this planet."</p>
      <p>"Hate to burst your bubble but in <em>our</em> case ships do more than that." Axel said, picking his ear.</p>
      <p>Both Dejah and Carter looked towards the redhead with the princess voicing their shared thoughts. "Like what?"</p>
      <p>"Sailing the stars in the vast emptiness of space." No. VIII stated, pointing up into the sky.</p>
      <p>Humming a little to herself, No. XIV soon formed an idea.</p>
      <p>"Maybe this can help to clarify details."</p>
      <p>Pulling up her omni-tool, which no doubt surprised Dejah and Carter, Xion pulled up a variety of images for them to look at.</p>
      <p>"Photos." Carter murmured.</p>
      <p>He had of course seen photos back in Virginia as it was the latest in a line of scientific innovations these past few decades in human history.</p>
      <p>Of course they were either black and white or rustic in color. Not to mention they often were quite fuzzy due to the developmental process.</p>
      <p>These on whatever device was on Xion's arm were of the utmost clarity like he was seeing them firsthand per say. Not to mention with the intact coloring there was.</p>
      <p>Swiping her hand across the screen to a photo album she saved up, she stopped to show a picture of the beach. Then she went to a picture of a ship sailing across the water, which helped emphasize John's claim from earlier. Xion then pulled up images of the ships from Council Space, even back from the Etherium Galaxy.</p>
      <p>Whereas Dejah was immediately drawn toward the technological marvel, let alone the images she was seeing, Carter had another reaction.</p>
      <p>"Jesus." John ran his hand through his hair. "What the hell is all <em>this</em>?"</p>
      <p>"Need a moment?" Axel asked.</p>
      <p>"I think I need a few." Carter admitted to himself. "I still got no idea what's going on or where the hell I am."</p>
      <p>The fiery Nobody simply patted the man's back, the gesture being one of understanding.</p>
      <p>Axel then noticed Dejah broke away from Xion as she seemed to walk around them with a calculated look in her bright blue eyes.</p>
      <p>"Skeletal structure normal…"</p>
      <p>"What are you doing?" Carter questioned, who spun halfway around.</p>
      <p>"Must be the density of your bones."</p>
      <p>"Bone density?" Xion muttered.</p>
      <p>Axel shrugged. "From our guess, it was just the different state of gravity on this planet remember?"</p>
      <p>When Dejah was behind Carter, she ended up doing something that surprised him, Stitch and the Nobodies…</p>
      <p>*Smack*</p>
      <p>Slapping his ass.</p>
      <p>"Jump for me."</p>
      <p>"Enough." Spoke a female Thark, who made her presence known to the group as she stood by the lizard-like dog creature. "There will be time for playfulness later."</p>
      <p>Dejah waved the female Thark off. "I want no playfulness from him. I want to see him jump."</p>
      <p>Roxas and Xion proceeded to take a step back away from the princess, hands angled back towards their behinds.</p>
      <p>"Okay good because you two just met earlier and I highly doubt any chemistry will be brewing all too soon." Axel commented, which Stitch nodded quite quickly.</p>
      <p>Not understanding the full lingo as to what the redhead said, John got the gist of it and gave a firm nod.</p>
      <p>"Don't do that again, Dejah." Carter firmly said.</p>
      <p>"Just jump for me." Dejah asked. "I want to know how you did it."</p>
      <p>"Didn't you just talk about bone density?" Xion said with a tilt of her head.</p>
      <p>"That was just a theory." Dejah stated. "I wish to see it and examine him again."</p>
      <p>"What, like dissect him?" Axel asked causing the Captain to blanch.</p>
      <p>"No, none of that sort." Dejah quickly shook her head in disgust. "I… I just want to know if it could be taught to my people."</p>
      <p>"I don't think it can." Roxas said with an unsure tone.</p>
      <p>Axel then looked over to the female Thark and spoke to her. "I'm sorry, but who are you?"</p>
      <p>"I am Sola. Tars Tarkus requested me to look after you all."</p>
      <p>"...Right."</p>
      <p>In the back of his mind, Axel realized that Sola was keeping watch of them to be sure neither of them would do anything out of hand while on the settlement.</p>
      <p>Turning back around, No. VIII saw Carter looking right at him.</p>
      <p>"Yes?"</p>
      <p>Carter spoke loud enough for the others to hear. "I just realized something, why did you and Dejah say, 'this planet'?"</p>
      <p>Narrowing his gaze a little, Axel spoke up to the Heliumite. "Hey, princess, mind coming over here. Gonna need your help on something."</p>
      <p>Hearing Carter's question once more, Dejah created a hastily drawn diagram in the dirt with a number of rocks placed in a specific manner. And by the look of it, it appeared to be a diagram of a solar system to the Nobodies.</p>
      <p>"Sun," Dejah pointed with a stick towards the very center of the diagram before moving towards the first rock. "Then Rasoom."</p>
      <p>"Mercury." John corrected, quickly perking the attention of the Nobodies a little more.</p>
      <p>Dejah ignored his incorrect astronomy and went to the next 'planet'. "Then Cosoom."</p>
      <p>John looked at her like she was crazy. "Venus." He then knocked her stick out of the way. "Then Earth. Us."</p>
      <p>Dejah gazed at Carter with a raised brow. "That is Jasoom." She tried speaking, not to sound like she was talking to a moron, but it didn't succeed. She then tapped the stick onto the neighboring rock to correct him. "We are on Barsoom, John Carter."</p>
      <p>Upon hearing the details, Axel was quick to pull up his omni-tool and pulled up a holographic diagram of the Sol System.</p>
      <p>"You mean like this?"</p>
      <p>When Dejah and Carter looked up, they saw what Axel revealed to them, driving more home to the point as to what was going on.</p>
      <p>The princess gaped. "Yes, that's it… but how-"</p>
      <p>"Mars?" John interrupted Dejah. "I'm on Mars?"</p>
      <p>Looking over, Dejah witnessed the shocked expression on his features, more so when she saw him look up and gaze at the sky to see the Barsoom moons Thuros and Cluria for the first time. But to John, these are the Martian moons Deimos and Phobos.</p>
      <p>"Good God, I'm on Mars." He said in utter shock. He took a step back, color draining from his face as the situation as to where he was began to truly dawn on the Virginian Captain.</p>
      <p>"So your home is Jasoom? And you came on one of your sailing ships across millions of karads of empty space?" Dejah asked, waving a handout to the sky.</p>
      <p>"No." John said vehemently. "Not like that."</p>
      <p>"He's telling the truth in that detail, Dejah." Spoke Roxas.</p>
      <p>Dejah looked towards the male Keybearer. "And how can you be so sure?"</p>
      <p>"Earlier when Ashley was asking John about the year, oddly enough, we seemed to confirm a few things. One detail pertains that Earth -or Jasoom to you- won't achieve spaceflight until roughly a century from <em>now</em>. And a century after that would allow them to really traverse the stars. As for how we know… our situation has a particular set of circumstances; especially with how we wound up here earlier today."</p>
      <p>Dejah figured there was quite the story behind Roxas' claim, a lengthy one at that. Even Carter was of similar thoughts, though of a more curious degree, when he soon came to his senses when he processed the given words.</p>
      <p>Being silent for some moments, Dejah questioned Carter.</p>
      <p>"How is it that you, John Carter, were able to come here?"</p>
      <p>Looking around a little, Carter had found what he was looking for. Pointing towards Tars Tarkas, he spoke. "Around Tars' neck. That brought me here."</p>
      <p>The group gazed at the Tark in question, seeing some sort of silver and blue ornamental medallion around his neck.</p>
      <p>Gazing intently at the item in question, a few things quickly formed in Dejah's mind.</p>
      <p>"Oh, well that explains everything then."</p>
      <p>John, the Nobodies and Stitch looked confused.</p>
      <p>"It does?" John questioned.</p>
      <p>"Yes! You're a Thern." Dejah explained with feeling. "And you simply wish to return to your rightful place. Isn't that it?" She asked, giving him a pointed look.</p>
      <p>"Yes…" Was his response, not sounding like he had a clue what she meant.</p>
      <p>"Did you get any of that?" Roxas asked Xion and Axel.</p>
      <p>"What's a Thern?" Xion questioned.</p>
      <p>"Well that answers what <em>we </em>know." Axel remarked, briefly looking over to the rest of their friends who still were speaking in a rather hushed manner.</p>
      <p>The redhead narrowed his eyes at them in suspicion. Shepard had seemed to have detected his gaze and locked eyes with him.</p>
      <p>She gave him a look that promised that she would fill them in on why they were talking so secretively.</p>
      <p>Giving her a nod, Axel turned back in time to see Dejah gesturing for them to follow her.</p>
      <p>"Then let's sort this out right now. Come along!"</p>
      <p>With that said, Dejah purposefully headed towards a particular area of the Thark settlement.</p>
      <p>As she walked away, John turned towards the others. "Did you-"</p>
      <p>Axel just shook his head 'no'.</p>
      <p>"Not exactly." Spoke Roxas.</p>
      <p>"Why'd she think you were a Thern?" Asked Xion.</p>
      <p>"What Thern, anyway?" Voiced Stitch in his broken speech.</p>
      <p>Startled a little in hearing Stitch for the first time, John soon did agree with Xion and Stitch's inquiries. Why did Dejah assume such a thing? And what was a Thern in the first place?</p>
      <p>Seeing as they needed answers, the group silently agreed to follow Dejah.</p>
      <p>"Where are you going?" Sola demanded.</p>
      <p>"To your temple." Dejah said with confidence she didn't quite feel.</p>
      <p>This alarmed Sola greatly, prompting her to desperately plead her from not going.</p>
      <p>"You cannot enter! It's forbidden! You are not Thark!"</p>
      <p>Unfortunately for Sola, her pleas fell on deaths ears as Dejah continued on ahead with John, Stitch and the Nobodies following after her. Even the calot, the six legged lizard-dog, went after them.</p>
      <p>
        <em>-Scene Cut-</em>
      </p>
      <p>Walking through the darkened corridors of the Thark's temple, the two Keybearers used the flashlight functions on their omni-tools activated to help light their way. Once again their devices were quite the interesting marvel for both John and Dejah as they proved quite useful at their present moment.</p>
      <p>Upon approaching the temple, it appeared rather easy for them to just stroll right in. With how important the place was, given how serious Sola was trying to make them to not enter, one would figure there should at least be some guards by the entrance.</p>
      <p>"Dotar Sojat, it is forbidden!" Sola whispered fervently. "The precepts must be obeyed!"</p>
      <p>"Like most of us care!" Axel said aloud.</p>
      <p>Both Roxas and Xion did apologize on the others' behalf, but it wasn't enough on the rules they were apparently breaking. By the dread they could possibly read from Sola's voice, there was quite the grave offence on their present actions; more so if they were caught within the temple without permission.</p>
      <p>When entering a large chamber, John, Roxas, Stitch and Xion gazed around wonderingly. And with the help of their omni-tools, the Keybearers were able to help light up the darkened space more to reveal more details than with torchlight and the moonlight coming from the ceiling above.</p>
      <p>Dejah was quite thankful for their assistance as it gave the princess a better view of inspecting the carvings along the walls.</p>
      <p>As the Heliumite was gazing upon the surfaces, Axel was already taking photos of the carvings alongside his two friends.</p>
      <p>To the Nobodies, most of them were vaguely similar to what they saw back on the "other" Mars. Granted there was some varying degrees of erosion on each set, but the carvings were quite close in depictions.</p>
      <p>Despite it might not be Liara's full expertise, they'll need her archaeological insight. Even Della if it comes down to it.</p>
      <p>After gazing upon the walls for what seemed like hours to the princess, Dejah spoke to the former military captain. "Well… You speak for the goddess. What does she say?"</p>
      <p>John looked at Dejah when she said this. Did she really expect him to <em>know</em> any of this?</p>
      <p>Instead of answering, he merely looked towards what appeared to be the central cave carvings as there appeared to be a large person which was quite predominant.</p>
      <p>"You called me a Thern. Is that what she is?" He asked of her.</p>
      <p>Instead of Dejah answering, it was Sola.</p>
      <p>"No! She is Issus. Therns are holy messengers of the goddess. In the time of oceans they walked among us." Explained the Thark. "We must not offend this place any further. Let us go!"</p>
      <p>"If you seem so adamant of not being here, then why are you sticking around?" Questioned Axel. "You don't need to be hanging around with us the entire time."</p>
      <p>"Because it was of Tars' request that I watch over you. If Dotar Sojat gets in trouble, then he gets in trouble as he is responsible-"</p>
      <p>"Okay, okay. I get it."</p>
      <p>As he kept taking more photos of the temple carvings, No. VIII saw something rather peculiar.</p>
      <p>"Roxas, Xion." Axel called out to them. "Come here."</p>
      <p>The Keyblade duo exchanged looks with each other and went over to where Axel was standing. From atop Xion's shoulder, Stitch leapt forward and plopped himself on top of Axel's hair with the fiery Nobody not really reacting all that much.</p>
      <p>"What is it?" Xion asked.</p>
      <p>"Look." Axel nodded his head at the wall before them.</p>
      <p>The younger two Nobodies gazed upon a set of carvings on the wall, noticing it to be an intricate mural of some kind. Somewhat different from the general theme of the rest of the temple's chamber.</p>
      <p>There were a multitude of towers and strange drawings and images that when Roxas took a moment to study them, had the strangest feeling of familiarity.</p>
      <p>Like he had seen these carvings before.</p>
      <p>Perhaps even been to the place that this appeared to be based off of.</p>
      <p>"What is this?" Xion asked, hands trailing over several carvings.</p>
      <p>Stitch suddenly began to jabber about excitedly and pointing at the top of the carvings.</p>
      <p>"Key, Key, Key!" Stitch said emphatically.</p>
      <p>Both Keybearers looked up to where Stitch was pointing to and saw…</p>
      <p>"A Keyblade." Xion said in surprise.</p>
      <p>Though the carving was crude and undoubtedly old with how simplistic the design was, what was engraved upon the wall was undoubtedly a Keyblade.</p>
      <p>The shape, the guards, the teeth, all of it pointed to their signature weapons.</p>
      <p>"Must have been left by other Keybearers." Axel surmised. "This one's real old."</p>
      <p>"But who else is a Keyblade wielder aside from the two of us and Sora, Riku and King Mickey?" Roxas asked aloud.</p>
      <p>"There's been others before you." Axel remarked casually. "I remember seeing a few and meeting one back on my old World before I became a Nobody."</p>
      <p>"You have?!" Roxas and Xion gazed up at him in stunned disbelief.</p>
      <p>Axel momentarily grunted, mentally berating himself for that slip up.</p>
      <p>"Yeah but I haven't seen him in a very long time." Axel said dismissively. "Don't even remember what he looks like."</p>
      <p>Roxas and Xion only slumped in defeat whilst Stitch titled his head down and gave the redhead an upside down suspicious glare.</p>
      <p>"What?" Axel flicked the furball's nose.</p>
      <p>Stitch growled, wiping his several times before proceeding to give Axel's face a slobbering lick.</p>
      <p>"AH!" Axel threw the alien off. "You little bastard."</p>
      <p>Stitch laughed aloud and quickly rushed up and jumped into Xions arms, blowing a raspberry at No. VIII.</p>
      <p>Mildly ignoring the banter occurring with the blue furred creature and the Nobody trio, Dejah questioned Carter once more if he knew anything of the carvings. But as she already figured, he had no clue whatsoever.</p>
      <p>"There's some kind of writing up there." Carter spoke aloud.</p>
      <p>Dejah was confused as to why he said this but was quickly startled when John suddenly scooped her up and leaped towards the higher level. A scream escaped her lips as they flew through the air, but she cried out in pain when they hit the carved wall.</p>
      <p>The Heliumite could tell that John tried his hardest to cushion the landing for her so she wasn't slammed too hard, but his groan told her that-that effort was at his own expense. She'd barely had time to react, but now she was acutely aware of the fact that she was in Carter's arms, pressed between him and the temple's wall.</p>
      <p>When he put her down, she glanced towards the lower level seeing Sola dropping to her knees and praying for their blasphemy.</p>
      <p>"Can either of you give us some light?" Came Carter's request.</p>
      <p>"Hang on a second." Roxas said. "We're looking at something."</p>
      <p>Axel instead left the two to study the wall carving, walking up to where Sola was still down on her knees in prayer.</p>
      <p>Holding out a hand, Axel generated a tiny sphere of fire which eventually grew to the size of a large ball.</p>
      <p>He sent it upwards which illuminated the entire area.</p>
      <p>Dejah and Carter stared at this displayed, slightly enraptured by it.</p>
      <p>"My God." Carter muttered.</p>
      <p>Dejah could only nod in silent agreement. "Thanks."</p>
      <p>Both Carter and Dejah tried to right themselves on the awkward position they were in. While the princess was enthralled in the carvings before her, she needed John's assistance in keeping her steady so she wouldn't fall as she tried to move in a bit closer.</p>
      <p>"Can you read it?" He said directly beside her, his breath ruffling her hair.</p>
      <p>"It's old scripture and most of the text is worn out."</p>
      <p>"Then what can you read exactly?"</p>
      <p>"Don't rush me, please." She said rather stressfully. Taking a better look, the Heliumite princess spoke aloud on what she could get. <em>"Those who seek the solace of eternity… may journey down the river through the sacred Gates of Iss… and find everlasting peace… in the bosom of Issus."</em></p>
      <p>Hearing this from down below, Axel let loose a snort.</p>
      <p>"Okay, all I got from the translation is 'take a boat ride, die, go to the afterlife'." Chortled No. VIII. "In all honesty, I find that is <em>quite</em> the major flaw to the whole thing."</p>
      <p>As this was spoken, Sola voiced her prayers ever louder who was no doubt feeling more offended with the blasphemer.</p>
      <p>During this, Carter kept looking on as he stared at a peculiar wall carving as it was of the same medallion presently in Tars' possession.</p>
      <p>"Axel, there you guys are."</p>
      <p>The red head turned behind him to see the rest of the Normandy crew having now entered the temple.</p>
      <p>"There we are? Where'd you guys go off to?" Axel retorted.</p>
      <p>"You saw us standing a few feet away from you." Shepard shot back. "Then you all up and leave without telling us where ya went off to."</p>
      <p>"How'd you even find us then?" No. VIII asked.</p>
      <p>"Tracks." Garrus said with a shrug. "And that big monster dog thingy was standing outside."</p>
      <p>"Figured."</p>
      <p>"What is this place?" Liara asked in curious wonder.</p>
      <p>"Temple of some kind." Axel shrugged, glancing down at Sola. "She seems to take it seriously."</p>
      <p>"So this is a place of worship then." Kaidan surmised.</p>
      <p>"Where's Roxas, Stitch and Xion?" Tali asked with Axel thumbing over to where the trio had stood.</p>
      <p>"What are they looking at?" Ash asked.</p>
      <p>"Something interesting." No. VIII said vaguely earning a huff from the Operations Chief.</p>
      <p>"And what are they doing up there?" Jane asked, eyeing the two on the higher ledge.</p>
      <p>"Translating nonsense honestly." Axel stated. "Typical cryptic, make up your own answer here."</p>
      <p>"Ah." Was the collective response from the team.</p>
      <p>Over with Roxas and Xion, the latter of the two had taken out her Omni-Tool to record their findings.</p>
      <p>The former of the duo hummed aloud, eyeing the carvings and symbols when he got struck with a sense of Deja vu.</p>
      <p>"We've seen these symbols before somewhere."</p>
      <p>Xion blinked, Stitch atop her head with them both facing him.</p>
      <p>"We have?" She asked.</p>
      <p>Thinking about it, it clicked in No. XIII's min when he reached for something within his coat.</p>
      <p>"We have." Roxas stated firmly, holding up a familiar book to Xion.</p>
      <p>Realization dawned upon his friend's face when she gazed at the cover of the book the two had labeled the book of the Keyblade.</p>
      <p>"Roxas, that's-"</p>
      <p>"So, I take it you guys found something interesting."</p>
      <p>Both turned to see several of their friends standing next to them.</p>
      <p>"Yeah, we did." Xion said with a beaming smile. "Look at this."</p>
      <p>Turning their heads to what Xion was pointing at, causing the majority of them to quickly take interest while the rest -i.e. Wrex- looked elsewhere.</p>
      <p>"Wait-" Ash began.</p>
      <p>"Ain't that?"</p>
      <p>"Yeah, The Keyblade." Roxas confirmed. "There have been others like us here before."</p>
      <p>Back on the higher ledge, Carter and Dejah conversed with one another. They soon came to an agreement, per say, of the princess helping guide him to the Gates of Issus so they could find more answers to their questions as this temple didn't hold anything they really sought after.</p>
      <p>Of course things were slightly awkward when John tried to shake her hand as a "sign of trust". The form of pact wasn't one she typically knew as it was generally grasping each other's arms.</p>
      <p>"Good enough, I suppose." Said John, leaning against part of the wall near Dejah's shoulder. "Now, all we need to do is get the medallion from Tars Tarkas."</p>
      <p>"What in the name of Issus is the meaning of this!?"</p>
      <p>Whirling their heads around, the trespassers to the Thern temple saw the Tal Hajis glaring at them with a good dozen men with weapons quickly trained at them all. There were even a few pointed directly at Sola, who had her hands up as she was still kneeling.</p>
      <p>"Useless she-calot!" Spoke one of Tal's men to the defenseless Thark.</p>
      <p>"Hey!" Shepard instantly held up her rifle with the rest of the team following suit and in an instant, a tense standoff between both parties.</p>
      <p>"I told you," Sola's tone was resigned. "It's forbidden."</p>
      <p>
        <strong>AN</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Alright, after our return to this story, we're keepin it going strong with this new chapter and big, </strong>
        <em>
          <strong>BIG</strong>
        </em>
        <strong> shoutout to the two reviewers that guessed it right on the money.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>We're on Barsoom. John Carter.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Naturally, the film wasn't as well received as it should have and honestly considering how important the John Carter of Mars series is to literature and science fiction itself, it's a crime how that film turned out. I do enjoy it greatly actually but there are those who prefer it to be better.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>So, that's what J and I intend on doing.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Giving you all a better rendition of John Carter.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Jebest4781: It'll be a bit of a struggle, given that the layout of the first film will need to be reorganized and adjusted accordingly to suit our needs. So if any of you readers will be questioning 'Why is this happening sooner?' or 'Why is Tars Tarkas not Jeddak here like in the movie?' then it's mostly because of the reorganizing.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>FMW: Yeah, and this isn't just for this instance. See, if you guys know Kingdom Hearts which you all obviously do, you know that eventually, our main heroes will always return to past worlds. There's a lot that we have planned out as to where the Normandy crew goes to in terms of World and all of them will play a role in the grander overarching story arc. You could say we're still in the first phase of it all despite the craziness we've already gone through by going off the rails from canon.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Jeb: There were supposed plans for other John Carter sequels depending on how well the first movie turned out in the box office on its initial release. Unfortunately, it bombed due to how it was initially written and wasn't received well. But hopefully free man and I can work things out on the return visits on this story to do our adaptations of the other books of the John Carter of Mars series.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>FMW: So with the John Carter series, we have our work cut out for us in the long run. It's a good thing we're gonna have such large gaps in between world hopping. Gives us more time to streamline what we already have planned out.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Jeb: Especially since we'll need to read most of the original source material and figure out specific moments and events to adapt into this story. And boy there is a lot from the books to the comics over the past century.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Lot of work cut out for us but this is our passion project.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>You know, if you haven't noticed the maddening amount of words and chapters we threw out in such a short amount of time.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>We appreciate the reviews that love what we do and can't wait to deliver more insanity to come.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Thanks for reading comrades.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Rate Read and Review and as Always Have Nice Day.</strong>
      </p>
    </div>
  </div>
</div>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0027"><h2>27. A Story Known, Rewritten</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Let me preface this by saying that a majority of this arc was done completely by Jebest.</p><p>A lot of this arc was one that he formed so a lot of exclusive credit goes to him.</p><p>Thanks for reading folks.</p><p>Rate Read and Review and as Always Have Nice Day.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p></p><div class="xcontrast">
  <p>I'm Nobody Chapter 27: A Story Known, Rewritten.</p>
  <p>Things have gone quite terrible in a short amount of time.</p>
  <p>Tars Tarkus believed Issus was either testing him or damning him. And recently it feels more towards the latter in a cruel bitter joke the Thark wasn't seeing.</p>
  <p>The recent string of his problems began two days ago when he and a good dozen of his men were retrieving the hatchlings from their nest cave after five long years once the eggs had been laid. Whatever hatchlings came out would be brought back to their settlement and be given towards the females to raise as their own; the rest are unfortunately destroyed so the local wildlife won't feast on them.</p>
  <p>During this retrieval did Tars come across a unique Red Man who wasn't <em>red</em> at all and could easily leap dozens of feet into the air in a single bound. Impressed by the feat, the chieftain was able to learn his name was "Virginia", or so he claimed through rough communication and brought him back to the settlement as his property after a few circumstances.</p>
  <p>Obtaining Virginia -the Leaping Red Man- might've been a blessing from the goddess herself as he could help the tribe fend off against all of their sworn enemies. He would fight the Torquas in the south, the Warhoon in the north and even perhaps the other Red Man cities on Barsoom who would ever dare attack them.</p>
  <p>This also served as a power move, a means of gaining the upper hand against his cowardly leader and rival, Tal Hajus.</p>
  <p>For years Tars did all he could to help benefit his people and yet Tal Hajus always held him back in some shape or form. One such event was before he -a vice chieftain- could challenge the last leader of their tribe to become the new high chieftain, Tal beat him to the punch. Through deceitful tactics did he become high chieftain; thus Tars had the misfortune of serving under him ever since.</p>
  <p>Tal claims that only the strong may survive on Barsoom and nothing else. Never seeing the potential that the weak could actually grow strong overtime, thus making the tribe ever stronger in the long run. And yet the cruel, stubborn coward will never change his ways.</p>
  <p>Tars hopes that with Virginia as his property, he will have a better chance in challenging Tal to become the new ruler of their people.</p>
  <p>Unfortunately, as the Red Man says, things are easier said than done.</p>
  <p>Since Tars couldn't exactly take care of the leaping red man himself, he had Sola take care of Virginia. On that night, he attempted to escape and flee to parts unknown. During his recapture, Virginia killed the vice-chieftain Dotar with a single punch to a resulting shock and awe to all.</p>
  <p>Now despite the leaping man earning the name <em>Dotar</em> and Tars obtaining the late chieftain's property, as per their customs, did they and Sola get in trouble for Virginia's actions through Tal's perspective.</p>
  <p>That next day, their punishments were delivered as they were branded a mark on their skin to show their sign of failure. Virginia had his first offense; Tars had several up to date (through Tal's manipulations) and Sola had run out of room on her flesh as the next one she gets would surely result in her death.</p>
  <p>Shortly after the punishment "ceremony", the Zodangan and Heliumite airships arrived and attacked each other as per usual over their settlement.</p>
  <p>Once everyone went to cover for their safety, and to make their wagers on who would win that day's fight, Virginia disregarded Tars' orders to stay behind. But the disrespectful action was soon overlooked through the display he delivered to show his fighting prowess and capabilities in front of the entire tribe.</p>
  <p>By the goddess did Virginia clearly change things, more so with the arrival of three red men in black clothing.</p>
  <p>Regardless of how the fight went out, the result ended to what Tars expected as he had placed his wagers on Virginia while everyone else betted on Zodanga and Helium… and none towards the three unknowns.</p>
  <p>Tars won a good amount of property and a larger share of spoils from the wreckage of the airships through the earned bets. Virginia even earned the Heliumite princess and the name <em>Sojat</em>, through few circumstances, which the Thark vice chieftain hoped would perhaps reign in his predominant sour mood.</p>
  <p>Whatever pleasant, sweet feelings Tars wished to linger on for the rest of the day was greatly soured. It was all due to him learning of who trespassed into their temple of Issus.</p>
  <p>Tars could care less about the strangers in their odd armor and the three red men in black attires. If it were just <em>them</em> who were caught, then they would be severely punished by being sent into the arena as it was their most grave offence. For the tribe will let the goddess decide their fate from there.</p>
  <p>But it was who else was amongst the trespassers did give Tars a mighty amount of concern: Virginia, the Heliumite and even Sola.</p>
  <p>He gave Virginia protection with his status as a vice chieftain. But with this act of trespassing will no longer let that happen in more ways than one.</p>
  <p>Presently, Tars Tarkus was in the stands of the arena where everyone within the tribe was present. As much as he would enjoy being here to oversee the coming fight, this was not one of those times; given he was forced to do so given his relationship with Virginia and Sola. The vice chieftain was seemingly spared from taking part of the punishment down below, but he knew better from Tal's mentality.</p>
  <p>His thoughts soon drifted off towards the odd newcomers who appeared on their settlement yesterday. And Tars was not exactly sure as to what to make of these other strange beings that Virginia appeared to have befriended but they were in the same situation as him right now.</p>
  <p>The group appeared to be those that wouldn't idly sit by and just be taken prisoner willingly.</p>
  <p>And if they were anything like Virginia, then having them being taken as prisoners would be highly unlikely.</p>
  <p>Which proved to be true as a majority of this alien group had fought their way out of the sacred shrine of the Goddess and leapt away with their own jumping prowess.</p>
  <p>As a matter of fact, only two had remained behind. And it appeared that it was almost willingly so.</p>
  <p>The two youngest members of this bizarre team that wore those strange black cloaks had seemed to stay behind out of their own choice. Not wanting to abandon Virginia, the Heliumite and Sola to their fates by themselves.</p>
  <p>A noble gesture if not foolish.</p>
  <p>They were about to face their deaths.</p>
  <p>Tars watched with a blank expression that managed to successfully mask his inner turmoil at the sight of Virginia stepping out into the arena with the Heliumite, Sola and the two cloaked young ones.</p>
  <p>Down below, the five had walked forward in the arena with three out of the five sporting chains around their ankles.</p>
  <p>Behind them were a group of Tharks who all held their weapons at them in order to make sure none had tried to escape from their shackles and punishment.</p>
  <p>"How are we getting out of this one, John Carter?" Dejah curtly asked.</p>
  <p>"Working on our exit strategy." John muttered, eyeing the assemblage of Tharks that were all cheering loudly for what they believed to be the start of a bloody slaughter.</p>
  <p>"Well…" Xion was lightly moving back and forth on the heels of her shoes. "Roxas and I can honestly leave whenever we want really."</p>
  <p>"Then why didn't you go with your friends?" Dejah asked in bewilderment.</p>
  <p>"We didn't want you guys to face whatever crap this is alone." Roxas said, turning his gaze in the direction of the high chieftain of the Tharks. "Who knows what cheap bullshit that guy has in store for us. Guys like him always cheat to get their way."</p>
  <p>John snorted, shooting a glare in the direction of Tal Hajus who gazed down at them with a bored expression.</p>
  <p>Behind them, they heard someone nervously shifting about and a murmur of a series of prayers.</p>
  <p>The human, two Nobodies and Heliumite turned to their only Thark that had been thrown into this situation with them.</p>
  <p>"Are you ok, Sola?" Xion asked kindly, placing a hand on Sola's upper right arm.</p>
  <p>"I'm terrified." Sola admitted openly, a strain in her voice. "We have been sentenced to death and I could have prevented this from happening. I'm sorry."</p>
  <p>Dejah immediately shook her head. "You are to take the blame for nothing, Sola. It was I myself that caused this to happen and the blame falls upon me alone. You were unfortunately dragged into this madness due to my own actions."</p>
  <p>"Doesn't really matter by this point, does it?" John said with a dry tone as he gazed about the arena now, taking note of all the skulls and bones that littered the ground. "Quite the stage they set up for us, huh? Love the decor."</p>
  <p>"Seems a bit generic." Roxas said with a shrug getting a snort out of the Earther.</p>
  <p>Their Thark companion however remained downtrodden and frightened.</p>
  <p>"Don't worry Sola, we'll get you out of this." Xion said with confidence.</p>
  <p>Though she wished to dispute this statement, Sola saw the fierce determination held in the Brunette's eyes and found herself unable to speak. She simply nodded with No. XIV returning the gesture.</p>
  <p>From within the central part of the stands, Tal Hajus sat in his lavish, comfortable throne underneath the shade while everyone else stood out in the scorching sun. From his placement, he viewed the individuals who had been captured after last night's incident at their temple.</p>
  <p>The high chieftain was amongst the first to see the odd lights emanating from their most holy structure and sought to find who sought to defile the place. And sure enough it were the strange newcomers and amongst them were Virginia, his Heliumite prize and Sola.</p>
  <p>He called out for their capture and a fight ensued. Most of his men were either quickly taken out, killed or crippled in the process as most of the interlopers successfully fled the settlement. Of course Tal and the rest of his men were able to detain Virginia, the Heliumite princess, Sola and two of the dark clothed red men.</p>
  <p>With their capture, the high chieftain immediately sentenced them to death and awaited their sentencing in the arena for everyone to see. And of course Tal Hajus would use this opportunity to greatly humiliate his rival -Tars Tarkus- so his status as high chieftain will no longer be in jeopardy.</p>
  <p>He wasn't stupid in knowing Tars was going to milk Virginia's capabilities for everything he had. It would have shaken his status as their leader and have him overthrown. And if the leaping red man were to ally with the strange newcomers and possibly work with Tars, then whatever plan his rival might've concocted would've worked.</p>
  <p>But now he was going to kill it right here and now so that would never happen.</p>
  <p>Standing up from his throne, the high chieftain motioned the crowd to settle down so he may speak to them all.</p>
  <p>"We are here today to root out the taint in our horde before it may grow and fester. The source comes from the white worm Tars Tarkus took in." Tal said as he pointed towards John Carter. "It was from him did he and several others desecrate our temple."</p>
  <p>Yells and screams were soon emanating from many within the stands.</p>
  <p>Tal then continued his speech. "Who knows what would've happened if this was left unchecked. It would bring about changing our ways in the weakest of ways. We are united because we cull our freaks. We are strong because we despise weakness. So I, Tal Hajus, high chieftain; sentence Dotar Sojat, his Heliumite plaything, Sola and these two young red men to be crushed like unhatched eggs."</p>
  <p>"We're not even red." Roxas commented.</p>
  <p>John was going to comment on this when he heard some sound from behind. Looking over, he saw several Tharks hammering their chains into a large boulder. He realized they were nailed in so it may cripple any possible means of escape, let alone the leaping capabilities of himself and the two teenagers.</p>
  <p>Turning over to the female Thark, Carter spoke something which was on everyone else's minds. "What might we expect to face off against here, Sola?"</p>
  <p>"Normally there would be the banths, but given the grave offense…"</p>
  <p>"Something worse than banths." Dejah quickly summed up.</p>
  <p>The five then heard a loud bellow-like roar from a far off area. Looking over, they saw the cage being pushed open several times before the chains pulled it back. It wasn't long before a rather gigantic creature stormed out of its cage, letting out a bellowing roar which was matched by the crowds' growing anticipation.</p>
  <p>It was a rather horrifying being as it appeared quite violent and powerful given its stature. It has six limbs with a pair of large tusks coming out of its mouth. And it's white fur was quite dirtied through whatever filth it was rolling around in.</p>
  <p>Sola, Carter and Dejah stepped back in slight shock whilst Roxas and Xion stepped forward and in an instant summoned their Keyblades.</p>
  <p>"That's a great white ape." Dejah called out to the two.</p>
  <p>"We've faced bigger." Roxas said in a no-nonsense tone as he and Xion got into their usual fighting stances.</p>
  <p>"Bigger than <em>that</em>?" John croaked out nervously.</p>
  <p>"Way bigger." Xion stressed out.</p>
  <p>"That's… kinda good to hear I guess." Carter remarked. He grunted as he looked down at his chained leg. "This isn't gonna be a problem at all."</p>
  <p>Roxas turned back to him. "What is- Oh, right, thanks for reminding me."</p>
  <p>Wordlessly, the two Keybearers swiped their weapons down at their chained legs and easily cut through the metal.</p>
  <p>Xion then pointed her Keyblade at John's leg and muttered a Blizzard spell that shot out from the tip of her Keyblade and froze the chain.</p>
  <p>Blinking at the display of magic, seeing the metal freeze over, Carter let out a quick grunt and with his now enhanced physiology broke through the chain with ease.</p>
  <p>"Whoa." Carter muttered out, eyes wide which shifted to terror as the white ape let out another roar and began charging forward.</p>
  <p>"Stay back!" Roxas yelled out, he and Xion quite literally jumping into action.</p>
  <p>They sailed through the air and reared their Keyblades back. Just as they were within a few feet away of the white ape, they swung their weapons at full force and knocked the simian onto its back with a tusk flying out of its mouth in the process.</p>
  <p>Carter, Dejah and Sola gaped in complete astonishment at this sight whilst the crowd screamed in approval.</p>
  <p>Wanting to assist, Carter rushed forward and grabbed onto the fallen tooth of the white ape. It was haphazardly broken on the one end but would work well as a bludgeoned weapon for the time being.</p>
  <p>The Earther didn't have much time to dwell more as the white ape soon got back onto its arms, which seemed to also work as legs, and swung its appendages at the nearest person…</p>
  <p>Which was him…</p>
  <p>Leaping out of the way, Carter swung his tooth club against the creature's head. The blow did send it stumbling back a bit, but not enough for the same kind of force Roxas and Xion delivered moments earlier.</p>
  <p>The ape fell to the ground, yelling out in pain with one of its arms going over a visible wound on its neck and head after receiving such harsh blows in a short amount of time.</p>
  <p>Dejah saw all this and hope swelled within her chest.</p>
  <p>She had figured after seeing just what these individuals were capable of, they would at least have a fighting chance in this arena.</p>
  <p>Now, it felt assured that they would escape this barbaric means of punishment and she would be able to pick up where she left off.</p>
  <p>Sola was in equal awe and filled with a great deal of hope now at the sight of the jumping trio that caused nothing but pain and confusion for the great white ape. She still held an underlying sense of fear from the Goddess Issus after their foray into the temple but thus far, aside from them being placed into this arena, any sort of divine punishment had yet to occur.</p>
  <p>There was only one individual in the arena that didn't share in this sentiment and was growing impatient and weary from what he was seeing.</p>
  <p>Not exactly liking how this was turning out, Tal Hajus ordered his men to release the other white ape in their possession.</p>
  <p>Once the signal was given, the cage door was opened yet again to release a second white ape.</p>
  <p>Dejah's head whipped around to the sight of the other ape.</p>
  <p>"That's not fair." Dejah said aloud with a slight tinge of fear in her tone.</p>
  <p>"Tal fights more like a Zodangan then a Thark." Sola said bitterly.</p>
  <p>Having heard the roar of the second ape, Carter turned around to see Dejah and Sola fleeing from the rampaging six limbed simian.</p>
  <p>"Great." John growled out.</p>
  <p>He immediately jumped over to the second ape in several strides, landing atop its head and stomping on one of its nostrils.</p>
  <p>The white ape screamed aloud, hands going for its head with John deftly jumping out of harm's way.</p>
  <p>Landing on the ground, John ran back a few feet and proceeded to throw the tooth he had as his makeshift weapon and it struck the other nostril dead on.</p>
  <p>The screech of pain the white ape gave out was slightly deafening as it began to flail about with its hands covering up its nose.</p>
  <p>Now that he was disarmed, John looked about rapidly in an effort to find another weapon of any kind.</p>
  <p>He looked over to where Sola and Dejah were and saw that the two had procured some spears from the bodies and bones of previous combatants and creatures that littered the arena. Without another word, he rushed towards their location to procure a new weapon for their present situation.</p>
  <p>Carter skidded to a halt as the white ape he had "blinded" fell down in front of him, swinging its arms about violently.</p>
  <p>"Come on." John grunted in annoyance.</p>
  <p>Waiting for its arms to stop swinging for a moment, John proceeded to jump right over the ape and landed in front of Dejah and Sola.</p>
  <p>"Are you two joining us anytime soon?" John sarcastically asked.</p>
  <p>Dejah couldn't help but snort aloud. "I didn't know you knew the creature's weakness."</p>
  <p>"I didn't, I guessed." Carter admitted openly.</p>
  <p>With the other white ape, Roxas and Xion were doing their best to cripple the beast and keep it away from Dejah and Sola. Yet with the arrival of the second giant simian made things a bit more difficult.</p>
  <p>At least when the first white ape flailed in chaos through Carter's actions it hit the second ape, causing them to start attacking each other for some moments. After the second one broke away from the first one, the two Nobodies had to get back into the fray.</p>
  <p>Shifting their stance, Roxas and Xion leaped back into the action and clobbered the giant simian with much more veracity. Blue blood started spilling out from the creature by that point as it roared in pain. And it's emanated sounds got louder when it was soon scorched from the varying Fire spells successfully landing on it. It's dirtied white fur set blaze as it was more or less being burnt alive. If the giant creature somehow survived this ordeal, it would be living the rest of its days with second or third degree burns on it's flesh.</p>
  <p>Over with John, Sola and Dejah, the trio were working in tandem with one another to whittle down their own White Ape.</p>
  <p>Having found a system of scavenge and throw, Dejah and Sola would run about to retrieve spears and other weapons littering the arena and tossed them to John who then proceeded to jump over, side and around the ape to riddle it with spears, arrows or just rocks that pierced its skin.</p>
  <p>That was until…</p>
  <p>"Get me another spear." John shouted, throwing down yet another one that pierced the White Ape who was just screeching by this point.</p>
  <p>"There's no spears left." Thoris shouted exasperatedly. "We used them all."</p>
  <p>"Seriously?"</p>
  <p>"Seriously." Sola repeated, getting an annoyed groan out of the former confederate soldier.</p>
  <p>Taking a quick scan of the arena, John's eyes locked onto the gateway they had come through, more specifically what was next to the gate. It was the rock that the Tharks had used to attach his chain to.</p>
  <p>Shrugging, John began to bound across the arena, reached the chains and grabbed one at random. He sought to have the boulder attached to the chain be used as a weapon strong enough to greatly harm the gargantuan creature. Carter began to pull and tug with all his might, grunting slightly as the chains wouldn't budge until he heard Dejah yell out to him.</p>
  <p>John looked over to see the White ape he had been spearing for the past few minutes begin charging towards him.</p>
  <p>"Come on, stupid bone density." John growled, feeling the slight strain on his muscles until he pulled both the chain and a piece of the boulder that it was embedded in.</p>
  <p>Slightly put off by this, John shrugged and began to pull the rock chunk with all his might. Feeling it lift up off the ground, Carter swung the rock around him several times until he struck the white ape right on its head.</p>
  <p>The impact and force stunned and instantly killed it.</p>
  <p>It couldn't even let out any sound as the ape simply fell to the ground, dead and unmoving.</p>
  <p>The former US Confederate Captain let out a groan, leaning his hands on his knees as he let out a few strained breaths.</p>
  <p>Looking over to Roxas and Xion, Carter witnessed them soon taking out their white ape as one of them struck their opponent hard enough across the head for its neck to snap. Once the blow was delivered, with a resounding sickening crack, the one white ape fell to the ground with a hard thud.</p>
  <p>Both white apes had been felled at last, the Tharks having gone ravenous with glee at the sight of such a vicious battle. Carter, Dejah and Sola all let out breaths of relief at being able to survive such large beasts.</p>
  <p>"That was fun." Xion sarcastically said.</p>
  <p>"Wonder if we can leave this place now." Roxas stated.</p>
  <p>"Highly doubt it unless there's more the Tharks can throw at us." Dejah said a bit bitterly.</p>
  <p>"What's more challenging than a white ape?"</p>
  <p>Xion was about to question it before the two of them <em>felt</em> something rather <em>familiar</em>.</p>
  <p>The princess of Helium was quick to notice that their two strongest companions had yet to recall their weapons.</p>
  <p>In fact, they looked quite tense and weary, the duo looking around with a cautious gaze about them as they slowly back up towards the trio.</p>
  <p>"Xion? Roxas?" Dejah said aloud, slightly concerned at the sight of the two clenching their weapons rather tightly now.</p>
  <p>Carter and Sola had also finally taken note of this, both sharing expressions of confusion.</p>
  <p>"Is everything alright?" The Princess asked as both Keybearers were now only a foot away from her.</p>
  <p>"We've got more company." Roxas said as he readied himself once more.</p>
  <p>"More?" Sola asked in bewilderment and slight trepidation. "But we had only possessed two white apes. There couldn't possibly be more."</p>
  <p>"We're not fighting white apes." Xion stated, getting into her usual battle pose. "We're fighting something else."</p>
  <p>The trio behind them could only look on in confusion which morphed into frightened shock as literal pools or a purplish black substance began to appear around them.</p>
  <p>From the shadowy pools, yellow eyes appeared, followed by humanoid shapes coming out of the darkness.</p>
  <p>"Neoshadows." Xion whispered.</p>
  <p>And they weren't the only ones.</p>
  <p>The usual warbling sounds of other additional Heartless appearing made their presence known.</p>
  <p>Several more Heartless appeared, Roxas spotting what were Earth Cores burrowing into the sandy ground.</p>
  <p>Driller Moles, Shamans and Pogo Shovels appeared moments later.</p>
  <p>Then, the ground began to shake with the group becoming slightly unbalanced though they remained standing.</p>
  <p>Several seconds later, five towering sand towers with jagged teeth and multiple spikes all along its body burst out from the ground.</p>
  <p>"Goddess!" Dejah cried out, falling down on her ass at the sight of these beasts.</p>
  <p>"The hell?!" Carter's jaw dropped.</p>
  <p>Sola couldn't really voice her shock, being really stunned into silence at these creatures that now surrounded them.</p>
  <p>"Wha-What are these things supposed to be?" Dejah asked in worry. "I've never seen anything like them before."</p>
  <p>"They're Heartless." Roxas shouted. "Keep your distance and if you hit 'em, hit 'em hard."</p>
  <p>"Right, sure." Carter dryly said, wrapping his metal chain around his arm with a piece of it dangling as the five formed a circle back-to-back as the Heartless grew in number and surrounded them.</p>
  <p>Carter looked around in worry, having never faced enemies like these.</p>
  <p>He let out several steadying breaths, reminding himself of the harrowing experience he had just gone through in taking out an oversized monkey.</p>
  <p>Dejah's initial assessment of him the other day about his muscular and skeletal bone structure on Mars/Barsoom were paying dividends now after that last little fight. Time to push it to the limit now as these enemies felt strangely more dangerous than the two giant apes they had just fought.</p>
  <p>Roxas and Xion reactions to their arrival lends credence to these internal thoughts.</p>
  <p>"We'll follow your lead then." John said aloud, referring to the two Nobodies who simply nodded as they bent their knees slightly in preparation for their opening attacks.</p>
  <p>Quickly getting into action, the two Nobodies rushed towards the opposition. Xion quickly fired a Blizzara towards the base of one of the sand towers, having it's spikes jot out and pierce the nearby Heartless. While the attack did harm the lesser ones, the sand tower didn't show any damage at all.</p>
  <p>Leaping into the air, Xion began her beatdown onto the sand tower as it flailed and retaliated. It spewed out large balls of sand from its maw, to which Xion was hit twice while the rest was avoided. Doing an aerial recovery, she casted Waterga, quickly drenching the sandy structure so she may deliver more powerful hits to properly take the one Heartless down.</p>
  <p>Roxas hovered slightly over the ground, flinging his Keyblade forward with it tearing through a dozen Heartless.</p>
  <p>Oathkeeper returned back into his hand and was quickly swung down to slice through a Shaman followed by a horizontal slash to a Neoshadow.</p>
  <p>Flinging his Keyblade up into the air, Roxas utilized a quick Thundara spell clearing out the Heartless around him.</p>
  <p>John hesitated slightly but he refused to simply stand by and let the youngest of the group fight alone.</p>
  <p>Quickly running forward, Carter whipped out his chain with all his might and struck a Driller Mole which proceeded to destroy it.</p>
  <p>Grinning, John jolted his arm back and caught the chain and spun it around several times.</p>
  <p>Flinging the chain whip once more, it encircled and ensnared one of the Heartless. Pulling with all his might, he barked out a yell.</p>
  <p>"Get over here!"</p>
  <p>With it sailing right towards him, John reared back his other arm. When it got close, he shot his limb forward to deliver a powerful punch. The blow sent the one Heartless sailing straight towards the spikes overhead and was impaled soon after.</p>
  <p>Seeing the one Heartless disintegrate into dark vapors, John went on to continue the fight. Rushing onward, he went to retrieve whatever broken weapon he could procure as his chain whip might not be enough to help him survive this day.</p>
  <p>Once grabbing a broken spear, Carter skidded to a halt before throwing it right towards a Neoshadow. The ferocity behind it had the spear pierce right through the Neoshadows chest. Rushing in, John leaped once more before delivering a drop kick to snap it's head down and causing the spear to connect to the ground in the process. Before the Heartless could try to escape, it was hit once more to drive it's destruction all the way through.</p>
  <p>As the Neoshadow went up in smoke, John grabbed the spear to continue the fight.</p>
  <p>Sola and Dejah fought together, the former of the two utilizing her additional limbs to grab and hold Heartless tightly whilst the latter utilized the sharpened edge of a spear to stab any of the Heartless that Sola had caught in the head.</p>
  <p>The others had occasionally moved by them, clearing out Heartless in their blind spots to keep them from getting struck from an unforeseen attack.</p>
  <p>Roxas and Xion had now moved on to the Earth Core towers that were the biggest threats as of right now, going for their heads that were flinging itself about wildly.</p>
  <p>Reaching one of the heads of the Towers, Roxas struck it consecutively a number of times until he was headbutted back by the Heartless.</p>
  <p>Performing an aerial recovery, Roxas's eyes widened at the sight of the Earth Core Tower shooting a sizable boulder from its mouth.</p>
  <p>Hastily he slashed through the boulder and was met with the sight of the Tower barreling towards him.</p>
  <p>Raising his Keyblade up, the Heartless struck him with the Nobody flying back but managed to flip through that air and land on his feet.</p>
  <p>He saw the Tower charging towards him once more.</p>
  <p>Gritting his teeth, the aura of light surrounded No. XIII as he held his Keyblade in front of him as he charged up his power.</p>
  <p>"Back off!"</p>
  <p>Roxas thrust his Keyblade forward, flying at the Tower and cutting right into it.</p>
  <p>The Tower halted in its charge and visibly blinked. A moment later, it let out a warbled cry and began to twitch and jolt about in a painful display until light began cutting through its body.</p>
  <p>Everything momentarily froze until the Tower burst into a shower of sand with five pillars of light bursting out from where the Tower once stood. From the center of this light, Roxas stood back up straight as the sand tower around him collapsed. Moments after, he saw the Earth Core reveal itself as it tried to move elsewhere.</p>
  <p>Not wanting another tower to form, let alone having it attack someone else, No. XIII went to move after it-</p>
  <p>
    <em> <strong>*KRACKOOM*</strong> </em>
  </p>
  <p>Until a thunder-like crack was heard in the air. In a fraction of a second, the Earth Core was destroyed.</p>
  <p>Somewhat recognizing the sound, John wondered where the shot came from and who delivered it. It came from a gun, not one similar to the ones the Tharks have in their possession, but of something else.</p>
  <p>To Roxas and Xion, they distinctively knew who fired the shot.</p>
  <p>"<em>Seems you guys could use some help."</em></p>
  <p>Hearing the all too familiar voice coming from their omni-tools, the two Nobodies smiled.</p>
  <p>"We had things handled, Garrus." Said Roxas.</p>
  <p>"Not that we appreciate the help." Xion added in. "What took you guys so long?"</p>
  <p>"<em>We'll explain once you guys get outta there."</em> Said the Turian sniper. <em>"Just be ready for extraction."</em></p>
  <p>"You got it." Roxas said, spinning his Keyblade about. "John, Dejah, Sola. Get ready. Our exit strategy is gonna be here in a moment."</p>
  <p>"About time." Xion muttered out. "Stay close guys."</p>
  <p>Not really finding a reason to object other than how they're getting out of his way; the trio of confused companions could only wait in anticipation as they continued to fight on.</p>
  <p>More Heartless appeared around them, though Roxas and Xion fought on whilst their companions remained on the defensive.</p>
  <p>They continued to fight when-</p>
  <p>
    <em> <strong>*KABOOM*</strong> </em>
  </p>
  <p>From the sealed passageway the five came through earlier, it was blown open wide enough for them to all flee.</p>
  <p>"There's out exit!" Xion yelled out. "Come on!"</p>
  <p>Not wasting another second, the five bolted from their positions so they may seek their escape.</p>
  <p>From behind, the Heartless tried to pursue them but were quickly shot down by sniper rounds. Before long, Garrus soon left his position from the nearby cliffside so he may regroup with the others.</p>
  <p>Rushing out of the arena, they saw a Mako waiting there for them.</p>
  <p>"<em>Get in!"</em> Shepard's voice barked out from their omni-tools.</p>
  <p>No doubt wanting to know how this Mako was here in the first place, such questions were put aside for the time being as the Nobodies had to rush to their transport.</p>
  <p>John, Dejah and Sola didn't know what to do at the moment after they fled the arena. But seeing the two Nobodies go to the vehicle, along with them saying to join with, they were more or less compliant.</p>
  <p>Sola was the more hesitant of the bunch, proclaiming it wasn't "Thark" or something. But her pleas were quickly ignored as she was more or less dragged along and placed onto the Mako's hull, courtesy of Carter.</p>
  <p>Once the others got onto the Alliance vehicle, it hastily took off onto the desert plains of Barsoom.</p>
  <p>Back within the arena, Tal Hajus was ordering a search for the prisoners upon their escape. And yet Tars was quick to intervene in front of the masses.</p>
  <p>"-They had defeated the white apes! They should be left free, Tal!"</p>
  <p>"They disrespected the goddess, Tars! They should not be given the chance to live any further." Growled the high chieftain. "Their sentence was interrupted in such fashions-"</p>
  <p>"Are we to treat this as we are Red Men?" Tars countered. "Their trial was the arena and they have proven the Goddess is on their side."</p>
  <p>He was met with shouts of dissent and agreement from the arena, his gaze turning in the direction of the recently escaped convicted.</p>
  <p>Tars knew that things would need to be settled once and for all. He will no doubt need to see this through soon enough for the good of the tribe.</p>
  <p>Until then, he had to pray the goddess will let Sola and the others survive whatever ordeals they'll face out in the vast fields of Barsoom.</p>
  <p>
    <em>-Scene Cut-</em>
  </p>
  <p>From within the predator city of Zodanga, Sab Than was overseeing the status of his kingdom.</p>
  <p>There was much that he still had to do to bring the rest of Barsoom to heel but it appeared, at long last, he had met his first <em>true</em> obstacle that threatened the progress he had accomplished in this past week; ever since obtaining his weapon from Matai Shang.</p>
  <p>How was it that a single day seemed to throw everything out of his control?</p>
  <p>Sab couldn't help but snort to himself as he realized the sense of irony in that thought.</p>
  <p>After all, it was only one instance in a single day that turned the war with Helium into his favor.</p>
  <p>Inclining his head up, Sab Than exhaled aloud and looked over to the guard standing next to him.</p>
  <p>"To be frank with you Matai, I'd rather be left alone right now."</p>
  <p>To many, this individual held the visage of the typical Zodangan guard of Sab's army.</p>
  <p>But to the ruler of Zodanga itself, he was a pale, bald man in grey robes that covered him down to his feet.</p>
  <p>"Is that anyway to speak with your benefactor?" Matai Shang asked in a cordial fashion.</p>
  <p>"Sorry, was I not polite enough?" Sab snarked back. "If you are so damn insistent in hovering around me ever since the goddess herself assigned you to me, I might as well speak freely as I see fit."</p>
  <p>"You should be better respectful-"</p>
  <p>"If Issus has anything to say about it, then she could come directly to me and say so herself."</p>
  <p>Momentary silence ensued between them both as Matai gazed out at the moving city with Sab leaning forward on the railing before them.</p>
  <p>"You don't think Dejah would survive being with the Tharks." The Prince asked after a few seconds.</p>
  <p>"She may or may not."</p>
  <p>"That doesn't answer anything." Sab grunted in growing annoyance. "In case you have forgotten, the Tharks are savages. They could probably have killed her by now with how stubborn she apparently is; given what I've heard of her."</p>
  <p>"We can't assume such things until we have a confirmation."</p>
  <p>The Prince's eye twitched in irritation.</p>
  <p>"And why are you so insistent on wanting her dead anyhow?" Sab inquired. "She could just be brought to heel and in line like the rest of her people."</p>
  <p>"We can't allow anyone else to touch the secrets she had uncovered."</p>
  <p>Sab's jaw clenched. "The blessing of the Goddess."</p>
  <p>"She is unnaturally sharp in her intelligence and perception of how the blessing functions." Matai admitted with a grave tone.</p>
  <p>"And are the blessings exclusive or can be given to all?"</p>
  <p>Matai said nothing, only glaring at the Zodangan Jeddak.</p>
  <p>Seeing as he won't get any further answers from that, he turned around with Matai following after him.</p>
  <p>"Suppose Dejah Thoris is alive, what will be done with her? Kill her?"</p>
  <p>"Correct."</p>
  <p>Sab shook his head. "It will be quite hard to do so at this point as neither of us knows if she is still alive. If so, then would she still be back at the Thark territory? Her people would surely retrieve her by now. Regardless of if she's alive or dead."</p>
  <p>"Perhaps. Or perhaps not."</p>
  <p>"This is not helping your case, Thern." Sab growled, getting right in Shang's face. "These possibilities are left to much to chance and not certainty. In case you didn't realize it, I had seen the face you made when those strange collections of individuals appeared to beat back my soldiers."</p>
  <p>"A minor setback."</p>
  <p>"Minor? MINOR?!" Sab scoffed aloud. "One of them bloody blocked the goddess' <em>gift</em> with their weapon! Don't you <em>dare</em> deny that they pose a serious threat to everything that <em>you </em>told me I was to receive. Am I not the Goddess' chosen? Or am I just a fool to be used and disposed of when the time comes?"</p>
  <p>Matai sometimes hated these moments of perception that the Zodangan Prince displayed.</p>
  <p>"That is not true." Matai said as calmly as he was able to. "They will be dealt with when the time comes."</p>
  <p>"Then what insurance could I have in knowing we can defeat them."</p>
  <p>"I will be sure to return to you with one quite soon."</p>
  <p>"You better as your goddess' plans of unifying Barsoom will burn if this is not resolved soon."</p>
  <p>With that said, the Jeddak departed from the Thern so he may focus on other matters.</p>
  <p>Seeing his retreating form, Matai Shang moved elsewhere as his mind was abuzz.</p>
  <p>Since that day with the boy deflecting the ray with his Key, the Thern was unable to shake the cold sweat he had felt on numerous occasions now.</p>
  <p>But recently, he had come across something that may be the tipping point that he could utilize to get their plans back on course.</p>
  <p>Coming to a dark corner, Matai saw the shadows move with yellow eyes appearing within them. Moving from the surface, the creatures pulled a random prisoner from Zodangan's dungeons. No one of significance, just someone that no one would ever miss.</p>
  <p>Last night when they returned to the moving city, Matai had come across these unique creatures. They tried to harm him, at first, but they became complacent after their few attempts of killing him. After that, they soon followed whatever instructions he gave out with outright obedience.</p>
  <p>Once such thing was what was happening now.</p>
  <p>Coming across the prisoner, Matai brought a hand to his medallion as it started to glow. The other hand was placed onto the man's head.</p>
  <p>In mere moments, a blue web traveled down Matai's arm and surrounded the prisoner's head. It encompassed the body part as a muffled yell was barely heard. Soon after, it was crushed as energies were soon sucked up from the body and traveled directly into the Thern.</p>
  <p>Breathing in a refreshing breath, the Thern felt energized on his recent "feed".</p>
  <p>Once done, Matai silently commanded the dark creatures to dispose of the body as they saw fit.</p>
  <p>He didn't bother to look back as dark shadows began surrounding the body, consuming it to who knows where.</p>
  <p>It didn't matter to the Thern.</p>
  <p>What mattered was destroying that Key wielding warrior and his companions above all else.</p>
  <p>Nothing would get in the way of their plans on this planet, which had been worked on for millennia.</p>
  <p>All glory to Issus.</p>
  <p>
    <em>-Scene Cut-</em>
  </p>
  <p>After driving for several minutes, the newly arrived passengers were able to somewhat relax as they had escaped the Thark settlement. Said place was no doubt disappearing in the horizon as the time passed on by how fast they were going.</p>
  <p>At one point, a second Mako appeared beside the first. It had to rendezvous with them as its occupants had to retrieve Garrus earlier during the arena extraction.</p>
  <p>Soon enough, the silence within the one Mako soon broke.</p>
  <p>"How the hell did you guys get these Makos here?!" Xion cried out in astonishment.</p>
  <p>"Axel." Shepard stated casually from the driver's seat. "I didn't even know he could bring them here."</p>
  <p>"Axel brought them?" Roxas said in confusion. "How did he pull that off?"</p>
  <p>"He needed something to do since last night. Once such things was reporting back to Hackett on the snafu we got into." Shepard said. "Told him our situation and Hackett sent a few guys into the same cavern we were last in before appearing here. They're working on figuring out how to get us home while we look for our own means of getting back."</p>
  <p>"Yeah, but the Makos?"</p>
  <p>"Getting to that." Shepard stated. "After he came back, we knew that we needed other means of getting around this place."</p>
  <p>"So you guys managed to bring in Makos?" Roxas asked.</p>
  <p>"What even are these things?" John found himself asking aloud. "How is this even working?"</p>
  <p>"To basically sum it up, think of these vehicles possessing a more advanced steam engine, Captain Carter." Said Shepard.</p>
  <p>"Steam engine." Carter muttered. "Right, yeah. Let's go with that."</p>
  <p>"This is quite fascinating." Dejah muttered as she eyed the interior of the Mako, despite the amount of room she presently had.</p>
  <p>Sola, meanwhile, was just quiet per say as she was silently praying from her seat. The other occupants of the Mako could realize the female Thark was just rather unsettled on riding through such transportation.</p>
  <p>"Ok, remember when Wrex, Kaidan, Garrus and I went to take care of some crap revolving around Wrexy's armor?." Axel asked from the 'shotgun' passenger seat.</p>
  <p>He got slight nods of unsure confirmation.</p>
  <p>"Right, so, I used the Corridor to toss a few of our spoils through it and into the Normandy." Axel stated. "Liara and Della were present on the ship to see that. So I figured if I can do it with small stuff, might as well give some bigger things a try. So if I could do it, most likely you two can as well."</p>
  <p>"We can do that?" Roxas and Xion asked together, glancing at each other.</p>
  <p>"Apparently." Shepard said with a shrug.</p>
  <p>Axel hummed aloud, leaning back into his seat in thought while glancing up at the Mako's ceiling.</p>
  <p>"Still… I didn't know I'd be able to pull this one off."</p>
  <p>"You outdid yourself." Shepard praised with a small smirk directed at him.</p>
  <p>The fiery Nobody blinked at that but soon sported a smirk of his own.</p>
  <p>Eventually, after getting quite a bit of distance away from the Thark settlement, the two Mako's stopped in the middle of the expansive Barsoom desert with the group stepping out from the vehicles.</p>
  <p>Things were quite easy enough. But Sola was more or less shaky on her exit as she collapsed onto the dirt and whispered out words of self-comfort.</p>
  <p>"...Okay, I know Shepard is getting a bit better on her driving-"</p>
  <p>"HEY!"</p>
  <p>"-but that's sadly pathetic."</p>
  <p>"Don't blame Sola's action, Axel." Spoke Dejah. "She and her people never ride anything else other than Thoats."</p>
  <p>No. VIII said nothing else as No. XIV approached the N7 marine.</p>
  <p>"Why'd you guys just up and leave us like that?" Xion asked, shoving Shepard lightly with her cheeks puffed out.</p>
  <p>"We didn't want to be captured." Shepard said with a plain tone.</p>
  <p>"Yeah, but ya still left us." Roxas asked, arms crossed. "No amount of hugs are gonna work, Stitch."</p>
  <p>The little blue furball proceeded to huff, jumping up to Liara and cuddling her tightly with the Asari giggling slightly at the reaction.</p>
  <p>"We weren't really in the mood to play along with that bullshit." Wrex bluntly said. "We could've gotten out easily."</p>
  <p>"Why'd you two even stay behind?" Garrus questioned.</p>
  <p>"We couldn't leave John and Dejah to just die back there." Roxas said, gesturing to the two. "And Sola was also gonna die with us. That's not fair to her."</p>
  <p>Commander Shepard let out a wistful sigh, a small smile worming its way onto her face.</p>
  <p>"Just can't help but be a hero huh?" Shepard remarked, ruffling the young teens hair. "Well, we're out now. So we don't gotta worry about them for now."</p>
  <p>"What do we do then?" Xion asked.</p>
  <p>"Isn't that the question of the day." Shepard said, turning her head towards the Heliumite princess that was fawning over the Mako's in great interest.</p>
  <p>John Carter was a bit more reserved but nonetheless held the same amount of intrigue as he tried to make sense of this horseless carriage.</p>
  <p>When hearing about this vehicle possessing something more advanced of a steam engine, he had thought back to another contraption: the CSS Hunley. To Carter's knowledge, it was the first submarine ever created as it was owned by the Confederates during the war as it was able to successfully sink several enemy ships.</p>
  <p>To him, <em>that</em> was the most advanced war machine there ever was… until these past few days.</p>
  <p>Leaning his back against the Mako, Carter was silent as he was self-reflecting.</p>
  <p>For the first time in a while, John finally had proper time to think and he didn't really relish his present experience. Up till now, he'd been so busy trying to cope with this improbable journey he was thrusted into and trying to stay alive.</p>
  <p>John had briefly wondered what might've been if he were to do this trek alone.</p>
  <p>At its start when he woke up on that barren desert here on Mars, he traversed through isolated emptiness. And it was impossible for him to not think back on what came beforehand.</p>
  <p>After a lifetime of combat and fighting, warfare drew him back into conflict and away from his family. He had some form of comfort with what friends he had in his battalion, but after fights and fights, he went through more heartbreaks than one should ever experience. Conflict that pitted brother against brother and father against son was enough to make his stomach turn as he was fighting his fellow countrymen.</p>
  <p>John had seen a cannon ball decapitate two men in a crossing and shrapnel of a stray bullet slice a man's throat so messily. Even a bullet cleanly piercing through a man's eye and leaving him crippled as he couldn't move his body all that well as he was recovering in the medical tents.</p>
  <p>Carter had prided himself on always struggling for the side of freedom and justice, even when he was just a child. Old comrades had been mowed down in the fields and forests by the Yankees who, in turn, shed their lifeblood upon the bodies of their fallen enemies.</p>
  <p>John threw himself into the fray in countless skirmishes, but in these past few years he questioned as to what he was really fighting for.</p>
  <p>It felt so futile and in the end he himself felt no less futile when it came down to it.</p>
  <p>In the end of America's civil war, John sought solace and comfort when returning to his wife and daughter in Virginia. Only then could he find some sense of normalcy as he could recover from the terrors he went through in the war.</p>
  <p>Yet upon returning to his lands, he found the home he had built by hand burnt to the ground with the two women he loved with all his heart and soul were dead.</p>
  <p>He didn't know if it was from an accidental house fire or done out of purpose to cover up whatever crime that was committed. In the end, John didn't know how to work through his feelings as he had to bury his wife and child before moving on to find a new purpose in life.</p>
  <p>Part of his new renewal of life came from James Powell, a friend he made during the war as they fought side by side. After hearing of what befell upon the military captain, the former colonel came up with an idea of prospecting in the lands of the West.</p>
  <p>The idea was plausible as it at least gave John something to do rather than mope around and die in a gutter as a drunken mess.</p>
  <p>When hearing some tales of a cave of gold and silver in the Arizona territories, the pair were quick to make their way to the location. All they got of a clue of the rumor was it being called the "Spider-Cave" due to a unique carving. With only running with that in mind, John and Powell did what they could in their search to earn enough money to live out their lives in whatever fashion they sought.</p>
  <p>Unfortunately, things went sideways as they were ambushed.</p>
  <p>In the confusion, he and Powell somehow stumbled into the "Spider-Cave" they were seeking when trying to hide against whoever was attacking them. It might've been the local natives, bandits or greedy prospectors. Whatever the case may be, they died or ran off by the end of it with Powell being mortally wounded in the process.</p>
  <p>James Powell deserved a better end than how he died. If John had been able to act quicker, then he might've survived and he wouldn't be wandering Mars all alone.</p>
  <p>And how Carter surprisingly came onto Mars in the first place was when he went to actually explore the cave to see if the gold was actually there. He didn't want to leave Powell dying, him knowing their search was all for nothing. Sure enough, there was a whole stream of gold veins along the walls, even what appeared to be of sapphires oddly enough given their odd blue glow.</p>
  <p>It was through his distraction when he was inspecting an odd looking pedestal in the central part of the cave's chamber did Powell scream out a warning.</p>
  <p>Quickly acting out of instinct, Carter was able to evade a killing blow from a cloaked bald man wielding the strangest knife he'd ever seen. He couldn't really think more on the attacker as John had to defend himself. But in the end, Carter was able to kill the man with his own weapon before it oddly enough disappeared.</p>
  <p>With the man's dying breath, he was trying to say something, causing Carter to lean in rather close to hear what was being spoken. It sounded like a prayer in some foreign tongue, which John would've passed if it wasn't for the odd pendant glowing. It was when Carter grasped onto the ornate piece of jewelry and ended up muttering the bald man's dying words did everything go black before waking up in that desert two days ago.</p>
  <p>With Powell no doubt dead by now, John was left with no real ties anymore back home on Earth. If he miraculously got back, what would he actually do? He had no idea what he could use the riches for anyways? He didn't even have any other family other than Edgar -who he called Ned- who was his nephew through his late wife's side of the family.</p>
  <p>Regardless, there were hardly any attachments left with no other purpose.</p>
  <p>So what else is there for him? What other purpose is there?</p>
  <p>"Hey." Wrex's voice echoed around them, catching the group's attention.</p>
  <p>They all turned to the Krogan Battlemaster who had his back turned to them and out towards the direction where the Thark settlement was.</p>
  <p>"What's that?" Wrex pointed out in the distance.</p>
  <p>Looking out to what it was that caught the Battlemasters attention, the entire group squinted slightly at the sight of dust being kicked up high in the air.</p>
  <p>And at the epicenter of this dust trail was a six figured creature barreling towards the group at full speed.</p>
  <p>"What in the world is-"</p>
  <p>The originator of the dust trail skidded to a halt in front of them.</p>
  <p>More specifically, it stopped in front of John Carter, looking up at him with a happy looking smile and panting heavily.</p>
  <p>"What the-" John blinked, recognizing the calot before him.</p>
  <p>"Woola!" Sola said with a bright smile appearing on her face.</p>
  <p>The Barsoomian "dog" creature barked aloud in confirmation, large tongue flopping out of his side as he panted happily.</p>
  <p>The rest of the team could only stare in utter bewilderment at the sight of the… dog, if they could call it that.</p>
  <p>"...How the hell did this get here?"</p>
  <p>"Woola ran." Spoke Sola. "It's kind is rather fast."</p>
  <p>"That's one way of putting it." Shepard said, rubbing the top of her head. "We drove out a few kilometers away from the village."</p>
  <p>"It must've been running since we left, which had to be quite a long way." Kaidan commented. "Had to possibly outrun Sonic the Hedgehog."</p>
  <p>"Weeb."</p>
  <p>"You know I'm right, Ashley."</p>
  <p>"Once again, weeb."</p>
  <p>Looking over, John saw the calot sitting beside him as the lizard-dog creature was staring right at him.</p>
  <p>"You belong to him, Dotar Sojat." Spoke Sola. "He will follow you anywhere on Barsoom."</p>
  <p>Kneeling beside the animal, he knew it was still the same one he helped protect on his first night on Mars when the other Tharks attacked it, which resulted in him killing Dotar in the process.</p>
  <p>Gently patting it's head, the calot began licking his arm before panting out with its large blue tongue out.</p>
  <p>John couldn't help chuckling to himself. At least now he could consider having another friend here on this planet.</p>
  <p>Patting the calot's head once more, John mused to himself.</p>
  <p>"If you are insistent on having me around, I might see no problem you tagging along."</p>
  <p>"If you're keeping him, you gotta take care of him." Spoke Shepard.</p>
  <p>"It's not the first time I had to take care of a pet." John said wryly.</p>
  <p>"Where did you find this big guy?" Wrex asked Sola, an interested gleam in his eyes.</p>
  <p>"They are rather difficult to tame but they are found in certain areas of Barsoom." Sola answered.</p>
  <p>Wrex only hummed aloud with a growing degree of intrigue as he observed the large Calot that spun in a circle as John had managed to utilize a spear that he had held onto from the arena.</p>
  <p>The group watched as Carter tossed the spear as far as he could with Woola speeding off with a small dust cloud in his wake.</p>
  <p>A moment later, Woola returned with spear in mouth and dropped it at the feet of John.</p>
  <p>"Aw~" Xion couldn't help herself. "You're just a big cutie aren't you?"</p>
  <p>No. XIV proceeded to rub the top of Woola's head which got its purr of approval, leaning into Xion's hands.</p>
  <p>"Who's adorable? You are! You are!" Xion cooed aloud.</p>
  <p>"That is sickeningly cute." Ash said in a voice that eclipsed the arid land around them.</p>
  <p>"Almost reminds me of tamed Varren." Came Wrex's comment. "Utterly loyal and fierce against their owner's enemies."</p>
  <p>Shepard chortled aloud, shaking her head before looking at the group.</p>
  <p>"Alright. New additions aside, can we at least ask you a few things Dejah?"</p>
  <p>Hearing the addressment towards her, Dejah spoke. "Being what exactly?"</p>
  <p>"What was going on yesterday? Why was your ship attacked?"</p>
  <p>Remembering the details, Dejah exhaled a sigh.</p>
  <p>"Do you perhaps remember seeing the beam of blue light from the Zodangan ship?"</p>
  <p>"Rather hard to miss." Roxas muttered out. "What about it?"</p>
  <p>"It's involved with why I was traversing outside of Helium."</p>
  <p>"Being what exactly?" Asked Tali.</p>
  <p>"Searching for answers." Dejah then elaborated. "Not long ago, the eastern border of Helium's territories became an utter wasteland. Whatever weapon he has in his possession, Sab Than burned through our defenses and massacred hundreds of lives. Whatever fleets we had to defend them were utterly demolished."</p>
  <p>Shepard frowned alongside a number of her team.</p>
  <p>"By the sounds of it, this Sab Than committed quite the amount of war crimes."</p>
  <p>"He in fact did. There were hardly any survivors."</p>
  <p>"And what does this relate to the beam of blue light you spoke of? Was it <em>that</em> weapon?" Questioned Garrus.</p>
  <p>"After reading through the reports and hearing of the latest news, I knew that idiotic brute had somehow discovered it first." Dejah said vaguely.</p>
  <p>"Discovered what?"</p>
  <p>"The Ninth Ray, an energy source of unlimited power and potential. Transform the deserts, restore the seas from the remnant rivers we presently have."</p>
  <p>"And yet Sab Than only uses it for slaughter."</p>
  <p>Dejah could only nod rather bitterly.</p>
  <p>Given what she was saying, this Ninth Ray possibly had the potential to help terraform this desert planet into one that'll properly sustain life.</p>
  <p>"It's the reason why I left my home: to find the truth."</p>
  <p>Carter couldn't help but scoff. "Obviously, you couldn't go outright confront this Sab Than in person and demand your answers."</p>
  <p>Dejah merely nodded. "I was on my way to the nearest Thern Sanctuary in order to learn more of the Ninth Ray as I've exhausted what I could at Helium's archives."</p>
  <p>"And let me guess, on the way to this sanctuary the Zodangans ambushed your transport." Dejah gave a confirming nod. "And I got a feeling this sanctuary was back at the settlement nearby." Another nod was delivered. "Right. So what now?"</p>
  <p>"We should at least go to the temple at the River Iss. Hopefully, we will find whatever answers we respectively seek there."</p>
  <p>Dejah's suggestion was quite agreeable for the entire group, more or less, as they all wanted to go there.</p>
  <p>For John, he wanted to get a better idea and understanding as to how he got to Mars in the first place.</p>
  <p>With Dejah, she wanted to unravel the truth on the Ninth Ray and understand it more than what she theorized. If she was successful, then she will be one step closer to saving her people.</p>
  <p>With the Normandy team, it was similar in details with both John and Dejah.</p>
  <p>As for Sola, she more or less wanted to go as she failed Tars Tarkus and wanted to make amends with her goddess at that location as some sort of pilgrimage rite.</p>
  <p>So with all that out of the way, it was high time they hit the road.</p>
  <p>Tires skidded up the dirt as the Alliance terrain vehicles took off into the barren wasteland. And running beside them was Woola as it didn't want to leave John Carter at all.</p>
  <p>Not knowing the route to take in getting to the River Iss, Dejah and Sola had to act as their guides. This wouldn't have to be done in its entirety but given none of those of the advanced era knows where exactly on the planet they presently resided for map comparisons, they had to do things the old fashion way..</p>
  <p>From what the female Thark spoke of it would normally be a three day trip from the settlement by Thoats. But given the speed of the land vehicles, they'll reach their destination sometime tomorrow; the day after at most.</p>
  <p>The two Makos had their comms connected in order for the entire group to communicate with each other.</p>
  <p>"So these Zodangans have been at this for a while now, huh?" Addressed Wrex as he looked out of the window to see the surrounding landscape.</p>
  <p>Looking out of the window as well, Dejah could only nod for a silent reply.</p>
  <p>As this happened, Captain Carter was a tad curious when seeing where the pair were looking towards.</p>
  <p>"What happened?" John inquired, viewing the ruins of a building they rode past. It was very old and</p>
  <p>"Zodanga happened." Dejah said with a bitter, forlorn tone when it shifted into a more heated glare. "All this needless destruction and ruin just to satiate a madman's quest for conquest."</p>
  <p>"Another typical despot." Kaidan muttered.</p>
  <p>The Princess only sighed.</p>
  <p>"Over the years, Zodanga sought to conquer all of Barsoom for its own gain. Wanting to gain the upper hand, they soon hoarded and exhausted much of the natural resources. We tried and attempted to stop them time and again, but all efforts proved unsuccessful. As a result, our planet began to die."</p>
  <p>Whilst the team listened intently, one particular warrior with centuries of experience in war gazed out at the apparently dying planet. His lip twitched upwards slightly, closing his eyes to control his breath.</p>
  <p>"All you lot can do now is fight to survive in more ways than one." Wrex commented, earning nods from both Sola and Dejah. "It's not great, I assure you, with there being no end in sight. You keep fighting and fighting and before you know it, it is basically your entire existence."</p>
  <p>"Must be quite the tiresome life." Dejah noted.</p>
  <p>Axel shrugged, slapping the Krogan's shoulder. "It should, given Wrex is 700 years old."</p>
  <p>Some of the Normandy team chuckled on seeing the reactions of their new companions.</p>
  <p>During part of the drive, John asked Dejah what Mars was like before Zodanga had caused its downfall. As such, the Heliumite princess gladly recalled much of her lessons to him and the rest.</p>
  <p>Barsoom had once been a beautiful planet with the oceans, the flourished plant life and plentiful game. But over time with the rise of their technology, much of the planet started to wither and fade away.</p>
  <p>The only way the Barsoomians were able to know such things was through records and spoken word.</p>
  <p>Part of what still remained, or at least adapted over the years, was of their culture; of warriors and warlords.</p>
  <p>Surprisingly, though unsurprising when one takes a moment to think about it, the Krogan Battlemaster was the one who understood their plight was Wrex.</p>
  <p>Since the native Martians and alternate Earther were curious, Wrex entered his old-man mood and regaled them with the tale of his homeworld and his people's tale.</p>
  <p>Given how Tuchanka once was before the Salarians introduced themselves two millennia ago, there was quite the amount of similarities. The Krogan homeworld was once a decent garden world, only being mildly wrecked through whatever wars and conflicts went on the planet's surface. Their way of life greatly developed before they were able to finally traverse the stars and expand their population.</p>
  <p>And then came the Rachni Wars, where the Council requested their aid in fighting off the insectoid race. The Krogan thrived in the pleasure of facing them for years before they were soundly defeated.</p>
  <p>Unfortunately, in the end, the Krogan were greatly cripple. Sure they won the war they were drafted into, but they were paid in being neutered and soon enough their home planet became hard to live on given how radiated it was.</p>
  <p>But it was their pile of rubble and they'd not trade it for anything else.</p>
  <p>And thus the Krogan Rebellions began.</p>
  <p>Rapid expansion that led to a brutal long war ending with the Turian's ascension into the galactic stage and the euthanization of the Krogan people.</p>
  <p>To Dejah, it was quite a horrifying conclusion. For Carter, the Virginian was barely able to comprehend all this insanity. And with Sola, it was something she could relate to-to some degree given how her race functioned throughout Barsoom.</p>
  <p>Still… the idea of a race being completely unable to procreate by means unknown to them.</p>
  <p>Terrifying would be putting it mildly.</p>
  <p>So Commander Shepard opted to change topics and decided to share some more… lighthearted stories to pass the time.</p>
  <p>For the rest of the day, the Normandy team and their present allies were able to bond to some degree. With there being not much to really do on their way towards the temple at the River Iss, the group were able to learn about each other a bit more.</p>
  <p>Dejah and Sola were quite curious about this "iced cream" that appears to be an addictive obsession with the Nobody trio.</p>
  <p>Naturally, they had some on hand and handed their three new companions a bar.</p>
  <p>The Normandy squad had by this point long abandoned questioning just how they always have Sea-salt ice cream on hand.</p>
  <p>Dejah, greatly intrigued, took a bit too big of a bite…</p>
  <p>The brain freeze was quite amusing to see.</p>
  <p>Sola took Xion's advice into eating it more slowly. She hummed aloud, finding the taste to be quite enticing.</p>
  <p>Carter, however, declined such a treat as he wasn't feeling like having such a thing; despite how tempting it was with the hot climate outside. Fortunately for him, he was offered some military rations and the former Confederate officer greatly enjoyed it.</p>
  <p>Turns out there were some great improvements made to the usual military rations though they were from another world… reality… Planet? Regardless, they were different and tasted good.</p>
  <p>Throughout parts of their trip, the two Makos made the occasional run-ins with Heartless. Just about everyone within the vehicles took their own shots against the dark adversaries, more so with Carter, Dejah and Sola.</p>
  <p>With them traveling with the Normandy team, they needed to not only pull their weight but get better experience fighting against the Heartless.</p>
  <p>There were struggles with the new additions, no doubt about that.</p>
  <p>In the midst of these small skirmishes with the Heartless, the crew got a firsthand look at the absolute savagery Woola was able to inflict with her speed, size, strength and jaws.</p>
  <p>Goes to show how freaking scary and dangerous Woola could be when put into battle. Running all over the battlefield, leaping at the enemy mouth open and biting down <em>hard</em>.</p>
  <p>Wrex wanted to get a calot of his own by that point.</p>
  <p>It also helped that Stitch rode the calot into battle, the two… "pets" of the group annihilating large portions of Heartless on their own.</p>
  <p>One fight was essentially the team just watching the duo wreck shop.</p>
  <p>Amusing sight to see.</p>
  <p>Passing some time for some form of entertainment, a few of the Normandy team shared some stories of past missions they went through towards Dejah and Carter; both individually and once becoming a team.</p>
  <p>With some form of reluctance, John shared some stories of his military career in return as he thought it was somewhat fair. He didn't speak much of them, given the fact that most of the battles he took part in were not pleasant for the former Confederate captain to recount. While Wrex thought the excuse was pathetic, the others who were more militaristic understood where Carter was coming from and didn't pry anything further.</p>
  <p>Sola didn't exactly get interested in most of the spoken stories, given the fact she didn't feel connected per say. She was of a more simpler people as the Tharks don't follow much on technology as the highest form they work with quite often are their firearms. Of course Wrex was able to get through to her given their similar cultures and practices.</p>
  <p>Outside of what he heard from Ashley, Wrex learned more on the Tharks directly from Sola.</p>
  <p>Yes there were similarities between the Krogan and the Tharks. But unlike the clan system Wrex grew up in, the Tharks were a more communal system where there isn't a real "family" dynamic at all.</p>
  <p>Dejah sucked up every bit of information she could learn from the more scientifical members of the team, such as Liara and Tali.</p>
  <p>To think she would be so different than her book counterpart. From what Ashley could recollect, Dejah was a huge "damsel in distress". For argument's sake, she was written as a product of its time three hundred years ago with "men being men" and women having to be saved among other things.</p>
  <p>In a way, this version of Dejah was more believable than what Ashley depicted.</p>
  <p>A refreshing change of pace from the old stories.</p>
  <p>But now that she thought about it, she remembered the Grimm-esque worlds Roxas had spoken of and how they were a lot more different than the one's many kids had grown up with in the Alliance.</p>
  <p>So if that was different… and the possibilities of other fairy tales being real and altered to a degree from the galaxy the Nobodies came from, what else could possibly exist in the strange changed way.</p>
  <p>There will no doubt be far more headaches along the way.</p>
  <p>Then again… Ash was unfortunately growing accustomed to this.</p>
  <p>She should really consider seeing a psychiatrist. Or get some prescription for the headaches.</p>
  <p>Her sanity was at risk with the bullshittery she was dealing with nearly every day ever since joining the Normandy.</p>
  <p>When the time came to make camp for the night, Roxas had to take part in cooking up meals alongside Xion and Kaidan for the evening with what provisions they had on hand.</p>
  <p>Suffice to say the meal was quite enjoyable.</p>
  <p>As they gathered for the meal, the Normandy team had asked Dejah more about what it was that Sab Than possessed so they had more of an idea as to what it was they were dealing with.</p>
  <p>To begin with, Dejah had to discuss the eight Rays, which the Barsoomian technology derives from as it more or less confirmed a number of details from what Ashley learned from the novels. The Rays come from the Sun with them somewhat revolving the seven different wavelengths of the color spectrum with an additional one not categorized from Earth.</p>
  <p>The Eighth Ray, otherwise known as the Propulsion Ray, is what helps power their airships and fliers. This is done by storing large amounts of the Eighth Ray in buoyancy tanks, allowing their aircrafts to rise up from the ground and descend from the sky. This is what helped the residents of Barsoom to perfect their science in aviation.</p>
  <p>From there, Dejah went more in detail on what she learned on the Ninth Ray and the theories behind what she unearthed. They were more or less what the Normandy team learned earlier that day as a new power source with the possibility of helping terraforming Mars to what it once was.</p>
  <p>Now given what Ashley told some of the others, the Ninth Ray was never fully explained in the novels, much like some of the other ones. Yet this mysterious Ray was apparently far more special as it helped power something called the Atmosphere Plant to provide life for Barsoom.</p>
  <p>From what Ashley could remember in the books, this Atmosphere Factory was located in Helium as it helped create an artificial atmosphere that made life in Barsoom possible millennia ago when things were starting to go south.</p>
  <p>When theorizing a bit further, the Barsoomian technology appears to be quite similar to the Etherium technology with gathering solar rays and creating the artificial atmosphere around their ships and stations.</p>
  <p>That is where similarities end as apparently on this version of Mars doesn't appear to have an Atmosphere Factory at all.</p>
  <p>If Dejah is barely starting to uncover the secrets of the Ninth Ray -let alone proving its existence- then her people haven't been able to construct the Atmosphere Factory.</p>
  <p>If this was the case, then how was Barsoom breathable at all?</p>
  <p>Several of the members, the humans, felt a headache coming on but they were talked down by the rest of their friends not to focus on it. Otherwise they'd be here all day.</p>
  <p>"So what, you figure this temple is gonna have the Ninth Ray that Sab has?" Ash asked while some of the others were cleaning up.</p>
  <p>"Even if I don't find the Ninth Ray, there has to be something there." Dejah said, tone slightly desperate. "Anything that can help my people."</p>
  <p>"You truly care for your people, don't you?" Tali inquired.</p>
  <p>"Why wouldn't I? My family has done everything they can to make them happy for generations. And I am doing my part in continuing it, in my own manner."</p>
  <p>Garrus rubbed his chin with a thoughtful expression. "So you've been at this for a while now."</p>
  <p>"Longer now than it seems." Dejah said tiredly.</p>
  <p>"Normally a princess wouldn't be such a scientist." Carter remarked.</p>
  <p>"And do you know any princesses?"</p>
  <p>John found himself flushing slightly. "...Not exactly."</p>
  <p>Dejah merely shook her head a little.</p>
  <p>"I would rather be productive with my time by learning everything I can so my people and the rest of Barsoom can hopefully live a better tomorrow."</p>
  <p>"Quite the noble goal." Liara commented.</p>
  <p>The Heliumite then drifted more of her attention towards the aliens as she asked more about them and their respective cultures.</p>
  <p>Carter tried to pay attention to that particular conversation but found himself having trouble doing so.</p>
  <p>Focusing on Shepard, John spoke something which had crossed his mind earlier that day.</p>
  <p>"So what's your army like?" Carter asked the Commander who had her face scrunched up on thought.</p>
  <p>"Well we have our rank and all." Shepard remarked. "You're a Captain right?"</p>
  <p>The man held a rather far off gaze in his eyes.</p>
  <p>Something all too familiar to the Spectre.</p>
  <p>"Not anymore." John said bitterly. "Not really keen on going back even if I do get back home."</p>
  <p>Shepard silently regarded the Virginian soldier and simply looked forward after a few moments.</p>
  <p>"Do you think you'll get home?" Jane asked, making the Earther gaze at her with a conflicted look.</p>
  <p>"I… I don't know." John muttered. "Didn't you get here without trying to?"</p>
  <p>Shepard shrugged. "Yeah, for the most part. It was unintentional when we were investigating a disturbance."</p>
  <p>"And you're not worried about being stuck here?" John inquired.</p>
  <p>Jane scoffed with her lip twitching upwards. "We'll find our way back, no matter what."</p>
  <p>"How can you be so sure?"</p>
  <p>"Not our first rodeo."</p>
  <p>"Rodeo?"</p>
  <p>"Oh right, you don't know what that is yet." Shepard said. "It's not the first time we went to a place without us wanting to go there. Just as unintentional this time as it was last time."</p>
  <p>John gave her a bewildered gaze. "Sure."</p>
  <p>Shepard saw his slightly skeptical look. "In our line of work, we go through a lot of crazy shit. To the point that it becomes just another day of the week."</p>
  <p>Carter didn't answer at first.</p>
  <p>"Come on, have you seen what we've been fighting the past few hours?" Shepard said, nudging the man with her shoulder with John blinking and slowly letting the really, <em>really </em>insane situation he found himself in truly begin to sink in.</p>
  <p>"I just wanted to find some gold with my friend." John bemoaned aloud. "Not go to another planet!"</p>
  <p>Shepard couldn't help but laugh aloud at the man's plight.</p>
  <p>"That's a lot like how most of us reacted when we started hanging out with those three freakshows." Shepard said, thumbing over to the Nobody trio.</p>
  <p>The girl was speaking with a Princess who was enraptured with whatever it was the young brunette was telling her.</p>
  <p>The redhead and blonde were conversing with the strange plated alien and several of the other Normandy members.</p>
  <p>"What are they?" John found himself asking. "Are they human or…"</p>
  <p>"Eh~ they're a strange mixed bag to put it mildly." Shepard stated. "They were human at one point… but then they lost their heart."</p>
  <p>John went bug-eyed, snapping his head at the Spectre who cringed upon realizing what she said.</p>
  <p>"Alright, maybe that's not what I meant to say or should have said." Shepard admitted to herself and to him. "It's a complicated issue, dealing with odd magic mumbo jumbo to sum things up."</p>
  <p>"Can it be simplified?" John asked dryly.</p>
  <p>"No." Jane bluntly stated, the former Confederate soldier jolting back comically at such a curt answer.</p>
  <p>"They explained it to me extensively and even now I don't fully get it. Or accept it really." Shepard said flatly. "Magic ain't my forte."</p>
  <p>"Then what about your weapons?" John asked. "They seem magical."</p>
  <p>"That I can help out with. Sure they seem magical, to someone so technologically inferior but… no offense."</p>
  <p>"None taken."</p>
  <p>"We have a little guy back on our ship called a Moogle." Shepard said. "Name is Mosh. He's a weaponsmith I think. Or an enhancer really. Get him the right materials and any weapon or equipment ya got gets a noticeable boost in power and capabilities."</p>
  <p>Carter looked on in intrigue as Shepard patted her rifle on her back.</p>
  <p>"Now most of our weaponry is…"</p>
  <p>Time passed on throughout the night as the cooked meal was finished being eaten before most of the party went to sleep for the night while the rest began their shifts of the night watch.</p>
  <p>Over the night, Dejah Thoris had taken the time to speak with every member of the Normandy crew until she at last sat by John Carter who was undergoing his night shift.</p>
  <p>"What are you doing awake?" John asked, without looking at her as she sat next to him.</p>
  <p>"I find it difficult to do so." Dejah said with a small hum.</p>
  <p>John snorted slightly. "I thought after talking everyone's ear off the whole time, you'd be tired by now."</p>
  <p>"How can I?" Dejah asked, a glint of excitement in her eyes. "Everyone here has so much to tell, so much to learn from them."</p>
  <p>John couldn't deny that.</p>
  <p>"What about you, John Carter?" Dejah eyed him intently. "What can you tell me that they haven't already?"</p>
  <p>"Huh?"</p>
  <p>"You mention Jasoom." Dejah stated. "That's where you are from, correct?"</p>
  <p>"Earth?"</p>
  <p>"Earth?" Dejah repeated, recalling the name from the day before. "Why name a planet after dirt?"</p>
  <p>"Don't ask me, not a scientist." John remarked.</p>
  <p>"Still, what's your planet like?" Dejah asked, leaning towards him.</p>
  <p>Carter inclined back away a bit from the Martian Princess being so close but decided to humor her.</p>
  <p>"Well, you're gonna have to be more specific." John countered. "What do you want to know?"</p>
  <p>"Is Jasoom like this?" Dejah asked, gesturing at the arid land around them.</p>
  <p>"Some places, yeah." John said. "Few spots on Earth that are deserts."</p>
  <p>"A few?" Dejah said in wonder.</p>
  <p>"I'm not that knowledgeable in my geography outside of my home country. Even then there's still much to explore." John admitted.</p>
  <p>Dejah hummed a little. "I see. Is there in fact water on your planet?"</p>
  <p>John gave her a strange look.</p>
  <p>"Didn't we talk about this yesterday when Xion showed those pictures?"</p>
  <p>"We have but…"</p>
  <p>"You're not entirely sure." He could only see her nod for confirmation. "I can't say I blame you. What they have still keeps my head spinning."</p>
  <p>"Their technology still astounds me." She commented. "I could listen to most of them all day, teaching me of what they possess and I'd still have questions that'll last for weeks."</p>
  <p>John let out a snort. Before long he spoke what crossed his mind. "Maybe… you can visit <em>Jasoom</em> someday and see for yourself."</p>
  <p>"That seems highly unlikely." Dejah waved off.</p>
  <p>"I got here, didn't I?" John countered with her clamping her mouth shut. "If I can get to Mars somehow, you can come to Earth."</p>
  <p>"Another world?" Dejah murmured, eyes up towards the starry sky.</p>
  <p>John found himself chuckling. "You look like a kid."</p>
  <p>"What?" Dejah asked in confused amusement.</p>
  <p>"Only seen kids with that sorta look." Carter said. "The idea of ridiculous adventure and treasures just on the horizon. Something which truly excites them. You practically wore that same look earlier when talking to the others."</p>
  <p>"And what's wrong with that?" Dejah rhetorically asked, cheeks slightly puffing out.</p>
  <p>"Nothing actually. It's quite… nice."</p>
  <p>Dejah gave him a kind smile, flicking her hair back.</p>
  <p>Carter's expression became a bit more content now as the two continued to converse with one another.</p>
  <p>He kept making her smile and in some part, she did the same to him. On some moments when they had nothing else to say for a while, they would end up catching each other looking at the other. They'd quickly look away, trying to brush it off one way or another as some form of embarrassment.</p>
  <p>John tried to look perplexed as she tried to be skeptical, but their attempts failed which made each other smile a bit more.</p>
  <p>"You think there is in fact a temple at the River Iss?" He asked after what seemed like forever.</p>
  <p>"It wouldn't hurt to actually go there and see for ourselves if it's in fact real."</p>
  <p>"Then we're just going there as a hunch."</p>
  <p>"We've come this far, why stop now?"</p>
  <p>"True." John said simply. "After seeing the temple, I don't know where else to go."</p>
  <p>"You could come with me to Helium."</p>
  <p>"Pardon?"</p>
  <p>"After what knowledge I can find at the temple, if there is in fact one at the River Iss, I plan to make my return home." She informed him. "With what I might gain from the River Iss, I'd need to cross reference with what there is in Helium's archives."</p>
  <p>"Right… Say, yesterday, I remember you wanted to learn how those three and I can do what we could." John said to her as he briefly gestured to the Nobody trio. "And when we fought those creatures, I couldn't help but notice you had a peculiar look in your eyes."</p>
  <p>"...You did?" She then tried to play it off. "What was it about my eyes you were focused about?"</p>
  <p>"Just something which I know all too well from my time back in the army. A look of ambition and not the good kind."</p>
  <p>"What's wrong with ambition?" Dejah asked in a curious manner, not expecting such a question.</p>
  <p>"It can be all consuming. I've seen it." Carter revealed. "It's how it's used, Dejah. One's pride often blinding them of what's actually in front of them, only thinking to use an opportunity to their advantage. I've seen a number of men above my station wear such a look, seeking to gain an upper hand against our enemy."</p>
  <p>"But I'm not doing this to achieve something for myself." Dejah stated. "I wish to find the answers that can stop Sab's reign of terror and save Barsoom."</p>
  <p>"And how is that any different from getting the upper hand I just spoke of?" Carter rebuked.</p>
  <p>"He is doing this for personal glory and to satiate his ego." Dejah vehemently stated. "I'm doing <em>this</em> so that no one else will have to suffer from his destructive means of rule."</p>
  <p>Carter didn't respond for a few moments.</p>
  <p>"The road to hell is paved with good intentions, Princess."</p>
  <p>Dejah was stumped, trying to think of a good way of properly saying what was on her mind. But all she could do was look down.</p>
  <p>"I just... I need help. If it's possible for such methods to be taught, then perhaps my father can help pay for-"</p>
  <p>John shook his head. "I'm not for hire. I already fought enough lost causes for one lifetime. And I doubt our traveling companions are such a case as well."</p>
  <p>"They seem to be the kind that are willing to help." she fiercely countered.</p>
  <p>"Until they can find their way home like I do."</p>
  <p>Dejah felt much of her hopes sink.</p>
  <p>"My fight is not a lost cause." The Princess said with a burning passion. "I will find the answers to defeat Sab Than and save my people and all of Barsoom."</p>
  <p>"And are you ready for a loss if it comes to that?" John asked, a particularly dark look flashing across his face that genuinely startled the Princess.</p>
  <p>However, she was not to be deterred.</p>
  <p>"I've already lost enough of my people, John Carter."</p>
  <p>"Well I've lost <em>everyone.</em>" Carter shot back, expression now savage but also… forlorn and tired.</p>
  <p>Rather than recoil back, Dejah's face fell with a sympathetic look appearing.</p>
  <p>Without hesitating, she placed a hand upon his shoulder with the man opting to stare back at her with an intense rage in his eyes.</p>
  <p>Looking down to break away from his gaze, Dejah ended up pulling her hand back as if she was stung.</p>
  <p>"I'm sorry, John." Dejah quietly said.</p>
  <p>Without another word, Dejah got up and walked away so she could find someplace else to find solidarity before she drifted off to slumber.</p>
  <p>John still sat in his spot, feeling like a bastard at that moment. But he just snapped as old wounds surfaced.</p>
  <p>In an instant, flashes and sounds of the war bombarded his senses with him closing his eyes in an attempt to shield himself from these sights.</p>
  <p>But they only grew stronger as they became much clearer now.</p>
  <p>He was still grieving for the loss of life towards his men, his friends and his family. John just doesn't know how long it'll be before he can properly move on.</p>
  <p>
    <em>-Scene Cut-</em>
  </p>
  <p>Once again, the gaggle of strange and crazy individuals were back on the road again.</p>
  <p>Having managed to rest up the night before, the group was more or less ready for anything that may be thrown at them on their journey.</p>
  <p>However…</p>
  <p>There was a noticeably thick tension within the group.</p>
  <p>In particular, John Carter and Dejah Thoris.</p>
  <p>The latter had made it clearly known to the group by coldly walking by the former Confederate Captain and went straight over to the Mako that he would not be in.</p>
  <p>It was a rather awkward scene as many looked to Carter for an explanation but he simply avoided eye contact with everyone else and got into the Mako that didn't have the Heliumite princess.</p>
  <p>There were a few comments made that were quickly shut down by Shepard as she told everyone to get in and get going already.</p>
  <p>So once more the Mako's were on the road again with the drive being relatively uneventful other than the small Heartless skirmish here and there.</p>
  <p>Soon enough, the Makos came across a number of carved pillars signifying some sort of entrance. Beyond that was a river with a number of weaved boats pulled up against the shoreline.</p>
  <p>"The Iss." Spoke Sola as she climbed out of the Mako. "Here, pilgrims must leave behind all they have, all they know, never to return." She then muttered to herself as her gaze was ever distant. "May the Goddess find me worthy."</p>
  <p>"Pilgrims?" Tali murmured. "You have Pilgrimages?"</p>
  <p>Kaidan however focused on something else Sola spoke of. "They never return? That sounds rather depressing."</p>
  <p>"Can't say that I blame her people." Spoke Liara. "Before my people were able to learn how to use technology, my ancestors sought similar means of repentance, one way or another."</p>
  <p>"So what do we do here?" Tali asked. "What's the Pilgrimage like here?"</p>
  <p>Rather than answering straight away, Sola moved to walk away from the rest of the group and over to one of the many small row boats scattered about here.</p>
  <p>"Hey, where are ya going?" Ash asked in bewilderment.</p>
  <p>"My Pilgrimage starts here." Sola declared, not even turning to face them as she went over to the far side of the river shore.</p>
  <p>The rest of the team were standing by the water and seeing that it was clear, took a few quick drinks of it.</p>
  <p>"Water on Mars." Kaidan muttered in a low tone next to Shepard. "I know this is a story book and all, but still."</p>
  <p>"Yeah, trying to wrap my mind around it all." Shepard admitted openly.</p>
  <p>The two humans looked over to Dejah who stood with Liara in front of a stone crafter Thark that was on its knees in a prayer.</p>
  <p>It was then that the group heard scraping dirt and Ash and Tali's discouraging voices.</p>
  <p>"You can't go in there alone!" Tali vehemently said.</p>
  <p>"What are you thinking, Sola?" Came Ash's voice next.</p>
  <p>"Leave me be." Sola said firmly. "This is my journey, not yours."</p>
  <p>Everyone turned over to see Sola pushing Tali and Ashley away as she prepared a boat for herself.</p>
  <p>"Wait!" Bellowed John. Leaping towards the Thark, he landed beside her and stopped her. "What do you think you're doing?"</p>
  <p>"It is my way, Dotar Sojat, not yours." She tried to move the weaved boat into the water, but she was held back by John who pulled the watercraft back. "I must honor Tars Tarkus and redeem my unworthiness!"</p>
  <p>"By sending yourself to your death?" John asked incredulously.</p>
  <p>"It is the only path to redemption." Sola said heatedly.</p>
  <p>"What would Tars say about that?" Carter shot back.</p>
  <p>"I am doing this for him just as much as this is for myself." Sola held a far more fierce expression.</p>
  <p>"Why would you do that then?" Carter asked challengingly.</p>
  <p>"Because he is my father!" Sola shouted aloud until realizing what she had just said.</p>
  <p>Silence partially filled the air as just about everyone gazed upon Sola.</p>
  <p>"What did you just say?" John said slowly.</p>
  <p>"Sola just said Tars was her father."</p>
  <p>"Didn't she mention her people don't have a family system?"</p>
  <p>"Why would you say that, Sola?" Tali asked and Sola felt like being anywhere but her right about now.</p>
  <p>"You better explain what you mean, Sola." Shepard said with her arms crossed and a tone that brokered no arguments.</p>
  <p>The Thark looked around nervously, wishing to just leave right about now.</p>
  <p>She saw that now that she had spoken up, there was no real way out of this.</p>
  <p>Letting out a reluctant sigh, Sola regaled them with a brief tale about her connection to Tars.</p>
  <p>"My… mother kept my egg hidden from the rest of the tribe for five years. She couldn't bear to part with it as it was the symbol of how much she cared for my father. He found out about it and contributed in keeping me hidden until the gathering so he may help pass it off of my mother taking me in front of everyone else."</p>
  <p>"He protected you." Tali commented lightly though a gruff snort from Wrex cut the mood.</p>
  <p>"You telling me all those brand marks on her body count as the "protection" she was supposed to have?" Wrex gestured to her body with some cringing at the sight.</p>
  <p>For the first time, Sola really wished she had one of those black cloaks that the Nobody's had to cover her entire body.</p>
  <p>John saw all this and simply held up one of the paddles of the boat.</p>
  <p>"If you want to honor your father, then stay alive and help us. As far as I've seen you're the only one, out of everyone else in the tribe, worthy enough to truly follow him." Carter said with a great deal of Conviction.</p>
  <p>"At least see us through to finding the Gates. After that, then you can decide what honor is required." Shepard said, patting the tall aliens back.</p>
  <p>"Just to the Gates, then." Sola said after a few seconds of silence, taking the paddle into her hands.</p>
  <p>"So then," Axel clapped his hands together. "How are we doing this? Feels like we're overstaffed right now."</p>
  <p>"Good point." Tali said. "Pretty sure that these boats can't support all of us."</p>
  <p>"There's enough boats to go around." Ash pointed out.</p>
  <p>"But there are likely other Pilgrims who will need these as well." Dejah stated. "I feel that would be highly unfair for us to take so many like that."</p>
  <p>"And what about the Mako's." Kaidan added. "I'm not really keen on leaving them behind."</p>
  <p>"You don't have to worry about them." Wrex thumped his chest. "I'll stay behind."</p>
  <p>"You sure about that?"</p>
  <p>"Yeup."</p>
  <p>"Not alone you're not." Garrus declared. "I'll keep our sights covered."</p>
  <p>"Why you, Garrus?" Xion asked.</p>
  <p>"You ever seen a Turian swim before? I'll tell you now, it's not exactly pretty."</p>
  <p>"So the proverb of 'sink or swim' literally applies to your species." Commented Ashley.</p>
  <p>"Sad, but true."</p>
  <p>John went to one of the boats but heard the calot coming up to him.</p>
  <p>"Woola, stay!"</p>
  <p>The Calot warbled out in slight defiance but John's stern gaze cut her off.</p>
  <p>Atop her head, Stitch pat her head before letting out some gibberish that the Normandy team had grown accustomed to.</p>
  <p>"Don't know if Stitch will want to tag along." Roxas said, going over to rub Stitch's head.</p>
  <p>"Is there any reason why?" Carter asked, gazing at the blue furball.</p>
  <p>"He and water don't have the best relationship." Xion said, scooping up the little alien into a hug.</p>
  <p>"You mean he can't swim?" Dejah inquired.</p>
  <p>"Among other things." Xion said.</p>
  <p>"I'll also stick with the Mako's." Kaidan said. "If they need any repairs."</p>
  <p>"Ok, we've got our five who will keep watch over our rides when we come back." Shepard said. "Let's get going. We're burning daylight."</p>
  <p>Seeing the amount of people present, they decided to go into groups of three for each of the boats. And it was only with Shepard who ended up being the odd one out who stuck with the Nobody trio.</p>
  <p>Axel was tempted to use his fire to launch them forward which was shot down by a bonk on the head from Jane. Stating she didn't want to lose the others behind them, along with the fact their one boat wasn't exactly structured well to sustain such a force.</p>
  <p>And so, the large group paddled forward.</p>
  <p>As some minutes passed on buy, they ended up making a few odd turns as they had to make some decisions with varying forks in their path.</p>
  <p>"This is quite the maze, ain't it?" Axel remarked.</p>
  <p>"It'll take a while to actually find where we are going." Roxas murmured, gazing up at the high cliffs above.</p>
  <p>Quickly taking that to consideration, Shepard looked towards No. XIII.</p>
  <p>"Roxas, would you mind?"</p>
  <p>With a nod, Roxas crouched down and then leaped high into the air. The force he did in his wake rocked the weaved boat quite a bit, causing it to take on some water.</p>
  <p>Roxas could hear some complaints down below as he steadied himself in the air. Using the gift he received from Tinkerbell, he glided through the sky with utter ease. And in the far distance he saw some sort of structure which seemed out of the norm, prompting him to move towards it.</p>
  <p>Of course he couldn't go too far ahead and risk having the others loose him. Thus he slowed down and looked down to keep track of the maze-like path he was taking.</p>
  <p>Those of the Normandy crew had expected to see him use his Keyblade glider but were surprised to see him opting to apparently fly on his own.</p>
  <p>"He can fly?!" Yelled Dejah.</p>
  <p>"Yes."</p>
  <p>"Without a transport?!"</p>
  <p>"Also yes."</p>
  <p>"Can you please stop yelling? We all can hear you." Axel barked at her, rubbing his ears whilst Dejah still had her eyes on No. XIII above.</p>
  <p>"Follow that Nobody." Commanded Shepard.</p>
  <p>"I find the way you said that <em>highly</em> offensive, Shep."</p>
  <p>"Shut up and row, Axel."</p>
  <p>During the boat ride, the group ran into the occasional Heartless skirmish with aquatic enemies popping out of the water to surround their boats. Even with a number of airborne foes seemed to prove to be a challenge, due to their limited amounts of movements in their confined spaces.</p>
  <p>Carter had borrowed one of the firearms from one of his companions before they took off and was able to make a good number of shots. He admits his present weapon was much better than the muskets and pistols he was used to working with. Those took time to reload and every second count, especially in large battles back during America's Civil War.</p>
  <p>The firearm he was using now fired off more bullets than he could imagine in mere seconds and minutes with no actual means of reloading. He never got the chance to use one of those advanced firearms before as the first ones he'd seen were wielded by the Tharks and he couldn't exactly get his hands on one.</p>
  <p>This time, however, it felt like riding a horse as he vaguely knew what he was doing once recalling Shepard's lessons from last night and their past skirmishes with the Heartless.</p>
  <p>John did have to be careful with the overheating as he kept pulling the trigger. He soon felt the heat building up in his palms, almost making him drop the gun into the river on accident. But he soon laid off from firing so the weapon could start it's cool down period.</p>
  <p>Roxas eventually flew down on his transformed Keyblade and informed the group to keep rowing forward and to take the pathway on the left before flying back up into the skies.</p>
  <p>Nearing their targeted structure, Roxas had to blink a few times as he wondered if he was seeing things or if it were a trick of the light. Once rubbing his eyes a little, he saw he wasn't imagining things.</p>
  <p>Turning on his omni-tool, he spoke towards the others below.</p>
  <p>"I believe I see the Thern temple up ahead."</p>
  <p>"<em>Good to know, Roxas."</em></p>
  <p>Taking a brief circle around the temple, Roxas tilted his head in several angles as the shape of the structure looked oddly familiar.</p>
  <p>"But seeing it from up here, I swear the temple vaguely resembles the Millennium Falcon." He said, recalling the iconic spacecraft from the movie series he saw with some of the others the other day back on the Normandy.</p>
  <p>"<em>What's a Millennium Falcon?"</em> Asked Carter.</p>
  <p>The question from the former Confederate Captain was ignored as the others kept on rowing.</p>
  <p>Eventually, the entire group had arrived at the temple.</p>
  <p>"Well I'll be…"</p>
  <p>Dejah and John gazed onward to the enormous irregular structure before them. Soon after, Sola quickly knelt down and began praying just as the Heliumite rose to her feet.</p>
  <p>"Impossible," she said as their boats soon passed into its shadow, "I've never seen this kind of structure before."</p>
  <p>To the rest of the present Normandy team members, they saw the top outline seemed to indeed appear vaguely similar to the infamous spacecraft from the Star Wars franchise. Below that, the rock formation jetted down from a number of stalagmites, all meeting down to a narrow base which expanded towards the river's surface.</p>
  <p>"Huh… It does kinda look like the Millennium Falcon." Ash noted, eyes squinted with a hand over them as she gazed up at the structure.</p>
  <p>"How do we get up there?" Tali asked.</p>
  <p>They soon witness Roxas glide down to them and gently land on one of the boats.</p>
  <p>"You sure this is the temple? This place didn't look like the one back at the Thark settlement."</p>
  <p>"I'm pretty sure." Said Roxas. "And something is weird about the place."</p>
  <p>"Define <em>weird</em>."</p>
  <p>"Like when I was waiting for you guys, I was getting all kinds of odd readings from my omni-tool." Roxas said, activating his for the group to see.</p>
  <p>The Normandy crew followed suit and a moment later, they all saw that their devices had picked up on some unusual energy reading that they couldn't quite identify.</p>
  <p>"What is this?" Tali asked.</p>
  <p>"Well we won't find out from down here." Ash pointed out.</p>
  <p>"Good idea." Carter agreed. "I want to get a better look."</p>
  <p>This was all John said as he quickly grabbed Dejah in a bridal carry and jumped off the boat.</p>
  <p>Dejah shrieked on the sudden act, thinking that Carter had no qualms about manhandling her whenever he wished. And she fought really hard to not think about how strong his arms felt around her.</p>
  <p>"Seems John got the right idea." Axel said when a mischievous glint appeared in his eyes.</p>
  <p>Shepard agreed and was about to follow Carter's action when Axel swept her off her feet and she was held in a bridal carry within his arms.</p>
  <p>"What are you doing, AxEEEEEEEEEEEELLL!"</p>
  <p>Shepard was heard yelling all the way to the top as Axel made a particular intense jump with a great degree of speed.</p>
  <p>The rest of the crew began to openly laugh at the sound of the Commander screaming in that regard.</p>
  <p>Coming up to Tali, Roxas asked politely to help her get to the structure above. She accepted the offer as she didn't know if she would be able to stick the landing all that well. Grasping her hand, the pair took off into the air.</p>
  <p>In their wake, they didn't see Xion bore a look on her face.</p>
  <p>She had seen Axel do his little maneuver with Shepard which was amusing but seeing Roxas with Tali like that.</p>
  <p>There was this odd feeling that was hard to describe as she looked towards where Roxas and Tali flew towards.</p>
  <p>This was… a new sensation to describe.</p>
  <p>She didn't even know where it had come from.</p>
  <p>Shaking her head, the feeling had subsided upon hearing Liara and Ashley jump up to the others.</p>
  <p>Xion was the last to take off as she had asked Sola if she wanted to come with. Of course the Thark declined as she opted to stay behind before she continued to pray.</p>
  <p>When No. XIV arrived soon after, she saw Liara using her biotics to properly land onto the structure's surface.</p>
  <p>All around their feet, the surface didn't appear like any normal rock formation there was.</p>
  <p>Tali and Shepard were on their Omni-tools and making proper scans of the temple they stood upon.</p>
  <p>"You are right, Roxas. I'm getting all sorts of readings from this structure." Shepard said, trying to make sense of it all.</p>
  <p>Tali let out a small hum as she sifted through several readings that she had stored prior to coming here. "They seem quite similar to the cave we were in before we wound up on Barsoom."</p>
  <p>"Is there any way to get into this structure?" Liara asked. "I don't exactly see a way in."</p>
  <p>"All you have to do is ask."</p>
  <p>Drawing forth her Keyblade, Xion aimed Seashell Resonance right towards a space before them. With wisps of light gathering at its tip, a beam shot out and struck the far off surface. Not long after, a loud click was heard in the air as an unusual ripple effect was seen on the rocky surface. It caved in as a doorway soon formed some feet before them.</p>
  <p>"Whatever you did, Xion, you just caused an energy spike on this structure."</p>
  <p>Not much was said soon after as the party ventured forth to enter the newly formed doorway. Not wanting any surprises, a number of them quickly whipped out their weapons in case of anything.</p>
  <p>Upon entering the darkness, they soon witness blue light rolling down the corridor as they move. In fact, the light appeared to be of wirework of some kind.</p>
  <p>"This is not the work of the gods." Dejah said after getting a good look at the walls. "These are machines."</p>
  <p>Taking a better look at living wirework, Xion voiced her thoughts. "Carter, doesn't these look familiar to you."</p>
  <p>"They do, in fact." Said the former Confederate captain. "Sab Than's weapon."</p>
  <p>Dejah whirled her head towards the two, wondering what they exactly meant. Before she could answer, they were met with another wall blocking their path.</p>
  <p>Using her Keyblade once more, Xion caused it to recede to give them more space to move through. Moments later, they ended up in an enlarged space with faint blue light appearing all around them.</p>
  <p>Taking a look around, the group had spread out in hopes of finding anything to traverse further or finding any clues.</p>
  <p>For the time being, Liara and Tali had their omni-tools out and got quite the amount of readings.</p>
  <p>"This place…" Dejah's hands trailed over the strangely textured wall. "This place is far older than I had realized."</p>
  <p>Shepard however had a very strange feeling coming over her, squirming openly.</p>
  <p>Axel saw this. "You alright Shepard?"</p>
  <p>Jane didn't reply at first, taking a few moments to think over what she had just felt.</p>
  <p>"I… I don't know." Shepard said earnestly. "Something feels weird here. I don't know why I'm getting a strange sense of… It's not Deja Vu. It's something else."</p>
  <p>Before anyone could ask what it was that she had meant, the room became alight with energy.</p>
  <p>"What's happening?" Shepard asked.</p>
  <p>A few seconds earlier and slightly ahead of the others, John saw some kind of imprint on the ground and went forward to get a better look. He saw it was roughly shaped as the medallion that brought him to Mars.</p>
  <p>He would've inserted the object right then and there. Unfortunately, it was still with Tars Tarkus and John realized it would've been a waste of time to head back to the Thark settlement to get it back and put it back here.</p>
  <p>Fortunately for him, he was quick to figure out a work around.</p>
  <p>"Hey, Xion, Roxas." He called out to them. "Can either one of you come over here?"</p>
  <p>Xion, being the closest to the former captain, walked up to him.</p>
  <p>"Yes?"</p>
  <p>"Can you use your… sword thing and do that trick you did earlier on this?"</p>
  <p>Seeing where John was pointing towards, Xion quickly nodded and aimed. Soon after, another gathering of light wisps appeared at her Keyblade's tip before shooting towards the medallion imprint on the floor.</p>
  <p>The results were instant as the entire chamber lit up.</p>
  <p>"What'd you guys do?" Shepard asked, the team now standing around the glowing imprint.</p>
  <p>"Xion improvised." Roxas said cheekily.</p>
  <p>From the imprint, nine lines of blue light shot forward across the ground and spread out before stopping some distance away to form nine different orbs.</p>
  <p>"A spider…" John muttered to himself,</p>
  <p>It was like what he saw back in the cave back in Arizona. Except for the lights, they were mere carvings as they seemed to resemble a spider to him.</p>
  <p>"Amazing!" Liara said, her inner archeologist coming out as she began recording everything they were witnessing.</p>
  <p>"Nine… Nine rays. Nine!" Dejah was starting to become extremely excited as she realized all her research was in fact true. "The Ninth Ray is real!"</p>
  <p>"Nine?" Shepard murmured. "Like our Solar System?"</p>
  <p>"Pluto ain't a planet anymore." Ash said with a shrug. "Does the small P count?"</p>
  <p>"Has been in our history lessons even today." Shepard said, rubbing her chin. "Why not, they figure."</p>
  <p>The odd inquiry forming in Dejah's mind was soon squashed as she was releasing a fit of giggles.</p>
  <p>"I can't believe it, it's true. All of it is."</p>
  <p>"Calm down, Dejah. Don't want to have you go nuts on us." Shepard said, placing hands on her shoulders.</p>
  <p>John and Axel let out a snort of amusement when hearing that.</p>
  <p>Tali looked about all this with Liara kneeling beside her.</p>
  <p>"You know… I have this weird gut feeling that this blue light… it's familiar, isn't it?" Tali murmured. "And not from the cave back on Mars."</p>
  <p>Liara found herself oddly agreeing with her.</p>
  <p>Why was there such a bizarre feeling of them having seen this rather fluorescent blue light before.</p>
  <p>And since Shepard had mentioned it before, now the entirety of the present Normandy team shared this sentiment.</p>
  <p>As they stood within the chamber, this feeling of unusual familiarity was also akin to an uncomfortable pit in their stomach.</p>
  <p>It appeared that it was only them as the Virginian Captain and the Heliumite Scientist didn't share this feeling.</p>
  <p>"Don't you see? We can be able to harness the Ninth Ray now. This entire structure runs on Ninth Ray isolates." Proclaimed the Heliumite princess. "Mother Issus! Such power."</p>
  <p>"And yet Zodanga has it." Said Ashley. "I probably have a few guesses who supplied Sab Than it."</p>
  <p>Realization slowly crawled up Dejah as things dawned on her a bit more. "The Therns… They must be real." She then turned towards Carter. "And you… you are truly John Carter of <em>Earth</em>?"</p>
  <p>John nodded, smiling a little. "Yes, ma'am."</p>
  <p>Whatever bits of disbelief Dejah bore about him the other night seemed to crumble. And to him, it felt all so satisfying when seeing that look on her face.</p>
  <p>"Then all those ships that sail on the sea you and the others proclaim? You've seen them?" John nodded as his smile grew a bit more. "That… That must be a beautiful sight."</p>
  <p>"It truly is at times."</p>
  <p>When he took a step towards her, his foot activated the room around them. Soon the lighted diagram around them started to form into something all too similar to the others within the chamber.</p>
  <p>"Hey, look!" Ash pointed. "It is <em>our </em>Solar System after all."</p>
  <p>"Your Solar System." Liara said in confusion. "That feels… strangely limited."</p>
  <p>"What's that mean?" Jane asked with a quirked brow.</p>
  <p>Liara held a pensive and contemplative gaze.</p>
  <p>Gazing around the animated lights, John ended up stepping on what represented Mars. Right after his boot made contact with it, small lines jetted out to the other planets in the diagram. And along them was a peculiar script.</p>
  <p>Taking a closer look, a number of the group crouched down to inspect it, particularly the one connecting Earth to Barsoom.</p>
  <p>"What's it say?" Xion asked Dejah.</p>
  <p>"I'm not sure."</p>
  <p>"Okay, what do you think it says?"</p>
  <p>Taking a few more seconds of inspection, Dejah was able to roughly figure things out. "It appears to be a kind of technical diagram. Here is Barsoom, there is Jasoom. This glyph here, it's like our symbol for a transcription -a copy- set along these lines here. Between the worlds. Like-"</p>
  <p>Dejah struggled to come up with an example towards the others, but John was the first to voice one.</p>
  <p>"A telegram?" John whispered, leaning back and gazed down at his body. "Am… Is this just a copy of me here?"</p>
  <p>That one question certainly floored the others save for Dejah.</p>
  <p>"Wait…" Shepard looked at Axel. "If John's a telegram -if that's even to be believed- then what about us? Did the Alliance personnel back on our Mars ask you anything weird?"</p>
  <p>"Don't worry." Axel waved her concern off. "All that secondary copy seems to be for John-boy. We're all here. No copies."</p>
  <p>"How is that possible?"</p>
  <p>Thinking for a moment, Roxas remembered what John said two days ago. "Didn't you say the medallion you had on you brought you here?"</p>
  <p>John nodded before slowly realizing what the teenager was implying.</p>
  <p>"So whatever John had before was able to make <em>that</em> possible, huh?"</p>
  <p>"Possibly. Making these words here is the command for travel." Dejah kept looking at the symbols. She could read them, but in that second she realized she needed a second source. "I do not like guessing. I need more information. I need charts, codices." She whirled towards those of the Normandy team. "Can either of you-"</p>
  <p>"Way ahead of you." Said Xion, taking some photos of the script alongside Liara and Tali.</p>
  <p>Dejah gave them an appreciative nod as she would no doubt have a hard time trying to remember these symbols upon her return home.</p>
  <p>"Good. That will help me save the trouble when we head towards Helium when I make my research in the archives."</p>
  <p>"Are you certain about that?" John inquired before speaking in a mock tone. "Quick, let's just head on over to Helium." He grasped her arm and yanked her to her feet. "What do you take me for?"</p>
  <p>"I take you for a man who's lost."</p>
  <p>"I won't be lost if you just tell me how to work the medallion."</p>
  <p>Dejah yanked her arm away. "I will! But everything I need to understand how the medallion works is in Helium." She proclaimed in utter honesty. "I'm trying to get you back home to Earth. Isn't that what you want?"</p>
  <p>"...Yes."</p>
  <p>His answer didn't sound all to convincing as he looked away and used one hand to grasp his other.</p>
  <p>From what she could remember, there were a pair of rings worn there.</p>
  <p>During the ride this day, she had made an offhand inquiry about the significance of such a thing. The result didn't make much sense to her then, but she started to realize it now with what he spoke of last night.</p>
  <p>When he proclaimed he lost everything, it was rather apparent. John Carter lost someone truly close to him -a wife, a family- and he didn't know how to fully complete his time of grieving.</p>
  <p>"Wow." Axel drawled out. "Lying to yourself much?"</p>
  <p>"Shut up." Carter growled.</p>
  <p>"Hey now." Shepard said diplomatically. "No need to be hostile."</p>
  <p>"What I <em>need</em> is to get home." John barked.</p>
  <p>"Home to what?" Ash said with a rough edge to her tone. "What's waiting for you back home other than your crappy cave of Gold?"</p>
  <p>"None of your business." Carter shot back.</p>
  <p>"We're not blind, Carter." Shepard said, nodding her head at the two rings around his left ring finger. "You're not the only one who's lost people."</p>
  <p>"Have you ever lost everyone?" Carter asked, tone venomous.</p>
  <p>"Yes." Liara and Jane said simultaneously, jolting the Confederate Captain out of his momentary rage.</p>
  <p>Jane sighed, going over to the Captain and placing a hand on his shoulder.</p>
  <p>"Growing up, there came a moment in my life where everything I ever knew was ripped away from me." Shepard said solemnly. "I didn't really know what to do with myself. But someone I look to as a father found me and pulled me up to where I am right now."</p>
  <p>"I lost my mother." Liara said softly. "She was the only family I ever had. Until the Normandy. Until the friends I have now."</p>
  <p>Carter gazed at the two women, trailing his eyes over to the Operations Chief, Normandy Engineer and Nobody Trio with all of them giving nods of understanding.</p>
  <p>"We may have been born worlds apart, but I know you, John Carter." Dejah said softly as she stepped towards the former Virginian captain. "From the moment you caught me in the sky, I knew. I felt the heart of a man willing to lay down his life for others. A man willing to fight for a cause. Here, on Barsoom."</p>
  <p>She soon got into his personal bubble and Carter was having a hard time trying to push her away. The longing look he was receiving from the Princess nearly broke him right there.</p>
  <p>He was wrestling with what raged inside of him as he soon gazed at the rings he presently wore on his hand.</p>
  <p>John felt a weight upon his hand as if it were pulling him down.</p>
  <p>Clenching his fist tightly, he stepped away from the Princess and exhaled tiredly.</p>
  <p>An awkward air hung over the group as they were basically witnessing what Axel would describe as sap laced romance.</p>
  <p>The moment soon ended when they heard the sound of gunfire. The group quickly looked towards the source, soon bolting out of the chamber as the lights followed after them.</p>
  <p>When they left the dark passageway, the entrance sealed back up behind them just in time to see what appeared to be a massive army standing around the cliffside. And the source of the gunfire was coming from Sola down below.</p>
  <p>"Keelah, what are those things?!" Tali asked in shock at the sight of the rather savage looking Tharks that were hunched over, each sporting spears and sharp fangs.</p>
  <p>"Tharks?" Liara said in clear fright at the beastly looking Green Martians.</p>
  <p>"Worse." Dejah said in dread. "Warhoons. They make Tharks look akin to Woola in comparison."</p>
  <p>"Lovely." Shepard wryly said.</p>
  <p>Axel however found his gaze upon a very unusual sight standing among them.</p>
  <p>"Who's that with them?" Axel asked with a cold tone.</p>
  <p>The team all turned to where No. VIII was looking at and all saw a bald man in greyish white robes and a blue light from his chest.</p>
  <p>"Is that someone from Zodanga?" Tali asked Dejah who only shook her head.</p>
  <p>"N-no." Dejah's eyes widened in shock as she slowly pieced together the man's appearance. "That's a Thern with them."</p>
  <p>"Therns." Ash repeated. "Like those messengers from your Goddess you spoke of?"</p>
  <p>"The very same." Dejah confirmed.</p>
  <p>"Ah, so those bastards are actually a bunch of assholes." Axel said, calling forth his Chakrams. "Wonderful."</p>
  <p>"Are they the bad guys in this?" Jane subtly whispered to Ash and before she was able to say anything, hundreds upon hundreds of Heartless appeared amongst the ranks of the Warhoon.</p>
  <p>"Yeah, definitely the bad guys." Roxas said aloud upon seeing this, Keyblade flashing into his hand.</p>
  <p>Before they were able to do anything, their comms pinged and in came the voices of their friends who stayed behind.</p>
  <p>"<em>Shepard?!"</em> Kaidan's strained voice was heard, gunfire being heard in the background.<em> "We're in trouble here! Heartless and these mean Thark look-alikes are starting to swarm the Mako's!</em>"</p>
  <p>"What's happening?" Shepard asked in alarm.</p>
  <p>"<em>Heartless. Tharks. Assholes. Fighting."</em> Was the response of the Krogan Battlemaster, the sound of him swinging his hammer around quite clear to hear.</p>
  <p>
    <em> <strong>-Insert John Carter: Carter They Come; Carter They Fall-</strong> </em>
  </p>
  <p>"We need to get over there <em>now.</em>" Axel stressed.</p>
  <p>"Xion, get Sola and jump right after us." Shepard ordered with No. XIV wordlessly falling down to the boat Sola was on and picked her up.</p>
  <p>John scooped Dejah into a bridal carry whilst the rest began to jump forward with all their might in the direction back towards the start of the river pass. It took a number of minutes for them to arrive back in time to see the Alliance vehicles in the distance.</p>
  <p>Eventually, they reached the shore where they had started and saw up ahead their friends fighting viciously to keep back the oncoming swarm.</p>
  <p>"<em>GO!" </em>Shepard screamed and the entire team ran forward with their enhanced anatomies due to being on Mars being used to full effect.</p>
  <p>Axel was the first to reach them as he had basically glided at high speeds over to several Heartless and Warhoon that were about to get the jump on Kaidan.</p>
  <p>"<em><strong>BURN!"</strong></em></p>
  <p>Chakrams engulfed in flames, they burnt the enemies to ashes in an instant.</p>
  <p>Kaidan looked back at the red head and gave him a nod of thanks before unleashing a Biotic shockwave to get some breathing room.</p>
  <p>Xion came crashing down in spectacular fashion atop a tidal wave, utilizing the water from the river that she had called upon with her Keyblade.</p>
  <p>Roxas glided over the Heartless and Warhoon that were not taken out by the wave and casted a powerful Thundaga that decimated those that remained.</p>
  <p>Ashley unleashed a torrent of her inferno rounds, clearing up some foes around Stitch who was using all his limbs to bash away any who came close.</p>
  <p>Tali fired off repeated Omni-Bolts in rapid succession whilst shooting any that were close by with her shotgun.</p>
  <p>Liara's Biotics were in full force, pushing multiple Heartless and Warhoon away to make space for the group.</p>
  <p>"Everyone, get into the Mako's." Shepard shouted, shooting a Warhoon in the face to kill it.</p>
  <p>They rushed in as fast as they were able to. Once all were inside, the Mako's drove as fast as possible with the Warhoons right on their tail now with the added legion of Heartless.</p>
  <p>The Warhoons were having a difficult time in keeping up with the Mako's.</p>
  <p>The Heartless however…</p>
  <p>"Son of a bitch!" Shepard shouted as a beam from one of the large Heartless blew up next to her Mako.</p>
  <p>"We're not outrunning them!"</p>
  <p>"Fast bastards, they are."</p>
  <p>For what felt like forever, the Alliance vehicles were put into high gear of making their attempts of losing their pursuers. If it weren't for the Heartless, then things could be smooth sailing.</p>
  <p>Yet with their continued onslaught, they were having a difficult time of fleeing for their lives.</p>
  <p>Coming to a decision, John realized what needed to be done.</p>
  <p>Quickly climbing out of the Mako, he leaped off as the two Alliance vehicles skidded to a stop.</p>
  <p>"What the hell are you doing?!"</p>
  <p>John ignored them as he started slashing and firing upon a number of Heartless as the Mako's started giving him some support.</p>
  <p>"Get Dejah and Sola out of here!"</p>
  <p>"Carter!" Dejah shrieked from within one of the land vehicles.</p>
  <p>Images flashed before Carter's eyes as he remembered what befell upon his life.</p>
  <p>His men and allies being slain by gun and cannon fire, all because he was too late to reach them. His wife and daughter died, all because he was too late to make it back home. Powell died back at the "Spider Cave", all because he was too late in reacting in time to save him.</p>
  <p>"I was too late too many times. I won't be again." Was all he said before he started to run away from the Alliance vehicles.</p>
  <p>"CARTER!"</p>
  <p>John ignored Dejah's pleas of returning, but he couldn't. He needed to help give the others time of making it out of there and to safer grounds.</p>
  <p>He soon realized that Woola was running beside him as the calot was snarling along the way. He then stopped as he barked out a command. Stitch was standing atop his head and within Stitch's four arms were two short spears and swords that he had "borrowed" from the Warhoons.</p>
  <p>"Woola, Stitch, go back!"</p>
  <p>Yet the calot and experiment ignored him as they chose to stay with him.</p>
  <p>"Go damn you!"</p>
  <p>Once more, they ignored him.</p>
  <p>Turning back, Carter gazed intently on the oncoming swarm of Warhoon and Heartless, leg shaking as he was ready to fight, here and now.</p>
  <p>
    <em> <strong>*Thump*</strong> </em>
  </p>
  <p>John's head whipped over to his side to see the hulking mass of Urdnot Wrex with Woola by his side.</p>
  <p>"Don't think for a second you're keeping the fun to yourself." Wrex declared, gravity hammer in hand.</p>
  <p>"This isn't your fight." Carter said.</p>
  <p>"Unfortunately, it is." Roxas said, surprising the man as he stood by his side with Xion and Axel with them.</p>
  <p>The last of them to join up were, surprisingly, Kaidan and Ashley.</p>
  <p>"What are you two sticking around here for?" Axel asked.</p>
  <p>"Shepard told us to make sure we bring you back in one piece." Ashley said, prepping her weapon. "The rest will get the Princess back to Helium."</p>
  <p>"We just need to make sure to pull your ass out of the fire if you get too excited." Kaidan remarked, readying his assault rifle before flaring his biotics.</p>
  <p>"Aren't we all like that?" Axel cockily asked, wisps of flames beginning to emanate off of his body.</p>
  <p>Light shone off Roxas' as well as Xion though she had what looked like wisps of the wind and water mixed in with her own aura.</p>
  <p>"You guys ready for this?" No. XIII asked, only receiving grunts for answers as everyone positioned themselves at the ready.</p>
  <p>When the massive collective of Warhoon and Heartless came ever closer, Carter was the first to leap into death with a furious roar.</p>
  <p>Wrex followed afterwards with a war cry of his own. Barreling straight forward into the horde with Axel conjuring a raging inferno as he went right alongside the Krogan.</p>
  <p>Ashley leapt high into the air along with Kaidan and the duo began reigning down combined fire, killing and destroying Heartless and Warhoon. Even with biotics exploding left and right from the onslaught.</p>
  <p>Roxas yelled out and slashed right through a dozen enemies.</p>
  <p>From his body was an explosion of light pillars that tore through multiple Heartless and Warhoon around him.</p>
  <p>He instantly reached down for his Limit and began slicing right through the enemies left and right as blue blood and blackened whisps filled the air.</p>
  <p>Xion twirled her Keyblade over her head with wind and water whipping up around her. The swirling torrent of the two elements were making it difficult for any enemy to get through to her.</p>
  <p>That, and Stitch was tearing apart any and all who dared try to get close to her.</p>
  <p>Once she had gathered enough of the two elements, Xion felt herself lift up off the ground and float upwards.</p>
  <p>Grinning, she thrusted her Keyblade and entered into a corkscrew spin with the water and winds fusing together to form a devastating twister that shredded apart any and all that Xion went through or were close enough to be killed/destroyed.</p>
  <p>Over with Axel, he let out a mad laugh as his Chakrams spun rapidly around him. Throwing up his arms, pillars of fire erupted out from the ground and incinerated any and all that had the misfortune of being within Axel's area.</p>
  <p>From the outskirts of the fight was Woola, running in and out of the literal cluster fuck with Stitch having rejoined the speedy Calot.</p>
  <p>Wrex was spinning his gravity hammer all around his body in large sweeping arcs that killed any that got close to him.</p>
  <p>Kaidan was using his Biotics in rapid succession, feeling a stress building upon his body.</p>
  <p>Though his body was beginning to protest, Kaidan fought in a relentless manner.</p>
  <p>This was much like what happened in the past two incidents on the Citadel, from Sovereign and Lexaeus attacking, respectively.</p>
  <p>What he had not realized was the growing intensity in the Biotic warps, pulls, pushes and stasis fields he kept firing.</p>
  <p>He didn't even realize he fired those stasis fields. They just came out of him naturally.</p>
  <p>The bluish aura of Biotics around him began to spike and radiate with a different sort of energy now.</p>
  <p>His Biotics were coming out in a more rapid and powerful capacity.</p>
  <p>Much became more fiercer and stronger than he could ever imagine.</p>
  <p>Some of the Warhoon and Heartless got a bit too close for comfort and in an instant, Kaidan bellowed out and threw his hands to his sides.</p>
  <p>A biotic dome that was surprisingly electrified shot out from the human that gave the Alliance marine a wide berth between him and the swarm.</p>
  <p>Falling to his knees, Kaidan wheezed and coughed, at last feeling the built up strain upon his body.</p>
  <p>His vision was slightly blurry but Kaidan could clearly see the intense aura radiating off his body that were his Biotics.</p>
  <p>He was well aware that they were not supposed to do that.</p>
  <p>Thinking for a moment, Kaidan felt something swell within his very being.</p>
  <p>Within the core of who he was.</p>
  <p>"<em>A little Insurance, if you will." </em>Came the aged, wizened voice of the mystic from the Mysterious Tower the Normandy Team had met recently. <em>"Taking them into you will unlock the latent potential for greater power you all have yet to achieve."</em></p>
  <p>"Holy fuck." Kaidan whispered, now realizing just what it was he and his friends had been gifted.</p>
  <p>He didn't know if this was the true capacity of the mixture of the gifts he received from both Della and Yen Sid, respectively.</p>
  <p>Not that he was complaining at all as he was more focused at the fight at hand.</p>
  <p>An arrogant part of himself thought he was like a biotic god, but that was quickly squashed down as he had to help his friends and companions fight off this enemy horde around him.</p>
  <p>But dammit was he tired.</p>
  <p>Thankfully, his saviors came in the form of Ash and Xion jumping next to him and grabbing him by his arms to jump out from a literal swarm wave that would've buried him.</p>
  <p>"Thanks." Kaidan said tiredly with his exhaustion quickly alleviated by a Cura from Xion.</p>
  <p>Landing in a temporary safe spot, the Alliance marine applied some Hi-Ethers as his biotics were able to be replenished. Once done he went back into the fight at hand.</p>
  <p>Within the center of the fight were Roxas, Xion and Carter, back-to-back as they cut and sliced any and all that were in their range. Xion had seen them after helping Kaidan and jumped over to their side, being enough to stem the tide just a bit more.</p>
  <p>As he slashed, cleaved and shot at the enemy, Carter released every bit of pent up rage he welled up inside of him. It gave way to the grief and sorrow buried deep within his heart as his mind flashed to the ones he failed to save.</p>
  <p>It was unhealthy for him to keep all that back for what felt like forever, but now he was curing that by unleashing everything as he fought to protect the others who were fleeing the battlefield.</p>
  <p>In his time of fighting, he worked alongside his companions. He couldn't make heads or tails of what feats he was now performing as everything started to become a blur to him. Arcs and explosions of light exploded off from his body several times until it just kept coming out nonstop.</p>
  <p>And it happened as soon as he solely fought by Roxas' and Xion's side.</p>
  <p>Frankly, John didn't care by this point as he had seen enough crazy shit for a dozen lifetimes.</p>
  <p>As long as he kept on fighting and killing these foes so the rest would be safe, then was all that mattered.</p>
  <p>After all, he had nothing else left to lose now.</p>
  <p>What John had performed were a number of Limit Breaks with the Keybearers. His sword became ever sharper and his borrowed firearm didn't give him much trouble for a time. But when it did as the weapon started to greatly overheat, John threw it into the path of one of Axel's fire blasts, causing a massive explosion to occur to clear out a good dozen or so enemies.</p>
  <p>With his other hand free, John procured a bladed weapon from one of the fallen Warhoons before it too became sharpened as he worked alongside the Keybearers. They worked off against each other as they used the other as impromptu springboards for added effect to quickly slice and cleave through the masses.</p>
  <p>Minutes flew on by and the assembled party was quickly starting to tire. They were not fully prepared for this as they've begun to be overwhelmed.</p>
  <p>Sooner or later, they might be slaughtered as they didn't have a possible means of returning to the others in one piece.</p>
  <p>The Nobody Trio were utilizing their Limit Breaks to their full extent, Wrex felt his enhanced Krogan strength being pushed further and further. Kaidan's Biotics were exploding off him though with great strain to his body.</p>
  <p>Ashley's gun was starting to get worn down with the excessive use of her burning and inferno round but that didn't deter her in the slightest.</p>
  <p>Woola and Stitch were starting to respectively run out of juice with the slaughter they were performing.</p>
  <p>But one slip up was all it took.</p>
  <p>Carter was nicked in the shoulder and he jolted forward and stumbled down to the ground.</p>
  <p>The others turned to see this and that was all that was needed for the enemies to begin to properly overwhelm them with their numbers.</p>
  <p>Warhoon and Heartless snagged onto every limb of the fighters thought they were thrashing about, launching any that grabbed them right off of them.</p>
  <p>If that wasn't enough, a shadow soon passed overhead when the explosions went off.</p>
  <p>
    <em> <strong>*KABOOM*</strong> </em>
  </p>
  <p>
    <em> <strong>*KABOOM*</strong> </em>
  </p>
  <p>
    <em> <strong>*KABOOM*</strong> </em>
  </p>
  <p>
    <em> <strong>*KABOOM*</strong> </em>
  </p>
  <p>
    <em> <strong>*KABOOM*</strong> </em>
  </p>
  <p>And everything went black...</p>
</div>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Whew, this one was a rollercoaster.</p><p>Two out of the three done and done for this arc and we still haven't gotten to the main event just yet.</p><p>As you can see, we're steering the story of John Carter in a different direction as a set number of events have not happened yet.</p><p>Naturally, things have changed.</p><p>And now that I think about it… I think this is something that needs to be said for all the stories that J and I work on together.</p><p>ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING YOU EXPECT TO HAPPEN AND WANT NEED TO BE THROWN OUT THE WINDOW.</p><p>Naturally, certain interactions and moments can be excluded from this statement but many of the canon events of what you are all familiar with won't happen the way that you think.</p><p>Jebest4781: We will see more of these changed events soon enough with what have been thought of to affect the story at large.</p><p>FMW: I mean, we already derailed the whole Kingdom Hearts Canon within eleven chapters of this story. And same with Mass Effect. The best way I could say to describe the future stories, arcs and such are templates. We use the familiar that many of you already know and put our spin and canon divergence into it all.</p><p>Jeb: After all, it often gets boring to see the expected to occur, but the unexpected makes things rather grand.</p><p>FMW: Indeed. And this doesn't just apply to this story. It applies to everything Jeb and I have that we've worked on together and separately.</p><p>Jeb: Asides from that, we hope you are all staying safe out there and having a good time wherever you are with whatever struggles you're experiencing, respectively. We know we are as things are often a total bitch.</p><p>FMW: From the two of us, stay safe and stay strong. Feels like we'll be out of this Bullshit lockdown soon enough. Hang on comrades. Hang on.</p><p>Rate Read and Review and as Always Have Nice Day.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0028"><h2>28. Red Rampant Planet</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p></p><div class="xcontrast">
  <p></p>
  <div>
    <p></p>
    <div>
      <p>
        <strong>Ok, Jesus fuck this one took a lot longer than we thought.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>But hey, we got it done.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Rate Read and Review and As Always Have Nice Day.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>I'm Nobody Chapter 28: Red Rampant Planet</p>
      <p>When he started to stir away, Carter could barely tell it was dark and clammy. From the feel of the air to the lighting of his present environment.</p>
      <p>Memories soon flickered to the forefront of his mind of what he last remembered.</p>
      <p>Reaching the River Iss temple and learning a number of things.</p>
      <p>Fighting the Warhoon and Heartless in an open field.</p>
      <p>Explosions…</p>
      <p>And then nothing.</p>
      <p>John wondered where he was exactly at. He thus started to move a bit in hopes of knowing where he presently resided.</p>
      <p>For a moment, he could quickly tell he wasn't underneath a large pile of corpses due to him not suffocating or being crushed to death by lack of air or weight.</p>
      <p>And that was when the headache arose all too sharply.</p>
      <p>"Hey~ you're awake."</p>
      <p>John groaned aloud; vision blurry as he took stock of where he was right now.</p>
      <p>There were cold metal clamps around his wrists and ankles so suffice to say he was chained up. He could move his arms kinda freely but not stretch them out to their full length.</p>
      <p>But he figured with Mars' giving his body enhanced strength, John would be able to rip these chains off in a moment.</p>
      <p>"Come on John, hurry up." Said the familiar laid back voice. "Been bored here by myself."</p>
      <p>"Axel?" Carter muttered. "That you?"</p>
      <p>"Glad to know you memorized my voice." The fiery redhead said cheerfully.</p>
      <p>"It's hard to forget." Carter mumbled, shaking his head as his vision now cleared.</p>
      <p>Blinking out some of the stars in his eyes, John looked up and saw that he was in a prison cell of some kind and that he appeared to be alone for the most part.</p>
      <p>Save for the man clad in the black cloak casually sitting down next to him without any chains.</p>
      <p>John took a moment to look around the cell and didn't find any other set of chains inside.</p>
      <p>As a matter of fact, this cell seemed designed to primarily hold one person judging by its size.</p>
      <p>Which meant…</p>
      <p>"How'd you get in here?" Carter asked in confusion.</p>
      <p>"Teleportation." Axel shrugged. "Been awake for a while. Soon as I heard you moving around, came over here."</p>
      <p>"Where are the others?" John's tone conveyed concern.</p>
      <p>Axel simply looked on ahead causing Carter to do the same.</p>
      <p>Across from the cell he currently occupied with No. VIII, John spotted the brown and now messy hair of Ashley Williams.</p>
      <p>The young lady was dozing off with her down and back against the wall.</p>
      <p>"Ash." John called out to her when he felt Axel place a hand upon his shoulder.</p>
      <p>"Don't wake her up." Axel advised. "She and the others need to catch up on some beauty sleep. They'll be fine."</p>
      <p>John looked at the Nobody incredulously. "You can't seriously consider leaving them here?"</p>
      <p>Axel shrugged noncommittedly. "They got what we got. Once they wake up, they'll break out and cause some trouble before we split."</p>
      <p>The Earther's concerns were hardly alleviated. "Weren't they overwhelmed like us?"</p>
      <p>No. VIII gave him an iffy hand gesture.</p>
      <p>"Nothing like a quick nap and a few Cure spells won't do to get them back up to fighting strength. They're tough. No need to worry about them."</p>
      <p>Carter let out a sigh as he leaned back against the wall, not really in the mood to be arguing with Axel who seemed nonplussed about the fact that…</p>
      <p>"Wait… where the hell are we?"</p>
      <p>"Zodanga."</p>
      <p>"Zodanga?" John repeated in bewilderment. "How the hell did we get here?"</p>
      <p>"Captured." Axel said. "When I woke up, took some time to scout the place out on the basic layout. Didn't know it was a moving city. Kinda cool to look at really." The Nobody then shook his head with a chuckle. "Dejah could've informed us of that interesting detail…"</p>
      <p>"You left your cell earlier just to scout?"</p>
      <p>"Yeah, pretty much."</p>
      <p>"Why not go find the others for help?"</p>
      <p>"Do you think we need help?"</p>
      <p>"We're in enemy territory." John stated. "Shouldn't our friends know?"</p>
      <p>"Oh, so they're <em>our </em>friends now, huh?"</p>
      <p>"You know what I mean, Axel." Carter groused out. "Seriously, if you already busted out of your cell, why didn't you get us all out?"</p>
      <p>"Recon, remember?" Axel said, tapping the side of his head. "Wanna get a layout of the city and the folks living here. I know that we'll run into that Sab guy soon and wanna get a gauge of him. See what we're up against. Also, Heartless appeared. Someone here most likely is controlling or pointing them in our direction."</p>
      <p>"That seems a bit… complicated." John admitted with a flat face.</p>
      <p>"Nothing is ever simple in these sorts of situations, Johnny boy." Axel stated, patting the man's shoulder. "Not to mention the fact that once we get out of our cells, we need a proper escape plan and a viable way of getting away from this moving city."</p>
      <p>"Can't we just jump outta here like usual?"</p>
      <p>"...You need to realize they have flying vehicles. If pushed hard enough, they could perhaps catch up to us."</p>
      <p>"So?" Carter said. "You guys have magic. You literally helped me take on an army Axel, I think a few flying machines won't cause that much trouble for ya."</p>
      <p>"That's beside the point. Just one of several things I had to consider that could hamper our escape."</p>
      <p>"Axel, what's this really about?" John asked frustratedly. "Why make all this crap up? I know we can leave at any given time with what we're capable of."</p>
      <p>"Alright, alright, I just don't wanna leave just yet." Axel said truthfully. "While we were out, the Zodangans stole our stuff."</p>
      <p>"How'd they steal your stuff?" John asked in bewilderment.</p>
      <p>"Not <em>everything</em> is magically tied down onto our persons."</p>
      <p>"What about your weapons?"</p>
      <p>"Oh, that? Pfft, please," Axel instantly conjured one of his Chakrams. "Like they could steal these."</p>
      <p>The weapon vanished in an instant with a flicker of flames.</p>
      <p>"Aside from myself, Roxas and Xion; I'm actually more concerned with the others. I am glad their armor was left alone, given how hard it is to remove in the first place. Yet their weapons were taken as I bet you whatever Zodangan scientists there are will wanna dismantle and see what makes them tick before making shoddy attempts for mass production. I'll need to track down where they're located and retrieve them." Axel then let out a snort.</p>
      <p>John nodded as he slowly understood the situation of that predicament.</p>
      <p>"There's also… something else." Axel said cryptically. "Something rather off about this place."</p>
      <p>John raised a brow at those words. "What do you mean?"</p>
      <p>He didn't respond to the Virginian at first as he briefly contemplated on his time he had spent here.</p>
      <p>"See, an old acquaintance of mine had this nifty little trick of his." Axel vaguely said. "He could pick up on people's "scents", if you could call it that and usually figure out where they are?"</p>
      <p>"Scent?" John's brows furrowed in thought. "What, like an animal or something?"</p>
      <p>"Yeah, kinda." Axel nodded. "But not in the way you know. The "scents" my old acquaintance picked up on were… how do I call it? Their energy source? Their affiliation? Something along those lines."</p>
      <p>"Huh?"</p>
      <p>Axel rolled his eyes, coming up with something John can understand. "You know how campfires can be seen and smelled for miles away?"</p>
      <p>"Uh… yeah?"</p>
      <p>"Think of every living being as having a fire inside them. Their soul, their energy source within." Axel elaborated. "This ability I've been working on in duplicating allows me to detect or pick up on people's "scents" or their energy signature. Make sense?"</p>
      <p>John mulled it over briefly until he slowly nodded as he started to make several internal correlations of his own for him to better understand it.</p>
      <p>"Yeah…"</p>
      <p>"So recently, while I was roaming the streets of this place for our exit strategy, I picked up on a strange scent here." Axel said. "I was actually surprised at how easy it was considering just how many people were there. This scent stood out like a sore thumb and it was coming from all over and one place at the same time."</p>
      <p>"What?"</p>
      <p>Axel groaned. "There's someone or something here that's really, really old and really, really powerful. Do you get that?"</p>
      <p>"Ok, ok, I'm not stupid." Carter said placatingly. "I haven't been exposed to a lot of magic in case you didn't realize."</p>
      <p>The redhead snorted. "Clearly."</p>
      <p>John shook his head. "Ok, so what's the plan then?"</p>
      <p>Axel opened his mouth to answer when his face became sharp.</p>
      <p>His eyes narrowed and looked ahead.</p>
      <p>"I'll keep in touch." Axel said and in an instant, he teleported away.</p>
      <p>"Hey, wait-"</p>
      <p>John's attempt came too late as No. VIII was no longer around. He wondered why he left so suddenly and it utterly frustrated him as he was being left in the dark all too soon.</p>
      <p>"Axel you bastard." John growled under his breath when his ears twitched.</p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>*Thip* *Thip*</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>'Footsteps.' John internally said to himself.</p>
      <p>A moment later, several armored Zodangan guards stood before John's cell with one opening the bars.</p>
      <p>"Come on, White worm." One guard said gruffly. "Sab Than wishes to speak with you."</p>
      <p>As much as John would like to break out of his bindings and thrash at his captors, he started to notice a few things.</p>
      <p>John quickly looked around and saw that while Ashley was in one cage, Kaidan was in another.</p>
      <p>But where was Xion, Roxas and Wrex?</p>
      <p>And Woola and Stitch for that matter?</p>
      <p>"Hey." John glanced at one of the guards who didn't respond to him. "HEY! Where are my friends?"</p>
      <p>"None of your concern if you wish for them to stay alive." The guard said, shoving him forward.</p>
      <p>"They're kids, dammit, leave them-" John suddenly seized up, a constricting feeling around his throat.</p>
      <p>'What?' John mentally panicked.</p>
      <p>His eyes shifted down and they widened at the sight of strange markings appearing all over his body. They were faint in the darkness, but when the light started to hit his flesh, he saw them quite clearly.</p>
      <p>"Let's not get ahead of ourselves, John Carter." A sinister voice said from behind. "You'll see your friends soon enough. Just as soon as we're done with them."</p>
      <p>John's mind whirled about with activity, fear and anger spiking in his mind. Not to mention the fact his body was forcefully being moved against his will. It was a terrifying feeling to say the least, having absolutely no control over your body.</p>
      <p>"If… you… hurt… them…" John choked out, despite this strangling sensation around his throat.</p>
      <p>"Hush now."</p>
      <p>He felt the constriction around his neck tighten, silencing him instantly.</p>
      <p>Next thing he knew was the guard beside him started to shift and change into the robbed bald albino he saw back outside of the River Iss temple, the Thern as Dejah referred to him.</p>
      <p>Yet the other guards didn't even bat an eye at this shapeshifter. As a matter of fact…</p>
      <p>It was like they couldn't even see him.</p>
      <p>"Come on men." The bald man said, using the gruff voice he had heard earlier. "Sab Than wants to see this one up close and personal."</p>
      <p>Carter blinked and once again, he saw a Zodangan guard standing before him.</p>
      <p>Were his eyes playing tricks on him?</p>
      <p>What in the world was going on?</p>
      <p>"What of the others?" Asked one of the guards.</p>
      <p>"Their turn will come later."</p>
      <p>That answer didn't settle Carter's nerves at the slightest as he hoped he would get out of this mess soon enough.</p>
      <p>'Dammit Axel, where the hell'd you go off to?' John thought wildly as he was pushed forward by the guards.</p>
      <p>As John was taken away by the guards, from a discrete location, Axel stood alone and watched from afar.</p>
      <p>He kept his eyes particularly set upon the single guard that was leading the bunch and his eyes narrowed as he extended out his senses.</p>
      <p>It was still a bit tricky as he was relatively new to this… yet it seemed he had luck on his side cause that one guard staying exceptionally close to Carter was just a torch of energy. He picked up on his scent almost instantly.</p>
      <p>Flicking his hand, Axel jumped back and vanished with a small flurry of flames left in his wake.</p>
      <p>He appeared in several structures that were above Carter and the guards that were still escorting him.</p>
      <p>No. VIII watched as the one guard that kept his hand on Carter's shoulder looked back to the others and gave out an order of some kind.</p>
      <p>The rest of the guards broke off, leaving their prisoner with the lone guard.</p>
      <p>And not a moment too soon did the duo up and simply disappear from his point of view.</p>
      <p>"The hell?" Axel blinked, rubbing his eyes and looked around in every direction below. "What the- where'd that bastard go?"</p>
      <p>Whilst the Nobody was left alone to try and figure out just where on Mars did John disappear off to, the former Confederate Captain was left asking the same question himself.</p>
      <p>With John a few moments earlier, he was being shoved forward by these guards when the one who had transformed told the rest of the guards to leave them.</p>
      <p>That he would take him to Sab Than personally.</p>
      <p>And that they were to ready the other prisoners that they had taken from the valley earlier.</p>
      <p>With the guards departing and leaving the two alone, John's vision darkened with the familiar sight of that blue energy covering his eyesight.</p>
      <p>Seconds later, his sight had returned and he was now sitting in some kind of carriage.</p>
      <p>With him was the guard that transformed back into that bald robed figure.</p>
      <p>The gaze he cast upon him unnerved Carter greatly.</p>
      <p>He wanted to speak but still found it impossible to do so when he felt that strangling feeling around his neck vanish.</p>
      <p>Lurching forward, Carter coughed aloud and quivered with an uncomfortable shiver going down his spine.</p>
      <p>"Apologies." The Man spoke in a deep tone. "I know that's not exactly a <em>pleasant</em> feeling. But precautions have to be made when dealing with people of your ilk."</p>
      <p>The Earther glared at the man.</p>
      <p>"Who are you?"</p>
      <p>"Ah~ <em>American</em>." Began the Thern, quickly startling John in the process. "The North? The South?"</p>
      <p>"Who are you, <em>sir</em>?" John spat.</p>
      <p>The Thern's brow arched in amusement.</p>
      <p>"<em>Sir? </em>Definitely the South." The Earthman was silent as the bald albino soon listed off locations. "The Carolinas? Virginia?" The Thern then noticed a particular look from Carter, making him smirk. "It's Virginia, isn't it? Lovely place."</p>
      <p>"Do you know it?" he asked warily.</p>
      <p>"Not as well as I should. But I will." Was the Thern's cryptic response.</p>
      <p>John's body started to strain against his self-confinement, something which the Thern took notice of.</p>
      <p>"Hmm… Increased strength and agility. Simple matter of gravitation and anatomy, one we ought to have foreseen."</p>
      <p>In his opinion, John greatly preferred the way Dejah inspected him over the Thern. Just the way the man was inspecting him gave him a rather unpleasant feeling down his spine on top of whatever was happening to him.</p>
      <p>John then took note of what was said.</p>
      <p>"<em>We?"</em></p>
      <p>"No apparent increase in intelligence." The Thern said mockingly.</p>
      <p>And there was the insult.</p>
      <p>Yes, he got it. He wasn't the smartest out there, so give him some god damn slack!</p>
      <p>"Tell me, where are the medallions?"</p>
      <p>"Pardon?"</p>
      <p>"The item which projected you and your compatriots here. They were not on your persons." Spoke the Thern before gesturing towards the one worn around his neck. "It looks just like this." John said nothing, only staring at another medallion as it glowed the same blue as what he saw back at the River Iss temple. "We can't have Earthmen and other species projecting themselves over here and there, leaping about, causing all manner of disruption."</p>
      <p>John remained silent on the matter as he wanted to keep a litany of information to himself.</p>
      <p>He still remembers where the one medallion was located as Tars Tarkus still possesses it. As for other "medallions" there weren't any, given what the others revealed on how they arrived on this planet.</p>
      <p>Instead of giving him an answer, Carter decided to get to the heart of the matter. "You're a Thern."</p>
      <p>"Therns are a myth."</p>
      <p>"So are a number of things. Now tell me your name or will I just keep calling you Thern over and over again." John said heatedly.</p>
      <p>The bald albino scoffed a little. "My name is Matai Shang, and I do not exist. Indeed, I work very hard at it."</p>
      <p>"Really? I couldn't tell." John bitingly said. "What do you want?"</p>
      <p>Shang didn't respond, instead inclining his head to the small opening to the front of whatever it was the two sat in.</p>
      <p>"Padwar? What's taking us so long?"</p>
      <p>"Apologies sir, the army is making its return." A Zodangan responded.</p>
      <p>"Noted. We'll be traveling on foot now."</p>
      <p>The carriage holding the pair opened up, causing the Thern to walk out first. Once outside, he peered into the vehicle and saw Carter hadn't moved. Remembering he hadn't let go of the man's restraints, the bald albino brought a hand to his wrist.</p>
      <p>Looking at the object, Carter saw it was designed in a style similar to the medallion. Wondering what it was about, his answer was quickly given as it started to glow blue once the Thern dragged his finger across its surface.</p>
      <p>John felt a spark of pain across his body as it forcefully moved without his consent, following after his captor.</p>
      <p>'This is the worst.' John internally screamed.</p>
      <p>After navigating through the crowd for some distance, the Earther finally spoke a question raging through his mind.</p>
      <p>"Why are you and your fellow Therns so damn insistent on hunting us down?" John said, referring to himself and his compatriots.</p>
      <p>Even Dejah.</p>
      <p>"We want to know what you know so we may be better prepared on what we safeguard."</p>
      <p>"Like the Ninth Ray."</p>
      <p>Matai was silent for a moment or two. "You have come rather close into learning the truth, more so with Dejah Thoris. But it's of no consequence now. Soon she will be dealt with, along with you and the rest once we have what we desire. In effect, cutting the head off the beast which bears knowledge of the Ninth Ray. Quick, clean, controlled and precise. And such a shame there's no one that'll warn them."</p>
      <p>John's muscles strained some more as he wanted to lash out and kill Matai Shang right there.</p>
      <p>"Why the hell are you doing this? What purpose is there for all this trouble?"</p>
      <p>"The balance must be restored and maintained."</p>
      <p>"The hell is that supposed to mean?"</p>
      <p>"We have our job to do. And that requires our guiding hand."</p>
      <p>John strained against his bonds to no avail. "What gives you the right to interfere?"</p>
      <p>"What do you care? This is not your home. You have no obligation to these people. '<em>You don't have a dog in this fight.'</em> Is that how you would say it in Virginia? Man without a cause."</p>
      <p>Matai Shang's argument held true. John didn't have to care for a place where he didn't belong. But that was of no excuse as he did not want to see people manipulated and culled because of something beyond their control.</p>
      <p>And whatever cause he had back on Earth, during the Civil War, died as time went on. What was once fighting for Southern independence shifted onto something else. All he wanted in the end was to see his loved ones again and know his men, his friends were safe.</p>
      <p>"Then what is <em>your</em> cause?"</p>
      <p>Matai Shang looked over and gave his answer. "We have none."</p>
      <p>John looked at the Thern with a look that practically screamed "bullshit".</p>
      <p>Seeing the Earther's confusion, the Thern elaborated. "We're not haunted by morality as you are. We are eternal."</p>
      <p>"I don't understand. The stroll, heavily safeguarding your <em>precious</em> Ninth Ray. Why not just kill us and get it over with?"</p>
      <p>"History will follow the course we have set, Earthman. And we've chosen Sab Than to rule next. The Ninth Ray must remain in the hands of mindless brutes we can control."</p>
      <p>"Rather than someone, who you can't control, which can make things better for everyone."</p>
      <p>Matai Shang remained quiet on the answer, merely confirming John's conclusion.</p>
      <p>"We operate on a purpose that is beyond your comprehension."</p>
      <p>"What kind of bullshit is that? Didn't you just say you don't have a cause?"</p>
      <p>"We are beyond your understanding. Your comprehension. We are eternal whilst you are all fleeting."</p>
      <p>John's teeth clenched tightly. "You said that already. But I sure as hell don't get what that's even supposed to mean."</p>
      <p>"And you're not supposed to. This game we've played has occurred since before the birth of this planet. And we'll continue to do so, long after the death of yours."</p>
      <p>John's eyes widened in alarm.</p>
      <p>They were going to come for <em>his</em> planet too?!</p>
      <p>He wanted to know why but he knew he'd only get the same answer as before.</p>
      <p>Carter truly didn't understand it.</p>
      <p>Was this some sort of sick game of amusement to them?</p>
      <p>Cause this smug bastard sure seemed like that he gets a kick out of this sorta thing.</p>
      <p>"We don't cause the destruction of a world, Captain Carter. We simply manage it, feed off it, if you like. But on every host planet, it always plays out exactly the same way. Populations rise, societies divide, wars spread. And all the while the neglected planet slowly fades."</p>
      <p>If what Matai Shang says is true, then he and his fellow Therns have been playing in the background, unnoticed by nearly everyone. And they would act like some sick puppeteer to pull whatever strings they see fit for their amusement.</p>
      <p>But the way how Matai spoke throughout this whole conversation gave John the impression there was more than meets the eye.</p>
      <p>Of course there was a flaw to what the Thern was selling.</p>
      <p>Immortality ain't bulletproof. John saw to that when he killed one of the Therns back on Earth.</p>
      <p>Soon enough, John found himself in a hangar with a litany of guards stationed.</p>
      <p>"Prep a two-man flier immediately for prisoner transport." Order Shang.</p>
      <p>The Zodangan guard complied before they grabbed Carter and strapped him down onto the flier.</p>
      <p>The Earther didn't know where he was being taken to now, and he wasn't gonna like Shang's intended destination.</p>
      <p>Just before they took off, the hangar's occupants were greeted with an unexpected visitor…</p>
      <p>"AAAAH!"</p>
      <p>...As it came flying through the air, collided against Matai Shang and harshly bit down on the Thern's arm.</p>
      <p>One of the teeth broke through the bracelet the albino was wearing, causing the restraints on John's person to disappear.</p>
      <p>Looking up to see his rescuer, Carter smiled ever so brightly.</p>
      <p>"Woola!"</p>
      <p>"Jahn."</p>
      <p>Atop the Barsoomian dog was the smiling form of one experiment 626.</p>
      <p>"Well, this wasn't part of the plan."</p>
      <p>John looked over to see Axel having appeared with embers floating off his body. The Nobody locked eyes momentarily with Matai Shang who was being held down by Woola and a wide grin appeared on his face.</p>
      <p>"But hey, I'm known to improvise when I need to." Axel said, grin becoming mischievous and sinister as he held up a hand.</p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>*SNAP*</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>In an instant, plumes and pillars of fire erupted from the ground in various locations across the hangar bay inciting pandemonium and panic.</p>
      <p>"That's our cue, Johnny, let's go." Axel said, hefting the Earthman up to his feet.</p>
      <p>Carter didn't even get a chance to talk as Axel leapt up into the sky and onto a more elevated platform.</p>
      <p>When getting on the higher platform, John took a moment to orient himself and looked up at Axel in bewilderment when he heard the sounds of screams echoing from the city.</p>
      <p>Eyes widening, John looked out to the city and saw multiple locations on fire.</p>
      <p>He snapped his head up at Axel with an accusatory gaze.</p>
      <p>"I needed to make a distraction." Axel said with an uncaring shrug. "Sides, they're my flames. They're burnin' areas where no one's gonna get hurt and they'll dispel soon as we're gone."</p>
      <p>John laxed slightly but still was greatly disconcerted by the means in which Axel had gone to in order to create this "distraction".</p>
      <p>Glancing down below, he noticed a trail of dust being kicked up, recognizing it as the trail left behind by Woola.</p>
      <p>Where was that big Martian dog going?</p>
      <p>Shaking out of his thoughts, John heard a number of guards coming their way.</p>
      <p>"Better get on." Said Axel as he sat on one of the fliers.</p>
      <p>Wordless, John complied and sat on the neighboring vehicle as the glass solar paneled wings unfurled themselves.</p>
      <p>In an instant, Carter then realized he had no idea how to operate this thing. He was even messing around with what was akin to handlebars.</p>
      <p>"What's the hold up?!"</p>
      <p>"I'm trying, dammit!" John shouted. "I don't know how to fly this thing!"</p>
      <p>"Neither do I." Axel said cheekily, quickly jolting about the controls until it flew up off the ground and went forward.</p>
      <p>Head snapping back and forth between the handlebars, Axel and the guards, John opted to try Axel's method and not a moment too soon.</p>
      <p>The guards were right on him just as his flier jolted upwards and off the side of the platform.</p>
      <p>"Oh no." Was all John managed out until his commandeered vehicle plummeted to the ground. "OH SHIIIIIT!"</p>
      <p>Axel, all the while, cackled as he followed right after the Virginian captain.</p>
      <p>John pulled and spun every control on the flier until at last he had some semblance of flight.</p>
      <p>He did have difficulty when managing the controls during this time. Pulling levers, turning the odd gears. It left him in some states of confused nausea with a number of aerial maneuvers he unintentionally performed.</p>
      <p>He almost died because of it when he nearly avoided crashing into a number of walls, towers and even pedestrians.</p>
      <p>Eventually, John figured out a way to work with the flier as he maintained his balance.</p>
      <p>"You alright there?" Axel called out with a teasing tone.</p>
      <p>"Shut up, you jackass." John Carter shouted out, cringing as he nearly crashed his ship again.</p>
      <p>When the pair plummeted once more, they were soon avoiding colliding against the mechanical legs which helped propel the city of Zodanga forward.</p>
      <p>"We got bogies on our six."</p>
      <p>"What?"</p>
      <p>Axel groaned. "We got enemies on our tail."</p>
      <p>Looking back, John saw a number of Zodangans following right after them on their own fliers. Not just that, but there were even some airborne Heartless joining their ranks.</p>
      <p>"Can't you take care of them?"</p>
      <p>"And keep all the fun to myself?" Axel said with a cheeky smirk, chakram already in hand.</p>
      <p>"In case you haven't noticed, I'm primarily trying to <em>not</em> die while <em>flying</em> this damn thing! I don't even have a <em>gun</em> on me to be of some <em>assistance</em>!"</p>
      <p>Axel only chortled aloud, looking back at their pursuers and threw his fiery weapon right at them.</p>
      <p>Occasionally flinging his weapon at them, No. VIII also had to focus on his maneuvering skills. It was all fast pace with any wrong move could perhaps be his last. Either as a result of crashing into one of the mechanical legs carrying Zodanga or being shot down by one of their pursuers.</p>
      <p>To him, it was quite thrilling.</p>
      <p>Narrowing their escape out of the varying mechanical legs, John saw a dust cloud quickly rushing onward down below. He would've thought of it as something else if he didn't catch a blue speck within said dust cloud.</p>
      <p>This got John thinking on one thing as he viewed Stitch and Woola running on ahead of them.</p>
      <p>"What of the others? Did you even get-"</p>
      <p>"All taken care of."</p>
      <p>As Axel said this, varying shots rang through the air..</p>
      <p>In mere moments, Zodangans pursuing them shot down from the air with the Heartless being destroyed left and right. As the dark vapors evaporated, the red men plummeted towards their demise.</p>
      <p>It would've been a mercy if they were killed directly instead of their fliers being wrecked.</p>
      <p>From a distance, John could make out the figures of Woola and Stitch reaching a certain point and coming to a stop. As he and Axel drew closer, they saw more figures right there.</p>
      <p>They were their companions.</p>
      <p>"Somewhat wish Garrus or at least Shepard were here." Kaidan grumbled out as he rose up from his kneeling position. "They're far better snipers than either of us."</p>
      <p>"Oh quit your whining Alenko." Wrex said aloud. "You and Williams need the practice anyways."</p>
      <p>"Easy for you to say." Said Ashley. "Kaidan here has the only other sniper rifle. I had to make do with my assault rifle."</p>
      <p>"Here they come." Xion spoke out, pointing towards the growing figures of their companions.</p>
      <p>Now while Axel had a somewhat graceful landing, due to him quickly working the controls and pulling up just in time for a decent landing; John was the complete opposite.</p>
      <p>Carter didn't react well enough as he acted too late and crashed his flier into the sand. At the moment of impact, he went flying and harshly landed some distance away from the crash zone.</p>
      <p>Rushing over to the Virginian, Xion quickly casted Cure on him.</p>
      <p>"Thanks…" Grumbled out John, still feeling the pain on his body from the landing.</p>
      <p>"That could've gone better." Said Roxas.</p>
      <p>"If he had more experience, he would have." Spoke Axel as he hopped off his flier.</p>
      <p>"Like you were any better." John bitingly said, spitting sand out of his mouth.</p>
      <p>"Please~ I'm a natural."</p>
      <p>"Yeah, a natural pain in my ass." John called out as he worked to flip over his flier.</p>
      <p>"Don't get snippy with me, Carter." Axel remarked, slapping the man's head to jostle the sand out of his hair.</p>
      <p>Rather than swing back, Carter simply grumbled and messed with his hair some more to get the sand out.</p>
      <p>The group then bore witness to Woola pouncing on the Virginian and slobbering the man with licks.</p>
      <p>"Aurgh! Woola! Heel! Heel!"</p>
      <p>Wrex barked out a laugh. "Gotta say, Sola was right: Woola does follow you anywhere. Now I really wanna get one of these calots." He then began stroking his chin, pondering. "Wonder if I can breed more with Varren."</p>
      <p>Those native from their home galaxy shuddered at the thought, not wanting to know how dangerous such a creature could be.</p>
      <p>Then again… Woola was an overgrown dog for the most part.</p>
      <p>However Wrex is well… Wrex.</p>
      <p>Carter managed to get Woola off of him, shaking his head to get the mucus-like slobber off of him.</p>
      <p>Thank God for the intense sunlight right about now as the rest of the moisture evaporated off of him.</p>
      <p>He looked up to see Kaidan holding out an offered hand and nodded in thanks as he was helped up.</p>
      <p>"How'd you guys get out?" John asked once standing up.</p>
      <p>"Axel helped out, more or less." Roxas said.</p>
      <p>For what John doesn't know that while the Earther was being interrogated by Matai Shang, Axel sent out a number of his Assassin Nobodies to help retrieve the pilfered weapons and help wake up his friends. It was only a matter of time for things being coordinated via Omni-tool on what needed to occur next.</p>
      <p>"How exactly did he… you know what? Forget it." John waved off. "It was probably magic."</p>
      <p>Axel shrugged with a nonsensical expression. "Pretty much."</p>
      <p>John shook his head, going back over to the flier that he had crashed, dusting off the rest of the sand and taking a seat in it.</p>
      <p>A moment later, the flier powered up as he turned several dials.</p>
      <p>"Wait, where are you going?" Xion asked in bewilderment.</p>
      <p>"I need to save Dejah and the others."</p>
      <p>"Saving from what?" Kaidan asked.</p>
      <p>"We've got a serious problem actually." Axel said grimly. "I'll show you guys later but Carter's right. We gotta find the others and tell them what went down here."</p>
      <p>"And how can you do that?" Xion asked as Carter was readying his commandeered flier.</p>
      <p>"I'll need an army to do it." John declared as he tried to figure out more on the controls now that he wasn't being attacked.</p>
      <p>It took several moments for a few of the group to realize what the Virginian meant.</p>
      <p>"...You don't mean what I think you plan on-"</p>
      <p>"I think he is."</p>
      <p>"Okay, I'm out of the loop. Where does John wanna go?"</p>
      <p>"To the Thark settlement."</p>
      <p>"You think that's a bright idea? Tal Hajus practically hates our guts and wants to kill us."</p>
      <p>"I'd like to see him try." Wrex declared with a savage grin.</p>
      <p>"What about Shepard and the others?" Ashley asked. "Shouldn't we let them know we're alright?"</p>
      <p>"I'll take care of that." Axel said, thumbing to himself. "I'll see if I can get a read on where they are. Figured Dejah would've taken them to her hometown."</p>
      <p>"Helium." Ash confirmed with a nod. "But where would you even look? Not like we have a map of Mars."</p>
      <p>"Sola said Helium is more or less east from the moon's position and trajectory in the sky when we were on our way to the River Iss. Or was it west…"</p>
      <p>"The Moons ain't up Axel." Ash wryly pointed out.</p>
      <p>"My god, do you have to be a downer right now Ash?" Axel said in annoyance.</p>
      <p>Xion hummed aloud. "If Woola can find John, do you think he can find Helium?"</p>
      <p>"Huh, good question." Axel rounded on the happily panting Calot. "Hey Woohoo, do you remember the rest of our friends' scents? Sola's?"</p>
      <p>Woola barked aloud in a way that seemed to convey confirmation.</p>
      <p>"Well there we have it." Axel said. "Sides, I was gonna use our Omni-Tools as well. If I couldn't reach them that way, I'll Corridor my way to their position."</p>
      <p>"How are you gonna have Woola lead you to Helium?" John asked. "What, he's gonna carry you or something?"</p>
      <p>"I got my own flier, remember?" Axel pointed out. "Besides, he's big enough to be ridden."</p>
      <p>"I don't think Stitch counts."</p>
      <p>Experiment 626 merely blew a raspberry at him.</p>
      <p>"I think he can carry any of us." Xion said, scratching Woola's head making three of his six legs shake in satisfaction.</p>
      <p>"Well, we have our objectives." Ash said. "I'll go with ya, Axel. Don't think all of us can fit onto one flier."</p>
      <p>"Can one even support the weight of most of us?" Roxas asked.</p>
      <p>"No way." Kaidan shook his head. "How can any of us fly on only two fliers?"</p>
      <p>Their answer came in the form of a whirring engine sound in the distance.</p>
      <p>The group slowly turned their heads to see a single Zodangan flier that appeared to have been the only one of those that had chased them out of the city to actually find them.</p>
      <p>"Huh, well that's convenient." Axel noted.</p>
      <p>"Agreed." Kaidan said and in an instant, leapt forward with the reduced gravity allowing him to sail all the way up towards the Zodangan and drop kicked him straight off the vehicle.</p>
      <p>The flier fell to the ground but thankfully remained intact and undamaged.</p>
      <p>"There we go." Kaidan stated proudly, tapping the flier. "Figured this would better serve you, Wrex. I'll stick with Carter."</p>
      <p>Wrex grinned, sending an appreciative nod at the Lieutenant Commander and went over to his new flier.</p>
      <p>"I can use my own Keyblade to get around." Roxas said, bringing out his Pirate's Dream Keyblade. "It changes into a glider."</p>
      <p>"Oh~ can I go with you?" Xion asked excitedly. "I wanna fly on one again."</p>
      <p>"Don't see why not."</p>
      <p>Xion beamed, missing the snicker Ashley let out.</p>
      <p>"Right then." Axel said, a coy grin to match Ashley's. "We have our groups. Let's move cause we're burnin' daylight."</p>
      <p>"Boo~" Roxas thumbed down at the redhead. "Lame fire pun."</p>
      <p>"You know any better ones?" No. XIII was about to respond but Axel didn't allow him. "Thought so."</p>
      <p>Powering up his flier, he and Ash took off with Woola letting out a departing bark at the rest and ran ahead of the duo with Stitch sticking with him.</p>
      <p>Roxas had a flat look on his face as he watched his friends fly off.</p>
      <p>"Always has to have the last word." Roxas grumped with Xion giggling whilst patting his cheek.</p>
      <p>"You just gotta learn to be faster than him." Xion encouraged.</p>
      <p>He rolled his eyes at that before channeling his power into his Keyblade and it instantly shifted into its glider form.</p>
      <p>"Alright, let's go." Carter said and the group were airborne, pivoting their rides around to fly back to the village of the Tharks.</p>
      <p>Wrex was quick to go on ahead with a giddy laugh escaping his lips. Roxas and Xion went right after him as they seemed to enact some sort of race.</p>
      <p>As John went right after them, his passenger received a ping on his Omni-tool, seeing it was a message from Axel.</p>
      <p>Pulling it out, Kaidan saw it had an audio file labeled "Truth of Therns". There was an additional note on it that told the Alliance marine to play it for the others when they landed at the Thark settlement.</p>
      <p>Blinking in confusion, he conceded to the request and shut his Omni-Tool off a moment later.</p>
      <p>Right now he had to hang onto dear life as Carter's piloting skills are <em>atrocious</em>.</p>
      <p>
        <em>-Scene Cut-</em>
      </p>
      <p>Matai Shang was internally seething.</p>
      <p>He sat within the war room of the palace on Zodanga and watched as Sab Than paced back and forth with a much more visible external rage.</p>
      <p>"Now..." Sab growled out, still moving around as if he were a predator caged and hungry. "Can anyone… and I mean <em>anyone</em> explain to me what in the name of the <em>Goddess happened out there?!"</em></p>
      <p>The assembled generals, Zodangan nobles and guards all visibly winced aloud at their rulers demand.</p>
      <p>"Is <em>no one</em> going to speak up?" Sab Than raised his right arm with the blue gauntlet bestowed upon him by the Therns materialized around his wrist and hand.</p>
      <p>The assembled group began trembling at the sight as the gauntlet began to radiate its blue light.</p>
      <p>"Well?" The Prince said impatiently. "Answer me!"</p>
      <p>Several began stammering and stuttering out answers until Sab grew tired and annoyed before killing one of the officials several seats down to his right via a beam of blue light. Moments later, the official disintegrated into dust.</p>
      <p>"That'll be enough of that." Sab hissed, silence reigning within the room.</p>
      <p>Shifting his eyes about, they landed upon a high ranking prison officer.</p>
      <p>"You." Sab pointed to him. "Tell me what happened?"</p>
      <p>The guard opened and closed his mouth several times until speaking with a slight stutter.</p>
      <p>"M-my Prince." He began. "W-we are unsure as to how the prisoners we had b-brought back escaped. But many of my guards did see one of the ones with the black cloaks being accompanied by strange creatures that were silver and white. They freed the other prisoners and then the one who caused all this lit several temples on fire."</p>
      <p>Sab Than tried his damndest to reign in his growing rage. "What of their weapons?"</p>
      <p>If there could be a silver lining, it could be with their gear. If his people can harness the strength of their unique weapons, producing more of them, then it won't just be Issus' gift that the rest of Barsoom will fear.</p>
      <p>"...Taken, my prince."</p>
      <p>Gritting his teeth, Sab Than was about to lash out once more when he saw his benefactor give him a look that conveyed that now wasn't the time for this.</p>
      <p>After all, one person had already paid the price for a litany of unforeseen problems that plagued the Prince of Zodanga.</p>
      <p>"All of you, <em>get out</em>." Sab all but growled. "I wish to be alone."</p>
      <p>The entire assembled group of high ranking officials hastily exited the war room to leave their Prince as he had asked.</p>
      <p>All but one remained, being the head guard of Sab's security force.</p>
      <p>"This is all your fault." Sab said, seating himself adjacent to Matai Shang who reverted back to his original form.</p>
      <p>"<em>My fault</em> you say?" Shang said in a bland voice.</p>
      <p>"You can pretend all you want, Matai Shang but I am no fool." Sab said, lightly slamming his fist on the table. "I see in your eyes the same rage I have right now. So instead, I'll ask you the same question as before: <em>What happened?"</em></p>
      <p>Matai didn't reply right away, instead keeping his gaze silently locked on to Sab's before exhaling reluctantly.</p>
      <p>"I was… caught off guard." Matai admitted, much to the shock of Sab.</p>
      <p>Though it was not to last as a cocky and condescending smirk appeared soon after.</p>
      <p>"You? Caught off guard?" his tone was mocking and amused. "Indulge me. How is it that a Thern, a Messenger of the Goddess, was caught off guard?"</p>
      <p>Matai was not amused.</p>
      <p>"I underestimated they had help waiting, biding their time to strike." Matai admitted. "Those creatures that were of silver and white were not something I had anticipated."</p>
      <p>"These creatures that helped free our prisoners…" Sab frowned. "Are they not the ones that you have brought along to assist my soldiers?"</p>
      <p>"No." With a wave of his hand, the Heartless appeared behind the Thern. "These are the ones I speak of."</p>
      <p>The Jeddak of Zodanga was momentarily startled by their appearance but quickly steeled himself as the Heartless disappeared soon after.</p>
      <p>"So what were those creatures anyways?" Sab said, referring to the earlier mentioned beings.</p>
      <p>"I do not know." Matai said truthfully. "I didn't see them. I was taken aback by the one with red hair and a Calot that apparently has been tamed by these unknown variables."</p>
      <p>"I have seen their capabilities, or at least the end of it before I intervened." Sab crossed his arms with a troubled look. "They were able to take on an army of those savage Warhoon and even these dark creatures you have under your command. What are they?"</p>
      <p>"One of them, I can confirm is from the planet Jasoom."</p>
      <p>Sab sat up, jaw dropping slightly. "Jasoom? H-how?"</p>
      <p>"I do not know." Shang said with a convincing frown. "The means in which this… Earthman, as he confirmed, used to get here illudes me. I would've learned more if it weren't for the <em>interference</em> from earlier."</p>
      <p>"Earthman?"</p>
      <p>"Earth is what this Jasoomian calls his planet." Matai stated.</p>
      <p>"I see…" Sab Than stood up again and began pacing a bit more as he harshly breathed in and out of his nose, pondering on what needs to be done next. "A Jasoomian…"</p>
      <p>"Yes, an unforeseen variable in the grand plan."</p>
      <p>"I thought you Therns were supposed to be intelligent."</p>
      <p>"We have intelligence." Matai countered. "Far more than your civilization ever will possess. But that does not mean we know everything, Sab Than. Remember that."</p>
      <p>"I will find it hard to forget." Sab scoffed. "Unforeseen variables… Seeing as a number of… <em>issues</em> have not gone as planned, I believe it's time to go with my final option in defeating Helium."</p>
      <p>Upon hearing this, Matai Shang actually grew curious with his expression conveying interest.</p>
      <p>"And what would that be?" Asked the Thern in genuine curiosity.</p>
      <p>"I will go with the option I planned on making some time ago: marrying Dejah Thoris."</p>
      <p>Matai's brow rose in genuine surprise. "Prince Sab. I had no idea you would be such a romantic."</p>
      <p>Sab snorted. "I am not some idealist with an unlikely ambition. If she complies, fine. I can be able to unite our cities and I will overpower my soon-to-be wife and rule the combined territories. If she doesn't exactly follow through with this, resisting even, then I will kill her when her guard is down once she provides me with an heir and place the blame onto someone else. Perhaps that leaping man or one of our former prisoners. But if it comes down to it, I will go with the other idea I have in mind."</p>
      <p>"Pertaining what?"</p>
      <p>"On the wedding ceremony, when every Heliumite has their guard down, I will give the order to have every one of them slain; wiping Helium off the map."</p>
      <p>Matai's lip twitched upwards. "I had no idea you held such cunning, Prince Than."</p>
      <p>"If you would let me do what needs to be done more often, I may have been able to surprise you more." The Prince retorted bitingly.</p>
      <p>"Point taken." Shang conceded. "However… trying to conquer Helium on their own territory… would that not be considered a tactical disadvantage?"</p>
      <p>"What?"</p>
      <p>"If you are to have the wedding within the halls of Helium, would that not present a danger to you?" Matai pointed out. "Even being within Helium with your army, you would still be surrounded by enemies."</p>
      <p>Sab frowned and held up his hand.</p>
      <p>"Would this be useless then?"</p>
      <p>Matai shook his head. "No, but still, we can assist you but do it on your terms within the confines of <em>your </em>city. And…"</p>
      <p>With a flourish of his hand, once more, the Heartless appeared.</p>
      <p>"The Heliumites present will not be expecting such new foes and will be soundly killed." Matai said. "Having at least one member of the royal family alive such as Mors or Dejah will bring the rest of Helium falling to its knees when you return a married man."</p>
      <p>Sab frowned, musing to himself as he gazed at the twitching Heartless that was between him and Shang.</p>
      <p>"Unlikely as it may be… I shall see if I can convince those self-indulgent Heliumites to host the wedding here." Sab conceded after a few moments.</p>
      <p>The Thern only nodded in agreement.</p>
      <p>"Now if you excuse me, I need to head off to Helium to make my request."</p>
      <p>"Then I will come with-"</p>
      <p>"I think not." Snapped the Jeddak. "In order for this to work, I need to have only a handful of people with me when I head over to Helium. And at this moment, I'm still not trusting you with what happened earlier."</p>
      <p>"...I see."</p>
      <p>With a flourish of his cape, Sab left the Thern to stew in his own failures for the day.</p>
      <p>As Matai Shang was left alone, his thoughts eventually drifted back to the former prisoners.</p>
      <p>His plans from earlier were derailed due to how the Earthman escaped. Originally, he wanted to take him to a secure location, question him more and pry the information from his head if needed to. After all, the Virginian knew what the Thern desired, but wasn't able to get things out through the traditional manner.</p>
      <p>Once done, he would commence his "feeding" on him before going to check on the black coated individuals.</p>
      <p>He wanted to still know who they were and how the blonde teenager was able to withstand a blast of the Ninth Ray, rebound it and survive. And he was still unsettled when remembering the occurrence.</p>
      <p>Now he was robbed of the chance on such an interrogation, even when they were within his very grasp.</p>
      <p>For now, the Thern needed to calm himself. So he decided he will need to commence another "feeding" to get him back on track. Once sated, he will plan things out accordingly for the upcoming wedding.</p>
      <p>But right now, he will inform his fellow Thern over in Helium of the latest developments.</p>
      <p>
        <em>-Scene Cut-</em>
      </p>
      <p>She knew she could get some flak for this, but in some part of her mind, Shepard had thought everyone spoke with a high pitch voice in this city.</p>
      <p>You can't expect to call this place "Helium" and not think of the joke.</p>
      <p>Suffice to say, she was a bit disappointed in not hearing any high pitch voices.</p>
      <p>Her mood was picked up on by the others, with them asking her what was wrong and she revealed her internal woes.</p>
      <p>In response all she was called was a child.</p>
      <p>She rebuked by calling them bigger children for following after her.</p>
      <p>Garrus countered by saying they didn't follow her, more like make sure she didn't do anything <em>too </em>crazy.</p>
      <p>Shepard silenced him by flipping him upside down via her Biotics and carried him around like that for a few minutes, proving their point.</p>
      <p>In actuality, it didn't.</p>
      <p>Currently, Shepard along with Tali, Garrus, Liara and a nervous Sola were in a banquet hall with Dejah and her father and best friend Katos Kan sitting with them.</p>
      <p>After Dejah spoke of how Shepard and co had kept her safe after her ship was destroyed by the Zodangans by the Thark settlement, her father Mors Kajak had welcomed them with open arms.</p>
      <p>A small feast was quickly organized for the returning princess and her friends who had brought her back alive and well.</p>
      <p>The Normandy team were greatly intrigued by the city of Helium though they were quick to note some of the more… scantily clad citizens of the city.</p>
      <p>Especially the younger men and women. Almost reminded those of the Normandy with some of the provocative attire the Asari species wore back home.</p>
      <p>Dejah went on to explain that here on Helium, both men and women were a bit voracious in their hunts to find the ones they are destined to be with.</p>
      <p>Their passions and intentions are on full display, seeking out the husband or wife that they would be with for the rest of their days.</p>
      <p>It was a bit simplistic really which was a rather humorous contrast to the advanced cityscape of Helium.</p>
      <p>"So this is how love is found here, eh?" Was Shepard's comment to all this… near nudity.</p>
      <p>Oh if it were ever so easy in getting one's significant other back home.</p>
      <p>"Not that I mind." Spoke Garrus as he viewed one of the servant girls walk passed. He was then smacked across the head by Tali. "Okay, ow!"</p>
      <p>"Stop staring."</p>
      <p>"Well, it's hard. I can't help it." Argued the Turian.</p>
      <p>"You can try."</p>
      <p>"Then why aren't you stopping Liara. She's staring just as much as I was."</p>
      <p>At the mention of this, Liara quickly looked away as her cheeks darkened considerably as she viewed both the male and female servants passing by.</p>
      <p>"Liara." Tali said in slight incredulity.</p>
      <p>"I… I apologize." Liara said with her head down in shame.</p>
      <p>"No need to be." Said a gorgeous female that walked by them, eyeing Liara hungrily making the Asari hastily pick up her pace.</p>
      <p>Shepard guffawed, shaking her head and ignoring the many stares that she was receiving from passing Heliumites.</p>
      <p>"O, Liara~ perhaps you are more of a deviant then we have given you credit for." Garrus playfully teased his friend, making the archaeologist walk a little faster.</p>
      <p>Though aside from the lustful gazes of the younger citizens, there were many Heliumites that gazed upon the alien group with wonder and awe.</p>
      <p>Naturally, nobody had ever seen such creatures in their lives before. From the different set of species themselves to the very clothes they wore.</p>
      <p>Completely and utterly alien to them.</p>
      <p>Eventually, they were seated within the banquet hall with all of them sitting at the head table with the King and Princess.</p>
      <p>The food there was lavish and interesting to say the least so they were treated to some of Mars' delicacies.</p>
      <p>A phrase or scenario Shepard had never thought she would ever face.</p>
      <p>Suffice to say, most of the food was pretty good. She and Liara seemed to enjoy it as did the still nervous and uncomfortable Sola.</p>
      <p>Now as much as Garrus and Tali would want to eat some of the offered food, they had to decline and ate their dextro-amino rations.</p>
      <p>Though they do remember Roxas mentioning the whole notion of World Law and them perhaps being able to eat the food on present foods, this time however, they couldn't exactly take the chance. With them being on another version of Mars, none of the Normandy crew really knew the actual makeup of the food if it was safe for Turians and Quarians.</p>
      <p>So they had to relegate themselves to rations.</p>
      <p>As they ate, Jeddak Mors cleared his throat and addressed Shepard and co.</p>
      <p>"I would like to thank you all once again for what you did for my Dejah." the Leader of Helium said, hand atop his daughters who squeezed it in response. "You have alleviated this father's heart when I saw her come home safely."</p>
      <p>"It was our pleasure, Jeddak Mors." Shepard stated earnestly. "Dejah has become a friend to us. So getting her back home was no trouble."</p>
      <p>"We did encounter a lot of trouble." Garrus said with a shrug, getting an elbow from Tali in response. "What? You want me to lie about it all?"</p>
      <p>The Jeddak and Captain of the guard chortled at this interaction.</p>
      <p>"You still have our thanks." Katos Kan proclaimed. "Any boon that you ask of us we will deliver."</p>
      <p>"A place to rest properly would be nice." Liara admitted.</p>
      <p>"Your rooms are already being prepared as we speak." Mors stated. "Nothing but the best for my daughter's new friends and allies."</p>
      <p>"Appreciate it, Jeddak." Shepard said with an inclination of her head. "Think you can prepare another room or two? We're waiting on the rest of our companions.</p>
      <p>Mors blinked in surprise. "There are more of you?"</p>
      <p>"...They were unfortunately left behind, your grace." Said Shepard. "Wanting to give us time for our escape."</p>
      <p>Saying that last bit was rather strange for her to say. She was more used to the normal militaristic speaking but saying such things with genuine royals was another matter.</p>
      <p>Mors' expression fell upon hearing this.</p>
      <p>"I see, I'm sorry for your loss-"</p>
      <p>"Oh our friends are still alive." Tali quickly cut him off, making the Jeddak blink again.</p>
      <p>"...How can you be so certain? If so, would they be alright?" Katos inquired.</p>
      <p>"Speaking frankly, they're tough bastards." Garrus said. "Seriously, there's no way in hell they aren't alive. I wouldn't be surprised if they were on their way here right now."</p>
      <p>And on cue.</p>
      <p>"My Jeddak!" a guard rushed into the banquet hall.</p>
      <p>"Yes? What is it?" Mors said abruptly.</p>
      <p>"A Zodangan flier has been sighted coming towards the city!"</p>
      <p>"A Zodangan flier?!" Katos said in alarm.</p>
      <p>"Well, someone is quite bold." Mors said with a grit in his tone. "Sound the alarm, we-"</p>
      <p>"Oh, wait." Shepard spoke up, Omni-tool out and made all who had never seen such a device gaze upon it in shock. "I think it's one of our friends actually."</p>
      <p>Not waiting for any response, Shepard turned on her Comms for it to be heard by all.</p>
      <p>"<em>Commander, you there?"</em></p>
      <p>"Hear you loud and clear Ashley."</p>
      <p>"<em>Great." </em>The Operations Chief said in relief. <em>"Axel and I are- no, wait </em>WOOLA<em>, slow down!"</em></p>
      <p>Not a moment too soon, the doors to the banquet hall were flung open and a large brown blur rushed straight at the table and pounced upon an unsuspecting Commander.</p>
      <p>"No- wait, Woola!"</p>
      <p>Shepherd's cry came too late as she was knocked off her chair and Woola pinned her down beginning to lick the Spectre's face from top to bottom.</p>
      <p>"Damn, that's a fast dog." Garrus idly commented with an amused tinge in his voice.</p>
      <p>"Get the hell off me!" Shepard screeched out as she was being slobbered by Woola's tongue.</p>
      <p>"Stitch." Tali said happily, hugging the blue fur ball tightly which he reciprocated. "I'm so happy you're alright."</p>
      <p>The alien experiment merely laughed in the embrace before waving at Garrus and Liara.</p>
      <p>Standing up, Shepard was not pleased as she was basically drenched in slobber… again!</p>
      <p>"And here… I thought… I didn't have to deal with this <em>bullshit</em> again."</p>
      <p>"Well, guess they're here then." Liara simply said as she stood up as there was a small commotion outside the large room.</p>
      <p>Moments later, Ashley and Axel were escorted into the banquet hall with a pair of Heliumite guards.</p>
      <p>Ashley was about to greet the others before her eyes landed on Shepard's present state. In an instant she barked out a series of laughs.</p>
      <p>"Axel, Ashley." Liara said with a wide smile. "You're alright."</p>
      <p>"Yeah, and I see…" Axel said, giving Jane a sly look. "But~"</p>
      <p>"Don't you fucking dare." Jane growled out at the Operations Chief, who had her omni-tool out.</p>
      <p>Ashley let out a dramatic sigh, lowering her arm. "Okay, I won't."</p>
      <p>
        <strong>*SNAP* *FLASH*</strong>
      </p>
      <p>"But you didn't say <em>he</em> had to take the photo."</p>
      <p>Shepard growled at the cheeky grin they both had. Soon enough, Shepard started chasing after No. VIII.</p>
      <p>"Get back here! I want that photo deleted!"</p>
      <p>Sola was watching from the side, petting her Calot that she had tamed and raised with a fond smile.</p>
      <p>"It's good to see you boy." Sola said happily. "I take it, the others are alright."</p>
      <p>Woola barked in confirmation.</p>
      <p>"Where are the others anyways? I don't see them."</p>
      <p>"They're on their way back to your place, Sola." Axel revealed.</p>
      <p>"...Excuse me?"</p>
      <p>"Carter figured if we're gonna take on Zodanga, we'll need some extra help." Said Ashley.</p>
      <p>"But my tribe's Jeddak despises all of you." Sola's eyes shone in concern.</p>
      <p>"They knew that's a chance they had to take." Axel said with a shrug. "Besides, we also got some serious business to discuss."</p>
      <p>Before they were able to, Mors Kajak spoke up.</p>
      <p>"Excuse me." the Jeddak of Helium's voice boomed aloud. "But who are you two?"</p>
      <p>Dejah smiled and shook her head at her new friends' antics and disregard for their current situation.</p>
      <p>"Father, these are another two of my new friends who had helped protect me while I was away from Helium." Dejah said with a kind smile. "Axel and Ashley Williams."</p>
      <p>Mors expression shifted slightly into one of bemusement now.</p>
      <p>"You've made quite the group of friends, my dear." Mors admitted, now feeling a bit overwhelmed by the growing cast of characters he was meeting.</p>
      <p>"And there's still five of us left." Axel said cheekily. "So you must be Dejah's father, right?"</p>
      <p>"I am." Mors nodded, placing a hand over his chest. "Mors Kajak. And I would like to take the time to thank both you and Ashley Williams in keeping my daughter safe. Words cannot describe my gratitude that you had all helped in saving my only child."</p>
      <p>"Don't worry about it." Ash said bashfully.</p>
      <p>"What was this mention of a Carter going to the Tharks?" Katos abruptly spoke up.</p>
      <p>"A wild idea." Axel said offhandedly. "He just wants to make sure we're ready for whatever Zodanga has planned."</p>
      <p>"So he went to the Tharks?" Katos inquired with an interested and an amused gleam in his eyes. "This man must be quite daring. But then again, it appears to be a common trait amongst this group you've brought back with you, Princess."</p>
      <p>Dejah laughed aloud. "And I thought my father believed me to be restless."</p>
      <p>"I would very much like to meet the rest of these individuals you have befriended, Dejah." Katos said, momentarily locking eyes with Axel and Garrus.</p>
      <p>"You just might get the chance, given the trended route we often take." The Turian remarked.</p>
      <p>"And what might that be? Some unusual misadventure?" Katos leaned forward with interest.</p>
      <p>"We've had our fair share." Axel crossed his arms and shot the Heliumite a cocky smirk.</p>
      <p>"I would very much like to hear of these tales while I speak of mine."</p>
      <p>"Can't wait."</p>
      <p>Breaking their gaze away from Katos Kan, Garrus and Axel shared a nod with each other.</p>
      <p>"Feeling a strong member of the bro-code with this one." Axel said in a low voice to the Turian.</p>
      <p>"I sense it as well." Vakarian said in agreement.</p>
      <p>"The hell are you two talking about?" asked a very confused Williams.</p>
      <p>"You wouldn't understand, Operations Chief." Garrus said, tone jokingly militaristic.</p>
      <p>"God you two can be so stupid sometimes." Ashley said with a roll of her eyes.</p>
      <p>Axel then cleared his throat aloud, gaining most everyone's attention.</p>
      <p>"But~ before we continue on with the pleasantries, Jeddak Mors." Axel said respectfully. "I actually need to talk with the rest of the team about something very <em>serious."</em></p>
      <p>The Normandy crew blinked, seeing the instant shift in the redheads' demeanor.</p>
      <p>It was deadly serious, almost gravely so.</p>
      <p>Whatever it was Axel wanted to talk to them about must hold great importance that he would speak to the literal King of Helium like this.</p>
      <p>Shepard contemplated internally before nodding, wanting a proper debrief with Ash and Axel.</p>
      <p>"Jeddak Mors."</p>
      <p>The Leader of Helium held up his hand in an understanding manner.</p>
      <p>"It's quite alright. This seems to be important and these are your comrades in arms." Mors stated. "I don't exactly have the authority of withholding you of your duties."</p>
      <p>Shooting him a grateful nod, Jane stood from her seat with the rest of the seated Normandy crew following after her.</p>
      <p>The Princess had also stood up and nodded at her father and her new friends.</p>
      <p>"If you need me, I'll be by the archives." Said Dejah as she departed soon after.</p>
      <p>"No doubt she'll need help with the photos we took." Tali mentioned.</p>
      <p>Shepard placed a hand upon the Quarians shoulder. "You and Liara can assist her later. But for now… Axel, what do you have for us?"</p>
      <p>No. VIII gestured his head over to a more secluded corner in the banquet hall and the Normandy team gathered around the Fiery Nobody as he brought up his Omni-Tool.</p>
      <p>"Alright, so to put things into some context here." Axel began. "I've been practicing a little trick an old Organization member had about detecting people and their "scents". Long story short, been working on it for a while and I used it to find John with one of these Therns that Dejah mentioned. He spoke with John about what it is they <em>actually</em> do and are supposed to be."</p>
      <p>Not waiting for a response, Axel played the recording he had recently captured having been able to keep his own presence hidden as Matai Shang conversed with Carter about what it is they do.</p>
      <p>At first, the group's expressions were focused and attentive on listening to every word exchanged between Carter and Shang.</p>
      <p>Eventually however, when Matai Shang began speaking on how the Therns "guide" civilizations and planets towards their intended destinies…</p>
      <p>Well… let's just say the sharp inhale of the Spectre coupled with the uncomfortable movements and paling faces of the others were more than enough of a visual for Axel that they got the message.</p>
      <p>"Doesn't <em>this</em> sound a bit familiar?" Axel asked in a dark tone, locking eyes with Shepard.</p>
      <p>Garrus and Tali were deeply disturbed by this with Ashley and Liara looking nervous.</p>
      <p>"This…"</p>
      <p>"He sounded a lot like Sovereign back on Virmire." Shepard grimly stated. "A little <em>too similar."</em></p>
      <p>"I don't really remember this from the old stories." Ash muttered, rubbing her chin in thought. "I know I haven't read it in years but…"</p>
      <p>"So we're dealing with Martian Reapers, huh?" Garrus said, tone low.</p>
      <p>"Basically." Axel confirmed, shutting off his Omni-Tool. "The way that guy talked was way too familiar. Seriously, might as well have been Sovereign himself."</p>
      <p>"But why do this?" Liara asked in concern. "What purpose does this serve them?"</p>
      <p>"If I were to hazard a guess, it may have to do with their immortality." Shepard remarked. "He mentioned they feed off the destruction of planets, right?"</p>
      <p>"Well not exactly like that, but the basic gist of it, yeah." Axel commented, nodding along with what the Commander said.</p>
      <p>"Can they be killed?" Tali asked nervously.</p>
      <p>"Carter seemed ready to do so." Axel remarked. "Then again, maybe should have asked him. He looked like he kinda knew them already."</p>
      <p>"And how do you figure that?" Garrus asked.</p>
      <p>"Well Gary, you see, unlike you who needs to see things <em>way </em>from afar," Axel said cheekily. "I have the eyes of an eagle up close and have a <em>great</em> judge of character."</p>
      <p>"Hardy har." Garrus clapped sarcastically. "What'd ya think of that five minutes ago?"</p>
      <p>"Alright, we've gotten our daily double dose of stupid for the day." Jane dryly said, making the rest chuckle. "We need to have the rest meet up with us and show them what you recorded, Axel."</p>
      <p>"Way ahead of ya." Axel said, holding up his arm that had his Omni-tool. "Prior to Ash and I heading over here, I sent the file over to Kaidan and told him to play it for the others when they take their pit stop at the green folks place."</p>
      <p>Jane nodded with an approving gaze.</p>
      <p>"So what do we do now then?" Liara asked.</p>
      <p>"We take a moment to breathe." Shepard said. "We've been running all over a planet for the past few days. Take some time to get some R&amp;R and plan out our next move and find a way home. Got a gut feeling either we find it or it finds us."</p>
      <p>Complying with the request, the group disbursed to their own respective destinations in mind.</p>
      <p>Unbeknownst to the Normandy team, a man from the Heliumite guard viewed the conversation take place at a respectable distance.</p>
      <p>Wanting to investigate properly, he followed a small number of them and would take it from there.</p>
      <p>Making their way into the archives, Tali and Liara searched for the princess as she had been speaking about a device that supposedly can harness the Ninth Ray.</p>
      <p>They eventually found her, pulling off books from a peculiar pile at the desk she was seated by. She was quickly turning the pages, trying to find what she could remember from the top of her head.</p>
      <p>This action was soon halted when the princess heard someone approaching, prompting her to look up to see two of her companions these past few days.</p>
      <p>"Liara. Tali." Dejah said with a pleasant smile. "I was wondering when you two would come."</p>
      <p>"We did promise to help you with translating what was back at the River Iss temple." Spoke the Quarian.</p>
      <p>"Not to mention you've been wishing to show your work for some time, Dejah." Liara said, matching the Princess' friendly smile. "It would be rude not to see it."</p>
      <p>"Yeah, you were a lot like Liara whenever she gets on about Protheans with us." Tali slyly said, making Dr. T'soni sputter abashedly.</p>
      <p>Dejah chuckled at the Asari's response to Tali's comment, gazing over some distance away where the device that she had been working on for so long resided.</p>
      <p>"So is this it?" Tali asked, going over to stand on one side of the device with Liara occupying another.</p>
      <p>The initial device in question resembled something akin to a telescope projector in terms of modeling. It was roughly as tall as they were. Connected to it was a roller, letting it encircle around and freely having the initial device turn on varying angles. But it was primarily aimed down towards a circular metal object. And connecting from the top was a cable leading up to a generator.</p>
      <p>Dejah released a sigh as she sadly looked upon it. "Yes, my life's work." Rising from the desk, she walked over and brushed her hand upon its surface. "Spent years studying and constructing this, all in order to prove the Ninth Ray is real. And I was so close too."</p>
      <p>"You said it was because of a malfunction, right?"</p>
      <p>"I did. It worked the first few times on the initial testing before I could give the chance to present it to both my father and the council. Just when everything seemed perfect, it just started to experience <em>issues</em>." Dejah then coughed up a bitter chuckle from her lips. "And it occurred on the same day when the reports came in of Sab Than's <em>actions</em>, making things worse for the council to not see any more of my demonstration. If only I had a bit more time…"</p>
      <p>"Not everything can go as planned, Dejah. There will always be unforeseen variables."</p>
      <p>"Which I know quite clearly, Tali. I've done all of my inspections prior to the presentation so everything could be safe." The Heliumite grasped onto the device, pushing it so it may roll around and go through a full rotation. "And yet…"</p>
      <p>The two aliens shared their sympathy with the princess as they silently asked to take a closer look of the device.</p>
      <p>Taking a closer inspection, they saw the issue of the problem. Being scientists in their own right, on top of knowing their way around machinery, they saw the telltale signs of wires being harshly burnt. It's a common occurrence with there being a malfunction.</p>
      <p>Yet something didn't seem right when they were doing their initial scans.</p>
      <p>As this occurred, the Heliumite guard trailed after the Spectre who was with that unusual plated alien and brown haired female.</p>
      <p>Earlier, that strange man in the black coat and red hair had separated from this group and mentioned something about him wishing to eat.</p>
      <p>Much as the guard wished to follow after the red head, he figured it would be smarter that he mainly kept his sights focused on the group of three before him. More in numbers will lead to a likely chance they may spill something that Matai Shang had been unable to discover back on Zodanga.</p>
      <p>This guard shifted into that of a serving girl a moment later after a half dozen marching guards passed him by.</p>
      <p>She watched as the trio of aliens to Barsoom rounded about a corner and momentarily disappeared from sight. Clenching her teeth, the young serving girl increased her pace across the hallway and eventually reached the corner where she lost them.</p>
      <p>Moving about to face the next hallway, the servant girl froze, noticing that there was no one in the corridor.</p>
      <p>She looked around desperately when her face scrunched up into anger and frustration.</p>
      <p>They were trying to pull a fast one on her.</p>
      <p>Well, let's see how long they could…</p>
      <p>"Hey, you seem upset." Said a casual voice by her side. "Let me help take some pressure off you."</p>
      <p>The servant girl had no time to react as she was forcefully grabbed by one hand and another shot out to grab something around her neck.</p>
      <p>"I'll be taking <em>this</em>."</p>
      <p>The girl barely had enough time to make any visible reaction as her necklace was torn off from her neck and in an instant, reverted into a middle aged man whose skin was pale white, bald and wore silverish-grey robes.</p>
      <p>The now revealed Thern could only gasp in fear as he was pulled into a nearby room. Within said room were Commander Shepard, Ashley, Garrus and Axel who had conjured up a Chakram in one hand and held it up to the Therns head with two of its sharp edges digging into the neck of No. VIII's prisoner.</p>
      <p>"Try anything and you turn to ash before you can even blink." Axel goaded in a dark taunting tone.</p>
      <p>The Thern could only gulp in fear, feeling heat begin to radiate off of the Nobody with tiny wisps emanating off his weapon.</p>
      <p>Shepard gazed upon the captured Thern with an intense gaze as she stood before it.</p>
      <p>Taking a look at the pilfered medallion, Axel voiced his thoughts. "That looks like the one Carter spoke of back in the Thark settlement. The one which brought him <em>here</em>."</p>
      <p>"So those are indeed from the Therns." Ash hummed aloud, glaring at the trembling Thern.</p>
      <p>"Now then… with you not having access to your toy, let's have a <em>nice</em> chat." Shepard's Biotics flared for added effect.</p>
      <p>The Thern could only gulp nervously as the five aliens to Barsoom surrounded him with either their abilities showing or weapons pointed straight at him.</p>
      <p>"I-I-I… I'll never talk."</p>
      <p>"Oh good, the hard way then." Garrus piped in. "I admit my interrogation skills in <em>that</em> matter are a tad rusty, but I <em>might</em> get something out of him."</p>
      <p>"And I'll be glad to assist." Axel added in.</p>
      <p>The grins from both the Turian and Nobody didn't settle the Thern's nerves at all.</p>
      <p>
        <em>-Scene Cut-</em>
      </p>
      <p>This day was just turning into one filled with surprises.</p>
      <p>Some of them were good, getting home and reuniting with her father and seeing a few of her friends come back safe and sound.</p>
      <p>The other surprise however…</p>
      <p>It left a lot to be desired if the Princess of Helium were to put it mildly.</p>
      <p>Before her and her father stood the wretched and vile enemy of her people, Prince Sab Than.</p>
      <p>And he had come with a rather small guard and entourage overall.</p>
      <p>It was as a means of wanting to negotiate the terms of peace between their people.</p>
      <p>It worked fine, for starters.</p>
      <p>Yet the initial means was left to be undesired from the Heliumites.</p>
      <p>"Marriage?" Mors hissed in furious disgust at the Zodangan Prince. "You wish to marry my daughter after the <em>countless</em> bodies you have made at your feet."</p>
      <p>"I know this is quite a shock-"</p>
      <p>"SHOCK?!" Katos barked out, enraged at just the sight of the Prince. "That would be putting it mildly, butcher."</p>
      <p>"Come now." Sab spoke in an unusually calm voice. "I did not come here seeking violence. Frankly, I've grown rather weary of it."</p>
      <p>The Jeddak of Helium and Captain of the Guard scoffed derisively at such a comment, clearly showing they didn't believe a word this man just uttered.</p>
      <p>"I speak the truth." Sab now had a more hardened edge to his tone. "In case you haven't noticed, my people too have suffered from this war just as much as yours have."</p>
      <p>"The fault falls solely onto you, Sab Than." Mors snarled. "It was a war <em>your family </em>started in their blind lust for conquest and power. <em>Look</em> at what has become of Barsoom. A ravaged wasteland due in no small part to your present efforts."</p>
      <p>"Do you not know of my own regrets?" Sab asked rhetorically. "I've lost a great deal of my own friends and allies in my ambition."</p>
      <p>"That was your choice, and your choice alone." Katos retorted. "Dejah Thoris doesn't need to suffer under your boot as most of Barsoom has."</p>
      <p>As the argument between both parties began to slowly escalate with the guards and generals of Sab Than getting involved, Dejah stood by her father's side silently.</p>
      <p>She gazed upon the bickering two, sensing the growing tension between them both and she knew it would only lead to something much worse in a matter of minutes.</p>
      <p>She had to do something here and now.</p>
      <p>Briefly, her mind flashed over to the past few days that she has experienced on Barsoom. The friends she had made in such a short amount of time that had filled her with a burning hope she hadn't felt in years.</p>
      <p>She momentarily recalled a conversation she had with Shepard about the duty and responsibility one carries when one has power that would affect the lives of those they lead. How it was a burden not many are able to shoulder and how fewer still understand the risks and sacrifices that come with being a leader.</p>
      <p>Though she was only a Princess, a great many Heliumite citizens already view her as the future Jeddak of Helium.</p>
      <p>Her father had always told her that being a Jeddak meant she had to lead by example.</p>
      <p>And that sometimes meant sacrificing your own happiness for the greater good of others.</p>
      <p>"I accept."</p>
      <p>Those words silenced the hall and everyone in it.</p>
      <p>In an instant, many necks snapped towards her general direction. They were so fast; some might have mistaken the act as whiplash.</p>
      <p>"D-Dejah." Mors choked out, face paling considerably.</p>
      <p>Dejah stepped forward to stand in between both parties, making sure everyone's attention was on her.</p>
      <p>"Enough good people died because of this feud. And I for one am utterly tired of it. If this means peace between our people, then I will unfortunately take it."</p>
      <p>"Dejah, you can't." Katos said, almost desperately.</p>
      <p>"I sadly must, Katos." Dejah said resignedly.</p>
      <p>Sab Than, above all else, appeared just as shocked as the rest of the assemblage was.</p>
      <p>Moments later, a victorious grin appeared with the Prince kneeling down to her.</p>
      <p>"You honor me, Princess Dejah Thoris of Helium." Sab said, sounding almost sincere. "I shall do everything in my power to make you a happy woman and bring our people together through peace."</p>
      <p>"And you best honor me as well, Prince Sab Than of Zodanga." Dejah said coolly yet remaining courteous at the very least.</p>
      <p>"We will wed tonight when the moons are full and present to help bless the occasion." Sab stated, rising to his feet. "When that time comes, peace will reign across Barsoom at long last."</p>
      <p>The meeting was soon drawn to a close, letting everyone disburse so they may prepare for tonight's upcoming events.</p>
      <p>Exiting the chamber, Dejah was soon confronted by several members of the Normandy team who listened in to the meeting in question.</p>
      <p>"Tali? Shepard? Ashley?" Dejah looked at the trio in slight surprise.</p>
      <p>"You really don't plan on marrying him, do you?" Shepard asked straight away, making the Princess jerk back.</p>
      <p>She glanced back at the large group of Heliumites that were nearby, speaking in hushed tones about what had transpired just now. They didn't exactly do a good job at hiding their nervousness.</p>
      <p>"Not exactly." Dejah admitted sheepishly.</p>
      <p>Ashley snorted at that.</p>
      <p>"In a way, I don't exactly see you as a princess who refuses because of misinterpreting a trope."</p>
      <p>"Trope?" Dejah tilted her head at that strange comment.</p>
      <p>Shepard rolled her eyes at her Operations Chief. "Ignore her. What you're doing does take a lot of guts in doing."</p>
      <p>"Are you sure about this, Dejah?" Tali inquired nervously. "That guy has been trying to take over your people for years."</p>
      <p>"And I know he intends to keep doing so until he succeeds." Dejah remarked. "I just have to go about this smartly. And if not… I will do what I must for Helium. My people's survival and safety matter a greater deal then my own selfish wants."</p>
      <p>The trio not native to Barsoom gave varying nods in response.</p>
      <p>"At least we'll be there for attendance, just to be sure there would be no funny business."</p>
      <p>"You don't have to-"</p>
      <p>"This is essentially an arranged marriage. We're doing you a favor." Ash cut her off with an expectant look.</p>
      <p>"And if I were to guess, the others will be of similar agreement in wanting to attend." Jane remarked. "No way in hell they're gonna sit this out."</p>
      <p>"But that would be viewed as a form of aggre- Oh why would I even bother in saying that?" Dejah rhetorically asked herself. "Just… thank you. I didn't think I would find such kindness from strangers I had met not long ago but you all being here and helping me these past few days is something I can never repay."</p>
      <p>"Don't mention it." Shepard waved her off. "You guys gave us a place to stay till we can find our way back home. Least we can do is watch your six."</p>
      <p>"My six?"</p>
      <p>"We'll watch your back." Williams clarified in amusement.</p>
      <p>"Now we just need to wait for Carter and the others to come back." Tali remarked.</p>
      <p>"But what if they come back with an army of Tharks at their backs?" Dejah inquired nervously.</p>
      <p>"We're just gonna have to be ready for this." Shepard stated in finality.</p>
      <p>
        <em>-Scene cut-</em>
      </p>
      <p>Roxas glided over the ground of Barsoom, glancing over to the others that he had been travelling with.</p>
      <p>Wrex got the hang of his Flier as did Carter, so they were flying a lot smoother when they had initially started out.</p>
      <p>On his glider was Xion with her arms wrapped tightly around his waist.</p>
      <p>It wasn't really much of an issue for Roxas really.</p>
      <p>Until she got a bit more comfortable with him and leaned her head against his shoulder.</p>
      <p>At first, he just asked if anything was wrong but she just told him that she found flying like this rather soothing.</p>
      <p>He shrugged it off at first but as they kept on flying, he himself began to feel a bit… weird.</p>
      <p>The more time went on, the more he found Xion pressing closer and closer up against him until there was literally no space between them.</p>
      <p>He could still move around and keep his glider flying without any problems but proximity was still something Roxas hadn't fully adjusted to.</p>
      <p>With Tali, he always felt like he was about to explode from the ways she's hugged and pressed up against him and… well, that kiss on the cheek was still something that reddened his face on any day of the week.</p>
      <p>He was glad his face was unseen by the others as he was soon blushing at the segment of memories.</p>
      <p>As this went on, a conversation took place with the rest.</p>
      <p>"-need to make sure we deal with that half tusk asshole once we get there." Wrex stated.</p>
      <p>"Tal is perhaps the only thing standing in our way from getting that army of yours Carter." Said Kaidan.</p>
      <p>"I know." Carter groused out.</p>
      <p>"Will it even work?" Xion asked. "Don't you have to be… I dunno, one of them to have you lead them?"</p>
      <p>"He's got a title with them." Wrex reminded them. "Dodo something."</p>
      <p>"<em>Dotar Sojat."</em> John said, more to himself than the others. "That's the name that was given to me."</p>
      <p>"Sounds like something a Krogan would give to an outsider that he would do in welcoming them to their clan." Wrex remarked. "If these Tharks are anything like the Krogan, they'll accept John's challenge."</p>
      <p>"You sure about that, Wrex?" Kaidan asked.</p>
      <p>Wrex huffed. "If I know anything about this tribal shit, <em>this </em>is how it works."</p>
      <p>"I'll take your word for it." John muttered under his breath.</p>
      <p>Eventually, whilst they were on the right path towards the Tharks, the sun began to set on Barsoom with the group of fliers settling down near a small crater that had fresh water in it.</p>
      <p>"How much further do we gotta go?" Wrex asked, the group sitting around a makeshift fire.</p>
      <p>"Not much longer, I figure." Kaidan said. "Though I didn't realize we got so damn far from the Tharks to begin with."</p>
      <p>The group fell into silence momentarily, the five of them simply watching the flicker flames letting out a few snaps and hisses.</p>
      <p>"So what do you guys make of all this?" Kaidan asked after a few seconds.</p>
      <p>"Feels like we're reaching the end of our time here." Xion admitted openly.</p>
      <p>"Really now?" Wrex remarked. "What makes you say that?"</p>
      <p>Xion shrugged. "Well, we're rushing in to save Helium from Zodanga right? From all the stories I've read and memories I've gotten from Sora, feels like we're about to reach the climax of the action."</p>
      <p>Kaidan couldn't help but snort aloud at that. "I forget how weird you and Roxas are sometimes, Xion."</p>
      <p>Xion became a bit flustered but still chuckled at the comment, not finding any reason to argue against it.</p>
      <p>As the four Normandy members made idle chatter amongst themselves, their fifth companion remained silent. He sat on his flier he commandeered, staring intently at the fire for what seemed like ages until he slowly turned his gaze towards his left hand.</p>
      <p>He had subconsciously shifted it forward and in doing so, a bit of the light from the fire reflected itself off of his wedding ring.</p>
      <p>Looking upon his ring, he reached out with his other hand and gently grazed the tips of his fingers over it with his heart lurching.</p>
      <p>Closing his eyes, he exhaled shakily and hung his head low.</p>
      <p>"Carter? Everything alright?"</p>
      <p>The former Confederate looked over to see Roxas gazing at him and in turn, with the boy's question, the others were looking at him as well now.</p>
      <p>"It's nothing."</p>
      <p>"Really now?" Alenko said. "Cause it sure doesn't seem like nothing."</p>
      <p>"Just leave it-"</p>
      <p>"Nope." Wrex flatly states. "Talk, you walking twig."</p>
      <p>John flinched slightly, rubbing his arms. "I'm not that thin."</p>
      <p>"You kidding me?" Wrex guffawed. "Rucksack has more muscle than you. And you're being a stubborn pyjak."</p>
      <p>"A what?"</p>
      <p>"Just talk to us, John." Xion encouraged. "What's the matter? You've been quiet this whole time."</p>
      <p>He didn't respond at first, scoffing at all this as he gazed back at the fire now.</p>
      <p>"Nothing. I just have a lot on my mind." John said dismissively.</p>
      <p>"Does it have to do with those wedding rings ya got on there?" Questioned Kaidan.</p>
      <p>Carter's expression became something fierce. "<em>That </em>is none of your concern."</p>
      <p>Kaidan however shook his head. "John, I hope you know that I've seen many people like you in my time in the Alliance. Losing someone you love and care for-"</p>
      <p>"And how do you know I've lost someone, huh?" Carter heatedly defended himself.</p>
      <p>"Did you not hear me say that I've seen this before?" Kaidan rhetorically asked. "Signs are there, Captain. Plain for all to see."</p>
      <p>"Well it's none of your goddamn business." Carter snapped.</p>
      <p>"It is if it's gonna fuck with our chances of success." Wrex's voice came out in a bored fashion. "So either you tell us what's up your ass or we force it out of you."</p>
      <p>"Wrex… ew." Xion said, becoming a bit green. The Krogan only chortled in response.</p>
      <p>Carter rolled his eyes at the Battlemaster.</p>
      <p>"John." Roxas softly called out to him. "It's better if you just talk about it."</p>
      <p>"What makes you think I want to talk about any of this." John said tiredly.</p>
      <p>"You were willing to fight to the death about it just to let Dejah get to safety." Kaidan pointed out.</p>
      <p>"I was doing it for everyone."</p>
      <p>"<em>We</em> can take care of ourselves if you haven't noticed." Roxas said.</p>
      <p>"You're just not wanting to admit whatever is going on with you, thinking it may make a difference. It will or it won't, but there will be no results unless you actually fess up and actually talk about it."</p>
      <p>John saw that they weren't really budging on this matter.</p>
      <p>And really, it's starting to piss him off now.</p>
      <p>"Look, we get it. This isn't something that's so easy to talk about." Kaidan began. "But we've all had that at one point. I've learned that it's better to just talk about it or find a way to get it out of your system. Should that be of some comfort to you if you actually wish it-"</p>
      <p>"What makes you think that talking about it would bring me comfort?" John's entire defensive mood now shifted.</p>
      <p>What they saw now was a tired, weary and battle hardened man who has suffered enough doesn't want to deal with something like that anymore.</p>
      <p>"It's not going to bring them back if I do. They're gone. Dead and buried in the Earth that I left behind."</p>
      <p>"We've all had people we've lost, Carter." Kaidan said sympathetically. "We just wanna help."</p>
      <p>Memories flashed of happier times.</p>
      <p>How he met his wife in the first place, how they fell in love, when they got married and when he met his daughter once she came into the world.</p>
      <p>They then transitioned to when he was drafted into the war where he began interacting and getting to know his brothers in arms. How he laughed and sang with them, proclaiming what they'll do once they win the war.</p>
      <p>Each and every one of them, once blissful, became painful to reflect.</p>
      <p>"...I'm.. I'm sorry." Said the Virginian man. "I'm… I'm just <em>so</em> tired." He inhaled sharply as he tried to rid himself of the stinging in his eyes. "It's just like this wave washing over me, again and again. It knocks me down, and when I try to stand up it just comes for me again. And I… just feel like drowning with no way towards the surface."</p>
      <p>"You're not the only one who felt that way. You become closed up and build these walls, not wanting to accept the reality by escaping in some shape or form."</p>
      <p>"How would you know?"</p>
      <p>"Because I've seen it before." Alenko stressed out. "This isn't a new phenomenon, Carter. You're not the first and you <em>will not</em> be the last. This is just something that's unfortunately unavoidable for a lot of people in the universe."</p>
      <p>"So just this nonstop feeling of loss and misery?" John blandly asked, not really expecting an answer.</p>
      <p>"But it can't all be sorrow, can it?" Questioned Xion, staring off to an unknown space. "For as long as I can remember, I honestly don't know how it is to be alone as I've had someone there with me. But… for a while now, I've often been afraid to lose the ones I've grown to care about. I'd never get to see them again."</p>
      <p>Silence reigned in the space for a little bit as Kaidan soon spoke. <em>"Unable are the loved to die, for love is immortality."</em></p>
      <p>Realizing it was a quote, John couldn't help but ask. "Who is that from?"</p>
      <p>"Emily Dickinson," said the Alliance marine. "It basically means the love you have for those that are gone never truly leaves you."</p>
      <p>Some of the others of the Normandy team looked at him, wondering where that came from.</p>
      <p>Seeing their looks, Kaidan gave out a response. "Hey, blame Ashley. Most of the stuff she quotes is great, making me wanna try to prepare and do a quote off with her."</p>
      <p>"You must be really <em>that</em> bored on the ship in wanting to do that." Chortled Wrex.</p>
      <p>"Oh like you're any better-"</p>
      <p>Carter laughed at them, a few stray tears appearing out of the corners of his eyes.</p>
      <p>Sure he lost them, but they might as well be a part of him through his memories. The grief he has could be channeled and built upon as that can never be taken away from him.</p>
      <p>John never was able to confront his grief before, but now… now he might have a chance of actually moving on.</p>
      <p>How exactly might be the question.</p>
      <p>There was no doubt in his mind that Dejah might've learned how to operate the medallion to travel back to Earth at this point with what they found at the River Iss temple.</p>
      <p>But if they were to reunite, would he actually return to Earth? A place where the source of his grief resides?</p>
      <p>If that were the case… would he stay here on Mars?</p>
      <p>Once rested once more, the group set off once more towards their intended destination.</p>
      <p>Soon enough, they saw signs of the settlement on the horizon. They were almost close to the Tharks, making a number of the party steady themselves.</p>
      <p>"Alright guys, you know the plan. Be sure to be ready for Tal's men to attack us." John stated.</p>
      <p>"We know. You don't have to remind us." Wrex muttered in anticipation.</p>
      <p>"And don't try to kill too many of them, Wrex." Xion said with a pout.</p>
      <p>"Where's the fun in that?" Wrex asked sarcastically.</p>
      <p>When they came in close to the vicinity, they expected for a firefight to occur from the Tharks. Yet to their surprise, there was no one firing upon them.</p>
      <p>When they made their landing at a reasonable distance, they saw a dozen Tharks rushing towards them.</p>
      <p>The team hopped off their fliers and whipped out their weapons, ready to take them out in case of anything.</p>
      <p>Yet it seemed to be a wasted effort.</p>
      <p>"We will take you to our Jeddak, Dotar Sojat." One of the Tharks stated, nodding his head in the direction of the village.</p>
      <p>There seemed to be no hostility at all, making the team question what was going on.</p>
      <p>But that didn't mean they weren't lowering their guard.</p>
      <p>After a few minutes of walking towards the village center, they were soon greeted with an odd, welcoming sight.</p>
      <p>"Virginia!" Proclaimed Tars Tarkus in a boisterous and welcoming tone as he walked right towards the newly arrived group. "I am glad to see you and your friends are alive and well."</p>
      <p>"Tars?" John said, pleasantly surprised at the sight of the Thark that had "welcomed" him to Barsoom.</p>
      <p>"Dotar Sojat." Tar said, all four arms spread out in a welcoming fashion. "You have returned at a great time for the Tharks."</p>
      <p>"Uh-huh." Carter nodded dumbly at this, looking around to find no opposition or hostility from the Tharks around them.</p>
      <p>What the hell was going on?</p>
      <p>"Ah yes, the great jumpers of Barsoom." Tar said excitedly, raising his two right fists in greeting. "Welcome back."</p>
      <p>"Yeah, glad for the welcome party." Kaidan murmured.</p>
      <p>Wrex grunted aloud. "Don't mind me asking, but where the hell is Tal Hajis?"</p>
      <p>"Yeah… where is broken tusk guy?" Xion asked.</p>
      <p>"Not to mention why the guards aren't trying to apprehend us." Roxas added.</p>
      <p>Tars' present grin widened. "Oh, that? Well, Tal will no longer be an issue for you all."</p>
      <p>"Meaning… what exactly?" John asked hesitantly.</p>
      <p>"I challenged for his title of Jeddak and killed him, of course." Tarkus stated with pride.</p>
      <p>The answer got mixed reviews from the assembled party. Either concerned or confused.</p>
      <p>The one given by the Krogan, however, seemed to break the tension with his boisterous laugh.</p>
      <p>"So ya finally went and killed that dumb bastard?" Wrex asked approvingly. "It's about damn time."</p>
      <p>"When did this happen?" John inquired.</p>
      <p>"Not long ago, actually." Tars proclaimed.</p>
      <p>"Any reason why?"</p>
      <p>"A whole number of reasons." The Thark Jeddak then looked around the assembled group. "Virginia." Tars' tone dropped. "Sola, is she-"</p>
      <p>"Your daughter is safe." John answered straight away making Tars blink in surprise.</p>
      <p>Murmurs filled the air from the surrounding Tharks.</p>
      <p>"How did-"</p>
      <p>"I was a father once too, Tars." John spoke in a tired voice. "I know what it's like to worry about family."</p>
      <p>Tars found himself smiling at the Virginian in an appreciative manner.</p>
      <p>"That and she told us ourselves when she sought to mend your honor by riding through the River Iss." Roxas brought up.</p>
      <p>"Then <em>where</em> is she?" Tars stressed out.</p>
      <p>"At Helium."</p>
      <p>The new Jeddak let out a sigh of relief. "Then she is indeed safe."</p>
      <p>"I wouldn't be so sure." Said Carter.</p>
      <p>"What do you mean by that?" Tars asked with a now worried look.</p>
      <p>"There is something which happened when we were captured in Zodanga." John stated. "Something that I recently found out about the Zodangans and those that call themselves Therns."</p>
      <p>Upon hearing the last bit of proclamation, Tars expressed the mood from the surrounding Tharks he now led.</p>
      <p>"You have quite the gall in saying such things, Dotar Sojat."</p>
      <p>"But it's the truth."</p>
      <p>Narrowing his eyes, Kaidan looked towards his deactivated Omni-tool. Pulling it up, he looked towards the audio file Axel sent him before they went their separate ways.</p>
      <p>"Good as time as any."</p>
      <p>Activating the file, he let it play out for all to hear.</p>
      <p>At the start, John and Tars were surprised to hear the one voice from Kaidan's device, more so with the Earther when he also heard Matai Shang's soon after.</p>
      <p>"What the hell is this, Kaidan?" Asked Wrex.</p>
      <p>"Axel sent this to me before we went off. Didn't know it was really important earlier, but now…"</p>
      <p>Whatever Kaidan tried to speak of next was silenced as he and everyone else listened onto the audio file. More intently on a number of details.</p>
      <p>By the end of it, many people were quite shaken on the details.</p>
      <p>With the present Normandy members, it was a harsh reminder of a foe they had faced not too long ago. A threat that is hovering in their home and everyone residing there.</p>
      <p>Even if the Therns were different from the Reapers, their apparent methods weren't all that different.</p>
      <p>"Sola… she's in danger." Tars said in a terrified manner.</p>
      <p>"Along with everyone else on Barsoom." Kaidan added.</p>
      <p>"So what're we gonna do then?" Roxas asked. "Shepard and the others are at Helium right now aren't they? They can hold them back but with the Heartless now involved…"</p>
      <p>"We need to move fast then." Xion declared, garnering nods from the others.</p>
      <p>"Yes… yes we do." Tars stated, moving to the center of the village where many of the Tharks were present.</p>
      <p>"My people! Listen to me!"</p>
      <p>Once seeing he got the majority of the populous' attention, the Jeddak spoke aloud.</p>
      <p>"We the Tharks have long been the children of this land." Tars began passionately. "We have endured and survived these harsh lands for countless generations, did we not?"</p>
      <p>Smatterings and murmurs of agreement came out from the assembled tribe.</p>
      <p>"But we have long been aware of the war between the Zodangans and Heliumites." Tars stated. "We have seen how the war has decimated the fields of Barsoom, thanks in no small part to the Zodangans and their lust for bloodshed and death. How our plains have become more barrens as the war dragged on."</p>
      <p>The small mutters began to grow into disgruntled and growling agreements.</p>
      <p>"We have always made bets and japed whenever we saw those redskins wage war upon one another. But now, Dotar Sojat brings me information that will inevitably bring the war that Zodanga has waged against Helium to us."</p>
      <p>Now, the Tharks were loudly and openly protesting with shouts of anger and refusal to bow to the Zodangans.</p>
      <p>"The Jeddak of Zodanga means to crush Helium, probably very soon. And if Helium falls, so does Barsoom. We must throw off the yoke of old hatreds. Tharks did not cause this. But, by Issus, Tharks will end it!" Tar Tarkus exclaimed, thumping his chest with his arms. "For too long, we have wallowed away in the shadows, in our caves and huts. It is time the Tharks seized their own destiny and show that we are just as much a part of Barsoom as the Heliumites and Zodangans."</p>
      <p>The Tharks began chanting and cheering in agreement.</p>
      <p>"Dotar Sojat has made me well aware of the ambitions that the Zodangans Calots have planned for all of Barsoom. Virginia's words hold truth to them. The Zodangans <em>will not</em> stop at Helium. Either all of Barsoom falls under their boots alive or we fall under them <em>dead.</em>"</p>
      <p>The tribe was now becoming more heated and riled up as Tars pressed on.</p>
      <p>"These Zodangans have encroached upon our lands. Killed mercilessly and indiscriminately. And as I have learned just now, that disgusting Prince Sab Than has been selected by false gods and idols to bring Barsoom to its knees." Tars yelled impassioned now. "<em>WILL WE LET THAT HAPPEN?!"</em></p>
      <p>"<em>NO!" </em>Was the collective bellow of the Tharks who threw their fists, guns, swords and spears into the air.</p>
      <p>War cries and chants filled the air as Tars looked to John and the others with a wide grin.</p>
      <p>"We ride for Zodanga!"</p>
      <p>
        <em>-Scene Cut-</em>
      </p>
      <p>"So… how do I look?" Dejah Thoris asked, gesturing down to her wedding garb.</p>
      <p>Before her were the Normandy crew plus an intrigued Sola.</p>
      <p>"Well now, you look…"</p>
      <p>"Like one of those Asari pole dancers on the Citadel." Was Axel's response, earning two elbows from Shepard and Tali.</p>
      <p>"Is that a compliment?" Asked the princess, not knowing such things.</p>
      <p>"No." Garrus said with an amused look directed at Axel.</p>
      <p>"Then again, you guys didn't really wear much to begin with." Axel said with a shrug.</p>
      <p>"Least they didn't make her wear… <em>that</em>." Ashley said in agreement.</p>
      <p>"So it's hideous, I take it."</p>
      <p>"No, no." Shepard quickly waved off. "Just something… you know what, we're not the best people to talk to about fashion."</p>
      <p>There were quick nods and mutters of agreement from the others.</p>
      <p>"Is it not traditional to wear something like this like we saw on Helium?" Sola inquired.</p>
      <p>"That's if they're hunting." Garrus said. "Dejah's been "taken", so this is different."</p>
      <p>The team snorted in amusement with Dejah looking at herself in the mirror.</p>
      <p>"How is it that I feel more like a whore in this garb then what I have seen the youth wear in Helium?" Dejah rhetorically asked herself.</p>
      <p>Axel crossed his arms and turned to the ladies.</p>
      <p>"Do you guys wanna answer this? Cause if I say anything, I definitely know I'm gonna get killed by you girls."</p>
      <p>"At least you have <em>some</em> semblance of tact, Axel." Was Liara's desert-like response.</p>
      <p>"Why should we answer?" Tali coyly asked. "I believe this is an opinion that is better suited for Axel and Garrus."</p>
      <p>Garrus merely held up his hands in surrender, not wanting to touch the subject with a 20 ft. pole.</p>
      <p>"Roxas would think you'd look pretty in that." Axel shot back at Tali, grinning triumphantly at the steam coming out from her hood which fogged up her mask.</p>
      <p>"A-Ax-AXEL!" Tali squeaked.</p>
      <p>Shepard couldn't help but laugh at the reaction which only caused further mist to exude out from beneath Tali's hood as the Quarian crouched down to the ground, hands over her helmet.</p>
      <p>"I think it's better if we don't answer that." Jane said with a small grin. "You're only gonna wear this once anyway, Dejah."</p>
      <p>"If all goes according to plan." Dejah muttered.</p>
      <p>"Plan? What plan? We have a plan?" Axel asked in surprise, getting an elbow from Jane.</p>
      <p>"Yes we do… do we?" Shepard turned to Dejah who found herself gaping a bit.</p>
      <p>"Um…"</p>
      <p>Axel snorted again, shaking his head with Garrus sighing aloud.</p>
      <p>"Just asking this now, but is this wedding taking place here at Helium or at Zodanga?" the Turian asked.</p>
      <p>"Zodanga." Dejah revealed.</p>
      <p>"Zodanga?" Ashley and Tali, who had recovered from her embarrassment, said in unison.</p>
      <p>"When I tried looking throughout their mobile city, I honestly could not find anything remotely resembling a wedding chapel." Axel commented. "Either they're making something on the fly for the occasion or-"</p>
      <p>"That's not a trap waiting to happen <em>at all."</em> Shepard stated with a deadpan.</p>
      <p>"That is a trap." Sola added. "Why would you walk into something like that, Princess?"</p>
      <p>"It is more than likely to happen." Dejah remarked.</p>
      <p>"So why go there at all?" Tali asked in bewilderment.</p>
      <p>"They were in the terms of the marriage." The Princess of Mars said with a sigh.</p>
      <p>"And not here at Helium because…"</p>
      <p>"Sab stated that he had risked his own life with less than a fraction of his guard to come and offer marriage and peace." Dejah rolled her eyes at that. "And he wishes that in accordance that we end hostilities, let it be in the place that started it all."</p>
      <p>"That's fucking stupid!" Was the collective response of Jane, Ash, Axel and Garrus.</p>
      <p>"Why would anyone agree to that?" Tali asked in astonishment.</p>
      <p>"This seems extremely foolhardy of a place to conduct a wedding." Liara stated in concern. "Dejah, will you not be in direct danger?"</p>
      <p>"As opposed to the danger I've placed myself in on multiple occasions these past few days?" Dejah asked sarcastically. "Or being involved in a war?"</p>
      <p>"Ok, look, trust us, we see your point." Jane said, holding up a hand that conveyed slight agreement. "But that still feels like a gamble and huge risk to play on."</p>
      <p>"They've got their entire army all situated around you and the Heartless with them now." Axel added. "And I'm sure even with the Nobodies Roxas and I got under our thumbs, that won't be enough of a tipping point."</p>
      <p>"I could perhaps understand the whole thing if the wedding ceremony was being done at a neutral location. Like some other temple where y'all worship at or something. But this… I just can't see this going any other way aside from things going sideways." Liara said.</p>
      <p>"It's more than likely going to happen." Tali quipped.</p>
      <p>"Then I have faith that all of you will be there when things do go wrong." Dejah said with a smile.</p>
      <p>"What, just us?" Ashley asked sarcastically.</p>
      <p>"You know I mean <em>all </em>of you." Dejah emphasized.</p>
      <p>"Think Carter will be able to convince a tribe of Martians that hate you <em>and </em>Zodanga?" Shepard inquired.</p>
      <p>"Couldn't they just strong arm them into joining?" Liara asked the group. "They do have Wrex with them."</p>
      <p>"John is called Dotar Sojat." Sola pointed out. "A title he had been given to him by the Jeddak of the Tharks. That gives him the right to challenge."</p>
      <p>"And he's got Roxas, Xion, Kaidan and Wrex with him." Axel remarked.</p>
      <p>"So~?"</p>
      <p>"Let's just go with it." Shepard sighed. "Sometimes, it's better to just wing it then always having a plan."</p>
      <p>Axel chortled, clapping the Spectre on the back. "Sounds like my kind of plan."</p>
      <p>"Don't you plan out extensive types of ways to mess with people?" Garrus asked, not expecting an answer.</p>
      <p>Soon enough, the Helium airships were boarded and took off into the air as it made its way towards Zodanga.</p>
      <p>By the time the retinue made it towards their destination, it was nighttime with the twin moons shining brightly overhead. The airships landed on the top platforms as the Heliumite guests were unloaded and made their way towards the ceremony chamber for the upcoming event.</p>
      <p>Once everything was ready, Dejah and her father walked down the ramp with Katos Kan following in the rear alongside the handmaidens, a hand selected number of the royal guard, Sola and the present members of the Normandy team.</p>
      <p>"I know that this is not the fate you have truly chosen for yourself, or for Helium, but choice is a luxury even for a Jeddak of Barsoom." Spoke her father, walking beside her as they made their way towards the ceremony chamber. "Even if, in your heart-"</p>
      <p>"A heart is a luxury."</p>
      <p>Dejah's interruption made Helium's Jeddak frown a little more as the pair eventually drew closer to Sab Than.</p>
      <p>With the leader of Zodanga, he was standing patiently to soon meet up with his soon-to-be bride. All the while, Matai Shang whispered in his ear.</p>
      <p>"Remember, she is not the prize."</p>
      <p>"You don't need to remind me." Sab whispered back. "The prize is Barsoom."</p>
      <p>When both bride and groom finally met in the middle, they soon walked side by side as they and their respective parties traversed towards the ceremony chamber.</p>
      <p>It took some time for them all to arrive at their destination with baited anticipation.</p>
      <p>A large conglomerate of people from both cities were situated on each side of the chamber. There were armed soldiers, council members, and even normal citizens who were given permission to attend the event. They all stood patiently for Sab Than and Dejah to arrive at the altar where a pool of water was being kept. And by said location stood a high priestess in ceremonial garb.</p>
      <p>With the soon to be bride and husband finally approaching, the high priestess spoke as she raised her arms towards the sky where the two moons of Barsoom shined brightly overhead.</p>
      <p>"Like our ancestors before us, we gather under the mingled light of Barsoom's first lovers, Cluros and Thuria."</p>
      <p>A signal was given, having a mechanism activated to have two large pieces of glass come together in front of the dual moons. Once finished, the combined moonlight magnified, drastically lighting up the chamber as a moonbeam shot down towards the altar. As this occurred, the ground where they stood started to shift, revealing it was a mechanized platform as it started to raise higher and higher.</p>
      <p>"As the moons are joined in celestial union, so do we unite Sab Than and Dejah Thoris, Zodanga and Helium."</p>
      <p>Retrieving a uniquely styled goblet, the high priestess dipped the vessel into the water which had been blessed by the magnified moonlight. Once full, she retrieved the goblet back as she presented it towards the soon-to-be married couple.</p>
      <p>"In the time of oceans, the celestial lovers rose from the sea each night to consummate their love in the sky." Said the high priestess as Sab and Dejah grasped onto each side of the ceremonial chalice. "Drink now of this holy water and be wed."</p>
      <p>"So may it be again." Spoke Sab Than, tipping the goblet up to his lips and drank the blessed water. "I am yours forever."</p>
      <p>"And I am yours… forever." Said Dejah as she was ready to drink the water-</p>
      <p>*CRASH*</p>
      <p>Everyone within the chamber whirled around to see the cause of the disturbance. Soon enough, they all saw several people riding on fliers as they whirled around in the air.</p>
      <p>Now while many were confused as to who these interlopers were, those who were more familiar with them in any shape or form knew right away and had their own respective feelings.</p>
      <p>With Sab Than and Matai Shang, anger and anxiety arose.</p>
      <p>With the Normandy crew, it was of relief and joy.</p>
      <p>And as for Dejah, she couldn't help but smile brightly.</p>
      <p>Yet before anything could be spoken towards the interlopers, John Carter gave out a grave warning towards the Heliumites.</p>
      <p>"It's a trap! Your lives are in danger!"</p>
      <p>Grasping onto Sab Than's arm, Matai Shang harshly spoke to him. "Whatever you plan on doing, do it now!"</p>
      <p>The Jeddak of Zodanga didn't need to be told twice. Letting go of the ceremonial chalice, Sab Than harshly grasped Dejah's hair as she screamed. And with his outstretched arm, a blade formed from the Thern's gift appeared for all to see.</p>
      <p>"HELIUM FALLS!"</p>
      <p>"DEJAH!" Mors shouted in horror.</p>
      <p>Screams of terror followed soon after as colorful yet dark creatures with beady yellows eyes began springing up all over the place.</p>
      <p>The civilians inside began scrambling away in fear whilst the Heliumite soldiers engaged the Zodangans.</p>
      <p>Chaos erupted across the hall as swords clashed against one another with bodies either being slain dead or taken by the Heartless.</p>
      <p>From the sidelines, hidden out of sight, Shepard reached behind her and pulled out her assault rifle.</p>
      <p>"That's our cue guys." Shepard said.</p>
      <p>With varying nods, her party sprang into action.</p>
      <p>Woola and Stitch let out garbled roars and the two proceeded to barrel through a number of Zodangans and Heartless in their initial charge.</p>
      <p>Leaping off their fliers, the new arrivals dropped into the respective areas of the ceremony chamber. Whereas the Normandy members landed amongst the chaos, Carter landed on the platform where Sab Than, Dejah and whoever else remained there. The Virginian rushed forward to save the Heliumite princess, but with a swipe of his mighty weapon, Sab Than caused the platform to come apart and collapse, bringing many people down below.</p>
      <p>Rushing over to the rubble, Xion helped move a number of slabs to help find any survivors. While a few didn't make it, others did with them having broken bones from the recent descent. And the one who was the better survivor so happened to be Carter.</p>
      <p>Casting a Curaga spell on the assembled survivors, both Carter and Xion looked upward and saw Sab Than apparently floating in the air as Dejah was still struggling to escape his grasp.</p>
      <p>"DEJAH!" Cried out Xion and Carter.</p>
      <p>Growing tired of the pain emanating from her scalp, Dejah pulled out a small, bladed weapon from her person and attempted to cut her hair in order to free herself. Unfortunately, that little attempt didn't work out as much as she ended up stabbing her weapon into the wrist of her captor.</p>
      <p>With a pained yell, Sab Than released his "bride" as he saw her plumber towards the chaos down below. When this occurred, the Jeddak of Zodanga witnessed Carter leap into the air and catch Dejah before landing on the far side of the ceremony chamber.</p>
      <p>Yet he was distracted long enough did he end up knocked to the side. Recovering mid-air, he brought his blue wire sword up to block the blow from the dark haired Nobody.</p>
      <p>"That wasn't very nice, Sab Than!"</p>
      <p>The Jeddak merely snarled at the girl as they soon resumed their fight from several days ago.</p>
      <p>Back with Carter, he smiled at Dejah just as he placed her back onto her feet. As much as he wanted to embrace her, they had more important matters to attend to.</p>
      <p>Just when he picked up a stray sword from the floor, it was then he heard her speak as she quickly pried the pilfered weapon from his grasp.</p>
      <p>"If you'll just get behind me, sir."</p>
      <p>Without a wasted moment, Dejah lunged forward and started attacking the incoming enemies.</p>
      <p>Chuckling to himself, Carter punched a Zodangan soldier before ripping the sword from his grasp in order to join in on the fight.</p>
      <p>Seeing as the ceremony chamber was being too hot for comfort, a number of the Normandy team exited the space. They knew there was more action going on outside than where they were once at. And sure enough, the outside Heliumite forces were being overwhelmed by both Zodangans and Heartless.</p>
      <p>Roxas jumped forward into a large cluster of Heartless and shifted Oathkeeper into Pirate's Dream. The Keyblade instantly transformed into a thruster that glowed with energy and light and went in for the <em>Finishing Leap.</em></p>
      <p>Thrusting his fist forward towards the ground, a bolt of light shot out. An explosion of several light shockwaves came out, knocking many off their feet. Everyone within the radius tried to get back onto their feet to resume fighting, but it gave No. XIII the advantage he needed. Once ready, he went to town on the surrounding enemies as they were sent flying with every delivered punch.</p>
      <p>Moments later, an added layer of madness came into the halls and city of Zodanga itself.</p>
      <p>From above and from below, two separate armies charged straight into the city and began to run rampant upon the Zodangan forces.</p>
      <p>The gleaming silver armor of the Heliumites.</p>
      <p>And the hunting rifles of the Tharks.</p>
      <p>"What the- that's the army of Helium!" Ashley pointed out, watching as the two armies of Barsoomians reign down upon the Zodangans.</p>
      <p>"How'd they get here?" Tali asked in surprise.</p>
      <p>"We uh… we took a detour." Roxas said offhandedly. "We got the heads up from Shepard and Axel about where you guys were headed. So we figured that having the Tharks with us can only do so much."</p>
      <p>Williams ruffled Roxas' hair in a rough, affectionate manner.</p>
      <p>"Nice goin' you guys." Ashley said with a beaming smile before rushing back into the middle of the fight.</p>
      <p>Garrus found a comfortable area far enough away from the ensuing chaos and was utilizing a new feature he had been experimenting with that Mosh the Moogle had told him about. Focusing with his eye that didn't have the visor, Garrus felt a wholly new and startling sensation of being able to see the enemies he wanted to hit from afar being outlined as if he were looking through his scope.</p>
      <p>Only they had reddish black auras coming off of them whilst his friends and allies he saw possessed whitish-yellow.</p>
      <p>Grinning, Garrus felt a strange feeling well up through him as he pulled the trigger on his sniper rifle. In an instant, a beam shot forth that burst into hundreds of small ones and rained down upon the swarm they were fighting.</p>
      <p>Blinking at that, Garrus briefly looked at his hand and saw it flash with light momentarily before subsiding.</p>
      <p>A moment later… <em>power</em>.</p>
      <p>That's what he could describe it as.</p>
      <p>Literal power began to course through his very being and it came from… his <em>Heart</em>.</p>
      <p>He began to feel his heart rate increase exponentially as a grin began to form upon the Turian as Yen Sid's voice echoed in his mind.</p>
      <p>
        <em>"A little Insurance, if you will. Taking them into you will unlock the latent potential for greater power you all have yet to achieve."</em>
      </p>
      <p>"About damn time." Garrus proclaimed and faced the Zodangans and Heartless rushing towards him.</p>
      <p>As this went on, Kaidan was using his biotics to fling and hold a number of enemies. Soon enough, he was joined alongside Axel who blasted them out of the air.</p>
      <p>"Always wanted to be a wedding crasher." Kaidan said, rolling his shoulders.</p>
      <p>"Really?" Inquired No. VIII.</p>
      <p>"Hey, I was a teenager once." Kaidan cheekily stated with a wry grin that was matched by the Pyrokinetic Nobody.</p>
      <p>Hearing some gunshots littering the air, the pair looked onward and saw some Heliumites ducking behind some pillars in the upper balcony. Wanting to assist, they made their way towards their position.</p>
      <p>Firing from their pistols, Mors and Katos were avoiding as many enemy shots as they could.</p>
      <p>"Such a shame it ended this way." Stated Mors.</p>
      <p>"It was such a nice wedding too." Jested Katos.</p>
      <p>It wasn't long before the cavalry arrived, one of a familiar face while another was of a stranger.</p>
      <p>"Sorry we're late. The crowds here are terrible." No. VIII said, casually raising up a pillar of fire as cover.</p>
      <p>"All is forgiven, Axel, as we're fighting for our lives." Said Mors before eying the Alliance Marine. "Who's this?"</p>
      <p>"One of my friends we told ya about."</p>
      <p>"Nice to meet you, your majesty and… whoever you are." Kaidan said, throwing a Biotic Push that sent a Heartless flying. "Wish it was under better circumstances."</p>
      <p>"No, no, we appreciate you all coming at such an opportune time." Katos quickly said. "We were in the midst of the utmost drab wedding."</p>
      <p>"Didn't you just say it was nice?"</p>
      <p>"My Jeddak, I lie because I care." Katos remarked airily.</p>
      <p>Mors shook his head with a small laugh, peeking out of his cover to shoot at a Zodangan nearby.</p>
      <p>During the ensuing battle, the confrontation between Xion and Sab Than bled out as Carter was brought into their bout.</p>
      <p>Swords clashed numerous times as Sab tried to take care of both of his opponents. But he was starting to get overwhelmed, causing him to realize his disadvantage.</p>
      <p>The duo were immeasurably stronger than him, both with their naturally enhanced strength due to the gravity of Barsoom not affecting them like it did him.</p>
      <p>And the girl herself… well, she had a blasted Keyblade.</p>
      <p>The same weapon he saw the younger sandy-blond haired boy possess that reflected his Ninth Ray.</p>
      <p>As Xion swatted aside another attempt of a stab from the Zodangan prince, something caught her out of the corner of her eyes.</p>
      <p>Looking over briefly, she saw a man garbed in silvery gray robes shapeshift into that of a Heliumite guard and entering the fray.</p>
      <p>Seeing that she was distracted and needing to even the playing field, Sab delivered a spartan kick to Xion's midsection, sending her stumbling back. Once having enough "breathing room", the Jeddak was able to put all his attention towards Carter.</p>
      <p>"Helium's fate is sealed, Earthman." Snarled Sab Than.</p>
      <p>"As is yours." Carter backfired.</p>
      <p>Xion righted herself and was about to rejoin John when several Heartless leapt at her.</p>
      <p>"Back off!" Xion said in annoyance, throwing her Keyblade up. "Thunder!"</p>
      <p>The Heartless were quickly destroyed but as Xion looked back over to Carter and Sab, she saw they had taken the fight up to an elevated level of the area.</p>
      <p>She wanted to go after them but hearing cries of pain made her turn to see Heliumites being attacked by the Heartless.</p>
      <p>Without hesitating, the Keyblade wielder rushed over to assist them and destroy the Heartless.</p>
      <p>Cleaving and slashing through the dark enemies left and right, No. XIV was able to clear most of the space around her. Channeling power into her weapon, she slammed it down to the ground hard, causing a shockwave of energy to shoot off the impact zone. The result had several enemies fly into the air, causing her to reignite her assault.</p>
      <p>Jane was fighting with Ashley and Wrex who was having the time of his life.</p>
      <p>"Ah, I love these kinds of weddings." The Krogan exclaimed happily, bashing away a Zodangan followed by crushing a Heartless with his Warhammer.</p>
      <p>"How many weddings have you even been to, Wrex?" Ash couldn't help but ask, tossing an inferno grenade into a group of enemies.</p>
      <p>"Plenty actually." Wrex remarked, headbutting a foolish charging Zodangan. "Some ended alright. Most devolved into shootouts."</p>
      <p>"What sort of mobster type weddings have you been going to?" Shepard inquired, ensnaring a Heartless in her Biotics with Ashley destroying it a moment later.</p>
      <p>"Oh all kinds. The boring ones have no deaths at all." the Battlemaster said with a sigh. "So much potential lost."</p>
      <p>"Is it sad or shocking that our Krogan friend has been to more weddings than any of us combined?" Ash asked.</p>
      <p>"I've been alive for seven hundred years, Pyjak." Wrex deadpanned.</p>
      <p>"Yeah, and weddings are the last place we'd ever expect to find you." Shepard said earnestly.</p>
      <p>"I have a romantic side you know." Wrex rebuked, snatching a Zodangan by his neck and tossing him away.</p>
      <p>"Right~" The two Alliance marines drawled out.</p>
      <p>As the fighting wore on, with the added benefit of the Normandy team and the reinforcements of the Heliumites and Tharks, Zodanga was losing ground.</p>
      <p>And in their own city as well.</p>
      <p>Sab, however, remained none the wiser as he fought with all his might to defeat John Carter of Earth.</p>
      <p>The Jasoom native was proving to be a greater and more skilled warrior than he had anticipated.</p>
      <p>His skills with the blade and martial prowess coupled with his superhuman abilities were beginning to tire the Zodangan Prince.</p>
      <p>Gritting his teeth, Sab added serrated edges to his transforming blade.</p>
      <p>Clashing his with Carters again, Sab grinned as the Earthman noticed he couldn't free his sword.</p>
      <p>With a twist of his wrist, the Ninth Ray blade snapped Carter's own in two and Sab struck John's jaw with the back of his fist.</p>
      <p>John fell to the ground and was about to get up when he saw Sab standing over him with his blue blade pointed directly at him.</p>
      <p>"You sniveling, disgusting, wre-"</p>
      <p>"VIRGINIA!"</p>
      <p>The Prince jolted and looked behind him in time to see a curved sword of the Tharks being thrown at him from one Tars Tarkus.</p>
      <p>Seeing how close it was, Sab instinctively inclined his head out of the way giving John the chance to jump up and grab the sword.</p>
      <p>Without missing a beat, Carter struck the blue blade aside, leaving Sab's arm wide open. In an instant, the former Confederate Captain sliced straight through the Zodangan Princes' arm, severing Sab from his weapon.</p>
      <p>The Prince gasped, falling to his knees as he paled considerably as blood leaked out from his dismembered arm.</p>
      <p>John was standing over the defeated warlord, holding his blade up to the man's neck.</p>
      <p>"You're going to tell me <em>everything </em>about the Therns." John snarled, pressing the tip of his sword up against Sab's neck.</p>
      <p>With Zodanga's Jeddak being aligned with them for so long, he's got to at least know a number of things he and the others haven't by this point in time.</p>
      <p>Sab could only let out a shaky breath, feeling weak. "Only if you promise you'll spare my life."</p>
      <p>John only nodded in restraint.</p>
      <p>Just as the accord was made, the Ninth Ray gauntlet that had been on Sab's severed hand vacated itself from the limb and traveled over to the duo.</p>
      <p>The Blue substance crawled up Sab's arms and went up to his head. The Prince could nothing but lay there as his once prized weapon began encompassing his face in its entirety.</p>
      <p>John's eyes widened considerably at the sight feeling a great deal of disturbance. He witnessed Sab Than suffocate from within the blue cocoon that moments later caved in his head with a sickening crunch.</p>
      <p>He didn't have time to dwell on it as the Ninth Ray transferred over from Sab onto his one hand. And rather than it focusing on his head, the Blue death crawled along every inch of his skin with the feeling of needles digging into his body.</p>
      <p>Carter fell back, spasming in pain as the Ninth Ray slowly covered his body.</p>
      <p>Out of the corner of his eye, John spotted Tars Tarkus giving him a deadly glare whilst his upper arms were raised. It took John only a second to deduce that this was not the friend he had made here on Barsoom but one of those damned Therns.</p>
      <p>He saw the glowing bracelet around the fake Tars' left wrist as his upper right hand circled around the center jewel.</p>
      <p>John could literally feel his life slipping away from him as the Ninth Ray closed in around his eye.</p>
      <p>However, just moments away from his fate being sealed, the hold over him was broken.</p>
      <p>From where the false Tars stood, his wrist bracelet was shattered.</p>
      <p>The fake-Thark let out a shout of pain and turned to see who it was that struck him only to jolt back in fright at the sight of a blue Keyblade held in front of him.</p>
      <p>Xion affixed the Thern with an intense glare as she kept her Keyblade pointed directly at him.</p>
      <p>A second later, there was another Keyblade being pointed at his neck. The fake-Thark looked back to see Roxas now standing there with his own Keyblade held up to his head.</p>
      <p>"Give up." Roxas said with a slight snarl.</p>
      <p>The Fake-Thark then felt No. XIV's Keyblade pressed up against his chest. Looking back to her in alarm, he flinched as Xion yanked her weapon back. In doing so, she snagged the medallion that he had around his neck and held it in her other hand.</p>
      <p>A moment later, the Thark transformed into Matai Shang. Just as the Thern had reverted back to his true form did the two get joined by their friend Axel who had both chakrams in hand.</p>
      <p>"Ah, if it ain't Sovereign-lite himself." Axel taunted with a cocky grin.</p>
      <p>Shang couldn't hold back the gulp of fear as he felt the temperature around him increase drastically.</p>
      <p>"Any false moves, any signs of you trying to escape or do anything," Axel's tone was nothing short of deadly as one chakram receded. He held up his free hand with his thumb and middle finger pressed together. "Just give me a reason and I'll turn you to ash in less than a second."</p>
      <p>If Matai Shang had clenched his jaw any tighter, his teeth would have shattered.</p>
      <p>"You're beaten." Xion said. "Don't make this any harder than it needs to be."</p>
      <p>The Thern wanted to resist, he wanted to fight back.</p>
      <p>But he wasn't a fool.</p>
      <p>He knew that he was beaten.</p>
      <p>Even with the Heartless here at his disposal…</p>
      <p>Wait.</p>
      <p>That's it!</p>
      <p>The Heartless.</p>
      <p>Shang shifted his hand forward and was ready to call upon the dark creatures he had gained recently only for Axel to now stand right in front of him. The redhead was barely an inch away from his face with a deadly glint in his eyes.</p>
      <p>He couldn't help but jolt back in fear and surprise with Axel's grin nearly splitting his face now.</p>
      <p>"You blinked." Axel declared, holding up his free hand.</p>
      <p>Matai's eyes widened in terror, mouth opening to plea but-</p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>*SNAP*</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>*THUUMMM*</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>Matai Shang barely had a chance to scream in pain as the flames engulfed his entire being and in a matter of seconds, burnt him into ashes.</p>
      <p>All that was heard was the echoes of dying screams as the ashes of the Thern drifted down to the ground.</p>
      <p>"Tsk." Axel shook his head. "Idiot."</p>
      <p>Xion found herself a bit startled by how sudden the death was but shook her head. This man had caused untold grief to this planet and recently to their new friends. He chose to defy Axel's warning and paid the price for it.</p>
      <p>Back down below, Carter was rapidly exhaling and inhaling large bouts of air into his lungs. With his life almost ending right then and there by the blue-wire substance, he needed a means of calming his rapid beating heart.</p>
      <p>"You alright there, Carter?"</p>
      <p>The Captain looked up to see Jane casually approaching him.</p>
      <p>Taking a moment to look around, John started to realize that with the death of Sab Than and the coming of the Heliumite/Thark forces, the fighting had died down.</p>
      <p>A majority of the Zodangans had all but surrendered by this point.</p>
      <p>He looked over to see Mors and Katos standing before what was left of the Zodangan military and nobility who were all on their knees.</p>
      <p>What appeared to be a lead general presented his sword to Mors who gently took it out of the man's hands and held it before him.</p>
      <p>"It's… it's over?" John questioned in slight disbelief.</p>
      <p>"Well, ya did just kill their Prince." Jane remarked, holding out a hand for him to take.</p>
      <p>Grasping it, he was pulled up and looked over to the corpse of Sab. "I didn't. I merely sliced off his arm."</p>
      <p>"To them, you defeated the guy in one-on-one combat." Shepard pointed out. "Their leader and best warrior was beaten by you, John Carter. Someone who's made their allegiances very clear when he came barreling in like that during the wedding."</p>
      <p>John couldn't contain the mirthful snort at his wedding crasher entrance with him flying in like that.</p>
      <p>"Felt a bit ridiculous really."</p>
      <p>"But you did it in <em>style</em>."</p>
      <p>Carter smirked at the compliment and glanced back over to the Zodangans that were now being herded away by the Tharks and Heliumites.</p>
      <p>"Quite embarrassing when ya think about it." Carter mused aloud. "Surrendering inside your own home territory."</p>
      <p>Almost reminds John quite well on the circumstances with how the Confederate States lost the war for independence.</p>
      <p>"So now what?" Jane asked, resting her rifle on her shoulder.</p>
      <p>"Virginia."</p>
      <p>The two turned to see a beaming Tars Tarkus approaching them with his arms outstretched.</p>
      <p>"The day has been won, my friends." Tars proclaimed. "The Tharks have taken their place on Barsoom alongside Helium. It is the dawn of a new day."</p>
      <p>Carter couldn't help but agree wholeheartedly.</p>
      <p>"It is indeed."</p>
      <p>When they were making their way towards the others, John caught sight of Dejah who reflected his action. The princess changed course and came towards him. Before he knew it, she embraced him in a firm hug surprising him.</p>
      <p>Shepard smirked, looking to Tars and jerked her head to give the two their privacy.</p>
      <p>Tars nodded and the two walked away.</p>
      <p>"What's this for?" He couldn't help but mutter out.</p>
      <p>"Just shut up, Carter." Was all he could hear from her.</p>
      <p>Coming out of his mild state, he reciprocated and hugged her back.</p>
      <p>Tars had gone to his people whilst Shepard walked over to where her friends had grouped up.</p>
      <p>"You know what's really sad right about now?" Axel remarked with a roll of his shoulder. "I'm not that tired."</p>
      <p>"You're superhuman." Tali dryly rebuked.</p>
      <p>"Doesn't mean I don't get pooped after a while." Axel shot back. "I just thought this would be <em>way </em>more stressful than it seemed to be."</p>
      <p>"Didn't you guys up and pass out when fighting a literal army?" Shepard asked unamused. "What, not enough excitement for ya?"</p>
      <p>"What~? Pfft, please Shepard." Axel patted her head. "That's what I call a morning routi-AH!"</p>
      <p>Axel found his head pulled down via an ear pull from Jane who flicked his forehead with her other hand.</p>
      <p>"You doofus." Shepard said with a scowling smile.</p>
      <p>The team chuckled amongst themselves as they took the moment to rest after a hectic fight.</p>
      <p>Woola and Stitch were beside them, the two pets flopping down to the floor.</p>
      <p>"What's left for us to do here?" Kaidan asked, casually sitting on some rubble.</p>
      <p>"I can think of a few ideas." Ashley said with a sly shrug as she inclined her head over to where John and Dejah were standing separate from everyone else.</p>
      <p>They didn't hear a word that was exchanged between the two but to those in the know…</p>
      <p>"Is he…?"</p>
      <p>"I'll be damned." Alenko shook his head.</p>
      <p>"Oh!" Tali exclaimed excitedly. "Is this that human tradition-"</p>
      <p>"More or less." Ash confirmed, a grin threatening to split her face. "Looks like we got one last thing to do here."</p>
      <p>"Huh…" Roxas hummed aloud. "So, what'd John just do?"</p>
      <p>"Tying the knot, Roxas." Shepard chortled, ruffling his hair.</p>
      <p>"Tying the knot?" Xion repeated in confusion, only for her hair to get messed up as well.</p>
      <p>"I'll explain when you're both older." Shepard quipped, laughing at their cheeks puffing out in annoyance with the rest of the crew joining in with the Spectre a moment later.</p>
      <p>With the latest conquest, a celebration is to be made…</p>
      <p>Back in Helium of course.</p>
      <p>
        <em>-Scene Cut-</em>
      </p>
      <p>Though it was strung together haphazardly, what the Heliumites managed to deliver was quite the party.</p>
      <p>A few days had long since passed after the defeat of Zodanga and the end of the war.</p>
      <p>Great changes were coming to Barsoom and it'll blossom over time.</p>
      <p>One such change is with Dejah's work as it'll help revolutionize their life as they know it.</p>
      <p>But right now, something else is definitely happening; one which does not experience often.</p>
      <p>Within the grand city of Helium, a wondrous occasion of great celebration was to occur.</p>
      <p>Practically the entire city was present to celebrate alongside their new allies, the Tharks.</p>
      <p>A large crowd surrounded the grand palace of Helium with all in attendance buzzing about with excitement.</p>
      <p>Standing in the center of the grand hall within the palace of Helium, John Carter of Earth stood before Dejah Thoris of Mars.</p>
      <p>The two gazed at one another lovingly and between them stood Dejah's father who held a proud smile.</p>
      <p>Next to John was Tars Tarkus who had both arms crossed and a wide smile in place.</p>
      <p>Behind Dejah was her most trusted advisor and friend, Katos Kan who gazed upon the two in approval.</p>
      <p>Off to the side in their own special section reserved solely for them was the Normandy crew.</p>
      <p>"You know, this is your first official wedding." Axel remarked to the two younger Nobodies. "Notch that experience off the many things you guys still need to do."</p>
      <p>"Huh." Roxas and Xion said with their heads angled as they watched John and Dejah share a loving kiss.</p>
      <p>"Are they all like that?" Xion asked in wonder.</p>
      <p>Wrex snorted. "Not all of them. Krogan weddings usually result in about half the guest getting injured."</p>
      <p>"No deaths?" Ash sarcastically remarked. "Seriously. Color me shocked."</p>
      <p>"We're not that gigantic of a group of assholes to kill each other in a wedding, Williams." Wrex deadpanned. "It is a sacred ritual in a Krogan's life."</p>
      <p>"Well, here's to hoping you find that special someone then Wrexy." Axel said cheekily, patting the back of the Krogan. "God knows you need it."</p>
      <p>"You still think they're rushing in getting married so soon?" Came Kaidan's inquiry.</p>
      <p>"At least it's better than most casino and shotgun weddings." Shepard said knowingly.</p>
      <p>"But still…"</p>
      <p>"They're not getting married on Omega or the Citadel." Wrex pointed out. "That's a textbook better wedding than half the weddings in the entire universe."</p>
      <p>"Good point." Liara couldn't help but agree.</p>
      <p>"That, and this was supposed to happen." Ash stated. "But… who knows how much we changed the original story."</p>
      <p>"Let's not think about<em> that</em> headache." Shepard said with a shake of her head.</p>
      <p>"At least we can say we attended a royal wedding." Tali said chipperly.</p>
      <p>"Second it."</p>
      <p>They watched the events continue to proceed as John and Dejah drink from the same ceremonial goblet before they spoke their vows to each other.</p>
      <p>They can clearly see the Virginian was doing better now that he was moving on from his grief. And what a way in doing so.</p>
      <p>"You do realize that with these three nutjobs, we have to make a list of things we haven't seen yet and then mark it off." Wrex murmured, side eyeing the trio of Nobodies.</p>
      <p>The Normandy could only murmur in agreement with their Nobody comrades not voicing any objections.</p>
      <p>They weren't wrong to assume that by this point.</p>
      <p>
        <em>-Scene Cut-</em>
      </p>
      <p>A feminine groan could be heard inside of a bedchamber. The one who emanated it felt like her head was aching.</p>
      <p>Shepard didn't expect to drink so much.</p>
      <p>Last time this happened was quite a ways back when she tried some ryncol shots on a dare, threw up and woke up in the women's bathroom.</p>
      <p>At least the Commander had a nice firm pillow to rest her head on to help comfort her.</p>
      <p>Yet something was oddly amiss.</p>
      <p>When she moved her head a bit, her cheek didn't meet the soft texture of a pillow. Lifting her head, she saw what she was sleeping on in the first place.</p>
      <p>The result made her face slowly match her hair… and the man she was sleeping with.</p>
      <p>Quickly checking themselves, Shepard saw they were partially clothed, but not all the way naked as there were several garments preventing such an act. Yet that didn't mean that something didn't occur last night.</p>
      <p>Only question is, what exactly happened?</p>
      <p>"Shepard?"</p>
      <p>Jane stiffened as she saw Axel stirring awake as their green eyes soon met.</p>
      <p>"...You as clueless as I am?"</p>
      <p>"D-did, did we-?"</p>
      <p>"Our clothes appear to still be on." Axel stated, patting his chest which was covered with his black shirt. "Though… nice tank top. Should've known it came in red."</p>
      <p>Now Shepard was one who hardly experienced any form of shame or embarrassment.</p>
      <p>So frankly, much as she felt a burning sensation creep up her neck, she ain't gonna start today.</p>
      <p>Groaning, she let her head fall down to Axel's chest as her forceful means of fighting an oncoming blush made her head ring from her hangover.</p>
      <p>"How much did I drink last night?" Shepard's muffled voice came through Axel's coat.</p>
      <p>The taller redhead squirmed as her voice vibrated against his body, tickling him slightly.</p>
      <p>"A lot, actually."</p>
      <p>Axel honestly tried his best in comforting her by gently patting her back.</p>
      <p>"Don't feel guilty, Shep." Axel said, flinching slightly as he felt a slight hangover coming on as well. "Not like it was your fault. These Martians know how to party, I can tell ya that much."</p>
      <p>All he received was another moan from the Spectre until her head shot up in horror.</p>
      <p>It appeared whatever scared her overpowered the devilish headache she was experiencing.</p>
      <p>"Oh god." Jane said in genuine remorse. "Where's Roxas and Xion?"</p>
      <p>Axel gazed blankly at her until his expression blanched a bit.</p>
      <p>"Um… oh dear." Was all he could say.</p>
      <p>"We have to find them." Shepard attempted to rise to her feet only to fail and flop back down against Axel.</p>
      <p>He let out an "oof" as the Spectre lay there, unmoving.</p>
      <p>"Acffel?" Came the muffled voice of the Commander.</p>
      <p>"Yes?"</p>
      <p>"I cafn't moof."</p>
      <p>"Yeah… you know what, I don't really feel like moving either." Axel admitted, feeling a soreness all over his body.</p>
      <p>How much did <em>he </em>have to drink last night?</p>
      <p>Wasn't it excruciatingly difficult for a Nobody to get drunk?</p>
      <p>Jeez, he hoped his liver was still intact.</p>
      <p>"Do you think they're ok?" Axel asked after a few seconds.</p>
      <p>He didn't receive an answer from Jane.</p>
      <p>"Shepard?" Axel looked down at her, slightly nudging her. "Shepard~? Jane, you alright?"</p>
      <p>A moment later, he heard a light snore come out from the Spectre with her unconsciously wrapping her arms around his stomach as she buried her face in his chest.</p>
      <p>Blinking at this, Axel didn't really know how to react to this notion though…</p>
      <p>Without realizing it, he had placed his own arms around her with his expression becoming solemn yet soft at the same time.</p>
      <p>This felt… nice.</p>
      <p>Almost like…</p>
      <p>No. VIII jolted slightly, shaking his head.</p>
      <p>"Let's not start having stupid fantasies about the impossible, Lea." the pyrokinetic murmured to himself.</p>
      <p>Still, just because he knew that feeling was unlikely, didn't mean Axel couldn't get physically comfortable.</p>
      <p>Adjusting himself slightly, Axel found a suitable position for the both of them and moments later drifted back to sleep.</p>
      <p>He'd find the others later.</p>
      <p>In another room, Roxas stirred awake and stiffened a yawn from his lips. He attempted to bring a hand up to his eyes to clear it of any particular crusts forming.</p>
      <p>Only problem was, his arms were being held down.</p>
      <p>A question forming in his mind, he looked towards the source… well… <em>sources</em>.</p>
      <p>On each side of him, holding onto his arms were Tali and Xion.</p>
      <p>Roxas glanced back and forth between both girls in surprise.</p>
      <p>When in the world did this happen?</p>
      <p>And speaking of, where was his Organization cloak?</p>
      <p>Wait, no, it was being used by Tali as a blanket.</p>
      <p>Wait… where was, oh, there was hers.</p>
      <p>Like Roxas, Xion was without her organization coat as it was probably thrown off to the side. Just a means of being comfortable while sleeping no doubt.</p>
      <p>But was a tad surprising was him seeing Tali sleeping without her helmet on.</p>
      <p>It clearly showed her features were greatly improving for some time now as her skin had a true healthy tone to it. Her hair even had a nice sheen to it as well.</p>
      <p>And it appeared his Quarian friend had quite the cute snore.</p>
      <p>Without even realizing it, Roxas found himself smiling at her with a fond glow in his eyes.</p>
      <p>Thinking back on it, Tali had been his first friend when he first got to the Citadel.</p>
      <p>She had been by his side since coming here and to see so much change about her…</p>
      <p>He couldn't quite describe the swelling of joy within but he couldn't contain it.</p>
      <p>Looking over to Xion, Roxas couldn't help but also come to terms with the fact that Xion had considerably changed herself.</p>
      <p>Back in the Organization, she was a bit meek, timid and shy. Even when she started to become friends with him and Axel, Xion still very much kept to herself.</p>
      <p>But after all this time here, No. XIV wasn't the quiet and reserved puppet she once was. Now, Xion had become a fierce and powerful combatant with her own Keyblade that truly defined who she was both to herself and to her friends.</p>
      <p>The joy she had when displaying her very own unique specially designed Keyblade that only she could use was one of the happiest moments he had ever seen her.</p>
      <p>Well… until right now.</p>
      <p>She had a serene and peaceful smile to her face as she had her arms wrapped around Roxas' with her head resting on his shoulder.</p>
      <p>Roxas hadn't ever really thought about but both Xion and Tali in this instance looked completely-</p>
      <p>"Beautiful." Roxas whispered to himself.</p>
      <p>He then felt Tali shift about which freed up his arm.</p>
      <p>Retracting it quickly, he instantly began to feel circulation in his limb again.</p>
      <p>Letting out a relieved sigh, Roxas flexed his hand several times to get a feeling back to his fingers while the electrical feeling ran through his arm.</p>
      <p>Rather than try to reclaim her lost arm Tali simply adjusted herself by placing her head directly on his chest with her arm wrapping around him.</p>
      <p>No. XIII felt heat buildup in his face as the Quarian subconsciously rubbed her cheek against his chest and let out a pleasant sigh.</p>
      <p>He honestly didn't know what to do now. He knew they needed to get up, but-</p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>*Click*</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>Roxas looked up in time to see an innocent looking Garrus with one Ashley William right beside him, sporting a Cheshire-like grin.</p>
      <p>"First Shepard and Axel and now you three." Vakarian said coyly. "My~ My~ How far you've grown."</p>
      <p>"Uh… what?" Roxas was confused. And embarrassed. Why did he feel embarrassed and flustered?</p>
      <p>"This is gonna become so much more funnier as time goes on." Ash stated cheekily, taking a picture of her own. "Our little Rucksack, the ladies man."</p>
      <p>"Taught him everything he knows." Garrus falsely boasted. "It was about time I passed down my extensive knowledge to a proper protege."</p>
      <p>Ashley merely gave a look which screamed "bullshit", but she didn't voice it as she didn't want to ruin this priceless moment.</p>
      <p>Just as Roxas was about to ask what they were talking about, a door to a nearby room opened and they all turned their heads over to see…</p>
      <p>"Ashley? Garrus?" Liara T'soni squeaked out. A second later, she saw Roxas with the two sleeping forms of Xion and Tali. "Roxas? What are you all doing here?"</p>
      <p>"What are <em>we </em>doing here?" Ash asked rhetorically. "What are you doing here?"</p>
      <p>Before the Asari could get out a response...</p>
      <p>"Liara~"</p>
      <p>From behind, a young and scantily clad (naked) Heliumite woman came up from behind their friend and threw her arms around her.</p>
      <p>"I was wondering where my bedmate was at."</p>
      <p>Liara let out a small eep as the Heliumite brazenly groped her chest with one hand while the other caressed her ass.</p>
      <p>"So firm~" She mewled out as she planted some kisses on the doctor's neck. "Come back to bed with us. We wanna continue the wonders you performed last night."</p>
      <p>In an instant, confused looks quickly broke Ashley and Garrus' faces as they quickly took a photo with their omni-tools.</p>
      <p>"Oh Liara." Ash shook her head with a smile that conveyed nothing but merciless teasing in the weeks and months to come.</p>
      <p>"For shame, Dr. T'soni." Garrus really made sure to emphasize her earned title which caused the Asari to wilt in complete humiliation.</p>
      <p>The Heliumite woman was nonplussed by all this, sensually rubbing her arms all over the barely clothed Asari.</p>
      <p>"She is quite the lover." The Heliumite said unashamedly. "Maybe I should stride to keep her."</p>
      <p>Liara's skin then became a darker shade of purple for multiple reasons.</p>
      <p>Roxas could only stare and he began to feel… a little bothered by the intimate display.</p>
      <p>The Heliumite woman then caught sight of the boy, taking note of his appearance and a lecherous grin appeared.</p>
      <p>"Oh~ an innocent one I see." She cooed. "Why don't you join us, young one? I can teach you-"</p>
      <p>"Don't even try it sister." Ash cut her off with a deadly look. "You've already corrupted poor Liara's innocence, you won't be getting Roxas' anytime soon."</p>
      <p>"Ashley." Liara bemoaned, the Heliumite woman grinning as she kissed the Asari's cheek.</p>
      <p>"There, there, beautiful." she said. "Nothing to be ashamed of."</p>
      <p>The Heliumite took better note of who Roxas was sleeping with and gave a cute pout.</p>
      <p>"For shame he's already taken. It would've been-"</p>
      <p>"Alright, get outta here ya floozy." Ash said, waving her off.</p>
      <p>"And take Liara with you."</p>
      <p>"Guys wait!"</p>
      <p>"Already on it."</p>
      <p>With surprising strength, the Heliumite dragged the Asari out of the room and back to where they once were before she escaped her fleshy imprisonment.</p>
      <p>"What happened to her?" Roxas asked curiously, bewildered by what just occurred.</p>
      <p>"Something you might be well on your way with from where you're sitting right now." Garrus quipped, getting elbowed by Ashley. "What? You want my <em>pupil</em> to not know the glorious nights to come."</p>
      <p>The Sniper took a moment to take stock of the Nobody.</p>
      <p>"Hmmm, he's got some reach… but the ladies undoubtedly have the flexibility." he noted.</p>
      <p>"...What's he talking about?"</p>
      <p>"Ignore him, Roxas." Ashley waved off. "You just stay there and get some more rest. Your bed hair demands it."</p>
      <p>Roxas turned over to the door to where Liara had been pulled into. "Uh… what's gonna happen to Liara?"</p>
      <p>"She's eventually gonna be taking the <em>long </em>walk of shame." Was Ashley's devious response.</p>
      <p>"Spirits thank you." Garrus guffawed. "We got dirt on <em>half </em>the team now."</p>
      <p>"Come on, let's see if we can get something on Kaidan." Ash egged on, the human and Turian running off to find the Lieutenant-Commander.</p>
      <p>They left a thoroughly bewildered Roxas who jolted at a rather… strange moan that was heard on the other side of the door to Liara's room.</p>
      <p>It didn't sound like pain.</p>
      <p>It was… something else.</p>
      <p>Squirming a bit, Roxas knew he wasn't gonna go anywhere.</p>
      <p>So really he may as well get back to sleep.</p>
      <p>Seemed like he wasn't going to be escaping the girls' clutches for some time.</p>
      <p>
        <em>-Scene Cut-</em>
      </p>
      <p>"Do you all have to leave so soon?" Dejah asked with a sorrowful gaze.</p>
      <p>"As much as we'd love to stay, we need to return home." Shepard stated. "We still have work to do at home."</p>
      <p>It was later on after several more days of rest and added celebration. The Tharks and the Heliumites appeared to feed off on another's energy leading to constant partying.</p>
      <p>And more nights where Liara was subjected to merciless teasing by the others.</p>
      <p>But eventually came the day when everyone in the Normandy team was getting ready to make their departure. Once everyone was cleaned up and embarrassments were shaken out, the team had everything ready to go.</p>
      <p>A lot had indeed happened since they got to Barsoom during this past week.</p>
      <p>The Tharks had established a new settlement near Helium and a few had made new friends within the city with some already choosing to live amongst their new allies.</p>
      <p>As for John, he was coming to terms that he had chosen to leave Earth behind and had become a Prince of Mars.</p>
      <p>Not that he could complain. Starting a new life while helping his new wife rebuild the broken world.</p>
      <p>As for the Normandy team, they had a more serious matter at hand.</p>
      <p>When questioning the Thern they captured here on Helium, they learned a whole number of things while confirming a few others.</p>
      <p>It was <em>they</em> who tampered with Dejah's presentation in the first place, not wanting her to fully reveal her scientific discovery of the Ninth Ray, even if she merely touched a small portion of it. Dejah was clearly upset about it once hearing about the report.</p>
      <p>No doubt she'll be exploring the other temples alongside her husband with the Thern Medallion they now possess to uncover the other mysteries of the Ninth Ray.</p>
      <p>They were the ones who gave Sab the Ninth Ray, though they already knew that much.</p>
      <p>But everything was going according to plan.</p>
      <p>All to plan by the Goddess that they served.</p>
      <p>Therein laid the main issue.</p>
      <p>Who was this Goddess they served?</p>
      <p>Dejah had spoken of Issus being the Goddess of Barsoom and the Therns were her messengers.</p>
      <p>And Issus, or at least who they think is posing as the Barsoomian goddess, was <em>unseen</em> by the Therns, but felt her <em>presence</em>. She instructed them to do whatever it was to control civilizations as she saw fit. Having them reach a certain point before reaping it.</p>
      <p>That word alone made the Normandy crew freeze up.</p>
      <p>This Goddess…</p>
      <p>This <em>Issus</em> was starting to sound <em>too much </em>like a Reaper.</p>
      <p>Dangerously so.</p>
      <p>When Carter and Dejah had seen their responses, they had asked what had startled them so.</p>
      <p>Thus a story needed to be told, one which will give the married couple a number of sleepless nights.</p>
      <p>"Think this will be our way home?" Kaidan asked, gazing at the Thern medallion that Xion held.</p>
      <p>"It got Carter here." Ash noted. "It may have also brought us here indirectly. With it, we may have our way home."</p>
      <p>"How do we use it?" Axel asked, scratching his head.</p>
      <p>"There is supposedly an incantation that is to be utilized." Dejah stated.</p>
      <p>"But we don't know if it'll take us to our home or to Carters."</p>
      <p>"Don't worry." Xion clutched the medallion tightly. In her other hand, her Keyblade flashed into existence. "Our Keyblades brought us here and they will get us back. Just like it did with the Etherium."</p>
      <p>"She's right." Roxas stated, calling forth his own Keyblade. "Last time was an accident. This time, we can get home without a doubt."</p>
      <p>"How can you be sure?" Carter inquired with intrigue.</p>
      <p>"Gotta need to have a little bit of faith." Axel said confidently, clapping both hands on his young friends' shoulders.</p>
      <p>They gave him an appreciative look before they both got into position.</p>
      <p>"Ready?" Roxas asked and No. XIV simply nodded.</p>
      <p>Tossing the medallion into the air, Xion quickly aimed her Keyblade -alongside Roxas- at the object. Beams of light impacted it as a mighty glow emanated off its surface.</p>
      <p>In mere moments, a large portal was formed for the Normandy team as they'll be riding their makos through it.</p>
      <p>"Everyone got their stuff?" Shepard asked the entire team.</p>
      <p>"Oh yeah, we have our souvenirs."</p>
      <p>Strapped onto one of the Makos was one of the fliers as Garrus wanted to have it. Wanting to possibly master it so he can show off to his family back home.</p>
      <p>Might be a lost cause, due to the team already having schematics for their militaries to work with and build their own fliers and airships.</p>
      <p>With Wrex, he had a calot pup tucked away in one of the makos. He truly planned on raising it on Tuchanka as he will reclaim his birthright and uniting the clans together.</p>
      <p>"So this is really goodbye then?" Carter asked somberly.</p>
      <p>"No way." Roxas shook his head with a smile present. "We'll definitely see you guys again. That's a promise."</p>
      <p>Surprised, but nonetheless happy to hear such a promise, Carter and Dejah said their individual goodbyes to each of the Normandy team until they all went into the Makos.</p>
      <p>"Tell Tars and Sola our goodbyes."</p>
      <p>"We will."</p>
      <p>The Prince and Princess of Mars watched as the two Makos drove forward, rolling through the portal before them and vanishing a moment later. The portal closed behind them and there was no trace of their friends left behind other than the tracks of the Mako wheels.</p>
      <p>They remained there for a time, Dejah leaning against her husband with their arms wrapped around one another.</p>
      <p>"You really think they will return someday?" Dejah asked her husband with him leaning down to kiss her temple.</p>
      <p>"Yeah." Carter stated. "Without a doubt. Just a bit of faith, like Garrus said."</p>
      <p>Dejah smiled lovingly up at him and leaned forward to kiss him gently.</p>
      <p>"Come." She teased, pulling away while still holding his hand. "It's time I start teaching you how to be a Prince."</p>
      <p>John groaned aloud. "Jesus Christ, how in the hell did that happen?"</p>
      <p>Dejah chuckled which turned into a yelp as John scooped her up into his arms bridal style.</p>
      <p>"John~" she playfully whined, lightly slapping his chest.</p>
      <p>Carter quickly stole a kiss from his wife, laughing as he began to jump back to Helium with the excited screams of Dejah following after every large bound across the Barsoom landscape.</p>
      <p>It was time to go Home.</p>
      <p>The word was strange to Carter but the more he thought about it, the more comfort he had found.</p>
      <p>Home.</p>
      <p>He <em>was</em> home.</p>
      <p>
        <em>-Scene Cut-</em>
      </p>
      <p>A portal soon opened up on the windy landscape of Mars as the two Makos appeared right beside the mountain they entered the previous week.</p>
      <p>And checking their systems, the team was able to confirm they were back home.</p>
      <p>As Shepard made a call to Hackett on their return, Xion hopped out of the Mako and made her way towards the cave chamber.</p>
      <p>Questioning on her action, several others went after her.</p>
      <p>"Wait up!"</p>
      <p>"Why are you going back in there?"</p>
      <p>"You want to go back to Barsoom already?"</p>
      <p>Xion ignored them as she continued her little trek.</p>
      <p>As she ventured further into the mountain, the Thern medallion was reacting to the place as it was glowing more and more. As this happened, the walls were receding to give out some more space for the others to easily walk through.</p>
      <p>Eventually making it to the chamber, Xion eyed the pedestal with the peculiar <em>keyhole</em> embedded into it.</p>
      <p>There was this drawn feeling inside of her which quickly arose the moment they came back here. She didn't fully question it, only responding.</p>
      <p>The moment the others arrived at the chamber, Xion already pulled out her Keyblade and aimed it at the pedestal. A gathering of light wisps formed at its tip before it shot out and impacted the Keyhole.</p>
      <p>It was from there did they hear a resounding *click* which echoed out and was even able to reach outside of the mountain if anyone was relatively near.</p>
      <p>Not that it mattered as a rumble soon emanated throughout the place.</p>
      <p>"If anything bad happens, I'm blaming Xion on this one."</p>
      <p>"Second it."</p>
      <p>"What did you do?"</p>
      <p>Whatever Xion wanted to say died in her mouth as the chamber began lighting up and shifted into another appearance. That too was soon ignored in a way as more sounds were made.</p>
      <p>From the mountain's exterior, pieces started to break away to reveal what appeared to be a large dark tower with blue and green lights emanating off its surface. Before long, a mighty pillar of light shot out to the very sky which appeared to break it.</p>
      <p>From its grainy orange-red color, it parted ways for a resounding blue.</p>
      <p>
        <em>-Scene cut-</em>
      </p>
      <p>
        <em>Barsoom</em>
      </p>
      <p>Within the temple that the Normandy crew and the Barsoom natives had explored, the room was shifting and morphing about.</p>
      <p>The size of the room soon began to expand dramatically and as the room grew larger, individuals garbed in silvery-grey robes began to appear inside.</p>
      <p>There were about several dozen of them and they had formed two circles around the expanded room.</p>
      <p>All of these beings were bald and either had the palest white skin or the darkest hue, akin to that of literal starlight.</p>
      <p>"Matai Shang… is dead." One of Therns declared after the gathering of the Therns had been completed. "Barsoom… is lost."</p>
      <p>"Is it?" Came another Therns voice. "What I see is nothing more than a setback."</p>
      <p>"A setback?" a Third Thern scoffed derisively. "Three of our brethren have been killed. One on that dirt planet Jasoom and two here. This is beyond what one would call a <em>setback</em>."</p>
      <p>"We mustn't fight amongst ourselves." A female Thern now spoke. "It is bad enough that these primitives had the audacity to go against our plan. The last thing we need to discourse amongst ourselves."</p>
      <p>"Then what is it that you suggest we do?"</p>
      <p>Silence befell the assemblage of Therns until…</p>
      <p>"We must consult The Old One." The Second Thern who had spoken stated. "Our glorious leader. The Old One will know what to do."</p>
      <p>"Are you certain that The Old One would be willing to answer our calls?"</p>
      <p>"The Ancient being has guided our hands since the time of our first memories." The Thern who had suggested this spoke confidently. "If there is anyone that holds the wisdom that is needed to tackle this issue, it is the Old One."</p>
      <p>Seeing that no one else was willing to voice any other suggestions, the Therns all bowed their heads forward.</p>
      <p>The room around them began to shift and change.</p>
      <p>It became substantially darker around them with only a light glow coming from below.</p>
      <p>This light was the surface they stood upon and the darkness around them was the endless void of space.</p>
      <p>Aside from the distant light of the stars decorating the skies above them, there were two clearly visible neighboring celestial bodies nearby.</p>
      <p>One was as white as the surface they stood upon, this being the sibling moon of the one they currently inhabited.</p>
      <p>The other celestial object had a dark underbelly but a distinctly red surface.</p>
      <p>The Therns gazed upon the red planet of Barsoom before slowly turning to that they had come to see.</p>
      <p>The Old One.</p>
      <p>"<em><strong>Report."</strong></em></p>
      <p>It's voice was booming, ancient… inorganic.</p>
      <p>It towered over them all, practically two kilometers in height.</p>
      <p>The form of the Old One had clearly seen better days with multiple breaches, several of its many limbs either missing or damaged and its center red eye flickering half the time.</p>
      <p>Yet it remained strong, in place and towered over all that stood before it.</p>
      <p>The Therns bowed to the Old One as one of their own voiced the recent developments.</p>
      <p>Once the last detail was said, the Therns awaited for their master, the one they called <em>Issus</em>, to process the information.</p>
      <p>After what felt like forever, the Old One spoke.</p>
      <p>"<em><strong>The foolishness of sentience. We are beyond their understanding. They have only delayed that which inevitably comes."</strong></em></p>
      <p>"What is to be done now, Great Ancient One?"</p>
      <p>"<em><strong>Carry on with the plan. Let them enjoy their respite for they know not for what comes for</strong></em><strong> all </strong><em><strong>that comes in our path. The eventual Harvest will begin in due time."</strong></em></p>
      <p>"The Barsoomians will no doubt be more cautious with what occurred."</p>
      <p>"<em><strong>Their cautiousness is a futile effort in a vain attempt to cling to a life that is fleeting."</strong></em> The Old One stated. <em><strong>"They are brief. We are Eternal."</strong></em></p>
      <p>"As you say, Ancient One." The lead Thern said, bowing his head forward. "All glory unto you and your fellow deities, Issus. Hail to The Old Ones."</p>
      <p>"<em>Hail The Old Ones."</em></p>
      <p>The gargantuan being simply stood there, its many limbs lazily moving back and forth as its followers all fell to their knees.</p>
      <p>It had felt the energy surge upon Barsoom recently and had wished to investigate personally but knew now wouldn't be the time.</p>
      <p>But soon…</p>
      <p>Very soon…</p>
      <p>Another World would fall to the Old One.</p>
      <p>Another Reaping. Another Harvest.</p>
      <p>It wouldn't stop until all are consumed here in this galaxy, no, this Universe.</p>
      <p>The Cycle would continue.</p>
      <p>And start again.</p>
      <p>As it has done so for Billions of years.</p>
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  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Whew, ok, that was a fucking effort let me tell ya.</p><p>We had so many chances to finish this really but we needed to do so much in this chapter that we knew we couldn't fit it all.</p><p>There was also the added "bonus" of work and our everyday exhaustion that came with it so yay on that front. Honestly, bit typical really but hey, what're ya gonna do. Life is life as they say.</p><p>Other than that, lot of cool shit to come and shit we're experiencing right now.</p><p>Jebest4781: Recent developments… We are drawing closer to the release of the Mass Effect Legendary Edition as we're just two months away from today. Asides from that… h'boy… the stuff with Marvel and Zack Snyder's Justice League have been amazing!</p><p>FMW: Indeed. Our return to the Mass Effect universe coupled with Wandavision, Falcon and Winter Soldier and of course, Zack Fucking Snyder's Epic, Justice League. The movie that was believed to be a fairy tale dream has come to pass. Just like with the Clone Wars! We the fans petitioned, fought, emailed, did everything in our power to give us Snyder's True Vision. So much new content we have to work with. RWBY volume 8 is drawing to its end and new ideas are formulating between Jeb and I. It's explosive creativity in our heads right now with the future arcs, scenarios and stories that we have in mind to come.</p><p>So really, Jeb and I wanna gush on all the shit DC and Marvel has released that we will without question use in our future stories but we are fucking baked in the head.</p><p>This was a large endeavor and frankly, I know we're gonna outdo ourselves in terms of size in future chapters cause we just "love" doing that to ourselves.</p><p>Anywho, I'm pooped, Jeb's pooped, we'll see ya'll next time folks.</p><p>Thanks for reading.</p><p>Rate Read and Review and as Always Have Nice Day.</p><p>Hail Darkseid. Fuck yeah Snyder Cut.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0029"><h2>29. Rarely a Moment's Respite</h2></a>
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      <p>
        <strong>Hey, we're back at it again with this one, picking up right where we left off.</strong>
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      <p>
        <strong>Let's do this.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Rate Read and Review and as Always Have Nice Day.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>I'm Nobody Chapter 29: Rarely A Moment's Respite</p>
      <p>Things have been quite strange as of late for Admiral Steven Hackett.</p>
      <p>All starting from the discovery of the Prothean beacon on Eden Prime and things spiraled out of normalcy from there.</p>
      <p>It could be hard to imagine the whole slew of things which now occurred in the galaxy at large since that fateful day.</p>
      <p>The betrayal of Saren Arterius, the discovery of the Reapers, the arrival of the Heartless and knowledge of actual life outside of the Milky Way.</p>
      <p><em>Literal</em> magic as plain as day for all to see being utilized by those strange humans who claim not to be humans in black cloaks.</p>
      <p>One could think they merely possessed highly advanced technology which could be easily mistaken for magic like hundreds and thousands of years ago, but thi wasn't the case at all.</p>
      <p>Just one literal universe shattering reveal after another.</p>
      <p>Hackett was certain he had aged considerably in this short span.</p>
      <p>He still looked the same.</p>
      <p>But his soul…</p>
      <p>There were a few dozen miles on that one now. He could feel it.</p>
      <p>Needing some air, he walked out of his impromptu office at the Alliance base he was presently at. With a cup of coffee in hand, he made his way outside. Once there, he felt the breeze hitting his scared face as he took a swig of his bitter beverage. His eyes gazed at the ships flying at a peculiar location in the distance. Nothing to obscure his vision as he inhaled deeply as a swirl of emotions welled within him.</p>
      <p>Now while this wouldn't be strange at all, one could proclaim it as a dream if this occurred days; let alone years ago.</p>
      <p>For you see, he was standing out in the open environment of <em>Mars</em> with no form of protection. No air mask or helmet, no oxy-chew, nothing.</p>
      <p>This… well, it wasn't completely insane but dammit, it was up there.</p>
      <p>'Oh God, the paperwork and media fallout.' Hackett groaned internally.</p>
      <p>Now the latest part of his new strangeness in his life occurred from a recent investigation.</p>
      <p>Once combing through the Prothean Archives with the data package Shepard's crew acquired from Ilos, a number of things happened. One of which was a signal going off somewhere on this very planet which prompted him to send a team to investigate. Unfortunately things didn't go easily as planned as an odd EMP field surrounded the source, which was at a mountain for some reason.</p>
      <p>This ended up having him calling in Shepard and her team once more for help.</p>
      <p>When they went to investigate, something strange occurred where they lost contact with them.</p>
      <p>It was only later did one of her team -Axel- arrive to report what happened to them before procuring a pair of Makos with provisions for where they were at.</p>
      <p>It just so happened the Normandy's ground team wound up on Mars… well… a <em>different</em> Mars.</p>
      <p>One similar yet utterly different set nearly 300 years in the past.</p>
      <p>And to top it all off, it was of a fictional one but was in fact real all the same as they were in the world written by Edgar Rice Burroughs; interacting with characters of John Carter.</p>
      <p><em>That</em> clearly gave him one hell of a migraine.</p>
      <p>After this bit of strange reveal, any word from the Normandy team was more or less quiet as they were trying to resolve a massive issue occurring in that <em>fictional</em> world.</p>
      <p>Upon their return, something occurred inside of the very mountain where he sent Shepard and her team all those days ago.</p>
      <p>The result… Mars was now breathable!</p>
      <p>It can become a proper garden world and it would be <em>right next door </em>to <em>Earth.</em></p>
      <p>This was just insanity to actually believe this to be true.</p>
      <p>Yet it was.</p>
      <p>That deep inhale of breathable Martian air proved it to be so.</p>
      <p>Hackett gazed up at the new building that towered high into the air</p>
      <p>The mountain where he sent Shepard and her team crumbled. In its place was this metal structure of some unknown alien civilization. And from it, an emitted beam of light is striking this planet's very atmosphere, making it breathable since god knows how long.</p>
      <p>Upon first glance, the structure reminded him of that Shroud structure that was on Tuchanka.</p>
      <p>But it was clear for all to see that the metals of this tall spire were not one's familiar with the greater galaxy.</p>
      <p>Scientific teams practically swarmed the place once everything settled, wanting to comb the place from top to bottom. It no doubt became a new archeological find for Humanity, let alone the galaxy at large.</p>
      <p>It wouldn't be soon for other species to make their arrival here.</p>
      <p>And the Council will undoubtedly want to hear about this and have some of their own representatives be sent here.</p>
      <p>Honestly, more power to them.</p>
      <p>Hackett was well aware that while a great deal of the galaxy viewed humanity in a positive light after attaining a seat on the Citadel and sacrificing lives to save the Council, there were also those that viewed his race a bit tenuous and even nervously.</p>
      <p>The human race was viewed by three aspects across the galaxy.</p>
      <p>Positive, negative and naturally, the in-between.</p>
      <p>The fastest race to achieve a seat on the Council while having profound influence on the galactic stage in less than several decades.</p>
      <p>One makes <em>many </em>friends and enemies with such "Grandiose" actions.</p>
      <p>Right now, Hackett was well aware that it was better to work with the Council and be more open with the Citadel as to stay on their good side; showing them their appreciation for the responsibility that had been bestowed upon them. The Admiral was more than willing to take on the challenges presented before him and the human race.</p>
      <p>He just knew that he would hate the headaches to come.</p>
      <p>Pulling out a datapad, Steven Hackett scrolled through the latest findings the Alliance scientists were able to uncover about the uncovered addition to Mars.</p>
      <p>Not only have they gotten first rights to researching Gummi technology, but also this environment tower…</p>
      <p>The name for this new discovered technology will be thrown about until something were to finally stick. One such name was <em>Remnant</em>, due it being the only thing remaining from a long lost civilization far older than the Protheans; theoretically.</p>
      <p>It wasn't just this Remnant tech, but the technology Shepard had brought back from when the Normandy more or less left the galaxy. The Etherium technology and the ones from Barsoom -the <em>fictional</em> Mars- were somewhat the same to some degree but largely different in other aspects.</p>
      <p>'Maybe some Salarians should be brought here.' Hackett internally mused. 'Or some Quarians. Maybe Shepard's teammate can get some here to help out.'</p>
      <p>He did know Dr. Liara T'Soni was planning on staying on Mars to investigate further on the Ilos data package with the help of Della Duck from the Okoku galaxy via video transmissions. But with this environment tower now unveiled, she might feel compelled in working on that as well.</p>
      <p>Not that he could blame her, given her expertise.</p>
      <p>The salarians could be of some help, but a number of Alliance personnel seem hesitant to work with them. He heard their concerns pertaining to the short lived species might exploit the Rem-tech in some shape or form. And there was quite the lengthy list of their other <em>reasons</em>.</p>
      <p>Same could be said if the Quarians were to be asked to lend their assistance. It would seem relatively unfair to let some species study the Rem-tech while leaving others out.</p>
      <p>If they were to let others access, they'd need to go through a lengthy screening for security precautions...</p>
      <p>"Admiral."</p>
      <p>The aged Alliance veteran turned to see none other than Jane Shepard standing before him, standing at attention with a crisp salute.</p>
      <p>"Shepard." Hackett greeted, saluting her in return. "You know by technicality, you don't have to salute me anymore."</p>
      <p>"Apologies sir, but that's unlikely." Shepard rebuked. "Experience over rank."</p>
      <p>Hackett snorted at that. "Pretty confident that whatever it is <em>you</em> and your team have experienced these last few months outclass anything I've been through."</p>
      <p>Jane merely snorted, knowing that to be true.</p>
      <p>"Then I guess out of courtesy and respect, sir."</p>
      <p>"Appreciate the gesture, Commander." Hackett said, looking back up to the spire. "This one though… definitely ranks up there as some of the more crazier things to happen."</p>
      <p>"I hear ya, Admiral." Shepard remarked, gazing up with Hackett. "Just when I thought my life couldn't get any crazier."</p>
      <p>"Life always surprises oneself with each passing day."</p>
      <p>Jane merely gave a small nod.</p>
      <p>"But with you…"</p>
      <p>The Spectre laughed, shaking her head. "Try not to tempt fate as is, Admiral. I'm certain this is only the start of it."</p>
      <p>Hackett let out a small 'hmph'.</p>
      <p>"What do you think, Shepard?" The Admiral said inquisitively.</p>
      <p>"Hmmm?"</p>
      <p>"You've seen and done some insane shit when looking at it all in a short amount of time." Hackett humorously stated. "How do you rank this one?"</p>
      <p>Jane Shepard crossed her arms, mulling over the question for a few moments until she made a so-so gesture with her hand.</p>
      <p>"Don't wanna be too quick to judge this one overall." Shepard said.</p>
      <p>"Too quick to judge?" Hackett asked in amusement.</p>
      <p>"In a short amount of time I've traveled to other galaxies, learned that magic is basically real, some of the stories that humanity has told are likely real and traveled to alternate realities by technicality with this one." Shepard listed off. "Nothing short of time travel is all that's left that'll shock me and I know some weird shit is <em>still</em> gonna happen."</p>
      <p>Hackett silently regarded her.</p>
      <p>"So seven out of ten?"</p>
      <p>"Seven point five."</p>
      <p>The Admiral chuckled to himself as he returned his gaze to the spire.</p>
      <p>"<em>This</em> is a new one for me." Hackett admitted. "We just got handed the capabilities of terraforming planets into garden worlds on a silver platter. More or less."</p>
      <p>"More power to us then." Shepard remarked. "God knows we can do less of the usual barren planets."</p>
      <p>Steven gave a brief nod before noticing another person approaching them.</p>
      <p>"Sir, Citadel representatives have arrived." A Marine Lieutenant said aloud with Hackett nodding at him.</p>
      <p>"Well, guess that's my cue." Hackett stated. "Take five on this one Shepard. You and your team have been through enough as is. That's an order."</p>
      <p>Jane fought back a smirk rising on her lips. "Of course, Sir."</p>
      <p>They parted ways. Shepard going either back to the Normandy -which was presently docked- or the present quarters she and her team have been given at the base for the time being. As for Hackett, he followed the marine lieutenant in order to meet the new arrivals.</p>
      <p>It was a hodgepodge of the Council races with scientists from humanity, Salarians, Asari and even several Turians. Military scientists for the Turians but scientists all the same.</p>
      <p>They were chatting amongst themselves before slowly halting upon Hackett's arrival.</p>
      <p>"Ladies, gentlemen, welcome to Mars." Greeted the Alliance admiral. "I can already see you are all antsy to get things started."</p>
      <p>A male Salarian was the first to speak. He had pinkish skin with white spots on the majority of his face.</p>
      <p>He appeared extremely giddy and excited to be here, eyes constantly going between the Admiral and the towering spire in the back.</p>
      <p>"When will we be able to finally go there, sir?"</p>
      <p>"Once you get your security clearances, then you'll be able to do what you've come here to do… Mr…"</p>
      <p>"Kallo, Kallo Jath." The Salarian introduced himself chipperly.</p>
      <p>"Glad to have you." Hackett said. "All of you. We're gonna need everyone's assistance for this because… well…"</p>
      <p>"Understandable, Admiral." Kallo stated. "Though I should admit this at least. I'm not really a scientist, merely an engineer. But I couldn't pass up this opportunity."</p>
      <p>"And I wouldn't blame you, Kallo. Scientists, engineers, archaeologists are more than welcome to visit the spire so we may learn more of what it holds. We'll need <em>everybody</em> to finally crack it's servers, learn of its origin and so much more."</p>
      <p>Hackett can see a number of nods from the congregated mass.</p>
      <p>"Now if you all follow some of our security personnel, they will direct you to getting processed. Once done, you will be directed to your assigned quarters for the duration of your stay before you are allowed to the Spire."</p>
      <p>The Council representatives soon began chatting amongst each other as they began following the security officers out of the room.</p>
      <p>"Admiral Hackett." Said a male voice from the side.</p>
      <p>The Alliance officer turned and blinked in surprise at the man who had just walked up to him.</p>
      <p>"Interesting to see you again, Ryder."</p>
      <p>"Indeed it has, sir." Said the former N7 marine.</p>
      <p>"Honestly surprised you would be here."</p>
      <p>"Hard not to be with this latest discovery."</p>
      <p>Steven said nothing at first as he merely stared at the dishonorable discharged officer before him.</p>
      <p>"And how is it you were given access here anyhow?"</p>
      <p>"Councilman Udina needed some… <em>unorthodox</em> measures to figure out more of the Spire."</p>
      <p>"Then you believe your past research can help speed up the progress, correct?"</p>
      <p>"Hopefully."</p>
      <p>Steven exhaled a sigh. "As long as your AI studies don't go out of control…"</p>
      <p>"It won't, Admiral." Ryder assured.</p>
      <p>"Then I expect to see weekly reports on whatever you find with your skills."</p>
      <p>"Of course."</p>
      <p>
        <em>-Scene Cut-</em>
      </p>
      <p>The Normandy was back at the Citadel once again as it usually was when it had completed a mission.</p>
      <p>Only this time, rather than the crew choosing to run some errands, go spend some time with each other or eat together somewhere, they had an important matter to attend to.</p>
      <p>A matter that came with… a somber and bittersweet feeling.</p>
      <p>The crew of the Normandy stood together on one of the many docking bays of the Citadel and they had all gathered here for one reason.</p>
      <p>"Do you really have to go, Wrex?" Commander Shepard asked softly, the red head gazing at the Krogan Battlemaster with a sad smile.</p>
      <p>"Don't go sappy on me now, Shepard." Wrex quipped with a toothy grin. "Not after all the shit I've seen you do."</p>
      <p>The Spectre couldn't help but snort at the comment, simply extending her arm out for him to grasp which he did.</p>
      <p>They had a firm shake of respect and camaraderie before she stepped back with the others.</p>
      <p>"So, whatcha gonna do first Wrex?" Axel inquired with his arms crossed. "Build yourself a throne? Get a harem going? Start a family?"</p>
      <p>"Don't even joke about that." Garrus groaned aloud jokingly. "The galaxy isn't ready for multiple Urdnot Wrex's running about. Think of the collateral."</p>
      <p>"I don't know." Tali hummed thoughtfully. "They'd be trying to fill some pretty big shoes after us. We detonated a nuke for Keelah's sake."</p>
      <p>Wrex chortled aloud. "Well you won't have to worry about that for a while. Just gotta get the Krogan under one banner first."</p>
      <p>"Give us a heads up if ya need any help." Kaidan said straight away. "Any warlord beaten up, any Thresher Maws that need to be "removed" from your front lawn."</p>
      <p>"And let you guys have all the fun?"</p>
      <p>"Hey, it's the homeworld of the Krogan, ain't it." Ashley joked. "If there's ever a place to keep our skills sharp, it's there."</p>
      <p>Wrex's grin only grew wider. "Tuchanka is always open for you guys to drop by and kick some ass. Show those runts how it's done."</p>
      <p>"Careful now Wrex." Garrus teased. "You're about to make this Turian cry. Think of the conflict in my heart right now."</p>
      <p>"HA." Wrex guffawed. "Leave it to me to make friends with the one Turian who thinks he's funny."</p>
      <p>"How do you think I feel?" Garrus admonished. "I was supposed to believe that Krogan were nothing more than brutes but here you went and warmed your way into my heart."</p>
      <p>"Take care of yourself, Wrex." Liara spoke now, a kind smile on her face. "We'll always be here to help you at a moment's notice."</p>
      <p>"Appreciate the gesture, Liara." Wrex said earnestly. "Pretty sure with your Asari charms, you can scrounge up some funds for me huh?"</p>
      <p>Liara shook her head, amused now at the Krogan's words.</p>
      <p>The Battlemaster then turned to the youngest two of the team with one immediately tackling him with a strong hug that actually took his breath away momentarily.</p>
      <p>"Bye Wrex." Xion cried, comical tears streaming down her cheeks. "Make sure to write and visit and message and call and-"</p>
      <p>"Xion." Axel interrupted through his laughter. "Ease up on the big guy. He's got a reputation to uphold."</p>
      <p>"Waaaaaaaa~~~" Was the brunette's response as she only clung to the centuries old Krogan with tears now arching out to the ground. "But I don't wannaaaaa."</p>
      <p>The team was barely able to reign in their laughter at the sight of a Krogan, one of the toughest races in the galaxy in such a frozen state was…</p>
      <p>Well, Wrex should be thankful that none of them were recor-</p>
      <p>"YOU BETTER PUT THAT OMNI-TOOL AWAY YOU MATCHSTICK BASTARD!"</p>
      <p>"What~? This?" Came Axel's mischievous response. "Just checking some spam mail buddy, nothing to worry about."</p>
      <p>Wrex growled with his brow twitching.</p>
      <p>Shepard shook her head with a wide grin in place, stepping forward to reach for the young girl.</p>
      <p>"Alright Xion, give Wrex some room." the Spectre said kindly, placing her hands on Xion's shoulders and managed to pry the girl off Wrex. "You've embarrassed him enough for the rest of his lifetime."</p>
      <p>Xion didn't verbally respond, only looking up at the Battlemaster with large water eyes and a sad puckered lower lip that kept trembling with comedic sorrow.</p>
      <p>Wrex openly cringed, giving the teen a crooked smile.</p>
      <p>"Shit Xion, this ain't goodbye forever." The Krogan said, hastily patting her shoulders. "Just see ya next time. Ya think I won't see you again?"</p>
      <p>"Feels like it." Was her admittance.</p>
      <p>Wrex merely chuckled as he ruffled her hair at that one.</p>
      <p>"Well, it's not."</p>
      <p>Xion rubbed her eyes dry only for more comical tears to stream down her cheeks.</p>
      <p>The Krogan only laughed again, with the young teen only going in for another hug with this one being less tighter than the last one.</p>
      <p>"I'm gonna miss you, Wrex." Xion said quietly as she held the big guy who simply patted her head.</p>
      <p>"Yeah, me too squirt." He said softly.</p>
      <p>She stepped back with a big watery smile on her face which only served to make Wrex look away lest he break.</p>
      <p>"Damn idiots." Wrex muttered aloud. "Making me soft and shit."</p>
      <p>The boys laughed at the Krogan's plight with the girls merely looking on in amusement.</p>
      <p>Wrex turned to Roxas who had Stitch resting on his head.</p>
      <p>"Don't forget to call us if anything comes up." Roxas said straight away.</p>
      <p>"Heh, and hog all the fun to myself?" Wrex quipped. "See, unlike you kid I know how to share."</p>
      <p>"Come now Wrex." Liara jokingly chided. "You know how you get."</p>
      <p>"Yeah, glory hog and all." Ashley added with a wide grin.</p>
      <p>Wrex only huffed in good humor, shooting them a smirk whilst shaking Roxas's arm.</p>
      <p>"It was good meeting you kid." Wrex said earnestly. "All of you."</p>
      <p>"It was good meeting you as well, Wrex. Don't be a stranger." Roxas said happily.</p>
      <p>"I won't runt." Wrex promised, going over to their friends for one last personal goodbye with each of them until he turned and walked towards the ship awaiting him.</p>
      <p>Up ahead, the Normandy crew saw several Krogan standing there and patiently waited for him with Axel being the only one to recognize several of them.</p>
      <p>With one last look back and thump on the chest in goodbye, they watched as their Korgan friend stepped inside the ship.</p>
      <p>They simply stood there and watched the ship fly up into the endless vacuum of space until it was out of sight and out of mind.</p>
      <p>"Well this wasn't depressing." Kaidan remarked.</p>
      <p>"We'll see him again." Xion said confidently. "He promised."</p>
      <p>Garrus snorted at that, shaking his head. "A few months ago I would have believed that a Krogan who would hold his word would be a fantasy. Now… well, can't believe I'm missing the big bastard already."</p>
      <p>Axel shrugged. "Can always visit the place. Hearing everything from Wrexy, Tuchanka is a radioactive hell hole so should make for a great tourist attraction."</p>
      <p>"Let's not go that far just yet." Joked Shepard. "Last thing I need is a team of mutated degenerates."</p>
      <p>"<em>Degenerates."</em> Ashley squawked. "That should be the last sort of comment coming from you."</p>
      <p>"Need we remind you of the cliff incident, Shepard." Came Tali's flat response.</p>
      <p>"Don't tempt me to do it again." Shepard said, turning to leave with the team following suit as they began bantering and bickering.</p>
      <p>All the while, one seven hundred year old Battlemast chuckled to himself within the transport ship he was in right now.</p>
      <p>His mind drifted back to his friends he had just left and could easily picture the group just arguing nonsensically over stupid crap like they always do.</p>
      <p>'Gonna miss that for a while.' Wrex mused internally, approaching the front of the ship.</p>
      <p>"Everything set?" Wrex asked the pilot who nodded at him. "Good. Then let's head home."</p>
      <p>There were rumblings of agreement and anticipation from the other Krogan in the ship as their clan leader made this proclamation.</p>
      <p>As Urdnot Wrex left one journey, he began another.</p>
      <p>He had titles and lands to reclaim along with rebuilding his clan from the ground up. The rites he will need to undertake will be time consuming, but worth it.</p>
      <p>Wrex has his family's armor cleaned up and maintained. He has his trusted gravity hammer by his side with the callot pup sleeping in somewhere on this ship at this very moment. And he's got his fair share of spoils during his time on the Normandy, which will greatly help him in the coming times.</p>
      <p>Clan Urdnot will need to be ready- no, <em>all</em> of Tuchanka will need to be ready for the Reapers. And he will be <em>damned</em> to see his species fade away if he did nothing about it.</p>
      <p>Nothing will stop him from this goal now.</p>
      <p>So look out Tuchanka, he was Urdnot Wrex and he was <em>coming</em>.</p>
      <p>
        <em>-Scene Cut-</em>
      </p>
      <p>Most of them were enjoying their meal save for several that were in a rather contemplative mood.</p>
      <p>Something that Shepard would address.</p>
      <p>"Alright, spill it." Jane spoke up, making some of the crew look to her. "What's been eatin' ya?"</p>
      <p>They all looked at the Spectre in confusion before turning to who it was she was speaking to and saw that it was Axel.</p>
      <p>He had his arms crossed and head tilted down with his expression conveying that he was in deep thought.</p>
      <p>"Axel?" Xion said, placing her hand on his shoulder and lightly shaking him out of his thoughts.</p>
      <p>"Huh what?" Axel looked up at the crew who had their eyes on him. "What? Something on my face?"</p>
      <p>"More what's on your mind." Kaidan remarked. "What's up? You look like you were contemplating the meaning of the universe."</p>
      <p>Green eyes merely rolled as their owner went to resume eating his meal. "I don't know what you're talking about."</p>
      <p>"Aw come on Axel, what's wrong?" Roxas asked. "You're clearly thinking of something."</p>
      <p>"Maybe I'm thinking about how to up my cool factor, ever thought about that?" Axel quipped, lightly flicking Roxas's forehead.</p>
      <p>"Oh <em>please~</em>" Garrus said dramatically. "We all know who holds that distinction. And we know bullshit when we see it."</p>
      <p>"Yeah, thinking either of you believing yourselves to be cool." Ash dryly said.</p>
      <p>"Seriously Axel, what's up?" Shepard cut through the small chatter and gave the red head a hard gaze.</p>
      <p>Seeing everyone gang up on him, No. VIII exhaled a frustrated sigh. Running his hand through his fiery red hair, he seemed to relent.</p>
      <p>"Just thinking about a number of things."</p>
      <p>"Being…" Jane rolled her hand for him to go on."</p>
      <p>"Like what I should do when everyone leaves and does their own thing."</p>
      <p>"Huh?" was the collective response.</p>
      <p>"Are you leaving the team too, Axel?" Xion's eyes welled up instantly.</p>
      <p>He responded by lightly bonking her on the head.</p>
      <p>"No you dummy, I ain't doing any of that." Axel wryly said. "You ain't getting rid of me that easily."</p>
      <p>"Oh joy, my soul can rest easy." Ash sarcastically said.</p>
      <p>"I'll burn your hair off, Williams. Don't tempt me."</p>
      <p>"Touch my hair and I'll shove my shotgun up your ass."</p>
      <p>"Didn't know you were that kinky."</p>
      <p>Ashley merely flipped him off in response.</p>
      <p>"That is a rather grotesque thing in my mind unfortunately." Liara muttered to herself, massaging her temples.</p>
      <p>A small laugh was shared amongst the team before Axel cleared his throat.</p>
      <p>"Look, the Organization knows where we are now. They have an advantage on where we mostly rest up when not on missions."</p>
      <p>"But they haven't exactly been active." Kaidan pointed out.</p>
      <p>"Yes, not since we fought against Lexaeus." Liara added.</p>
      <p>"But right now, we won't be together for long." Axel said with a frown. "I know it's a crappy thing to consider but Wrex just left and I know that Tali is probably gonna have to head back to her own home as well after her whole pilgrim thingy."</p>
      <p>Tali looked down upon hearing that, knowing this to be true.</p>
      <p>By this point… she believed that she had done <em>more</em> than enough for her Pilgrimage, a sentiment supported by all her friends.</p>
      <p>And yet the bitter truth was rearing its ugly head as it was almost time for her return.</p>
      <p>"Shep's a Spectre so she's always going to be busy one way shape or form." Axel gestured to said Commander. "Ash and Kaidan are part of the Normandy so at least they'll be sticking by her. Don't know about you Liara or you Garrus but there's also the Heartless that are running rough shot back at our galaxy thanks to the Organization. Sora and his friends are good but they can't be on all those Worlds at once.</p>
      <p>Axel held a deadly serious face as he went on.</p>
      <p>"We don't know what the end goal of the Organization is and can't exactly track their movements. We've probably got some help with Sora and his team since they now got some Omni-tools, but they don't know things that I know. So I was thinking I can at least try to monitor the Organization."</p>
      <p>"Is that such a good idea?" Shepard asked in concern. "Didn't you say that they can track us?"</p>
      <p>"Well right now they can." Axel stated. "We're not really making an effort to stay hidden. But I know my ways of keeping myself out of sight and mind. Wasn't one of their go to guys for nothing."</p>
      <p>"That still seems a bit dangerous to be doing it on your own." Liara added.</p>
      <p>"Everything we do is dangerous." No. VIII countered. "We just gotta be more prepared for all the shit to come."</p>
      <p>"A lot of things about the Organization are probably being outdated now as they'd be changing tactics." Kaidan said, rubbing his chin in thought. "What you three did undoubtedly threw a monkey wrench in their plans. They will need to make new measures so they won't get a sudden surprise from either of you or perhaps us."</p>
      <p>"It's something that I'll take a risk on." Axel said. "I know that they're still cocky as all hell, thinking they got the jump on us cause they got the numbers for now."</p>
      <p>"So what will you do then?" Ash inquired, leaning forward on the table.</p>
      <p>"Gonna prepare for some world hopping." Axel said plainly. "Pop in on several marked Worlds the Organization had and see the damage and see if they've done anything there."</p>
      <p>"If you say so."</p>
      <p>"Shouldn't we come with you?" Roxas asked.</p>
      <p>"No, no." Axel denied straight away. "They're after you and Xion and right now, it's best you keep your distance. For the time being, you two stay with the others."</p>
      <p>"But-"</p>
      <p>"Sad to say, but Axel has the right decision."</p>
      <p>"Ah come on, that's not fair." Xion complained. "This is our fight too. We fought Lexaeus."</p>
      <p>"Yeah, <em>we</em> did." Axel emphasized. "You guys need a bit more work if you're gonna try to solo some of the members. Even Sora and Riku always fought the Organization with a team. Just like we did."</p>
      <p>"I'm not entirely sure about you doing this alone Axel." Kaidan said. "Feels a bit bullheaded."</p>
      <p>"We're bullheaded by nature." Axel shot back. "Take Ashley for example."</p>
      <p>He got a piece of paper bouncing off his forehead courtesy of the Alliance marine.</p>
      <p>"We should still go with you." Roxas said emphatically.</p>
      <p>Axel only shook his head in denial.</p>
      <p>"Look, you two can come with me on recon at a later time. But for now, I need to survey for a while and hopefully find a safe window for either of you to join me."</p>
      <p>Roxas and Xion gazed at their older friend only to feel a hand on both their shoulders.</p>
      <p>They looked up to see that it was Shepard who had gotten up from her seat and stood behind their seats and gave them a comforting look.</p>
      <p>"He'll be fine you two." Jane softly told them. "Just trust him."</p>
      <p>"But are you certain about doing this alone, Axel?" Liara inquired. "This still feels a bit risky."</p>
      <p>"I've done plenty of risky things in my life, Liara. What's one more under my belt-"</p>
      <p>"Don't get cocky on that. You are gonna be doing something which we might not hear from you for a very long time." Jane interrupted with a stern look.</p>
      <p>"I'm not gonna be gone <em>that </em>long." Axel said. "Just a week or two, maybe more. Nothing too crazy."</p>
      <p>"You say that now…"</p>
      <p>Axel released a sigh soon after. "Would it make it better if I message daily?"</p>
      <p>Jane let out a sigh of her own, going back to her seat. "It's a start. Just… don't do anything risky or crazy. It's strictly Recon, you understand me? When the time comes for the Reapers-"</p>
      <p>"All hands on deck." Axel assured. "We'll all be there for that fight."</p>
      <p>There was a moment of silence afterwards with the team slowly returning to eating their meal until the group resumed a more lighthearted banter.</p>
      <p>It was a pleasant meal for the most part but in the back of their minds, an unsettling truth began to settle upon their group.</p>
      <p>This…</p>
      <p>This felt like it may be the last time they would be able to do something like this again.</p>
      <p>It was honestly feeling like this was happening too fast too soon.</p>
      <p>
        <em>-Scene Cut-</em>
      </p>
      <p>
        <em>-The World That Never Was-</em>
      </p>
      <p>The heart shaped moon shone down upon the castle stronghold of the Organization, its ethereal light washing over the structure on the edge of nothingness.</p>
      <p>At the Altar of Naught, Saix was gazing at the unique structure currently being developed.</p>
      <p>On occasions, the Superior would be spotted here. Seemingly speaking with Kingdom Hearts just about every other day.</p>
      <p>At this time, No. VII was able to secure this place all by himself. Left alone to ponder on his thoughts.</p>
      <p>"Here once again I see."</p>
      <p>No. VII didn't have to look back to see who it was. The voice was easily recognizable for him.</p>
      <p>"As are you."</p>
      <p>No. VI of the Organization stood by the Luna Diviner as both gazed up at their Kingdom Hearts.</p>
      <p>"It's grown recently." Zexion noted. "Seems our wayward traitors have been keeping up with their duty as are Sora and the King."</p>
      <p>Saix gave a brief nod as he kept his gaze at the sky above.</p>
      <p>"Perhaps their little rebellion was necessary in the end." Zexion remarked. "Now we have multiple Keybearers going about harvesting Hearts for our Kingdom Hearts without us needing to direct them."</p>
      <p>No. VII scoffed derisively. "Traitors are still traitors and shall be dealt with accordingly."</p>
      <p>Zexion opted to remain silent, only raising a brow in response as he watched blue wisps float off Saix as the effects of the moon were amplifying the man's clear "rage" on speaking about them.</p>
      <p>"In time, naturally, they will be." No. VI said with a nod.</p>
      <p>The dark, silver haired Nobody soon stood at the Altar of Naught, staring at the same sky as his fellow Nobody. He waited for him to perhaps dismiss him so he won't seem rude or anything of the sort. Zexion was merely being professional-</p>
      <p>"There was a girl."</p>
      <p>Zexion turned back to the Luna Diviner. "Pardon?"</p>
      <p>"One of the reasons Axel and I constantly snuck into the castle and why we became apprentices." Saix said slowly, lethargically. "She… she wasn't healthy per say but she was always happy to see us. We wished to help her, to heal her. But that never came to pass."</p>
      <p>This was… this was certainly <em>not </em>what Zexion had expected to hear from Saix of all people today.</p>
      <p>"I wanted to ask you." Saix faced him, eyes alight with the power of the moon coursing around him. "Did you know of her?"</p>
      <p>Zexion gaped slightly and silently shook his head in the negative.</p>
      <p>"I… I did not know of this." Zexion admitted. "There was much that I was aware of and much that I… had done."</p>
      <p>The look that flashed across No. VI's expression could almost equate to regret.</p>
      <p>"But in all my time there, I was never aware of a girl being kept… was she a prisoner?"</p>
      <p>"That's what it seemed like." Saix nearly growled. "Lea wished to free her. But then our world fell."</p>
      <p>"Then no, I do not know to whom it was you are speaking of." Zexion said with finality.</p>
      <p>Saix gazed at Zexion with his eyes still glowing from the moon's power until it subsided after a few moments and he looked forward as if nothing had transpired.</p>
      <p>"Unfortunate… Is there anything else of <em>their</em> status?"</p>
      <p>"Nothing has changed as far as I'm aware."</p>
      <p>"I see. Then we shall continue on with monitoring them with utmost discretion."</p>
      <p>No. VI simply nodded and after a moment conjured a corridor of darkness and teleported away leaving the Luna Diviner to brood by his lonesome.</p>
      <p>His mind was once again a whirlwind of thoughts with his hand slowly curling up into a tightly clenched and shaking fist.</p>
      <p>
        <em>-Scene Cut-</em>
      </p>
      <p>"You sure we shouldn't come along?" Roxas asked.</p>
      <p>"It's nothing serious." Shepard said to the blond. "Just routine check up of sorts."</p>
      <p>"Admiral Kahoku says otherwise." Kaidan said, walking by the two redheads towards the Normandy.</p>
      <p>"Not helping Alenko." Jane dryly said with a deadpan look directed at the LT-Commander before turning back to Roxas.</p>
      <p>She let out a small sigh. "Alright fine. Look, we got word from Vice-Admiral Kahoku about a base operated by that human splinter cell group called Cerberus. There's been some unsavory shit coming out from that place and he wants me to check it out and call in the Alliance if need be to take care of it."</p>
      <p>"Wouldn't it be easier for <em>all </em>of us to come then?" Roxas asked.</p>
      <p>"Axel, Ashley, Kaidan, Stitch and Liara will be more than enough to help out on this end." Shepard countered.</p>
      <p>"So why can't <em>we</em> come then?" Xion had now approached the two with a small frown.</p>
      <p>"Overkill?"</p>
      <p>"It feels like you're fishing for excuses." Roxas flatly stated.</p>
      <p>Shepard couldn't help but chuckle, patting his shoulder.</p>
      <p>"Look, we've done missions before without having the entire team on hand and this'll just be one of them." Shepard said. "No need to make a fuss about it. We'll be back before you know it."</p>
      <p>"I guess." Xion said, gazing down at the ground.</p>
      <p>"But why isn't Tali coming along then?" Roxas asked.</p>
      <p>"Because I requested it."</p>
      <p>The trio turned towards the Quarian who was walking up to them and explained. "I… I need to make my own preparations to return to the Flotilla. I can't delay it any further."</p>
      <p>Roxas and Xion expressions fell slightly upon hearing that with Tali rubbing her arm slightly.</p>
      <p>"I could use some help."</p>
      <p>"Of course." Xion said straight away.</p>
      <p>No. XIII didn't say anything at first, merely giving his friend a firm nod on his compliance.</p>
      <p>"But what about Garrus?" Roxas soon asked.</p>
      <p>"C-Sec business and something else." Said Shepard. "Council representatives wanted to speak with him about something."</p>
      <p>"Wonder what that's all about."</p>
      <p>"We'll just have to wait and see. Perhaps once we finish this mission, we'll learn it from him." Jane said with a slight shrug.</p>
      <p>"Still don't like we're not coming with you." Roxas mumbled with Jane laughing in response.</p>
      <p>"Hey, consider it a day off." The Spectre said, ruffling his hair. "Help Tali out with packing and then just spend the rest of the day relaxing."</p>
      <p>Roxas shoulders slumped slightly until he felt a three fingered hand on his arm.</p>
      <p>He turned to see Tali with her shining eyes through her helmet and though it was not easy for most to see, being with Tali for so long allowed Roxas to tell that she was smiling at him.</p>
      <p>No. XIII put on a smile as well, wanting to hide his disappointment on the present situation. But he wanted to make the best of it for Tali at this time.</p>
      <p>"Alright, let's get to it then."</p>
      <p>"We'll be back soon enough you three." Shepard assured. "Just try to stay out of trouble."</p>
      <p>Roxas snorted. "Trouble?"</p>
      <p>Shepard gave them a knowing smirk as she turned and headed towards the Normandy, leaving the youngest members of the team to themselves.</p>
      <p>They watched as the ship they had come to view as a home flew off away from the Citadel and to wherever it was they were needed.</p>
      <p>"So Tali, what's the first on your list?"</p>
      <p>
        <em>-Scene Cut-</em>
      </p>
      <p>The Normandy ship came out of FTL from the relay they used to get to the Columbia system within the Voyager Cluster.</p>
      <p>Their destination, the planet Nepheron.</p>
      <p>From what Admiral Kahoku had told Commander Shepard, this place was marked as a Cerberus base that is believed to contain highly illegal and dangerous substances and/or creations.</p>
      <p>Now, what these things were, Kahoku didn't clarify.</p>
      <p>As a matter of fact he himself admitted that he wasn't quite sure as to what it was that the Cerberus base was doing. All he got from the tip was that it was a priority mission that needed to be handled <em>immediately.</em></p>
      <p>So here they were, being dropped via Mako towards the surface of Nepheron.</p>
      <p>Crew was relatively small with only it being Shepard, Kaidan, Ash, Liara, Axel and Stitch.</p>
      <p>Not just for this mission but the fact that half the crew wasn't even back on the Normandy. Felt… emptier than usual.</p>
      <p>But right now, they had more pressing matters to attend to that being the mission on hand.</p>
      <p>The rugged and mountainous terrain of the planet was nothing new for the Mako to traverse through though with Kaidan at the wheel this time, it wouldn't be as stomach churning.</p>
      <p>Shepard had attempted to sit down in the driver's seat but Axel, being paid off by Ash and the others, quite literally swept her up and pinned her to a passenger seat.</p>
      <p>She struggled quite comically as she spouted her Spectre status over and over again well into their drop and drive on the planet's surface. It was an amusing sight for her fellow redhead and other crew mates with Axel shamelessly recording this and wondering how much he could sell it for online.</p>
      <p>As they drove towards the marked location of the Cerberus base, a strange gut feeling began to well up in the group.</p>
      <p>Stitch seemed a bit off with how quiet he was and how he kept squinting ahead as he stood on top of Kaidan's seat.</p>
      <p>"Anyone else have this weird feeling in their stomach?" Ashley asked aloud.</p>
      <p>"Oh Goddess, I thought it was only me." Liara said, hand to her temple.</p>
      <p>"What is it?" Kaidan asked.</p>
      <p>"Instinct." Axel said slowly.</p>
      <p>"Why that?" Liara turned to the Nobody who had a contemplative look on his face.</p>
      <p>"Think it has to do with what we've done to this point." Came the response from Shepard. "We just know crazy shit is always around the corner."</p>
      <p>"Don't know if that's good or bad." Ash murmured.</p>
      <p>"Both." Axel and Jane said simultaneously.</p>
      <p>Going over a large mountain top, Kaidan spotted the Cerberus base down below at the base of the mountain he currently drove on.</p>
      <p>And in an instant he was met with artillery fire being directed at him.</p>
      <p>"Whelp, there's the welcoming party." Kaidan grunted, steering the Mako out of the line of fire.</p>
      <p>"Let's respond in kind." Said Ash, getting up out of her seat to man the main cannon.</p>
      <p>She aimed down the sights of the cannon and saw Cerberus personnel armored up with both soldiers and turrets all pointing their guns at them.</p>
      <p>Williams fired upon the Cerberus forces, landing killing blows on a multitude of her volleys.</p>
      <p>"Garrus would have done it faster." Jane commented.</p>
      <p>"Bite me, Commander." Ash shot back. "Respectfully."</p>
      <p>Eventually, after one drive around in eliminating the enemy forces outside the entrance to the base, Ash cleared the area allowing them to exit the Mako and approach the base.</p>
      <p>Once again, thanks to Oxy-Chew, helmets were not necessary for this mission.</p>
      <p>Once at the door, they found that the doors were sealed shut and the coding needed to get through was rather complex and encrypted heavily.</p>
      <p>"The hell?" Kaidan said, hands skimming through his Omni-Tool. "What kind of lock is this?"</p>
      <p>Bringing up her own Omni-tool, Ashley saw what startled her friend. The results were not kind at all.</p>
      <p>"Jesus, tone down the encryption."</p>
      <p>"Makes ya wonder what kind of base this is." Axel said, running a hand through his hair.</p>
      <p>"Man, I wish Tali or Garrus were here. They'd get past this in an instant." Alenko groused out in frustration. "Either them or Roxas or Xion with their Keyblades."</p>
      <p>Shepard scoffed. "Whaddya mean? We have our own lockpicker here."</p>
      <p>"Who're you talkin-"</p>
      <p>"Stitch, would you kindly help?"</p>
      <p>The blue furred alien merely smiled and waddled up to the door. Extending his claws, he jammed them into the door. And with a powered yank, he ripped it right out and threw it towards one of the artillery towers. The result had it spark and explode some seconds later.</p>
      <p>"That's one way of doing it." Liara stated with Stitch puffing his chest out in pride.</p>
      <p>"Good boy. You'll get extra coconut cake later."</p>
      <p>"Shepard." Ashley admonished with an amused look.</p>
      <p>"Aw come on Ash, he's earned it." Shepard jokingly said before turning to face the entrance of the base and becoming far more serious.</p>
      <p>A mood shared by the rest of the team as they all had their weapons at the ready.</p>
      <p>"Let's move." Shepard said, taking point as she went in first with the rest of the team following after her.</p>
      <p>Going down the corridor that would lead deeper into the base, they noted how it was stretched rather long and the walls were a lot more different then the standard bases they had been too.</p>
      <p>Approaching the door at the end of the hallway, they walked in and were met with fire from Cerberus soldiers inside.</p>
      <p>On instinct, Liara threw up a Biotic dome that absorbed the shots fired at the group.</p>
      <p>"Axel."</p>
      <p>"On it."</p>
      <p>The fiery Nobody conjured one of his Chakrams, the tips of the blade alight with flames and threw it into the ground.</p>
      <p>Moments later, several Cerberus snipers felt the ground beneath them heat up considerably and as they looked down they were consumed in a pillar of fire that turned their bodies to ash.</p>
      <p>The sudden fires that incinerated their comrades distracted the other Cerberus personnel allowing for the Normandy team to go on the offensive.</p>
      <p>Though they had the advantage for the most part, they were met with a ferocious resistance with the team having to have focused on specific spots at a time in clearing out the enemies blocking their way into the base.</p>
      <p>"They really don't want us here." Kaidan couldn't help but say this.</p>
      <p>"Really?" Came Ash's dry response. "They don't? Couldn't tell ya if I could."</p>
      <p>"They do seem a bit adamant in fighting back against us." Liara grunted, sending out a stasis that caught several snipers from afar that were quickly picked off by Stitch and Shepard.</p>
      <p>Axel was a flurry of fire and death across the large room, using his speed and teleportation skills to move around the area and sow discourse amongst Cerberus.</p>
      <p>Eventually, the room was clear of all enemies with the team taking a moment to regroup.</p>
      <p>"These guys were crazy." Ash noted, looking over to some of the bodies of the Cerberus soldiers. "They didn't give an inch till we shot them."</p>
      <p>"This base must hold greater significance than we anticipated." Liara stated.</p>
      <p>Looking around for a moment, Shepard spotted a terminal over on the right side of the room and went over to it.</p>
      <p>Bringing up her Omni-Tool, she saw that this terminal was encrypted as well but not as much as the doors were.</p>
      <p>Glad to have this lucky stroke, she pulled off a trick shown to her by Tali that allowed her to easily hack into the Terminal and she began looking for a layout of the base as well as its importance.</p>
      <p>What she got stunned her slightly as she discovered this underground base was far bigger than she had anticipated.</p>
      <p>"Whoa." Jane said aloud, getting everyone's attention. "Check this place out."</p>
      <p>She sent the layout of the base to the others who all saw just how large of a place they were in right now. By the look of things, it seemed to be a mile wide in diameter, perhaps larger with four subterranean levels in total.</p>
      <p>"The fuck?" Ash said in surprise. "What kind of base is this? It's huge!"</p>
      <p>"And a lot more important in hindsight then." Kaidan muttered, rubbing his chin in thought.</p>
      <p>"What should we do, Shepard?" Liara asked.</p>
      <p>Shepard opened her mouth to answer when she saw Stitch standing up with his nose sniffing the air.</p>
      <p>He then turned to a door adjacent to the terminal Shepard stood near and growled with his four arms aiming his guns at it.</p>
      <p>In an instant the others followed in Stitch's motions and stood prepared.</p>
      <p>"Stitch?" Axel said slowly. "What is it? What do you smell?"</p>
      <p>"Nasty." Stitch barked, widening his stance.</p>
      <p>Ash looked to Kaidan and Liara, mouthing the word to them with the two only shrugging.</p>
      <p>They focused up upon hearing some banging coming from the other end of the door and a hissing, growling sound.</p>
      <p>Then… silence…</p>
      <p>The six of them were tense as they waited patiently for whatever it was that was on the other side of that door.</p>
      <p>A moment later, hissing was heard again and this time, they saw steam coming from the door. Suddenly, a green, viscous liquid seeped through and melted the door down entirely.</p>
      <p>From there ran a number of corpse-like humanoids that appear to be lacking eyes and had several mechanical pieces embedded into their body.</p>
      <p>The crew fired upon these newcomers, taking out a multitude of them until they had to retreat slightly as there was a greater number of them still coming through.</p>
      <p>Axel threw up a fire wall that allowed them to run back for cover and it was in time to as the humanoids hurled green bile from their mouths.</p>
      <p>The liquid that hit the fire wall evaporated into steam straight away.</p>
      <p>A moment later, the fire wall expunged itself forward making a number of these creatures catch on fire.</p>
      <p>The team pounced on this advantage and ran out, taking out these bizarre creatures left and right.</p>
      <p>Stitch rolled into a ball and barreled forward towards one of these things, bouncing off the chest of one and leaving a sizable dent that killed it.</p>
      <p>The little blue fur ball flew back towards Williams who instantly stepped forward with her leg winded back and punted him straight towards another one of those humanoids.</p>
      <p>Stitch smashed through the head of a humanoid, its head bursting into a grey and green paste as the body dropped to the ground.</p>
      <p>Liara saw a number of these enemies grouped together and activated her higher function of her weapon and aimed.</p>
      <p>Channeling her Biotics, she fired a small black and blue sphere that went in between the cluster of the humanoid creatures and exploded in a Biotic shockwave that took them out.</p>
      <p>Kaidan utilized his own Biotics to pull in the Humanoids with Shepard and Ash shredding them apart with their rifles.</p>
      <p>Axel flung his Chakrams forward with the two weapons spinning around each other to create a flaming tornado that killed off the last of these humanoids.</p>
      <p>Once again the area was clear though there was no feeling of alleviation as the crew went about investigating these strange adversaries.</p>
      <p>Stitch in particular seemed extremely angry and snarled at one of the corpses, prompting the others to go over to him. They looked down at the corpse and all save for Axel had their eyes widen considerably.</p>
      <p>Axel noticed this and took a moment to confirm for himself that it was all of them.</p>
      <p>"...You gotta be shitting me." Was Ashley's response.</p>
      <p>"I take it you know what these freakazoids are?" Axel asked though he already knew the answer to that.</p>
      <p>"You're goddamn right we do." Kaidan all but growled. "What the hell are Thorian creepers doing here?"</p>
      <p>"I thought we were done with them." Ash stated in frustration.</p>
      <p>"Apparently not." Liara said glumly, kneeling down to the creeper to get a closer look at it. "But… these are different from the ones we fought on Feros and Nodacrux."</p>
      <p>"What do you mean?" Shepard asked.</p>
      <p>Liara wordlessly grabbed one of the arms of the dead creeper and held it up for them to see some sort of metallic implant within the arm.</p>
      <p>"That wasn't on the Creeper's back on Feros and Nodacrux." Shepard muttered with a frown as she saw there were other implants and changes done to this Creeper's body.</p>
      <p>She looked back to some of the Creeper corpses that remained and noticed a number of them shared the same sort of modifications as this one had.</p>
      <p>"Looks like someone's been experimenting on them." Jane noted.</p>
      <p>"So what are they then?" Axel asked the group in general.</p>
      <p>The group took a moment to regard the fiery Nobody and they nearly palmed the sides of their heads upon remembering that Axel, along with Xion, joined<em> after</em> their foray of Feros.</p>
      <p>They never encountered the Creepers nor the Thorian and for that matter, they just realized they never really told them about it.</p>
      <p>It was strange to them but in a weird way, in the back of everyone's mind, it just felt like they had been together from the very start of their adventures.</p>
      <p>"Before Roxas went off to get you guys, we were on a planet called Feros where we ran into these things." Shepard explained. "These were… most likely, humans or corpses of them that were reanimated by an unknown alien creature."</p>
      <p>"Space zombies then?"</p>
      <p>"More or less." Ash said with a distasteful snort as she lightly kicked one of the arms out of her way.</p>
      <p>"ExoGeni was experimenting on this ancient alien plant thing called the Thorian. The Creepers derived from it and it was a huge annoyance to deal with as it's spores were infecting the colonists." Liara elaborated further.</p>
      <p>"We thought we saw the last of it on Feros, but we came across another ExoGeni facility on Nodacrux where their scientists were doing further studies on the Creepers in a sealed environment." Kaidan added. "After the Thorian died, they went nuts; nearly killed everyone there until we found their distress signal and took care of them once and for all."</p>
      <p>"Or so we thought." came Ash's bitter tone.</p>
      <p>No. VIII gave a brief nod as he digested the relayed information. Processing the summary of things before sharing a thought of his with their present circumstances.</p>
      <p>"So… we're dealing with a mad scientist most likely?" Axel said with the group nodding. "Someone perhaps related to ExoGeni or these Cerberus bozos acquired their research in more ways than one."</p>
      <p>"That's sadly the more likely idea here." Grumbled out Kaidan.</p>
      <p>"Yeah, it's always the crazy ones." Jane said in annoyance. "Come on, let's move."</p>
      <p>They faced the doorway that the modified Creepers had used and cautiously approached it.</p>
      <p>Stepping inside, the group saw an elevator of some kind and they carefully walked over to it. Stitch stood upon Shepard's shoulder, sniffing the air and nodding at them to let the team now it was clear.</p>
      <p>Entering the elevator, they were tense the entire way down with only the sound of metal grinding against metal as they descended further down into the lower levels of the base.</p>
      <p>The door opened and they stepped out of the confined space. And it was from there did they momentarily pause in seeing what was presented before them.</p>
      <p>Seeing the schematic layout was one thing, but seeing the full scope with their own eyes was another.</p>
      <p>There were linear paths circulating around the walls and upon reaching the railing, the team saw there was a massive gaping hole at the central part of the facility. A massive metallic pillar resided within said hole with only a few bridges were connected to it. And how deep it went could've been miles, only knowing beforehand there were four subterranean levels to this place; yet it seemed larger in scope.</p>
      <p>"What the fuck?" Ash said in astonishment. "How the hell did they fit all this down here?!"</p>
      <p>"This must have taken years to build." Liara murmured in awe at the grandiose scale of the base.</p>
      <p>"Let alone made underneath the planet's surface." Kaidan said. "Where'd they even get all the funding for this place?"</p>
      <p>"Much as I wanna know, we still have an objective here." Shepard stated, stepping forward. "Let's get going. Feels like we're gonna be here a while."</p>
      <p>Without saying a word, the group moved forward with their weapons pointed in all directions as they had the gut feeling of any enemy popping out at a moment's notice. Stitch opted to jump off from Shepard's shoulder and crawl upon the walls with his lower arms holding his blasters.</p>
      <p>There was an ambient echoing noise coming from all around that grated on some of the team's nerves but they remained calm as they moved forward.</p>
      <p>It was only when Stitch unintentionally pressed a switch along the wall did something occur.</p>
      <p>The metallic wall caved in and opened up to reveal a room. Seeing they had no other choice but to keep on with their investigation, they entered inside.</p>
      <p>Going up a small flight of stairs, they entered a small darkened room with what appeared to be glass pods containing some green liquid lining the walls.</p>
      <p>"Ok, this isn't creepy at all." Ash said under her breath.</p>
      <p>Coming near one of them, the team saw there was something inside as a darken silhouette was aimlessly floating. There was some sort of layered grime on the surface, causing Kaidan to wipe it away.</p>
      <p>When he did, he nearly jumped in surprise on what was inside of the pod.</p>
      <p>"Whoa!" Kaidan exclaimed, making everyone snap their heads and weapons in his direction.</p>
      <p>"Kaidan?" Shepard said in concern.</p>
      <p>"I think I know what they do in this place, Commander." Kaidan said with a sick look. "Then again, those Creepers should have been a huge clue from the start."</p>
      <p>As soon as he said this, the lights of the room switched on and they were able to see <em>everything</em> that floated within the pods in the walls.</p>
      <p>"What in the hell- What kind of place is this?!" Jane yelled in disgust.</p>
      <p>"Goddess, they're experimenting on them all!"</p>
      <p>"Holy shit. I… I think I'm gonna be sick." Ash muttered, face paling slightly at the sight of the grotesque creatures floating within the tubes lining the walls.</p>
      <p>The various amounts of experimental pods was… alarming.</p>
      <p>"Are they building some kind of army or what?" Axel asked, hand resting atop one of the pods.</p>
      <p>Inside was… an it or something fleshy that he couldn't even begin to describe.</p>
      <p>He squirmed slightly as these pods… they were a bit similar to something he had once seen back in his old homeworld.</p>
      <p>Narrowing his eyes, he turned back to the others who were observing all the creatures in the pod.</p>
      <p>"We can't stay here." Axel declared, the team all nodding in agreement.</p>
      <p>"Yeah, let's get the fuck outta here." Ash said with her shaking her head, eyes now forward and not on the <em>things</em> in the pods.</p>
      <p>Leaving the one room they were in, they carefully traversed through the halls. As they did, they heard a man's voice around the hallway corner.</p>
      <p>"So first… Hmm, or perhaps instead…"</p>
      <p>Following after the source, they saw a scientist about to enter a locked room.</p>
      <p>He was a gauntly man with a pair of round spectacles placed above his sharp, crooked nose. His long, oily black hair was tied back into a ponytail that freely bounced on his upper back. his clean white coat was left open to show off his grey button up shirt with black pants and slick boots to finish off his appearance.</p>
      <p>Sneaking up to him, Shepard held her pistol up against the scientist's back; halting him in place.</p>
      <p>"Don't move." Ordered Jane.</p>
      <p>He paused but slowly lowered his hand with Williams cocking her gun.</p>
      <p>"We ain't bluffing." Ashley said soon after.</p>
      <p>Turning his head over a little, the scientist saw who was behind him all the while ignoring the threat.</p>
      <p>"Intruders..." Voiced the man. "Hmm… Found <em>this</em> particular area already?"</p>
      <p>"Open the door and let us through or else you might get a bullet through the head." Warned the N7 marine.</p>
      <p>"...Very well." the man said candidly.</p>
      <p>Pulling out a keycard, the scientist swiped it through a slit. Moments later, the doorway opened where there was some commotion going on inside.</p>
      <p>Ashley butted her shotgun against the man's back, prompting him to move forward.</p>
      <p>Entering the sealed off room, the Normandy team saw a number of scientists gathering up a number of things before leaving the room from another doorway. Some soon halted upon seeing the spectacled scientist enter with the intruders right behind him.</p>
      <p>"Professor Hojo-"</p>
      <p>"Don't be alarmed." Hojo coolly said to the other scientists. "Resume the procedures as per instructed."</p>
      <p>"None of you ain't going anywhere except in an Alliance cell." Shepard said aloud.</p>
      <p>Hojo only chortled condescendingly. "So you say…"</p>
      <p>Taking a moment to gauge the group that held him prisoner, the scientist took better note of the group in general. The intruding individuals were familiar and started coming back to him from what he learned as of late.</p>
      <p>"Ah~ Commander Shepard and her ragtag team of extraordinary misfits." Hojo said with a small smile. "Stirring up trouble on this neck of the galaxy, I see."</p>
      <p>"Yeah we have that effect on people." Axel said conversationally.</p>
      <p>Hojo eyed the Nobody with great interest.</p>
      <p>"Yes~ I've especially had my eye on you, my fiery friend." Hojo said with a manic grin. "You and those two youngsters I've seen in this group. Your entire team are ones I have been observing for a <em>looong </em>time, Commander Shepard."</p>
      <p>"We get it, you're a creep." Ash snarled, pressing the tip of her gun in the back of the man's head. "Now move."</p>
      <p>Hojo harrumphed as he did as Williams said.</p>
      <p>"I can't imagine what business you have with me-"</p>
      <p>"We're shutting down this facility, that's what." Kaidan said, walking past the man and held his gun up to the other scientists and gesturing to them to gather at the wall. "None of you move a muscle, you hear?"</p>
      <p>"Do stop pushing. Unlike you, I am less accustomed to physical violence." Hojo said, adjusting his clothing.</p>
      <p>"Keep resisting and you'll unfortunately have to get used to it." Axel said, body radiating fire and heat.</p>
      <p>Hojo merely rolled his eyes as he was brought alongside his fellow scientists. "And do you expect to overthrow this entire facility by yourselves?"</p>
      <p>"Since you've been following us for a <em>looong</em> time, you would probably know such a thing." Shepard said, Omni-tool out as she began looking over the schematics of the facility again.</p>
      <p>Unbeknownst to the Normandy members, Hojo flexed his hand where a miniature Omni-tool sprang to life behind his back. His fingers began dancing across the hard light device.</p>
      <p>"Tell me, how was it that you found this place?" Inquired the Cerberus scientist.</p>
      <p>"An admiral told us." Said the red haired Nobody.</p>
      <p>"Axel…"</p>
      <p>"What? We captured him and-"</p>
      <p>"An admiral, you say?" Adopting a thinking gesture, Hojo soon realized who they were referring to. "Oh yes, Admiral Kahoku. Should've realized that sooner."</p>
      <p>The quick deduction was rather unsettling for the team.</p>
      <p>"I'm afraid he didn't hide well enough." Hojo said casually. "Pitiful waste rea-URK."</p>
      <p>Hojo was promptly slammed into the wall with Jane holding the collar of his shirt, her expression murderous with her Biotics and another aura glowing around her.</p>
      <p>"What did you <em>do?!"</em> The Spectre growled like a savage animal.</p>
      <p>"Temper, temper." Hojo managed out, struggled as he did.</p>
      <p>"You better start saying the shit that'll keep us from putting a bullet in your head cause you are <em>not </em>doing any favors for yourself." Ash said venomously.</p>
      <p>Hojo proceeded to roll his eyes at her threat. "It wasn't what <em>I</em> did, but those who were more physically prone to violence."</p>
      <p>Axel's green eyes caught something from Hojo's lowerhalf. There he located a peculiar light from the palm of his hand, along with his fingers moving in a certain manner.</p>
      <p>It was soon after did he realize what the Cerberus scientist was doing.</p>
      <p>"Shepard!"</p>
      <p>Axel's warning came too late as a multitude of pods within the room burst open.</p>
      <p>From those containers, out jumped bizarre, unidentifiable creatures who all faced the Normandy team, snarling and teeth… or something like that bared at their direction.</p>
      <p>They were humanoid in structure with slimy, leathery skin with glowing red lines across their flesh. There were no opticals that were presently seen upon first glance. And there seemed to be some sort of large stinger-like limb protruding out of their back.</p>
      <p>"What's going on?" Liara spoke in an alarmed manner.</p>
      <p>Hojo merely smirked as he was suddenly dropped to the ground.</p>
      <p>The humanoid entities let out screeches and charged forward at the crew.</p>
      <p>Axel instantly conjured a wall of fire and pushed it forward towards the charging creatures. Several got burnt to a crisp while a few others managed to take the attack with a few burn marks on them.</p>
      <p>Shepard and Kaidan whirled around as they heard more pods burst open and they spun around to see more of those strange humanoids hopping out of the pods.</p>
      <p>Stitch was already rolling towards them, jumping and uncurling to unleash a torrent of fire at the <em>unknown entities</em>.</p>
      <p>As this went on, Hojo and the rest of the scientists quickly vacated the room as their experiments went to take care of the Normandy team.</p>
      <p>"Form up." Jane ordered, the group going back to back as they had enemies on all sides.</p>
      <p>"Axel."</p>
      <p>"Coming right up." Axel jumped up and vanished in a flurry of flames.</p>
      <p>A flicker of fire later, Axel burst forward and made a wide sweeping arch around the entire team to create a floor of fire that exploded outward.</p>
      <p>Molten metal and flames cascaded on the creatures, the unknown entities stumbling back.</p>
      <p>Liara, Kaidan and Shepard all called forth their Biotics and created a Biotic dome that they transformed into a shockwave to shove all the creatures back.</p>
      <p>"Move, we need more space." Shepard yelled and the group ran towards the exit where the scientists used to get away from them.</p>
      <p>During the chase, more of these unknown entities started appearing and halting their progress.</p>
      <p>Rushing in close, No. VIII spinned around as his chakrams started cutting into the Cerberus creations. Coming to a stop, he thrusted his weapons into their chests in a jabbing motion before harshly ripping and tearing right through them. Before long, he slammed his chakrams onto the metal floor, causing a burst of flames to erupt and burn his opponents into crispy husks.</p>
      <p>With them taken care of, the team proceeded onwards.</p>
      <p>It wasn't much longer before they wound up where they more or less entered this facility in the first place.</p>
      <p>"Where'd he go?" Ash asked, wildly looking around.</p>
      <p>"Wish I knew." Kaidan grumbled to himself.</p>
      <p>"He probably went to a place where he's secure." Liara commented. "He knows this place better then we do."</p>
      <p>Shepard said nothing, tilting her head slightly at Stitch crawling back up to her shoulder and sniffing the air. The little guy let out a grunt, rubbing his nose in disappointment and shook his head.</p>
      <p>"Well, he ain't nearby then." Jane said. "Come-"</p>
      <p>"<em>Very impressive. I really must thank you for providing me with such </em>invaluable<em> combat data so far."</em></p>
      <p>"Cocky, arrogant egghead, ain't he?" Muttered the red haired Nobody.</p>
      <p>From a secure room in this Cerberus facility, Professor Hojo was viewing the live feed in the comfort of his chair before speaking into the intercoms.</p>
      <p>"<em>I admit there are some interesting unknown </em><em><strong>variables </strong></em><em>in your ranks, Commander. Something which I'm dying to learn more from than what I know beforehand."</em></p>
      <p>"We will find you, you son of a bitch." Ash said aloud, getting a derisive laugh from the Cerberus scientist.</p>
      <p>"<em>Unlikely. And before any of you bother to find any other personnel, they're in the process of leaving this planet as we speak. So I wish you luck in </em>trying<em> to find them, but we all know the likely outcome of that now."</em></p>
      <p>Things didn't seem to go as planned for the Normandy members as trying to find anyone from here is basically gone in the wind. And if possible once leaving, this place will become abandoned and most likely destroyed to hide any evidence of its existence.</p>
      <p>"What is this place anyways?" Shepard asked aloud.</p>
      <p>"<em>This facility is home to an extraordinary array of specimens that'll change the galaxy as we know it." </em>Hojo said with dramatic pride. <em>"Cerberus has seen the light of my genius and wholeheartedly agrees and has been </em>generous<em> in their funding of my endeavors."</em></p>
      <p>"Genius in creating bio-weapons, you mean." Said the Asari.</p>
      <p>"<em>And what's wrong with that?" </em>Hojo inquired rhetorically. <em>"There are always those who wish to advance in their own capabilities. What you view as amoral is what I call the natural progression of life itself. Bio engineering to become living weapons that can take on </em>armies! <em>Have you not yourselves shown such capabilities? Your little blue friend there is clearly one who has benefited from such changes to his body. Am I right?"</em></p>
      <p>Stitch growled and snarled in response.</p>
      <p>"We're not gonna be your labrats." Kaidan said fiercely.</p>
      <p>Stitch only added to this by firing his weapons into the air a few times, roaring all the while.</p>
      <p>"<em>None of you have any say in the matter." </em>Hojo let out a soft chuckle. <em>"I promise, you'll regret coming here."</em></p>
      <p>"Let's not stick around here guys." Shepard said. "Let's go."</p>
      <p>Suddenly the platform they were standing on started to shake and break apart. The team tried to regain their balance but were failing in the process.</p>
      <p>"<em>I hope none of you will be </em>disappointments<em> with my research. You do have reputations to uphold after all."</em></p>
      <p>A split second later, the surface gave way as they fell towards the chasm below.</p>
      <p>
        <em>-Scene Cut-</em>
      </p>
      <p>Roxas let out a small yawn, arms resting behind his head as he laid down on a bench within a small park within the Citadel.</p>
      <p>Xion and Tali were… somewhere around here, the two gathering items and other resources for the latters trip home.</p>
      <p>He had opted to stay here for a moment to catch a break as they had been scrounging up multiple bags of stuff for Tali's go home trip and that they were gonna meet Garrus here.</p>
      <p>He was essentially their "pack-mule" as it were.</p>
      <p>He did offer to help them carry their belongings, but it seemed to be a mistake with the excessive amount.</p>
      <p>Apparently Shepard, Liara and Ashley were becoming bad influences to them when it came to shopping.</p>
      <p>So for now he was fiddling with his Omni-tool, playing a game on it.</p>
      <p>It was a rather old fashioned style game with there being minimal controls and design.</p>
      <p>He had been playing these minigames on his Omni-tool for the past few weeks, finding the feature earlier when they were still chasing after Saren.</p>
      <p>No. XIII had played the games in his off time, usually able to get the highest score on each small game after a few tries. With every new high score he achieved, a new game was added on and on afterwards.</p>
      <p>Right now, he was playing the latest game that being the King steps out.</p>
      <p>It was relatively simple, just jump over puddles, collect the musical notes along the way and get to the King's Queen at the end of the level.</p>
      <p>Fairly simple.</p>
      <p>After playing the game for a few minutes, Roxas at last reached the end of the level and attained the highest score he could get and smirked to himself in victory.</p>
      <p>He laid there, waiting for the next new minigame to pop up…</p>
      <p>But nothing happened.</p>
      <p>Frowning a bit, Roxas wondered what was taking so long when…</p>
      <p>"Excuse me." he blinked upon hearing a raspy breath and voice.</p>
      <p>Looking onward from his seated position, Roxas saw it was a Volus.</p>
      <p>"Uh… May I help you?"</p>
      <p>"Yes." Rasped out the Volus. "I have a delivery for you. Roxas, correct?"</p>
      <p>"For me? From who?"</p>
      <p>"I wouldn't know. I'm just delivering a package."</p>
      <p>Holding out a datapad, Roxas saw he needed to sign it in order to get whatever he was receiving. He saw his name outlined with stars bursting out from it.</p>
      <p>Signing his signature, the Volus handed Roxas a small box.</p>
      <p>"Wonder what this is." the boy asked himself, taking a moment to inspect all sides of the box.</p>
      <p>"I wouldn't know. But it does come with a message." Said the delivery person.</p>
      <p>Typing away on his Omni-tool, the Volus forwarded Roxas a message for him to read from so the rest of the delivery can be complete. Once done, he went off to resume his work for the day.</p>
      <p>Seeing the new message in his inbox, No. XIII opened it up and read it's contents.</p>
      <p>
        <em>To my loyal player!</em>
      </p>
      <p>
        <em>Firstly, I'd like to thank you very much for taking your precious time in playing Classic Kingdom. You are the very first person to complete all of the challenges and reach the highscores depicted in each of the games.</em>
      </p>
      <p>
        <em>As a token of my gratitude, the package you received is the grand prize for such an achievement. One of a kind -mind you- as there is nothing like it.</em>
      </p>
      <p>
        <em>And don't think it's just some simple trinket as it'll be quite useful for you in the future.</em>
      </p>
      <p>
        <em>Sincerely yours,</em>
      </p>
      <p>
        <em>The lead developer and creator of Classic Kingdom.</em>
      </p>
      <p>
        <em>M.</em>
      </p>
      <p>Once finishing the message, Roxas quirked a brow up before gazing at the box in his possession. Opening it up, he blinked in wonderment before curiosity took over.</p>
      <p>Dumping the contents into his hand, he saw it was a keychain charm.</p>
      <p>The links consisted of white lifesaver tubes all leading up to a wooden brown helm wheel.</p>
      <p>"Uh… Thanks? I… guess…" Roxas trailed off, realizing the Volus was already hobbling away from him. "Oh, he's gone."</p>
      <p>Gazing back at the keychain once more, No. XIII narrowed his blue eyes.</p>
      <p>It seemed familiar to him… somehow… in some way.</p>
      <p>He just couldn't put his mind to it.</p>
      <p>Shaking his head, he pocketed the item as he'll figure it out sooner or later on in it's significance.</p>
      <p>It was a free gift anyways.</p>
      <p>"Roxas, there you are." Came a familiar warbled voice.</p>
      <p>The sandy blonde didn't need to look up right away as he regarded the person.</p>
      <p>"Hey Garrus." Roxas said with a smile. "What took ya so long?"</p>
      <p>"The Council was asking <em>a lot</em> of questions about me personally." Garrus said, squirming a bit.</p>
      <p>"What for?"</p>
      <p>"Something I thought I'd never expect to happen to me. Something which my father would feel similar to if he was in my boots right now."</p>
      <p>Roxas only looked on, silently egging the Turian on to reveal just what he was talking about.</p>
      <p>The detective sighed aloud, rubbing the top of his head.</p>
      <p>"Man, I wish Shepard were here for this. This is in her wheelhouse afterall."</p>
      <p>"Shepard?"</p>
      <p>"They asked me if I consider undergoing training to become a Spectre." Garrus revealed, surprising Roxas greatly.</p>
      <p>"Really?" the boy asked, frowning in thought.</p>
      <p>"Well, that's a better response then the one you gave to Shepard when she got it." Garrus said with a laugh.</p>
      <p>"...Guess you're right on that one." Said the Nobody, who merely scratched his head in response. "So did you-"</p>
      <p>"It's not official yet. I haven't given them my decision just yet."</p>
      <p>"No kidding. I mean you got this thrown onto you from out of nowhere."</p>
      <p>"Exactly."</p>
      <p>"...What was that part earlier with you bringing up your father?"</p>
      <p>"Oh right, that. Thing is, my father doesn't exactly trust Spectres all that well." Garrus revealed.</p>
      <p>"Why not?"</p>
      <p>Garrus threw his hands up slightly. "Well, he wasn't exactly keen on them basically existing outside the law more or less and having a blank check to do whatever they want to get the mission done. Classic Turian type of thing."</p>
      <p>"I guess."</p>
      <p>"I know he's gonna have quite the reaction."</p>
      <p>"Huh…" Roxas looked down at his lap. "Wonder what it would have been like to have a father."</p>
      <p>"You and every orphan out there more or less ask the same thing. And the responsive answer varies from person to person."</p>
      <p>"Huh?" Roxas looked up at the Turian who stared back at the Nobody and realized what he really meant.</p>
      <p>"Oh, <em>oh,</em> right, right, sorry I meant that… uh, you know, being someone who came into existence suddenly and uh… well, technically you're kind of an orphan but then again, that Organization did adopt you by technicality. No, no, wait, that doesn't count, what I meant was… I dug myself into a corner, didn't I?"</p>
      <p>Roxas gave an amused shrug with Garrus running his hand over his face.</p>
      <p>"Thank the Spirits the others weren't around to hear that." Garrus then froze. "You didn't record that, did you?"</p>
      <p>"I'm not Axel." Came No. XIII's flat response, eliciting a laugh out of the Turian.</p>
      <p>"Thank the Spirits you're not. One is enough."</p>
      <p>Moving the conversation onto another topic, the Spectre candidate gazed at the items sprawled by Roxas' person.</p>
      <p>"Playing pack-mule I see."</p>
      <p>"Pretty much. I don't know if Xion and Tali are doing this on purpose or not. I doubt all of this is just for Tali's pilgrimage gift."</p>
      <p>Garrus merely chuckled, patting his back as he sat down beside him.</p>
      <p>"I had to deal with a similar situation as you when I helped out my sister. Was not fun in the slightest." Garrus remarked. "Glad to know it's not a Turian female exclusive thing."</p>
      <p>Roxas smirked at him though it quickly fell away as he became a bit more… melancholy.</p>
      <p>Raising a brow at this, Garrus nudged the young teen with his shoulder.</p>
      <p>"Something I said?"</p>
      <p>Roxas shook his head. "No, no, it's just that…"</p>
      <p>He didn't say anything for a few moments with Garrus waiting for him to continue.</p>
      <p>"I… I guess we really are going our separate ways then." Roxas finished with a more downtrodden look.</p>
      <p>Hearing this, Garrus himself couldn't help but sigh in agreement. He too was beginning to rather dread the coming days where undoubtedly a majority of the team will have to go their separate ways.</p>
      <p>Wrex just left and Tali was getting ready for hers and now he has been approached for a chance to join the Spectres.</p>
      <p>Then with what happened on Mars, Liara would be following suit as well; where she'd be working at both the Prothean archives and the Remnant Spire.</p>
      <p>And of course there was the trio of Nobodies who knew they would also need to return to the Ōkoku galaxy to handle the growing threats there.</p>
      <p>It really was coming to an end and Garrus was genuinely sad about this.</p>
      <p>But he also knew this was an eventuality.</p>
      <p>"Hey. We'll see each other again, Roxas. It's not forever. It's just the natural course of things." The turian said in a reassuring tone. "And with the latest upgrades to our Omni-tools, we can still communicate across other galaxies so we won't lose touch."</p>
      <p>"I figure… Maybe." Roxas murmured. "But I just wish… I just wish we could have done this for longer. Forever even. You guys… you guys are my friends. My… my family. You're all I ever wanted in life and I didn't even know it."</p>
      <p>Garrus threw an arm around the blond and lightly hugged him from the side.</p>
      <p>"Well, if the others heard this, I know they'd appreciate the comment." Garrus said with a kind tone. "But there will be times where we have to go our own separate ways. Where we do things by ourselves for ourselves and for others. Just the nature of things. But just cause we finished the mission here, doesn't mean that it's the end. Like Axel said, when the time comes, we will <em>all </em>be together for that fight."</p>
      <p>It took some moments for Roxas to digest the given words. His mood was uplifted, even for the smallest of margins on the present situation.</p>
      <p>"Thanks Garrus." He said appreciatively, the Turian retracting his arm and patting the teens shoulder.</p>
      <p>"What are friends for?"</p>
      <p>Roxas gave a more relieved smile, the two now sitting comfortably in silence as they waited for Tali and Xion to meet up with them.</p>
      <p>"You think the others are fine right now?" Roxas abruptly asked.</p>
      <p>Garrus merely hummed, thinking for the barest of moments. Before long, he gave out a brief shrug. "They probably are. I mean, what's the worst that could happen to them?"</p>
      <p>
        <em>-Scene Cut-</em>
      </p>
      <p>"When I see that spectacled bastard, I'm going to skin him alive!" Roared an infuriated Operations Chief Williams as her incendiary rounds burned through the oncoming horde of enemies.</p>
      <p>Things were not looking too bright for the Normandy members.</p>
      <p>Earlier the team had regained consciousness after their harsh plummet to the bottom level of the Cerberus facility from it's highest one.</p>
      <p>The members were separated for a time, but were able to regroup shortly after. During this process, they had to fight a number of robotic obstacles as they were making their way back up.</p>
      <p>They had made it down to the next level of this base and were met with even more of those freaky humanoids with the extra limb on their backs. Only this time, they had been joined by some other freak of nature or artificial ones at that.</p>
      <p>It could be best described to be some kind of dog or varren mix though it favored the former over the latter.</p>
      <p>Red and black skinned with sharp canines and a tendril sticking out of its back and sharp tipped ears.</p>
      <p>These two types of adversaries were attacking them in droves with the team having very little moments to catch their breath.</p>
      <p>"God damn <em>Bloodhound.</em>" Jane growled out, sending a Biotic throw to hurl away a number of the dog-like creatures that bastard Hojo had unleashed.</p>
      <p>Liara kept up a large Biotic dome for them, having switched out with Kaidan who used his own Biotics to send out miniature explosions to thin out the crowd.</p>
      <p>Stitch was jumping from enemy to enemy, either shooting them, throwing, clawing, punching or ripping them apart. It was a grizzly sight, but neither of them fully cared as they were just venting out their frustrations on their current circumstances.</p>
      <p>Axel had been gliding and teleporting around the area, fire basically surrounding him by this point. His Chakrams were ablaze with his ethereal flames and were cutting a swath through the humanoids and hounds, leaving ashes in his wake.</p>
      <p>Leaping up into the air, Axel's chakrams spun around his body until he caught them both. His weapons became engulfed in fire and he heaved them over his head before flinging them down with all his might.</p>
      <p>The Chakrams slammed into the ground and from them spread out an encompassing fire wave that turned the floor molten.</p>
      <p>The team was completely unaffected by this but the same can not be said for their enemies.</p>
      <p>Flinging his arms up, a plume of fire exploded out from the ground that completely incinerated every single enemy within their vicinity, at long last giving them a moment to rest.</p>
      <p>"Holy hell." Ash said, slumping against a nearby wall.</p>
      <p>Kaidan grunted in silent agreement, adjusting his armor.</p>
      <p>"What kind of sick twisted place is this?" Liara murmured.</p>
      <p>"Don't know, don't care." Ash said. "All I do know is this place has gotta collapse down on itself."</p>
      <p>Stitch let out of bark of agreement, looking around in anticipation in case of more enemies.</p>
      <p>Jane was breathing heavily, trying to steady her heart rate.</p>
      <p>She heard a heavy sigh and turned to see Axel seated on the floor with his head resting on the wall and his eyes were closed.</p>
      <p>"Axel." She said, going over to him. "Everything alright with you?"</p>
      <p>"Yeah, yeah." He waved off, pulling out a Hi-Potion and Ether. Tossing them up above him, the two items burst and disbursed down onto him.</p>
      <p>His body glowed with him standing back up and swinging his arms back and forth horizontally.</p>
      <p>"Last one took a lot out of me." Axel stated. "All better now."</p>
      <p>Jane nodded slowly, looking back to the rest of the team.</p>
      <p>It appeared seeing Axel do that gave them the same idea and so utilized items of their own to get them back up to fighting strength.</p>
      <p>Turning back to her fellow redhead, she saw that he had taken out another potion and held it out for her to take.</p>
      <p>Giving him an appreciative smile, Shepard took the Hi-Potion and tossed it over herself. The Spectre took in a deep breath as she felt herself get more rejuvenated.</p>
      <p>"Thanks." Jane said softly, Axel smirking friendly at her.</p>
      <p>"Think that was the last of them?" Kaidan asked, tone hopeful.</p>
      <p>"Not even likely." Liara said dejectedly. "This facility is large and that detestable man probably has more of these… atrocities."</p>
      <p>"Without a doubt." Ash said, shifting her weapon to a brand new mode. "Let's see if they can take on this."</p>
      <p>The team then moved forward to go deeper down into the base with the staircase that led to the next level up ahead.</p>
      <p>Naturally, more of those hounds and humanoid creatures blocked their path.</p>
      <p>They got to quick work with all of them utilizing some of their more explosive weapons and abilities to clear out these creatures.</p>
      <p>Once finished with this batch of enemies, the group moved onwards.</p>
      <p>As much as they'd like to progress at a faster rate, they had to come face to face with some <em>puzzling</em> annoyances.</p>
      <p>They all figured Hojo merely put them there for his enjoyment in seeing them suffer.</p>
      <p>Not only was he surveying their battle prowess, the Cerberus scientist was probably inspecting their intelligence.</p>
      <p>"<em>Ahem. Can you all hear me?" </em>Came the rather despicable voice of the man who likely ran this base.</p>
      <p>Speaking of...</p>
      <p>"Hojo…"</p>
      <p>"<em>So tell me. How are you enjoying this facility?"</em></p>
      <p>"None in the slightest." Shepard deadpanned.</p>
      <p>"<em>You should feel honored in traversing this place."</em></p>
      <p>"I sure as hell don't." Ash grumbled, brow twitching.</p>
      <p>Hojo harrumphed from wherever he was located. <em>"You'll have the opportunity to take part in a rather ambitious experiment of mine. Complete my puzzles and I'll grant you access to progress further. Oh I look forward to data both invaluable and instrumental…"</em></p>
      <p>"Uh huh, right…"</p>
      <p>"I'd rather just skip these puzzles and mozzy on outta here." Axel griped.</p>
      <p>"You could just use a Dark Corridor and leave." Ash pointed out.</p>
      <p>The redhead scoffed. "And leave you guys behind? Fat chance. I'm sticking with you."</p>
      <p>"Aw~ how sweet." Jane couldn't help herself, pinching the man's cheek with him swatting her hand away with a deadpan directed at the Spectre.</p>
      <p>"We need to keep moving." Liara looked around nervously. "It feels like those creatures will pop just about everywhere."</p>
      <p>"With how this place is laid out, that's more than likely true."</p>
      <p>With the team traversing through the facility, they had to improvise along the way with how they had to reach certain areas.</p>
      <p>There were some moments where they needed either Axel or Stitch to get across a rather large gap in order to activate various walkway mechanisms. After which, they had to fight several waves of enemies when they were forced to separate in different wards of the levels.</p>
      <p>While they were truly fearsome as a whole, it was challenging in fewer numbers.</p>
      <p>In one area, the genders were indeed separated for a time. Another, their communications were being jammed. And the corridors made things limited on their maneuverability as a number of examples.</p>
      <p>One of which had them redirect freshly fired missiles either back to their senders or using their skills to direct them elsewhere for Hojo's desired results.</p>
      <p>They had to adapt and try new things on their strategies and attack formations.</p>
      <p>It would've been considered good team building exercises… if it weren't for the fact they were being "surveyed" against their will.</p>
      <p>"<em>My word, your movements, your abilities, they truly have yet to fail in astonishing me." </em>Hojo openly praised. <em>"Individuals like yourselves are an exceptionally rare breed."</em></p>
      <p>Stitch growled, looking around with his ears perking up. Tilting his head upwards, Stitch spotted what looked like one of the speakers that Hojo was utilizing. Grabbing one of the metallic floor panels, Stitch tore it up out of the ground and flung it right at the speaker with it being destroyed in an instant.</p>
      <p>"<em>How rude…" </em>Was Hojo's response, this time being noticeably further from before.</p>
      <p>"Shove it up your ass, you prude."</p>
      <p>"Goddess, I am normally not one to say this but must he prattle on like that <em>all </em>the time?" Liara asked exasperatedly, not really expecting an answer.</p>
      <p>"These types of jackasses are a dime a dozen." Ashley stated. "Pricks who are smart and love to hear themselves talk about how smart they are."</p>
      <p>"With the way Hojo speaks reminds me of Vexen. Always vexing and indulging himself with research and data." Axel commented with a scowl.</p>
      <p>"Vexing Vexen?"</p>
      <p>"Shut up." No. VIII then released a sigh as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "Thinking about it now, I shudder to think what might happen if those two were in the same room together."</p>
      <p>"Then let's hope they never do." Shepard said, wincing as one of those Unknown Entities sprung out at her from the wall.</p>
      <p>On reflex, she bashed the but of her rifle in the creature's head and Liara instantly ensnared it in her Biotics.</p>
      <p>The others killed it a second later and the group kept on moving.</p>
      <p>They eventually reached a platform where there was no means of traversing further.</p>
      <p>"Shit, where to now." Kaidan said, looking around for a means in which to keep moving forward.</p>
      <p>Stitch stared ahead with his eyes narrowed before hopping off from Shepard's shoulder and crawling upon the wall over to the other side.</p>
      <p>Jumping off the wall, the fur ball landed on a lever that went down from his weight.</p>
      <p>Before them, several container pods jutted out to form a makeshift bridge to get across.</p>
      <p>"Well now… that was convenient." Axel remarked with a laugh.</p>
      <p>"Stitch, you're awesome." Ash praised aloud, Stitch still standing on the lever with his arms on his hips and laughing boisterously at the compliment.</p>
      <p>"Don't praise him too much." Shepard said, shooting an amused look at Stitch. "He'll have a bigger head than before."</p>
      <p>"Hey." Came the indignant response from Stitch, the team hopping atop the tubes to get to the little guy.</p>
      <p>The Spectre ran by, flicking Stitch in the nose with him whining while rubbing his nose before jumping onto Liara's shoulder as she passed by him.</p>
      <p>"Where are we?" Kaidan asked, the team running towards who knows where.</p>
      <p>"We're close to the lowest level." Liara said, Omni-tool out to confirm this.</p>
      <p>"Think that's where this mad bastard is?" Ash asked.</p>
      <p>"Only one way to find out." Shepard said and they soon went down to the lowest level of the base.</p>
      <p>The first room they entered into was considerably larger than most of the other rooms they had been.</p>
      <p>"Wonder what sick shit they did in here that they needed all this space." Ash commented, pointing her gun around with the others doing the same to see that the room was clear.</p>
      <p>"I hate how morbidly curious I am." Liara admitted, self admonishing herself.</p>
      <p>"Let's just find the psycho and be done with this place already." Kaidan said, squirming about.</p>
      <p>However, the group didn't get far in when the speakers flared to life.</p>
      <p>"<em>Ah, you made it at long last."</em></p>
      <p>The team collectively groaned upon hearing Hojo's voice again.</p>
      <p>"Look, just get to it already." Shepard said aloud. "Just send out whatever big bastard we need to kill."</p>
      <p>Hojo scoffed. <em>"I'm trying to at least put on a show for you, make it somewhat bearable."</em></p>
      <p>"It's not, never will be, just send out whoever you have lined up for us next." Ash all but demanded by this point.</p>
      <p>"<em>No appreciation for showmanship."</em></p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>-Insert Final Fantasy VII Remake: Catastrophe-</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>Suddenly the entryway and exit to the room began closing and locking the occupants inside.</p>
      <p>"<em>Commencing next test. All personnel must evacuate the area."</em> Spoke an automated voice. <em>"Commencing test."</em></p>
      <p>"Here we go again."</p>
      <p>From the adjacent walls, doors opened up to bring out a number of synthetic creations.</p>
      <p>A few were familiar to the group so far as they were dubbed Shock-Rays and Blast-Rays. The Shock-Rays were drones which floated around and created barriers for the Blast-Rays as they were these big spider-like tanks.</p>
      <p>However, there was a new synthetic opponent thrown into the mix.</p>
      <p>It was like this killing machine armed with a drill on its head, claws on its arms and rotating blades on it's lower half; which was a rolling ball. Spray painted on one of its arms read out M.O.T.H. Unit prototype.</p>
      <p>And once again, those unknown humanoid entities and bloodhounds lept out and ran right towards the six of them.</p>
      <p>Axel's form flashed suddenly, throwing his Chakrams forward with Liara and Shepard firing their Biotics.</p>
      <p>The Biotics seemingly fused together with Axel's weapons and as soon as they reached a large cluster of enemies, there was an implosion that became an explosion of Biotic fire that turned a large portion of their enemies to ash.</p>
      <p>The group stared, momentarily taken aback by what they just saw.</p>
      <p>"Uh…" Jane turned to the Asari and Nobody of the team. "Did… either of you know we could do that?"</p>
      <p>"No… no I'm fairly certain we did not." Liara muttered in shock.</p>
      <p>"It'll <em>certainly</em> be one to remember." Axel said, a grin now growing in place with his chakrams returning to his hands.</p>
      <p>With that said, the team rushed forward with the experiments all charging back at them.</p>
      <p>Stitch ensnared one of the tentacles from a bloodhound's back. Using his strength, he whirled the mutated creature all over as a bludgeoned weapon to smack other opponents away. Once done, the blue furred alien tossed the broken body away into one of the incoming killing machines.</p>
      <p>When it was knocked off balance, Stitch swiftly whipped out his various automatic weapons and began firing upon the Shock-Rays to bring down the protective barrier. Once those were destroyed, the little alien rushed in, leaped onto the Blast-Ray and started tearing right through the metal.</p>
      <p>"Hey Axel." Called out the marine. "Mind coming here for a bit."</p>
      <p>The Nobody leaped into the air, leaving through one of Hojo's creations before landing beside the biotic. "What's up, Kaidan?"</p>
      <p>"I've been meaning to ask this earlier, but have these machines look familiar to you?"</p>
      <p>"Can't say I have. We just fought these models today, Kaidan."</p>
      <p>"I know that but…" Alenko gave them a hard look.</p>
      <p>"But what?"</p>
      <p>"Do you perhaps think there's something familiar about them?" Kaidan asked. "I <em>know </em>we've seen these somewhere before. Or something like them, I just can't put my finger on it."</p>
      <p>"Why don't you try figuring that out <em>after </em>we scrap them." Axel said, raising his hands up with his Chakrams floating beneath them and spinning to catch fire.</p>
      <p>"After." Kaidan casually said, priming his gun. "After will do."</p>
      <p>Unclipping an EMP grenade from his belt, Kaidan tossed over and let it release it's pulse. The shielding went down, giving them a good window for some of the team to break down the machines.</p>
      <p>Focusing on his enhanced biotics, Kaidan ensnared another machine and started crushing it upon bringing his hands together. The sound of metal straining could be greatly heard. Before long, it became a massive ball of scrap.</p>
      <p>Once created, the LT-Commander slammed the misshapen object down hard on another machine and rendered it useless.</p>
      <p>This greatly exhausted him as he was still trying to master his newfound capabilities since his visit to Barsoom. He had been training long and hard and no matter how much he tried he felt out of breath afterwards; even once consuming a number of Ethers.</p>
      <p>Yet his drive will keep pushing him on along with his imagination to try out new things.</p>
      <p>As Kaidan pulled out a Mega Ether to consume, the M.O.T.H. Unit came rushing in, blades rapidly spinning around and around. Axel had to leap right in and block the ongoing blows with his chakrams. He struggled with the speed and pressure behind it all, but he gave his friends an ample opening for them to fire upon it.</p>
      <p>Kaidan amped up his next shot by infusing his Biotics into it and fired directly at the center drill head of the robot.</p>
      <p>The bot's head came straight off with Axel turning it into melted metal a moment later.</p>
      <p>Alenko let out a breath, feeling a strain on his body which quickly evaporated courtesy of a quick Potion washing over him from Axel.</p>
      <p>He nodded in appreciation, No. VIII patting the man's shoulder.</p>
      <p>"Okay, Kaidan, now these guys are scrap. What is it you wanted me to look at again?"</p>
      <p>Kaidan rubbed his chin in thought, narrowing his eyes at one of the mangled bots. Why was he thinking of Garrus and Wrex as well?</p>
      <p>"Oh yeah." Kaidan snapped his fingers in realization. "Don't these little bastards look kinda like that big crab robot we fought when we went to get Wrex's armor back?"</p>
      <p>Axel regarded the destroyed crab-like robots in front of them and took a second to look over at the others.</p>
      <p>"Huh… yeah, you're right they do. From that douchebags warehouse. The hell was his name again?"</p>
      <p>"Tonn Actus."</p>
      <p>"Yeah, him. These guys are a bit <em>too </em>similar, don't ya think?"</p>
      <p>"Makes you wonder." Kaidan said, now glaring up at a speaker in the corner of the large room. "Where do you think these bastards came from?"</p>
      <p>"A coincidence?"</p>
      <p>"By this point, in our line of experience, fifty-fifty chance in this scenario." Kaidan said, Axel nodding in agreement.</p>
      <p>From the sanctity of his safe, monitor room, Professor Hojo had overheard this particular conversation.</p>
      <p>"Hmm? So they had come across my Crab Warden?" Mused the Cerberus scientist. "That fool Tonn. A waste of my efforts if used to guard some needless trinkets."</p>
      <p>He observed the rest of the crew take out all the creatures and mechanical beings he had sent out to kill these intruders but thus far, they have proven wonderfully inept in this matter.</p>
      <p>This only served to make his sinister smile grow with his ambition to best his previous works matching his manic expression.</p>
      <p>The reports and video feeds will be a great amount of data for both him and the Illusive Man once this whole mess is over.</p>
      <p>Back in the sealed off room, the rest of the enemies were finally defeated. A doorway opened up for them, prompting the group to enter the newly available space.</p>
      <p>Once inside, the squad saw it was an extremely wide open space. When the last of them entered, the doorway behind them closed up with the speakers flaring to life.</p>
      <p>"<em>Most impressive." </em>Hojo sounded condescending even when he complimented their abilities. <em>"You truly are something else entirely. I must say, the research and data you have all given me is invaluable. I must reevaluate everything I understand to make for a better scientist but of course, that comes with the territory."</em></p>
      <p>"Will you please, <em><strong>PLEASE,</strong></em> stop with the damn monologues already." Ash growled savagely.</p>
      <p>"<em>But you have only fought the basic foot soldiers." </em>Hojo went on, entirely ignoring the Operations Chief.</p>
      <p>"Wait… what did he just say?" Kaidan asked.</p>
      <p>"<em>Time to test out whether or not you all are truly special as The Illusive Man and myself believe you all to be." </em>Hojo's manic glee was on full display. <em>"Releasing Specimen HO512."</em></p>
      <p>The group then heard something large being operated. Looking over, they saw a large containment pod. It's glass container lid opened with a thick gas being emitted.</p>
      <p>Then came this beastial sound that was unnatural as it arose and stepped out of the containment pod.</p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>"▄</strong>
        </em>
        <em>
          <strong>▄"</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>"..."</p>
      <p>"..."</p>
      <p>"..."</p>
      <p>"..."</p>
      <p>"What in the <em><strong>FUCK</strong></em><em> is that supposed to be?!" </em>Ash all but screeched out.</p>
      <p>"By the Goddess." Liara whispered in horror. "What have they created?"</p>
      <p>"One ugly motherfucker." Axel said, expression stone cold as he twirled his Chakrams in his hands.</p>
      <p>"Formation loose people." Shepard instructed. "There's one of it and six of us."</p>
      <p>Much of this monstrosity reminded most of the team of fighting the Thorian back on Feros. But this time it had limbs, tentacles, bones and was mobile.</p>
      <p>This… <em>thing </em>was by far one of the most grotesque and frankly most disgusting enemies that they had ever come across and the smell it gave off was rancid and putrid.</p>
      <p>Just when the squad was about to commence their attack, something fell down from the rafters above.</p>
      <p>"Oh you gotta be kidding me." Growled the LT-Commander.</p>
      <p>Apparently Hojo decided to top off this experiment with these creepy little eye monsters on spider legs as cannon fodder!</p>
      <p>"This is some next grade level bullshit if I ever saw anything like it." Axel stated in irritation, fires dancing around his form.</p>
      <p>The Specimen disregarded the fodder around it and made a beeline straight towards the team.</p>
      <p>Shepard let out a quick whistle, Biotics flaring.</p>
      <p>Stitch laughed maniacally, forming himself into his ball form as Biotics surrounded him.</p>
      <p>Jane tossed her rifle around to grab the barrel and proceeded to smash the butt of her gun into Stitch in the form of a baseball player.</p>
      <p>Stitch's Biotically charged body sailed through the air, straight at the oversized grotesque monster they faced and crashed right between its eyes.</p>
      <p>The Specimen roared in pain and clear anger, flailing its arms about with several tubes and parts of the wall being torn down.</p>
      <p>"Since when was that a thing?" Ash asked Jane in amusement.</p>
      <p>"Since just now." Shepard said, gripping her rifle back to normal. "Come on, let's kill this bastard."</p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>-Insert Final Fantasy VII Remake: Final Experiment-</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>Specimen HO512 moved forward, swinging its clawed arm at the group, forcing them to scatter.</p>
      <p>It followed up the swipe by using its strange fleshy cannon arm, unleashing a torrent of gas that appeared both airy but strangely… solid? Whatever it was, there was a physical force behind it as Axel and Kaidan learned the hard way.</p>
      <p>What's worse was their immediate reactions afterwards.</p>
      <p>Green in the face, the duo began coughing violently with Alenko hurling out the contents of his lunch a moment later.</p>
      <p>"Whoa, what the fuck was that?" Ash asked in alarm, rushing over to Alenko whilst Shepard and Liara were by Axel and they pulled them away.</p>
      <p>Stitch provided covering fire, blasting away at the smaller crawling crab creatures and keeping the attention of the larger specimen.</p>
      <p>He grabbed one of the smaller crab-like critters by its leg and hurled it at HO512.</p>
      <p>The Specimen roared challengingly with Stitch comically roaring back, shooting at it with all four of his guns.</p>
      <p>Stitch's friends had gotten their two "sick" comrades a slight distance away with the duo nearly falling to the ground.</p>
      <p>"What the hell was that?" Ash asked, worry clear in her tone and face. "Are you two alright?"</p>
      <p>"Easy you two." Liara said, slightly fretful as she kept Kaidan from falling over.</p>
      <p>"That was some poison or some shit." Axel said, struggling with his words.</p>
      <p>"Lost my lunch." Kaidan muttered in slight misery.</p>
      <p>"Feels like more than that." Shepard murmured. "Stay back, you two."</p>
      <p>"Just give us a minute." Axel said, his green face slowly returning to its normal color. "Feels temporary."</p>
      <p>"You sure?" Shepard asked in concern.</p>
      <p>"You sure bout leavin' Stitch there by himself?" Kaidan managed out, making the three women turn back and see Stitch get violently flung away.</p>
      <p>"Stitch." Liara cried out to him.</p>
      <p>"Come on, he needs our help." Ash said, raising her weapon and rushing forward to help their small friend.</p>
      <p>"Concentrate your fire on that left arm of his." Jane ordered out.</p>
      <p>"We'll be right behind you… eventually." Axel called out weakly, slowly feeling some semblance of the poison leaving his system.</p>
      <p>Ashley started off this next confrontation, focusing her firepower directly at HO512's cannon of a left arm.</p>
      <p>As this went on, Liara and Shepard used their Biotics and tossed the remaining eyeball creatures at the giant of a creation to give them more space to work with and hurt it in the process.</p>
      <p>Before long, HO512 sweeped it's massive claw left to right. It then swung it's small claw as it charged forward. When it wasn't able to land it's mark, the Specimen surprised the Normandy squad by leaping in the air and crashing down hard onto the ground.</p>
      <p>The shockwave knocked them off their feet, causing an opening to occur for HO512 to take advantage of.</p>
      <p>It soon seized Ashley and tightened it's hold on her. She struggled in it's grasp before being hurled to the ground with tremendous force.</p>
      <p>"Ash!"</p>
      <p>Experiment 626 saw this upon his recovery and fiercely growled upon witnessing this and decided to act in retaliation. Rushing onward, Stitch soon grasped onto the Specimen's right arm. Mustering much of his strength, he ripped it's arm right out of the creation's socket. From there he started blougeting the massive monstrosity with it's own limb.</p>
      <p>During this momentary beatdown, Sheprad and Liara rushed over to Ashley's side and helped her up.</p>
      <p>Once administering a Hi-Potion, the Operations Chief was more or less able to get back on her feet. Yet her movements will be slow at best as she was still sore from the crash earlier. But she decided to stay in the distance for the time being and provide support.</p>
      <p>Specimen HO512 let out a bellowing shriek when Stitch stabbed it's severed right limb into it's back. From there, Hojo's creation began sweeping it's massive claw left to right once more but more fiercely than before.</p>
      <p>At this point, Kaidan and Axel forced themselves to move and began attacking the large behemoth once again.</p>
      <p>Charging up his Biotics, Kaidan felt a tingly go up his arm as he noticed crackles of electricity course within his Biotic field.</p>
      <p>Eyes wide in stunned astonishment he quickly shook his head and returned focus on the Specimen.</p>
      <p>He fired his electrified Biotics, the sphere impacting the Specimen and creating a cascading effect all over the body of the creatures.</p>
      <p>HO512 screeched, moving statically but forcefully as it powered through its pain and began swinging its claw arm wildly about to keep the team at bay.</p>
      <p>In doing so, they saw many of the injuries it had sustained began to regenerate and its stumpy arm was reforming.</p>
      <p>"Goddess, we can't keep doing this." Liara said aloud. "It will just recover every chance it gets."</p>
      <p>"We need to find a way to hurt this fucker from all sides." Shepard said through gritted teeth.</p>
      <p>Narrowing her eyes, Operations Chief Williams felt a light bulb go off in her head.</p>
      <p>"I got an idea!" Ash called out to the others, pulling out a number of explosives. "Get some fire charged up Axel, the rest of you cover me."</p>
      <p>Not waiting on the team to respond, Ashley ran around the room and threw her explosives at the giant monstrosity.</p>
      <p>Rather than them blowing up, they stuck to the massive frame of the Specimen with the team cluing in to what Ash was trying to do here.</p>
      <p>They all started firing upon HO512, the specimen roaring in anger and pain as it attempted to attack the team in retaliation.</p>
      <p>Axel had hung back the whole time, concentrating on channelling his power to a single fixed point.</p>
      <p>Ashley rolled beneath the Specimens claw arm and tossed her last explosive at the chest of the monster.</p>
      <p>"Now Axel!" She yelled out.</p>
      <p>Axel conjured up an intense flame between his Chakrams with it flaring up violently.</p>
      <p>At its apex, No. VIII leaped high into the air before slamming his weapons together to form a large fireball.</p>
      <p>"Get clear!" Axel flung the sphere down to the monster.</p>
      <p>The squadmates did so just as the ball struck Hojo's specimen.</p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>*KRA-KOOM*</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>Mixture of explosive and magic flames greatly harmed their present opponent. As it toppled over, the squad saw parts of its body falling apart but it was still up and running as it were.</p>
      <p>"You've gotta be kidding me." Alenko said aloud.</p>
      <p>"Don't let up." Shepard ordered.</p>
      <p>Not wanting to lose the advantage, they brought down the hammer by unloading a hail of bullets, biotics and torrent of flames onto it. It shrieked and rived during this onslaught before it fought its way back up onto its feet.</p>
      <p>They thought they were having the upperhand on this fight… until a few things happened.</p>
      <p>First thing it did was seem to be heaving numerous times. Arching its head back, the specimen spat out something from it's disgusting mouth.</p>
      <p>Turned out it was more of those eyeball creatures with legs.</p>
      <p>As the squad had to kill those off, the Specimen began regrowing it's severed limb and damaged body parts; something which most had noticed right away.</p>
      <p>Williams was irate. "Oh that's bullshit!"</p>
      <p>From it's left claw, it began spraying it's putrid gas once more. The team had to move away from the fumes as they didn't have any proper protection from accidentally inhaling it.</p>
      <p>Of course some were not fortunate in avoiding it.</p>
      <p>"That thing just keeps spraying that gas at us." Kaidan said, coughing slightly at the underlying effects of the noxious fumes.</p>
      <p>"Our Biotics can only do so much." Liara said, arm slightly covering her mouth.</p>
      <p>"Any ideas then?" Shepard asked. "I'm open to them."</p>
      <p>"Wait…" Axel said, staring at the creature for a second before scoffing derisively. "I'm so stupid."</p>
      <p>"Glad to see we're in an agreement."</p>
      <p>"Not now, Ash." Shepard admonished. "What is it Axel?"</p>
      <p>"It uses gas right?" Axel asked rhetorically. "What happens to gas when you heat it up?"</p>
      <p>It took a moment for the gears in most of the teams heads to click into place when they realized what Axel was insinuating.</p>
      <p>"Think it'll be enough?" Kaidan asked.</p>
      <p>"Don't know until we try." Ashley said when she faltered. "Wait, that big bastard can regenerate. Think it'll be enough."</p>
      <p>"We can contain the gas around the body." Liara quickly said. "Use all three of our Biotics in a dome to make sure it remains stationary."</p>
      <p>"And you with your explosives and incendiary rounds with Axel's fire will be the nail in the coffin." Shepard finished, getting nods from the team. "Now move!"</p>
      <p>Stitch was the first to leap into action, rushing towards some of the eyeball crawlers. Rip and tear and crush right through them in order to give the others their opportunity. Even throwing those disgusting offspring back to their maker to somewhat draw it's attention away.</p>
      <p>It worked, partially, when the specimen went to attack the blue fur ball along with his companions.</p>
      <p>Repeating her actions earlier, Ashley gathered up her explosives once more. Running around the room, she threw them at the giant specimen. During this process, she whipped out her shotgun and blasted whatever walking eyeballs came her way. And whatever bombs seemed to have missed it's mark, either Liara or Kaidan would use their biotics to get them back to their intended destination.</p>
      <p>As this went on, Shepard used her biotics to keep their opponent in place as long as possible. A few eyeball creatures tried attacking her, but were quickly burnt to a crisp courtesy of Axel.</p>
      <p>Seeing as it wasn't able to move all that well, Hojo's experiment brought forward it's large left arm and let loose a mighty stream of gas.</p>
      <p>It was then did things finally act accordingly.</p>
      <p>"NOW!"</p>
      <p>Liara flared her biotics and used them to block the incoming gas stream. Beside her, Kaidan gave his support before transitioning to forming a barrier alongside Shepard.</p>
      <p>Entrapping more of HO512, Ashley and Stitch kept on firing with their respective weapons. The flames started to build up within the biotic barrier and roasting the monstrosity.</p>
      <p>As this went on, Axel built up more flames and condensed them once more and when the signal was delivered, he delivered his payload. When the package was received, Ashley triggered her explosives just when the barrier finished closing up.</p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>*KRA-KOOM*</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>The sound appeared muffled, due to the biotic barrier, but the force behind the blast was fierce.</p>
      <p>After some time keeping the barrier up, the three biotics finally let it collapse. A large plumb of smoke spread outwards with charred remains of Hojo's experiment crumbling to the ground.</p>
      <p>"Think we overdid it?"</p>
      <p>"Better doing that then dragging it longer than it should."</p>
      <p>The speakers flared to life once more as Hojo's voice could be heard.</p>
      <p>"<em>Bravo~ Bravo~ Quite the remarkable spectacle."</em></p>
      <p>"Glad we weren't a <em>disappointment</em>." Ash said through clenched teeth.</p>
      <p>"<em>You weren't."</em> Said the Cerberus scientist. <em>"Now as much as I'd like to continue, I'm afraid it's time to bring things to an end."</em></p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>*WHAAAAAA* *WHAAAAAA* *WHAAAAAA*</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>"<em>Attention. Attention. Evacuate the facility. This is not a drill. I repeat. This is not a drill."</em></p>
      <p>"What's happening?" Alenko said, looking around in alarm.</p>
      <p>"<em>Oh that would be me setting off the self destruct. Sad to see this place go."</em> Hojo said with a dark chuckle. <em>"Have fun escaping. Ta~"</em></p>
      <p>"You son of a bitch!" Ash shouted.</p>
      <p>"We can curse and damn him all we want, but we gotta get the fuck outta here!" Shepard said hurriedly.</p>
      <p>"But the door-"</p>
      <p>"You guys better step back." Said Axel, enflaming his chakrams.</p>
      <p>Doing as instructed, they saw their red haired squadmate condensing more fire into his weapons. Instead of encompassing them with a flaming coat, the metal was glowing brightly. In mere seconds, Axel rushed forward and swiped his heated chakrams down hard.</p>
      <p>A split moment later, he was on the other side as he cleaved through the dense doorway like a hot knife through butter.</p>
      <p>"Double time people!"</p>
      <p>The sirens were loud as the evacuation countdown was being heard in the air. Neither really paid attention to the amount of time left as they merely focused in traversing their way out.</p>
      <p>They had to scale up the levels with all their might, Axel using fires to propel metal platforms they stood on to rocket them upwards whilst Liara utilized her Biotics to keep them steady.</p>
      <p>Most of them wished they still had their unique jumping ability back on Barsoom as it would've greatly helped. But alas they had to make due with their present skills.</p>
      <p>"There's the exit!" Liara pointed ahead.</p>
      <p>"Go, go, go!"</p>
      <p>"It's closing on us!" Kaidan pointed out.</p>
      <p>Hearing this, Stitch jumped up to grab a piece of falling debris and hurled it forward with all his might.</p>
      <p>The large chunk of metal smashed through, creating a wide enough opening for the entire group to make it through in one go.</p>
      <p>"<em>JUMP!"</em></p>
      <p>The team lept out in time of the collapsing base just as the door behind them fell through.</p>
      <p>They all collapsed down onto the ground of the planet in a small heap all breathing heavily as they finally had a chance to catch a moment of proper rest. Even as they rested, they felt a massive quake from the very earth before it slowly subsided, signaling the base's destruction.</p>
      <p>"Everything hurts~" Ashley moaned aloud. "I don't wanna move."</p>
      <p>"You and everyone else can rest up on the Normandy on the way back to the Citadel." Shepard said, unmoving as she lay on her back. Activating her Omni-tool, she signaled Joker to pick them up.</p>
      <p>"Nearly lost my oxy-chew." Kaidan murmured, face slightly embedded into the dirt below them.</p>
      <p>"We're not walking back?" Liara said, turning to Jane who scoffed aloud.</p>
      <p>"Fuck no." Shepard said. "I'm good on running around for a few weeks <em>at least</em>."</p>
      <p>"Just hope the others are having a far better time than we are right now." Said the red haired Nobody.</p>
      <p>
        <em>-Scene Cut-</em>
      </p>
      <p>Currently, Roxas was with Xion, Tali and Garrus, the four of them enjoying a nice quiet moment as they had lunch together.</p>
      <p>Tasks were more or less done for the day and all sorted out for the present group. Only things left were a handful of touch ups, as it were.</p>
      <p>Right now, they just waited in the eventual return of their friends from their mission. So they were in a bet of a lull, just waiting for <em>something</em> to happen.</p>
      <p>But they weren't stupid in tempting fate like that.</p>
      <p>Some crappy situation where their lives would be on the line will not only happen, it's expected to happen. It's an occupational hazard by this point really.</p>
      <p>Eventually, they would all be thrown into the thick of "it", whatever the situation at the time would be where they were basically fighting for their lives.</p>
      <p>And others</p>
      <p>And the galaxy by this point.</p>
      <p>After some time within the comfortable silence -if one could call it that- someone decided to break it.</p>
      <p>"Do you think we eat too much?" Tali abruptly asked, holding up her cup of ice cream.</p>
      <p>Her friends looked at her in confusion.</p>
      <p>"Pardon?" Was Garrus's response.</p>
      <p>"I just think we've been eating a lot lately." Tali said offhandedly, going back to eating her ice cream.</p>
      <p>"Uh… hmmm, well if we are, it doesn't show." Xion remarked.</p>
      <p>"What makes you say that?" The Quarian inquired.</p>
      <p>"Have you seen what we do on the daily?" Xion rhetorically asked with a small grin.</p>
      <p>Tali blinked, laughing to herself a moment later.</p>
      <p>"Yeah, we do have a standard after all." Garrus sauvely said, flexing his arm with the girls giggling slightly.</p>
      <p>Roxas only looked down at the burger he was eating for a few moments before shrugging and taking another large bite out of it.</p>
      <p>He would burn off the fat and calories in the next fight he would be a part of.</p>
      <p>"So what's left, Tali?" Xion asked with the Quarian humming to herself.</p>
      <p>"Most of my assembled Pilgrimage gift is back on the Normandy, so I'll have to organize all of that once we're back on board." Said the engineer. "Outside of that… I believe I need to make arrangements with the Flotilla to send someone to pick me up with my gift."</p>
      <p>"Couldn't we just give you a ride to it?" Roxas asked.</p>
      <p>"You could, but I still need to inform them ahead of time on my deciding form of transport."</p>
      <p>"Doesn't sound <em>too </em>bad." Garrus stated. "Besides I wanna see the looks of their fac- body reactions, when they see the shit you bring to them from everywhere we've been to."</p>
      <p>Tali let out a snorted laughter, already imaging the reactions of her people.</p>
      <p>Not just them but the admiralty board and her father most of all.</p>
      <p>"How do you think they'll react to the stuff you bring back?" Xion inquired curiously.</p>
      <p>"Some may pass out from it all." Tali said mischievously. "I'll be sure to record and send it to you all afterwards."</p>
      <p>"You better." Garrus warned her jokingly. "I want our group to hold that distinction of firsts to continue."</p>
      <p>"You have my word." Tali said in utter seriousness though her glint of amusement in her eyes was plain as day for them to see.</p>
      <p>As they resumed eating, Roxas looked back and forth for a few moments.</p>
      <p>Xion tilted her head at his motions. "Everything alright Roxas?"</p>
      <p>No. XIII didn't respond at first, looking a bit wistful.</p>
      <p>"I kinda miss that we don't have everyone here." Roxas admitted.</p>
      <p>Tali found herself nodding without a second thought. "Yeah, does seem a bit odd that it's just the four of us being together."</p>
      <p>"You're right on that one. Grown used to all of us eating and hanging out together." Said the turian. "I mean, back before I joined the Normandy I was used to spending time with the occasional C-Sec officer during the off hours but it wasn't for long. Either due to short time windows, cases or exhaustion from long days work. But now? Being part of this group… don't know if anything after will compare to it."</p>
      <p>"You're telling me." Xion said. "Roxas, Axel and I had the Organization and they didn't wanna do anything <em>at all.</em>"</p>
      <p>"I had friends and family on the flotilla." Tali said with a fond tone. "But being on the Normandy with all of us there… never had anything like it."</p>
      <p>"This really was the best time of my life." Roxas said with a smile.</p>
      <p>"Yeah, you're short… how many months have you existed for by now?" Garrus asked, making the Nobody think for a second.</p>
      <p>"Uh… like… eight I think?" Roxas was unsure. "I stopped numbering all my journal entries on my Omni-tool. Kinda lost track of time."</p>
      <p>"Yeah, kinda does become blurry after a while." The C-Sec detective admitted, resting his hand in his hand.</p>
      <p>"I'm gonna miss <em>this</em>." Xion softly said. "Miss… all of us being together."</p>
      <p>"Unfortunately… Nothing lasts forever." Garrus remarked with his own mood taking a slight downturn. "So let's make the most of it."</p>
      <p>A somber mood slowly surfaced and surrounded them. The truth was bitter, but they had to face the facts.</p>
      <p>Wanting to make the most of it, Roxas voiced a passing thought.</p>
      <p>"Any idea on what we could do to kill time before the others return?"</p>
      <p>The four Normandy members sat there pondering, thinking of places to go to. Some place where they can enjoy themselves as a group instead of individually.</p>
      <p>"Maybe we could head over to the Silversun Strip and find something to do over there." Tali suggested.</p>
      <p>Roxas nodded. "Sounds like a good idea."</p>
      <p>Garrus soon shrugged. "Better something than nothing."</p>
      <p>A number of thoughts crossed their minds on where they could exactly go and have some fun.</p>
      <p>They could try out the casino, given the vast amount of credits they all have. Yet things might become awkward with the two Keybearers as they are considered "minors". Not to mention some employees would be biased with their Quarian friend and teammate.</p>
      <p>The Castle Arcade would probably be a safer bet for the foursome. The vast array of games they could play and no one could be judgemental. And they could be there for hours and time will fly by relatively quickly… up until some complaints could arise if it's closing time or the Normandy made it's return.</p>
      <p>Yet before they could take off towards their destination-</p>
      <p>"Excuse me, Roxas?"</p>
      <p>The four looked over to the side and saw…</p>
      <p>"Down here."</p>
      <p>They inclined their heads down to see a Volus standing before them.</p>
      <p>"You again?" Roxas blinked at the sight of the black suited stubby alien. "Didn't you already deliver me my key chain?"</p>
      <p>"I did." Rasped out the delivery Volus.</p>
      <p>"So… is there something else for me?"</p>
      <p>"Yes, I have a delivery for you."</p>
      <p>"Another one?" Roxas looked to the others before back to the Volus. "From who?"</p>
      <p>"I didn't get a name, just a <em>title</em>."</p>
      <p>"And that would be…?"</p>
      <p>"<em>He whose Mother is of the Ancients."</em></p>
      <p>"..."</p>
      <p>"..."</p>
      <p>"..."</p>
      <p>"What in the spirit's name is that bullshit supposed to be?"</p>
      <p>The Volus only threw up an arm. "Don't ask me, I'm only the messenger."</p>
      <p>"Right, sorry about that."</p>
      <p>The Volus held out a datapad for Roxas to sign. Once giving his signature, the delivery person handed the Nobody-</p>
      <p>"An envelope?" Roxas said in bewilderment as the Volus walked away.</p>
      <p>"What sort of dated delivery is this?" Garrus asked, bemused at what he was looking at.</p>
      <p>"Looks kinda fancy." Tali noted. "How's it feel, Roxas?"</p>
      <p>"I dunno… crisp I guess."</p>
      <p>Cutting open the sealed parchment, Roxas slid out the letter and felt something was tucked within the folded document. Once opening it, he saw the item was a platinum card.</p>
      <p>Garrus noticed something on the back of the card that he recognized instantly. "Huh, didn't know the Arnax Arsenal Arena made one of those."</p>
      <p>"You know of this, Garrus?" Xion asked.</p>
      <p>"Browsed their selections the last time we were there. A means of somewhat knowing ahead of time if we were to go back and all."</p>
      <p>"Then what's this card for anyways?" Roxas inquired, holding it up for Garrus to squint at slightly.</p>
      <p>"A pass for an exclusive match. Really pricey if I remember correctly."</p>
      <p>"Exclusive match?" Tali said in confusion. "What kind?"</p>
      <p>"Well it's in the card. A platinum challenge." Garrus pointed out. "Noticed that the Arena has tier lists of the level of challenge that are available for competing in Arnax. That there is one of the highest ranks to have."</p>
      <p>"So whatever this challenge is… it's challenging." Roxas felt a little dumb in saying that.</p>
      <p>"Basically." Garrus nodded.</p>
      <p>"Question is, what did the person log into the card in the first place?" Tali asked, taking the card out of Roxas' hand to inspect it herself.</p>
      <p>"Only one way to find out, I suppose." Garrus said.</p>
      <p>"We were planning on heading over to the Silversun Strip anyways." Xion pointed out.</p>
      <p>"Free match is fine by me." Roxas said with a shrug.</p>
      <p>"Hopefully it won't turn out like last time." Muttered out the engineer.</p>
      <p>The detective ended up exhaling a groan. "Don't… don't tempt fate like that."</p>
    </div>
  </div>
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  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Phew, this was a sprint of a chapter.</p><p>We kinda held back on it for a few weeks after finishing the Barsoom arc and now we're one chapter away basically from the end of part one of our story.</p><p>The team is beginning to go their separate ways, Wrex with Tuchanka and soon, Tali shall be making her return to the Flotilla.</p><p>Roxas, Axel and Xion will also be making their way to their home galaxy and the rest of the Normandy must go their own separate ways.</p><p>Jebest4781: It would be at this time we will be focusing a bit more on the Disney/KH elements than ME as there have been things we wanted to tackle for a while.</p><p>Also I just gotta say, I'm so happy for Mass Effect Legendary Edition to have come out and boy it looks amazing. Graphics from ME1 have been greatly upgraded to the engine used in ME3 and beyond to make it feel smoother.</p><p>FMW: Yeah, both of us have been exploring our old stomping grounds in the ME universe, greatly refreshing ourselves with our love and lore for the Mass Effect galaxy. Also, we've got Castlevania Season 4 and the Bad Batch so this is a nerd weekend galore for us. Lots to work with on both those shows with Castlevania obviously for A Song of Fire, Ice and Hearts and Bad Batch helping add great lore and material for Infinite Wars and the details that will be added into later arcs.</p><p>Jeb: I agree and I hope you all stay safe out there. Get your shots when possible, if not then try to keep yourself prepared until you can get an appointment.</p><p>Thanks again for reading everyone.</p><p>Rate Read and Review and as Always Have Nice Day.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0030"><h2>30. Platinum</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p></p><div class="xcontrast">
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      <p>
        <strong>I feel the need…</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>The NEED FOR SPEED</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Rate Read and Review and as Always Have Nice Day.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>I'm Nobody Chapter 30: Platinum</p>
      <p>Roxas, Xion, Tali and Garrus were strolling through the Silversun Strip as they were partially taking in the sights. It had been a while since they've been here.</p>
      <p>They were on their way to the Arnax Arsenal Arena but not in a rush.</p>
      <p>The group stopped here and there to look around and participate in some games, get some snacks, browse what the shops had here and so on.</p>
      <p>It was a simple moment really for them to relax and enjoy themselves for the most part.</p>
      <p>Whoever sent the invite to the Arena didn't appear to demand their immediate summons for a challenge, just that they would be patiently waiting for their arrival.</p>
      <p>It's what was literally said in the envelope.</p>
      <p>So they opted to take a long winded detour until reaching the arena.</p>
      <p>Wasn't far off from where they stood at the moment.</p>
      <p>Roxas glanced over to it, spotting the entrance and didn't see many people going into it.</p>
      <p>"What do you figure?"</p>
      <p>No. XIII looked up at Garrus who stood by him, the Turian eyeing the arena himself.</p>
      <p>"Think we should see who it was that called you out?" Garrus asked, looking down at the sandy, blond haired Nobody who frowned in thought.</p>
      <p>"I… guess so. Nothing really to do at the moment." Roxas said.</p>
      <p>"Right then." Garrus nodded.</p>
      <p>"What's going on?"</p>
      <p>The two were joined by Xion and Tali, both girls looking at them expectantly.</p>
      <p>"We figure it's high time we see what this Platinum challenge is all about." Vakarian stated. "Not much else we can do here on the strip."</p>
      <p>Tali hummed in thought whilst Xion pulled out the Platinum card from her pocket as she was the last one to hold it.</p>
      <p>Looking at it for a second, she held it out for Roxas to take which he did and he began to walk towards the arena with the rest right by his side.</p>
      <p>Reaching the front entrance to the Arena, they walked straight into the familiar building and walked towards its front desk.</p>
      <p>"Welcome to Arnax Arsenal Arena." Greeted an Asari employee behind the desk. "Is there anything I can help you out with today? Do you perhaps have a reservation or wanting to reserve one?"</p>
      <p>"We… I somewhat do." Pulling out the Platinum Pass, Roxas handed it over to the person behind the counter.</p>
      <p>"Oh my, I wonder who gave you that." The Asari inquired more to herself then to Roxas.</p>
      <p>"We don't know. We're just here to figure that out." Garrus stated.</p>
      <p>"Wait, you don't know either?" Xion asked in surprise.</p>
      <p>The Employee shook her head. "Afraid not."</p>
      <p>She flipped the card several times and frowned a bit as she held it up for them to look at it.</p>
      <p>"Usually some means of procuring the passes can be done either in person or online. If it was done in person, then I most certainly wasn't here for the transaction."</p>
      <p>Roxas slowly nodded. "I see."</p>
      <p>"Do you perhaps have security footage?" Asked the Turian detective.</p>
      <p>"We might have to look up on the designated time when the purchase was made. And it's far easier given how rare these particular passes are handed out." The Asari employee then narrowed her eyes a little as she crossed her arms. "Any reason why you're asking for this?"</p>
      <p>"Curiosity sakes." Garrus stated.</p>
      <p>"Then sorry. I will not look up the footage unless you have a warrant." Asari said politely.</p>
      <p>"Fair enough."</p>
      <p>"Are there any specifics registered on this pass?" Asked the Quarian.</p>
      <p>Inserting the pass into the console, the employee typed away to pull up the results.</p>
      <p>"Huh…"</p>
      <p>"Is something wrong?" Xion asked in concern.</p>
      <p>"Not sure. But I've got to ask you all this, were you expecting a team match?" Asari inquired, looking at the group.</p>
      <p>"...Excuse us?"</p>
      <p>"Says here the request is a 1 vs 1 match."</p>
      <p>"Huh?" Was the collective response.</p>
      <p>The Asari nodded her head. "Yes, yes, only one challenge was issued and it was for… <em>Roxas</em>. Wait… don't I know you? All four of you look… <em>familiar</em>."</p>
      <p>"We've been here before." Tali said.</p>
      <p>"No, no, not that… hmmm, haven't I seen you all with-"</p>
      <p>"Commander Shepard, we're her friends." Xion quickly said, a glint of realization appearing in the Asari's eyes.</p>
      <p>"Yes, yes." She said with a beaming smile. "You all saved the Citadel. Thank you, all of you."</p>
      <p>"Daw~" Xion appeared bashful, a sentiment shared by the rest of the group. "We just knew we had to do what was right."</p>
      <p>The Asari giggled at their reactions, standing up from her seat.</p>
      <p>She bowed with a wide smile. "Then I wish to thank you once again. Now, if you'll excuse me, while you get yourself prepared, I'll get the match ready and inform your combatant on your arrival."</p>
      <p>The group simply watched as the Asari walked away, leaving them for the moment.</p>
      <p>"Only a one on one?" Garrus hummed. "Didn't notice that on the card."</p>
      <p>"The envelope it came in was addressed directly to Roxas." Xion mused.</p>
      <p>"Wonder why him in particular and not with us." The Turian remarked.</p>
      <p>"Do you think it's a trap?" Tali turned to Roxas. "It seems a tad suspicious."</p>
      <p>Roxas placed a hand on his chin in thought. "I'm… not sure. If it was a trap, wouldn't whoever do it just… do it?"</p>
      <p>"I guess." Garrus murmured. "What do you think? Are you still gonna go for it?"</p>
      <p>No. XIII stood there, now crossing his arms as he mulled this over in his mind.</p>
      <p>He thought about it for a few seconds with his friends watching him until he nodded his head.</p>
      <p>"I don't see why not." Roxas declared. "And if anything does happen, I know you guys will come in to help out."</p>
      <p>Xion smiled at him with Garrus puffing his chest out in joking pride yet Tali…</p>
      <p>"Are you sure?" She asked quietly.</p>
      <p>Roxas regarded the Quarian for a few moments before smiling softly and placing a hand on her arm.</p>
      <p>"I'll be fine Tali." Roxas said. "Promise."</p>
      <p>She didn't verbally respond, instead leaning into his hand with a small nod of acceptance.</p>
      <p>Giving her, Xion and Garrus a bright smile, he turned to enter the arena with the Asari employee waiting for him there.</p>
      <p>"I couldn't find the individual who had sent you the challenge." The Asari quickly notified him. "But I did get the confirmation that he is awaiting you inside."</p>
      <p>Roxas frowned slightly yet still inclined his head forward all the same.</p>
      <p>Looking forward, he stepped through the doorway into the arena and was momentarily blinded in a small white flash of light.</p>
      <p>He shielded his eyes, surprised by this light that made it impossible for him to see entirely.</p>
      <p>When everything was clear, everything seemed remotely normal. He momentarily blinked in confusion as he seemed to be at the Citadel of all places.</p>
      <p>Why the station of all places? Why not one of the original registered field maps the Arena have in their records?</p>
      <p>Not to mention… Where was his opponent?</p>
      <p>"Curiouser and curiouser." Roxas quoted from Sora's memories of his time in Wonderland.</p>
      <p>Exploring the space before him, No. XIII saw it was eerily quiet. Like everyone was vacated off the station. The only sounds he could pick up on are the nearby fountains and standard machinery functioning to their standard means.</p>
      <p>Everything seemed quiet for the most part other than the ambient background noise of it all.</p>
      <p>He walked around this appearance of the Citadel, trying to see if anyone was even here.</p>
      <p>"Helloooo~" Roxas called out loudly, cupping his hands over his mouth. "Can anyone hear me?!"</p>
      <p>On the outside, the Arena's audience area watched on with Xion, Tali and Garrus standing before one of the many screens.</p>
      <p>"Since <em>when</em> could the Arena change its appearances?" Tali asked.</p>
      <p>"I… don't know." Garrus said. "It can change up structure to add obstacles and other items here and there but… never seen it do a full makeover to replicate an entirely different location. Didn't know it could do that."</p>
      <p>Xion and Tali caught each other's eye and like that, a pit formed in their guts as they felt something was off. They turned back to the screen as they watched their friend walking around the empty replica of the Citadel.</p>
      <p>Exploring the empty space station, the sandy blonde gazed around to survey his surroundings. But he seemed cut off when something big partially came over his face.</p>
      <p>"Wha-"</p>
      <p>Snatching the object before him, he saw it was a large black feather.</p>
      <p>Blinking down at it, Roxas twisted and turned it around for closer inspection.</p>
      <p>"Huh." He held it in front of him, squinting his eyes slightly. "This looks… <em>familiar…</em>"</p>
      <p>Roxas first saw this feather, or something like it, back on Feros once he and the others took down the Thorian. It was just there and was quite odd as there were no animals from Earth on the planet… as far as he knew.</p>
      <p>In mere moments, the avian feather crumbled into dust… just like before.</p>
      <p>"Huh… weird."</p>
      <p>Roxas looked around again, now starting to get a bit frustrated.</p>
      <p>"HEY!" He shouted now. "You sent the invite! Where are ya? <em>Who</em> are you? What do you even want with me?"</p>
      <p>His answer came in the form of a light that appeared above him.</p>
      <p>Head snapping up, Roxas' eyes widened at the sight of three circles that were magical in nature.</p>
      <p>Taking a step back, he saw that the three circles spun about in the air until the three converged and combined together. Upon the three aligning in perfect synchronization, they dispelled and in their wake came a "storm" of large black feathers that descended down to the ground.</p>
      <p>Out of instinct, he quickly summoned his Oathkeeper Keyblade out of precaution.</p>
      <p>Suddenly, violent winds whipped up around him and caught the black feathers, making them follow along as the winds began to swirl around a single spot.</p>
      <p>The feathers spun in a small twister faster and faster until there was a flash of light with someone appearing, kneeling down on the ground.</p>
      <p>Those watching on the outside murmured in confusion as to who it was that appeared.</p>
      <p>"Um… who is that?" Tali asked nervously.</p>
      <p>"I… I don't know." Xion, sharing in her friend's concern gazed upon this new figure with great trepidation.</p>
      <p>Garrus remained silent but stood rigid and tense, eyes ablaze as he analyzed just who it was that Roxas was about to face with a feeling of dread now growing within him.</p>
      <p>Back within the arena, Roxas had yet to assume his usual battle stance but still held Oathkeeper tightly in hand.</p>
      <p>He couldn't explain it but he felt a cold sweat down his spine as he kept his eyes affixed on the man in the center of the black feathers that slowly subsided.</p>
      <p>At long last, they all disintegrated away and the man kneeling with his back turned to the Nobody shifted.</p>
      <p>He slowly stood up, as if measuring his movements and upon standing at full height, just as slowly turned to face Roxas.</p>
      <p>No. XIII took a subconscious step back as his gaze met the one who was undoubtedly his opponent.</p>
      <p>This tall person had long, silver hair as it seemed to reach past his waist. His bangs were long which framed his pale face with these cold blue-green cat-like eyes. He wore a long black, leather coat with silver pauldrons, black combat boots and black trousers. The top of his coat is open to reveal his chest with suspenders criss crossing over the exposed flesh. His silver belt buckle has a wing motif in the center and black feathers hanging from it, which matched the silver bracelets he wore.</p>
      <p>From there, Roxas saw the man's weapon. The greater Nobody somewhat recognized it as a two handed, seven-foot long ōdachi, given his past research and of his Samurai Nobodies.</p>
      <p>Yet it seemed far larger within the silver haired man's possession.</p>
      <p>"You wouldn't happen to be <em>Roxas</em>, right?"</p>
      <p>The man's cold tone sent some shivers down his spine. Shaking the feeling away, the Nobody gave his response.</p>
      <p>"I am, but who… who are you?" Roxas stammered.</p>
      <p>The man was silent for the barest of moments, only forming a small smile before speaking. "Me? You may call me Sephiroth."</p>
      <p>"...So you're the one who sent me the match invite?" No. XIII eyed the man warily. "The one you referred to as <em>'He whose Mother is of the Ancients'</em>?"</p>
      <p>The now identified Sephiroth gave a small nod, not giving a verbal response.</p>
      <p>"Is there a reason why you got this match put together?" Roxas asked carefully.</p>
      <p>Sephiroth tilted his head in thought, a small smirk appearing on his face as if the question amused him.</p>
      <p>"I've heard… a number of things as of late." Spoke the swordsman. "And I wanted to perhaps see if they were true."</p>
      <p>"And what would that be?"</p>
      <p>All he did soon after was letting his cat-like eyes travel to the Oathkeeper Keyblade which was in Roxas' hand.</p>
      <p>"Well... that is quite the interesting sword you are carrying."</p>
      <p>"This?"</p>
      <p>"I've never seen a weapon such as yours. What is it?"</p>
      <p>"It's the Keyblade."</p>
      <p>"I see... So that's a <em>Keyblade</em>." Sephiroth spoke slowly. "I have heard a great many things about it. Its <em>power</em>, its <em>nature</em>. How it is one <em>attains</em> it. And I suppose you must be its chosen wielder."</p>
      <p>Roxas tensed. "...S-So what if I am?"</p>
      <p>Sephiroth hummed as he gazed at the sandy blonde's form. "I sense a great amount of power within you. I wonder… how is it you've achieved a balance between Light <em>and</em> Darkness."</p>
      <p>This utterly confused Roxas while feeling quite cautious.</p>
      <p>"Wh-What are you talking about?"</p>
      <p>The smirk coming from the silver haired man seemed to grow into a smile, one which greatly unsettled the Keybearer.</p>
      <p>"I wonder if your Keyblade won't change its mind... once I defeat you." Sephiroth said, raising his elongated blade and grasping it with both hands, got into a wide stance.</p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>-Insert Super Smash Bros. Ultimate: Advent One-Winged Angel Extended-</strong>
        </em>
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      <p>"Show me your strength."</p>
      <p>The hairs of Roxas's neck stood up right as he felt a jolt of complete and utter fear overtake him.</p>
      <p>If not for his immediate instinct for survival…</p>
      <p>Roxas' body appeared to flail about wildly when moments later, multiple flashes of light followed by sounds of metal meeting metal was heard clashing and echoing about the arena.</p>
      <p>However, a moment later did a dozen or so gashes appear all over his body making him gasp in pain and drop to his knees.</p>
      <p>Outside, those present all gasped aloud with the Nobody's friends all now fully entering panic mode.</p>
      <p>"ROXAS!" Tali cried out in horror.</p>
      <p>"We have to get in there, <em>NOW!"</em> Garrus shouted, running towards the arena entrance, Xion and Tali on his tail.</p>
      <p>Back in the arena, Roxas was breathing heavily, vision blurry as drops of blood fell from his body.</p>
      <p>He looked behind him to see Sephiroth bent forward, sword held out to its full length.</p>
      <p>'What was that attack?' Roxas wildly screamed in his head. He barely survived that.</p>
      <p>That was his opening attack?</p>
      <p>What in the name of Kingdom Hearts did he get himself into/</p>
      <p>Who was this psycho?!</p>
      <p>The Nobody grunted with a shake of his head, knowing he wouldn't get any answers right now. Casting a quick Cura spell to heal his wounds, he stood back up just as Sephiroth turned to face him with a satisfied smile.</p>
      <p>"Ah~ so you're not one so easily to die."</p>
      <p>Roxas began to feel another bout of cold sweat all over his body and this one wasn't subsiding.</p>
      <p>"Good." Sephiroth now held his blade in a back hand with his right hand hovering over it. "Then we can <em>begin</em>."</p>
      <p>'Begin?!' Roxas thought incredulously, getting into his usual battle stance now.</p>
      <p>"Alright fine." Roxas put on a brave front. "Bring it!"</p>
      <p>Roxas dashed forward with Sephiroth only taking several measured steps until both met their blades, Keyblade grinding against the ōdachi of the One-Winged Angel.</p>
      <p>Sephiroth's menacing smile only grew larger at the defiance he saw in Roxas's eyes.</p>
      <p>"Let's see what makes you so special." Sephiroth goaded, pushing Roxas back and swung his sword horizontally.</p>
      <p>Roxas seized up, performing an aerial recovery and struck the sword with his Keyblade to get enough of a ricochet to flip away.</p>
      <p>Landing on the ground, he looked up and his eyes bugged out, hastily throwing up his Keyblade to deflect a powerful blow from Sephiroth's sword.</p>
      <p>"Show me your power, Keyblade Master." The silver haired man goaded, raising his sword over his head.</p>
      <p>Stumbling back, Roxas barely dodge rolled out of the way in time as Sephiroth brought his blade down and cut the ground in half itself.</p>
      <p>Going in for a glide of sorts, he managed to get right up Sephiroth and swung his Keyblade forward.</p>
      <p>Seeing this happen, the winged foe angled his body down slightly and had his pauldron deflect the boy's weapon. Oathkeeper bounced off the metal shoulder plate, leaving Roxas wide open for an attack.</p>
      <p>Sephiroth proceeded to spin about and land a powerful kick to the teens stomach, sending him flying back and crashing down to the ground.</p>
      <p>Skidding on the ground, Roxas managed to shove his hand down on the floor and land on his feet and held his Keyblade over his head.</p>
      <p>"<strong>STRIKE RAID!"</strong></p>
      <p>Roxas's form glowed with the power of Light as he flung his Keyblade at Sephiroth in rapid succession.</p>
      <p>The man sidestepped the first two, deflected another and another when one struck his right shoulder making him flinch slightly.</p>
      <p>Seeing this, Roxas went in for several more throws until the swordsman up and vanished in a flurry of feathers and the space warping where he stood.</p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>*KKSSVVV*</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>Roxas' Oathkeeper returned to his hand in time for him to spin about 180 degrees and held his Keyblade up to block Sephiroth's blade.</p>
      <p>He visibly flinched as he felt his entire arm rattle in pain from the stress of blocking such a strike with it vibrating uncomfortably.</p>
      <p>"Impressive." Sephiroth stated, holding his ōdachi forward, its tip an inch away from Roxas. "Show me what else you can do."</p>
      <p>Gritting his teeth, No. XIII hopped backwards several times to get some distance away from Sephiroth but the silver haired swordsman wouldn't allow it to be that easy.</p>
      <p>Dashing forward once more, Roxas instantly conjured up a Seeker Mine Wall in response. Once it was formed, he leaped back and let the spell do its work. When Sephiroth crossed over it, the conjured mines swiftly tracked the man and exploded once making contact.</p>
      <p>Gazing at his spell, the blond haired teen froze up as he felt the air around him heat up.</p>
      <p>For the briefest of moments, Roxas felt a swell of hope within him only for it to be dashed in its entirety.</p>
      <p>Three pillars of fire appeared around the One-winged Angel, the flames burning away Roxas' spell with ease.</p>
      <p>The flames subsided moments later with Sephiroth appearing completely unscathed.</p>
      <p>He gazed forth at Roxas with his menacing smirk in place.</p>
      <p>"Come."</p>
      <p>No. XIII couldn't help but slump slightly, dramatically bemoaning his misfortune.</p>
      <p>A moment later he scrunched up his face up in defiance as he resumed his fighting stance.</p>
      <p>"Alright <em>fine. You asked for it."</em></p>
      <p>Roxas' form glowed with Light radiating off his body.</p>
      <p>He disappeared in a flash of light with Sephiroth doing the same in a spatial warp and flutter of feathers.</p>
      <p>There was a ringing clash of metal as both combatants appeared before one another, their weapons colliding to create a small shockwave.</p>
      <p>Roxas face was strained, teeth gritted against one another as his entire body trembled against the calm, composed and dangerous Sephiroth who stared at the boy with a manic gleam in his eyes.</p>
      <p>"Yes, <em>there</em> it is." He said reverently. "Let's see how far you can go."</p>
      <p>Pushing off against one another, Roxas landed on the ground whilst Sephiroth went into the air.</p>
      <p>He heard the sheen of the large blade, the silver-haired swordsman adjusting his grip and position as he prepared his next attack.</p>
      <p>Sephiroth flew at Roxas with the teen running forward in response.</p>
      <p>Leaping up at the winged enemy, No. XIII's Keyblade met Sephiroth's ōdachi and the two switched places in air and ground.</p>
      <p>Though it lasted for no more than a second as Roxas went in for the next attack.</p>
      <p>Diving to strike down his opponent, Sephiroth delivered an upward wide-range slash to counter him.</p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>*KLANG*</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>Roxas winced, feeling pain in his arms from blocking that strike.</p>
      <p>That was all he felt with every block.</p>
      <p>Just pain.</p>
      <p>How <em>strong</em> was this enemy?</p>
      <p>Shaking his head, Roxas knew that if he dwelled on this, he'd be dead in an instant. He needed to remain focused otherwise one wrong move would be his last.</p>
      <p>The two proceeded to clash a number of times with their forms barely being visible.</p>
      <p>It was a series of blurs across the background of the Citadel Arena. Every spot where the two exchanged blows left a small shockwave in its wake with several slashes embedded either into the ground or whatever other structure was nearby.</p>
      <p>This continued with the glowing form of Roxas and the menacing aura of Sephiroth crashing into one another repeatedly. All that was heard was the loud ringing of metal hitting metal and the "swishing" of power and magic either emanating or being thrown from the two fighters.</p>
      <p>Skidding to a halt in front of a building, Roxas backflipped up from Sephiroth stabbing his blade into the wall behind him.</p>
      <p>He landed on the building and broke into a run with the swordsman in hot pursuit.</p>
      <p>Roxas thrust his Keyblade in front of him. <strong>"Thundaga!"</strong></p>
      <p>Several large bolts of lightning rained down past him towards his enemy who simply held his sword aloft.</p>
      <p>The metal absorbed the lightning and had it dance around the blade with Sephiroth grinning maniacally.</p>
      <p>"Dammit." Roxas berated himself and began taking large jumps up the building.</p>
      <p>Swinging his Keyblade out horizontally to his side, it appeared that Roxas seemingly struck the air and with it summoned five pillars of light with the symbol of the Nobodies atop each of them.</p>
      <p>The pillars proceeded to infuse themselves into Oathkeeper, the Keyblade bursting with power as Roxas kicked himself off the building and plummeted down to Sephiroth.</p>
      <p>Seeing this, he raised his sword in time as Roxas came down at full force with Oathkeeper colliding against the large blade.</p>
      <p>An explosion of light made the silver haired swordsman fall away from the Keybearer.</p>
      <p>Instead of plummeting all the way to the ground, Sephiroth jabbed his ōdachi into the building a few stories up from the ground. He merely hung there for a brief moment and gazed up at the teen with a deadly smile before thrusting himself upwards to quickly catch up to Roxas.</p>
      <p>Conjuring a ball of Flare into his hand, the silver haired swordsman threw it forward. It was like a speeding baseball, greatly aimed at the Keybearer. It landed it's mark, causing the sandy blonde to momentarily flail before recovering from the recent explosion.</p>
      <p>Jamming his Keyblade into the building, he used it as leverage to fling himself all the way up to the rooftop.</p>
      <p>Landing on the edge with a slight stumble, No. XIII felt a gust of wind from behind.</p>
      <p>He looked back in time to see the blurry form of Sephiroth go up over him and land before him.</p>
      <p>Gritting his teeth in anger and annoyance he opted not to wait for the man to make his next move and simply ran at him.</p>
      <p>Sephiroth simply grinned at this reaction and held his blade horizontally above his eyes and waited for Roxas to get close.</p>
      <p>In a mere moment, Sephiroth performed eight sword swings all at once. His Octaslash was devastating as Roxas appeared to hit from all sides.</p>
      <p>No. XIII had actually managed to deflect several of them yet he was still cut a few times with one large gash on the right side of his temple and another on his left cheek.</p>
      <p>Crying out slightly in pain, this momentary display of weakness was enough for Sephiroth to shoot his hand out and grab him by the collar.</p>
      <p>This action seemingly caused Roxas to snap out of his pained state and unleashed a burst of Light that momentarily blinded the Swordsman.</p>
      <p>Landing on the ground, he went in for another attack.</p>
      <p>"<strong>Ars Arcanum!"</strong></p>
      <p>A flurry of blows landed on Roxas' enemy who appeared to take considerable damage judging by the way in which his body jolted about after every strike.</p>
      <p>"That's enough."</p>
      <p>Roxas' eyes widened as he felt power surge from his foe.</p>
      <p>Winds whipped around Sephiroth and a moment later came the flaming pillars that engulfed Roxas and then sent him flying back.</p>
      <p>"AURGH!" Roxas spasmed, his entire body burning in utter pain and agony.</p>
      <p>It was only his adrenaline that forced him up to his shaking feet with the slightly burnt face of the teen glaring at the swordsman.</p>
      <p>Smirking to himself, Sephiroth swiftly snapped his fingers. A dark purple light emanated from the snap and quickly formed into a glowing sphere and it was swiftly shot forward. Roxas was unprepared for this attack as he was blasted by Sephiroth's Shadow Flare.</p>
      <p>"Give in to the darkness." Sephiroth said, walking towards the teen.</p>
      <p>And it wasn't the only one he sent as the silver haired swordsman kept snapping his fingers like he was listening to a catchy song. Instead of exploding right away, purple flames hovered around the Keybearer and more were added on. Roxas tried fleeing as fast as possible, but he was too late as they soon detonated.</p>
      <p>"Is this the best you can do?"</p>
      <p>When the next volley of Shadow Flares came to him, Roxas was a bit more prepared. When more of the purple flaming spheres encircled him once more, he flew around and waited for them to detonate. As it happened, Roxas swiftly casted Barrier, which shattered moments later from the force behind the enemy's attack.</p>
      <p>"Ah, so you have more tricks up your sleeve." Sephiroth taunted.</p>
      <p>The onslaught of snapping continued as Sephiroth seemed to be toying with his opponent.</p>
      <p>Roxas was getting fed up with the multitude of Shadow Flares. After the latest explosion was averted by casting Reflecta, No. XIII swiftly grabbed one of them out of frustration and threw it back to their maker.</p>
      <p>This did surprise both fighters but made Sephiroth relatively impressed on the action when it exploded right in his face.</p>
      <p>"<em>Very</em> impressive." Sephiroth said, the flames wafting away from his unscathed face. "You truly are a worthy foe."</p>
      <p>Roxas stared in slight disbelief until he stomped his foot defiantly and got back to his fighting stance.</p>
      <p>"Shut up asshole. It's gonna take more than a few tricks like that to kill me."</p>
      <p>Sephiroth chortled at the boy's words. "How uncouth. You remind me of <em>him </em>in a way. Though much younger and still much to learn."</p>
      <p>"Do you <em>ever</em> stop talking?" Roxas rhetorically asked in a snide fashion.</p>
      <p>"I don't know." Sephiroth spoke condescendingly. "Can you <em>make</em> me?"</p>
      <p>Snarling now, Roxas dashed at the swordsman and once more the two clashed their weapons against each other.</p>
      <p>All the while on the outside, Tali, Xion and Garrus saw the entryway into the arena proper and saw a number of Arnax's employees all fretting about.</p>
      <p>"What's going on?" Xion asked aloud.</p>
      <p>Garrus saw the Asari clerk they had spoken to earlier and went right to her.</p>
      <p>"Hey, what in the Spirit's name is happening here?" The Turian asked, grabbing her arm to gain her attention. "Why isn't anyone going in there to stop this?"</p>
      <p>"We can't." The Asari said in a panic.</p>
      <p>"What?!" Xion said in alarm. "What do you mean you can't?"</p>
      <p>"Something is preventing us from entering and shutting down the arena." The Asari elaborated. "We can't do anything to get inside or stop the fight. The entire arena's systems have shut us out."</p>
      <p>"Keelah." Tali whispered in horror, looking up at the screen over the doorway inside to see Roxas struggling to stay ahead of this man's attacks.</p>
      <p>"We've gotta get inside somehow." Garrus said, pulling out his gun.</p>
      <p>"How?" Xion asked fearfully. "They said they're locked out."</p>
      <p>"They are." Garrus said. "But that doesn't mean <em>we are.</em>"</p>
      <p>Tali realized what her friend meant before both of them turned to look at Xion.</p>
      <p>"Xion."</p>
      <p>"Right." Xion said, calling forth Seashell Resonance.</p>
      <p>Without missing a beat, she pointed it at the doorway that led into the Arena and light gathered at the tip of her blade.</p>
      <p>A beam shot out and struck the door…</p>
      <p>Only for nothing to happen.</p>
      <p>Xion blinked at this with her friends looking between her and the door.</p>
      <p>"Xion?"</p>
      <p>Shaking her head, No. XIV tried once again only to be met with the same result.</p>
      <p>Panic and fear began to set in as Xion tried again in vain several more times and still the doorway did not open.</p>
      <p>"I-It…" No. XIV felt tears appear out of the corners of her eyes. "It isn't working."</p>
      <p>"What?!" Tali and Garrus practically screamed in shock.</p>
      <p>"I can't get in." the teen said, tears now streaming down her cheeks.</p>
      <p>"What do you mean?!" Tali was now feeling as though she was about to freak out from hearing this.</p>
      <p>"Something is preventing me from getting in!" Xion cried, looking up at the screen in time to see Roxas narrowly avoid getting stabbed in the stomach.</p>
      <p>He moved too late as the sword still cut his waist and the teen let out a cry of pain.</p>
      <p>"We need to help him <em>NOW!"</em> Garrus said frantically by this point. "He's getting killed in there!"</p>
      <p>Within the arena, the duel only continued to escalate as Sephiroth had changed up his fighting style.</p>
      <p>He opted to remain in the stance with his sword held on the left side of his hip with the blade held backwards.</p>
      <p>Sephiroth ran forward at the Keybearer with multiple spheres appearing right behind the swordsman.</p>
      <p>He jumped and angled himself into the air to perform a spinning attack with the spheres rocketing towards Roxas at the same time.</p>
      <p>Being pushed back to such a degree, No. XIII opted to utilize one of his last resorts.</p>
      <p>Form glowing once more and Keyblade coated in light, Roxas dove in for a multitude of strikes that deflected away the spheres whilst repeatedly clashing with Sephiroth's sword.</p>
      <p>He tried to go in for his finishing attack only for Sephiroth to swing his blade so forcefully that it struck Oathkeeper and left its wielder wide open.</p>
      <p>"Now perish."</p>
      <p>Making another ball of Fire, Sephiroth focused more power into it as it grew exponentially. Within his grasp was a Megaflare, a condensed fire composed of blue, white and black light. And it's power was great once he threw it at the Keybearer.</p>
      <p>Roxas honestly tried blocking it, but the massive blast sent him plummeting down to the ground as a small indent in the ground was soon formed.</p>
      <p>Struggling to get himself back up, Roxas casted Curaga before using a Hi-Ether to get himself back into the fight.</p>
      <p>"I… I can do this… all day."</p>
      <p>He watched Sephiroth float down to the ground before him and resumed his backhanded stance once again.</p>
      <p>"Let's prove that statement, shall we?"</p>
      <p>Teeth grit with fierce determination now, Roxas yelled aloud as he ran at Sephiroth who ran back in return.</p>
      <p>All the while, No. XIII's friends were still at the door and were still unsuccessful in their attempts to get into the arena.</p>
      <p>Garrus shot at it.</p>
      <p>Tali tried her hacking the terminals to no avail.</p>
      <p>Xion tried using her Keyblade to unlock and in frustration at being unable to do so simply bashed her Keyblade against the doorway repeatedly until tiring herself out.</p>
      <p>She slumped down to her knees, tears falling to the ground as she hated herself right now for being unable to get in to help her friend.</p>
      <p>"Whoever rigged this thing, I have to sadly say I'm impressed." Said the frustrated Quarian.</p>
      <p>"My credits are on this Sephiroth person or whoever arranged the fight in the first place." Garrus muttered darkly before viciously punching a terminal, breaking it in the process. "This is getting fucking ridiculous. We can't let Roxas fight this bastard by himself. He's barely hanging on as is."</p>
      <p>"Well I'm trying everything I can here." Tali yelled angrily, thrusting her Omni-Tool out to send out a torrent of omni-bolts at another door only to be met with the same response as before.</p>
      <p>"God <em><strong>*BSHZAP* </strong></em>Damn <em><strong>*BSHZAP* </strong></em><em>BOSH'TET!"</em></p>
      <p>The Quarian threw out one more Omni-bolt and threw her gun down at the ground in a yell of rage.</p>
      <p>She then collapsed to her knees with her hands catching her as her shoulders shuddered repeatedly with tears now coming out of her eyes.</p>
      <p>Tali felt so completely and utterly helpless as she could do nothing but watch her friend fight to stay alive with everything he had.</p>
      <p>Looking over to her friends, it was easy to tell that they were in a similar level of distraught helplessness.</p>
      <p>Garrus's was more along the lines of worry coupled with unbridled fury directed at this strange man with the long sword.</p>
      <p>Xion appeared to be more or less in the same boat as her and…</p>
      <p>Tali gazed upon the Puppet Nobody in realization with her heart stopping momentarily.</p>
      <p>Xion!</p>
      <p>Of course!</p>
      <p>Shakily getting back to her feet, Tali walked over to the crying girl and placed her hands around her.</p>
      <p>"X-Xion." She said softly, making the girl look up to the Quarian to reveal her tear stricken face.</p>
      <p>She carefully helped the girl up to her feet and placed her hands on her shoulders.</p>
      <p>"We can get to Roxas." Tali said, voice cracking slightly. "I know we can cause you can get us there."</p>
      <p>"But how?" Fresh tears welled up from Xion's eyes. "My Keyblade isn't working."</p>
      <p>"I… I know." Tali said unsurely. "But it's not your Keyblade we should use."</p>
      <p>Both Garrus and Xion watched as Tali hesitated in this instance.</p>
      <p>"We… We might have to use a Corridor."</p>
      <p>"What?" Garrus and Xion said at the same time in surprise.</p>
      <p>"Hang on a sec Tali." The Turian spoke first. "Haven't they told us just how <em>dangerous</em> it can be since we don't have their coats."</p>
      <p>"The Darkness can swallow and consume you entirely." Xion said fearfully. "It's not safe without wearing a coat-"</p>
      <p>"I know that Xion but-"</p>
      <p>Both were unable to finish their sentences as the entire arena shook violently and the trio looked to the screen displaying the fantastic battle between Roxas and Sephiroth.</p>
      <p>Their recent clash sent a shockwave that the entire arena felt.</p>
      <p>The three of them could see exhaustion begin to creep up on their friend whilst Sephiroth appeared only to be getting started.</p>
      <p>This was enough of a sight to eliminate any hesitation Tali had as she looked directly at Xion and grasped her shoulders tightly.</p>
      <p>"We have to." She said determinedly. "Roxas needs us."</p>
      <p>Knowing that there was no other choice, Xion nodded solemnly.</p>
      <p>"Keep your hands on my shoulders at all times and do not let go for anything."</p>
      <p>Garrus and Tali only nodded silently, hands placed upon her shoulders now.</p>
      <p>Summoning a Corridor of Darkness beside her, there was a brief pause before they rushed in as the doorway behind them closed.</p>
      <p>It was a unique experience for Tali this time around. During the past times of traversing through this Corridor was with her wearing Axel's Organization coat when she and Roxas went to Rannoch several times. She had grown used to the feeling over time, but now was different. The Quarian didn't wear the proper protection as this dark feeling was trying to swallow her up.</p>
      <p>Garrus was in a similar boat. Being through a Dark Corridor reminded him greatly of when he and the others fought against the Saren-Sovereign machination which became a Heartless. And yet this passageway made him feel like drowning.</p>
      <p>Yet both Turian and Quarian had to fight on so they could reach their destination in one piece.</p>
      <p>They couldn't see anything.</p>
      <p>Nothing but the frightening eternal void of Darkness.</p>
      <p>"Hang on!" The duo heard Xion's voice that appeared to echo from afar even though she was right in front of them.</p>
      <p>Moments later, the Darkness subsided around them and they found themselves inside the arena itself.</p>
      <p>Tali and Garrus practically collapsed onto the ground and were gasping for breath.</p>
      <p>"K-K-Keelah." Tali shivered uncontrollably. "Th-That was-"</p>
      <p>"Spirits." Garrus wheezed, visibly shaken and even his complexion had changed. "I-I-I N-never… Spirits, God above. Is that what you all g-go through every time?"</p>
      <p>"Not like you two." Xion said with sorrow written all over her face. "That's what the coat is for."</p>
      <p>"Urgh." Was all Garrus managed out.</p>
      <p>"Hold on." Xion closed her eyes and concentrated. "I'm going to try something."</p>
      <p>Hand hovering over her chest, No. XIV exhaled softly as an aura of light surrounded her.</p>
      <p>Tali and Garrus stared at their friend in anticipation, taking a moment to realize how serene and graceful Xion looked just now.</p>
      <p>It would have made for a beautiful sight had it not been for the situation at hand.</p>
      <p>"Light." Xion whispered to herself. "My element is Light. So I can control Light. Just like Sora. Just like the King. Just like… Roxas."</p>
      <p>The Light she had summoned converged to her one hand and she interlaced it with her other hand.</p>
      <p>Both glowed brightly when she separated them and stepped forward to her friends.</p>
      <p>She placed her hands over where their Hearts would be and dispelled her Light.</p>
      <p>It washed over them and in an instant the two felt a warm feeling of rejuvenation come over them and forcefully evict the lingering negative effects of the Darkness.</p>
      <p>"Spirits." Garrus whispered in awe. "Th-that was-"</p>
      <p>"Amazing." Tali said in an equally awestruck voice. "Xion."</p>
      <p>She gave them a small smile when the shaking of the area snapped them back to the matter at hand.</p>
      <p>They shot up and ran towards the center of the arena and looked around to see the damage caused by Roxas and Sephiroth's battle.</p>
      <p>The three saw the holographic Citadel was more or less smoking ruins due to how the fight escalated.</p>
      <p>"Where are they?" Tali looked around.</p>
      <p>There was a flash out of the corner of Xion's eye and she turned to spot who they were looking for.</p>
      <p>"There they are!"</p>
      <p>Looking towards where Xion pointed towards, they saw Roxas was gliding through the air to give himself some breathing room against his opponent. And yet the man was relentless in catching up with him.</p>
      <p>Black spheres pursued the teen along with Sephiroth being right on his tail with the silver haired swordsman appearing calm. Yet the eyes told of a man enjoying this "hunt".</p>
      <p>"Let me hear you wail."</p>
      <p>The next Flare he conjured was something outright dangerous. Everything seemed to condense into a small ping-pong ball before he chucked it onwards. The light from it was small and seemingly harmless.</p>
      <p>Yet Roxas knew better this time.</p>
      <p>Swiftly avoiding it, he let the small ball of light strike the building.</p>
      <p>
        <em>
          <strong>*KRAK-KABOOOM*</strong>
        </em>
      </p>
      <p>The results were utterly alarming as a large part of the building was seemingly vaporized from the magnitude of the explosion. Roxas was hit from the blast's shockwave, causing him to flail in the air before performing an aerial recovery.</p>
      <p>Goes to show how dangerous a Gigaflare was with Sephiroth being the conjurer.</p>
      <p>During the moment of confusion from the massive smoke cloud from the latest attack, Roxas was unprepared for Sephiroth to swiftly rush towards him and ensnared him by the hem of his Organization coat.</p>
      <p>"Impressive you were able to avoid that." Sephiroth said with a shockingly honest tone from Roxas' point of view.</p>
      <p>"So glad I can entertain you like this." No. XIII grunted, leaping away as Sephiroth came down with his landing creating an impact shockwave.</p>
      <p>Thrusting his Keyblade forward, light gathered at the tip and it fired into thirteen separate beams for a shotlock attack of his own making.</p>
      <p>Sephiroth simply made a single twirl of his elongated blade and there was a shockwave that dispelled the beams. Roxas only groaned aloud in anger and annoyance.</p>
      <p>"You just wanted to show off with that, didn't you?" Roxas couldn't help himself with that.</p>
      <p>His enemy simply arched a brow in amusement. "I know not of what you mean."</p>
      <p>Roxas simply rolled his eyes. "Right, whatever you say."</p>
      <p>Before their bout could continue, a volley of bullets rang out in the air. In that moment, Sephiroth swiftly deflected most of the bullets about to land their mark with his ōdachi.</p>
      <p>"Now that was rather rude of you to do."</p>
      <p>Roxas was momentarily confused before looking back. He then smiled soon after.</p>
      <p>"About time you guys showed up."</p>
      <p>"Sorry Roxas." Xion said, running up to him with Tali and Garrus. The four of them faced the Silver haired swordsman who regaled them with what appeared to be mild annoyance at best.</p>
      <p>"Don't care. All that matters is you guys being here." Roxas said in utter relief.</p>
      <p>"You think help shall save you from <em>me?</em>"</p>
      <p>Sephiroth took a moment to look over the three newcomers until stopping on Xion.</p>
      <p>The swordsman gazed at her Keyblade before sensing her unique power from within her. It was like his one opponent, yet <em>different</em> in some manner.</p>
      <p>"Well~ Well~ Aren't you a peculiar one?"</p>
      <p>Xion faltered slightly as the man's eyes bore into hers.</p>
      <p>"I've never encountered one with an <em>existence</em> such as yours." Sephiroth remarked, taking a step forward towards her with the girl subconsciously taking a step back.</p>
      <p>"A memory that has anchored itself to the World and can vanish in an instant." Sephiroth went on. "Yet in that memory, truth was formed. And with it, a Keyblade to call your own with no replicas for it to stem from."</p>
      <p>The man held out a hand for her to take.</p>
      <p>"You can be more than a memory." Sephiroth said. "More than a Puppet."</p>
      <p>Xion found herself freezing up as the overbearing aura of the swordsman began to bear down upon her.</p>
      <p>"S-Shut up!"</p>
      <p>Sephiroth chuckled at her childish response. "Make me."</p>
      <p>Before Xion could get the chance to act, her Turian and Quarian companions beat her to it. A high powered sniper rifle heavily rang out with a series of Omni-bolts soared through the air to strike the swordsman.</p>
      <p>"She doesn't need to prove anything to <em>you.</em>" Tali yelled, unleashing a torrent of Omni-Bolts before firing off her pistol.</p>
      <p>"Humph, come and try to prove me wrong."</p>
      <p>Sephiroth swiped his sword down and cut the bolts apart or deflected them to crash elsewhere. With the shots, he merely conjured up a green multi-hexagonal barrier to block them.</p>
      <p>"Spirits he's fucking insane." Garrus muttered underneath his breath.</p>
      <p>Garrus and Tali tried landing their onslaught on their opponent, but they were swiftly blocked each and every time. Even with the Keyblade wielders contributing with conjured spells, nothing seemed to work.</p>
      <p>"Let Darkness fall."</p>
      <p>In a mere moment, the silver haired swordsman greatly leaped into the air. Angling himself, he shot downward and jabbed his ōdachi into the ground. What happened next as a powerful explosion with purple light knocked everyone back as he performed his Hell's Gate technique.</p>
      <p>To add more pain onto them, Sephiroth casted Aeroga, sending a number of them back even farther.</p>
      <p>It was the two Nobodies who recovered the quickest and acted right after.</p>
      <p>Roxas and Sephiroth clashed their blades against one another. Sparks and light coming off with each hit in a repeated fashion. Soon enough Xion leaped into the battle, hoping she could help overwhelm their opponent.</p>
      <p>Unfortunately, the silver haired swordsman saw this coming and swiftly delivered an upper wide-range swing to intercept her coming blow. After which he leaped back and thrusted his ōdachi forward to strike the dark haired Keybearer.</p>
      <p>Xion blocked the strike but was sent back from the strong hit. Roxas caught and stopped her from getting too far before spinning her around in order to give her an added boost. Once away from the sandy blonde, No. XIV performed the Sonic Blade technique to rapidly attack Sephiroth from multiple sides.</p>
      <p>As this went on, No. XIII swiped his Oathkeeper and sent out magical arcs of light to crash into the man's form when Xion wasn't in the way.</p>
      <p>"Ha! Is that the best you can do?" Sephiroth egged on, incensing the two Keyblade wielders.</p>
      <p>Roxas jumped at Sephiroth, several bullets coming from behind the teen courtesy of a recovered Garrus.</p>
      <p>He swatted away the bullets and blocked Oathkeeper with his elongated sword, pushing the boy back to sidestep a swing Xion sent at him and parried several more.</p>
      <p>"Good." Sephiroth praised. "Very good. Show me what else you can do."</p>
      <p>"No problem." Xion growled, water and air beginning to flow around her Keyblade.</p>
      <p>With a quick spin of her body and Keyblade, a small twister that resembled both a tornado and crashing waves appeared around her weapon.</p>
      <p>"<strong>Typhoon Boom!"</strong></p>
      <p>Thrusting her Keyblade forward, wind and water converged into a torrenting twister that speared itself directly at Sephiroth.</p>
      <p>He held up his sword to block the oncoming attack yet it bypassed his blade entirely.</p>
      <p>The typhoon struck the swordsman dead on and the group heard a verbal grunt of pain. He was sent flying to a nearby building and kept there before the attack started dying down.</p>
      <p>Right after, No. XIV conjured a Blizzaga Burst above her head. The pieces of the large chunk of ice shot out and crashed into their target to keep him in place. Sephiroth was able to break himself free, but Xion acted quickly to deliver a series of strikes before casting Thundara to help add in more damage.</p>
      <p>"Whoa, what was that move Xion?" Roxas asked in amazement.</p>
      <p>She panted slightly, giving him a small smile. "Been *Pant* practicing and figuring out *pant* new moves to use. Seen how you and Axel do it."</p>
      <p>"And I do admit, that was quite the display."</p>
      <p>The duo seized up in fear and saw Sephiroth coming out of the smoky area where Xion had attacked him.</p>
      <p>Dusting his coat off from some debris stuck onto his person, the silver haired man merely smirked at them as he walked towards them.</p>
      <p>"You two are truly something special." Sephiroth said, eyeing them both and then looked past them at Tali and Garrus. "And those two… have <em>potential</em> to become something far more than the limitations of this World… this galaxy had bestowed upon them."</p>
      <p>Tali and Garrus shared a look with one another before turning back to Sephiroth who held his arms up horizontally from his body.</p>
      <p>Floating in the air, Sephiroth raised his available hand and gave a wicked smirk.</p>
      <p>"The time has come."</p>
      <p>The lighting within the station seemed to change. It swiftly darkened before a growing orange light could be seen all around.</p>
      <p>Fear crept into the Normandy members, for when looking above, they saw a volley of "small" meteors falling down from the very sky.</p>
      <p>"KEELAH!"</p>
      <p>"MOVE, MOVE!"</p>
      <p>"Get to cover." Roxas ordered, crouching down. "We'll handle this."</p>
      <p>Leaping high into the air, the two Nobodies quickly slashed through the incoming space rocks. Their pieces fell and crashed into the nearby buildings in a fiery blaze.</p>
      <p>More and more kept coming down by the minute, yet it seemed far longer for them and their companions.</p>
      <p>Roxas sliced through a particularly large one and nearly dropped his Keyblade at Sephiroth, appearing right before him.</p>
      <p>At the very last second he managed to block a powerful blow from the deadly foe.</p>
      <p>He plummeted down to the ground and crashed down hard. The blonde teen groaned in pain within the small crater he had made in his body.</p>
      <p>"Roxas!"</p>
      <p>He blearily looked up to see Tali sliding down to the ground with Garrus standing over him.</p>
      <p>"You alright? Still conscious?"</p>
      <p>"Alive." Roxas muttered. "Does that count?"</p>
      <p>"It'll do for now." Garrus said, holding out his hand for him to take.</p>
      <p>As Roxas got hefted up to his feet, Xion skidded to a halt right next to Tali with her looking singed and scorched in a few places.</p>
      <p>"Xion." Tali instantly had her hands on the girls back and shoulders as No. XIV looked like she was about to fall over.</p>
      <p>"Tali." Xion said quietly. "Thanks."</p>
      <p>Wordlessly, Roxas pulled out a Mega-Potion and threw it above him.</p>
      <p>The healing essence of the Mega appeared and descended around the team, healing and relieving their stress and injuries.</p>
      <p>"Impressive that you lasted this long, despite the interference your friends caused."</p>
      <p>The four of them face the descending Sephiroth with his blade gleaming from the fires that surrounded them.</p>
      <p>"Most would've fallen earlier." He remarked. "But you are not like other individuals. Are you, Roxas?"</p>
      <p>"Glad… that I exceeded your… expectations."</p>
      <p>His body was very exhausted. His magical reserves were heavily drained, even if he tried to refill it with Ethers. His nerves in certain parts with a growing feeling of pain beginning to wash over him. Even with the potion he just used, Roxas was breathing heavily and tiredly.</p>
      <p>He didn't know how much more he had left in him but Sephiroth…</p>
      <p>It seemed as though he had barely even tried.</p>
      <p>"Who are you?" Roxas abruptly asked. "<em>What</em> are you?"</p>
      <p>"I? I am the one who will bring about a new age to all." Sephiroth spoke in a grandiose fashion. "To sail the winds of the cosmos and finish the work that Jenova had started."</p>
      <p>"Yeah~" Garrus sarcastically said. "<em>That </em>makes all the sense in the Galaxy. Any other poetry you got on you?"</p>
      <p>Sephiroth only smirked, chuckling a moment later. "You remind me of friends I once had."</p>
      <p>"Friends? Who would want to be friends with you?"</p>
      <p>"Who indeed." Sephiroth said enigmatically. "Tell me, Roxas. Have you seen Cloud lately?"</p>
      <p>Roxas blinked. "Cloud?"</p>
      <p>His vision blurred and changed into that of Sora's.</p>
      <p>He stood in the Olympus Coliseum and watched as a tall man with bright blond hair walked by him and placed something within his hand.</p>
      <p>"<em>Your light. Don't lose sight of it."</em></p>
      <p>He blinked, jolting slightly as he found himself back in the present.</p>
      <p>"I've never met Cloud."</p>
      <p>Sephiroth tilted his head with his eyes narrowed before a smirk appeared.</p>
      <p>"Ah~ but you <em>know </em>of Cloud, don't you?" Sephiroth mused aloud.</p>
      <p>Roxas said nothing in response, yet the confirmation seemed clear to the silver haired swordsman.</p>
      <p>He began chuckling to himself as he slowly looked over the four individuals that stood before him.</p>
      <p>"Your powers are still immature. You have yet to reach your true potential. This match was a mere glimpse on what you all are capable of." His gaze soon shifted to the Quarian. "Even if some haven't tapped into it yet."</p>
      <p>'Our true… potential?' Was the resounding thought from the group.</p>
      <p>"Or perhaps that's a misleading way of phrasing it." Instead of elaborating, Sephiroth changed the subject. "We will meet again someday. Until then, grow stronger. Strong enough to defeat me." The swordsman was silent for a few moments as he gazed at the Keybearers, Roxas in particular. "You remind me a great deal of <em>him</em>. You both prefer the light, but still have inescapable ties to the dark." He then turned his back and began walking away. "I look forward to witnessing how you'll grow."</p>
      <p>He then hunched forward making the group tense until something came out from his back that halted them in their tracks.</p>
      <p>Protruding out from the man's back was a singular massive black wing that fluttered once for Sephiroth to levitate up in the air.</p>
      <p>He looked like a One-Winged Angel -a fallen one at that- gazing down upon them with a serene, deadly look.</p>
      <p>"Farewell… until our fates cross once more."</p>
      <p>The swordsman then wrapped it around himself. Moments later, the man was gone with a mixture of a flurry of black feathers and wispy arcs of darkness in his wake. From there, the feathers fluttered to the ground before disintegrating into dust.</p>
      <p>The four of them remained there, standing still until Roxas' Keyblade flashed out of his hand and he fell to the floor.</p>
      <p>"Roxas." Tali said, going down to her knees beside him.</p>
      <p>"You alright?" Garrus asked in concern.</p>
      <p>"I'm… fine… just… tired."</p>
      <p>A hand went through his hair before he rested his face with his eyes being covered.</p>
      <p>The arena started to shut down and go back to its normal state when not using any holographic functions at all. No sign of debris from the recent battle was present at all.</p>
      <p>"That guy…" Roxas visibly shuddered. "That was the strongest being I ever fought. Stronger than anything we've ever fought."</p>
      <p>"But who was he?" Xion asked worriedly.</p>
      <p>"He knew… of Cloud." Roxas murmured.</p>
      <p>"Who's Cloud?" Tali and Garrus asked at the same time.</p>
      <p>"Someone… Sora knows." Xion said, sharing a look with Roxas.</p>
      <p>"Where is he then?" Tali inquired with Roxas shaking his head.</p>
      <p>"No idea." Roxas muttered, head hung low.</p>
      <p>There was a silence that permeated the air around them until Garrus let out a strangled sigh of sorts.</p>
      <p>"Spirits, we're <em>never</em> gonna have normal lives ever again, aren't we?"</p>
      <p>
        <strong>AN</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Well now, fast wasn't it?</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>This chapter basically wrote itself. Jeb and I knew exactly how the chapter was gonna go and it was done like that.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Jebest4781: It was basically a one sided fight, given how much Sephiroth held back while showing the others were no match against such a being. And this was intentional, especially with what we've seen in the first two KH games that even if Sora defeated him, it wasn't definite or all that much unlike Cloud who can properly do so.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>FMW: So, ladies and gentlemen, officially speaking, we are done with part one of this story. Mass Effect 1 has been concluded, Chain of Memories averted and the transition period between here and into KH2 and ME2 has begun. The seeds of many arcs to come have been planted and we have a lot of work ahead of us. Thankfully, Jeb and I now have foresight of planning things out after years of writing.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>But we're not gonna end it there.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Since we have a lot to work on, we shall give you this to feast on until the time comes.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>Within a darkened room, illuminated only by a dying Red Star sat a single man with a contemplative look to his face.</p>
      <p>He had gone by many names in his life but recently has found a new one that better suited him.</p>
      <p>A new title that reflected the objectives and goals of the organization he ran.</p>
      <p>The Illusive Man presently sat within the central Cerberus Base at an undisclosed location. Momentarily taking his focus away from drinking his favorite alcoholic beverage and his brand of cigarettes to work on the present task at hand.</p>
      <p>"-What of Commander Shepard and Roxas?" Questioned Miranda Lawson.</p>
      <p>"Neither of them have any idea what they're getting into." Was her superior's response.</p>
      <p>Swiping through the hard light constructs, the Illusive Man was reading and observing through a collected amount of files and video footages.</p>
      <p>"To their credit, they're going to be recruiting an impressive team for the task at hand." TIM began before listing off a number of examples. "Assassins, scientists, biotics, explorers. Both are scouring the galaxies for the best."</p>
      <p>Miranda Lawson observed the Cerberus leader pull up a file of a green skinned Drell assassin named Thane Krios. More importantly captured video footage of one of his latest hired assignments over on Illium.</p>
      <p>Inside of a corporate building a band of Eclipse mercenaries were investigating a series of gunshots coming from their contractor's office. Upon entering the space, they saw the man was dead with some bullet wounds on his person as he tried to defend himself.</p>
      <p>The mercenary band should've paid more attention to their surroundings as the perpetrator -Thane, the assassin- snuck up from behind and fired precision shots to quickly break through their shields and kill them right then and there.</p>
      <p>Others fought back, causing Thane to quickly adapt. Rushing in, he swiftly disarmed them by breaking their arms or delivering a flurry of punches and elbow strikes. When they were down for the count, he reached down to one of the Eclipse members and snapped their neck as they tried to get back up. Once done, the Drell quickly fired at the other members so they wouldn't fight back.</p>
      <p>After that, the footage ended as Thane vacated the premises.</p>
      <p>Soon after, the Illusive Man swiped over a few times to pull up the file of one Nakmor Drack, a 1400 year old Krogan barring a number of bones which decorated his yellow-orange armor.</p>
      <p>"A grizzled, experienced warrior from sunny Tuchanka."</p>
      <p>The footage pulled up revealed Nakmor Drack plowing through a number of Blood Pack members at their base of operations. His trusty shotgun was repeatedly barking as he came in close and delivered powered payloads into his enemies.</p>
      <p>A number of Varren started running at the intruder. Leaping at the grizzled Krogan with the intent to kill. Yet Drack was able to take them out easily, smacking them out of the way or shooting them as they were still in the air.</p>
      <p>Once they were killed, Drack moved onward to finish his personal mission as to why he was at this decrepit base.</p>
      <p>The footage then ended as Miranda Lawson typed away on her data pad.</p>
      <p>The Illusive Man then pulled up files of Della Duck and her two compatriots, Balthier and Fran; a human male and what appeared to be female Viera, a near human species with some rabbit characteristics.</p>
      <p>"Even a trio of adventurers from the Ōkoku galaxy."</p>
      <p>The footage he got on them was hard to track down with a number of his operatives now residing in the new galaxy.</p>
      <p>And this came from a sky pirate ship the trio had taken out some time ago. Fran fired off a number of specialized arrows from her high compact bow at some pirates and Heartless in the distance. A couple were electrocuted while others were killed off by explosives.</p>
      <p>Once they were down, she quickly had her bow straighten out to form a fighting staff. Fran then smacked away a few Heartless which tried to come up from her from behind once picking up their movements.</p>
      <p>One of them almost got her if it wasn't for a well-placed shot from a high powered pistol.</p>
      <p>Looking over, she gave a subtle nod to her human companion before moving onwards to secure the package.</p>
      <p>Balthier was reloading his pistol as Della was covering for him. The avian woman was rapidly firing from their present hiding place before tossing in a few grenades. As the explosions went off, the human sky pirate came out of cover and fired off his trusty pistol before coming up to an enemy and punching his lights out.</p>
      <p>The sky pirate then withdrew a one handed battle axe as he cleaved through a couple of Heartless before both he and Della got a call from Fran. Once learning she acquired their target, they swiftly vacated the enemy ship to get back onto theirs.</p>
      <p>Leaping out, they dived towards their gummi ship hovering in the air before seeing Fran come out soon after. With everyone out, Balthier pulled out a detonator and activated it. In mere moments, the enemy ship started to explode as the trio took off to parts unknown.</p>
      <p>"An unlikely band of brothers." Lamented the Illusive Man as the footage came to an end. "But are they loyal? If neither Shepard or Roxas can gain their trust, they're all as good as dead."</p>
      <p>An unknown amount of time has passed as Commander Shepard and Roxas were facing off against Heartless, Nobodies and a new yet ancient enemy; an insectoid race called the Collectors.</p>
      <p>Alongside the pair were Thane, Drack, Della, Balthier and Fran as they were facing against them at a far off world in the Milky Way galaxy. Other members of their assembled team were elsewhere as they still faced off the same threat.</p>
      <p>Bullets soared through the air alongside arrows and magic bolts. Their enemies were slowly being taken out one by one as Roxas and Shepard's squad occasionally ducked into cover.</p>
      <p>Soon enough they had to break off like with Drack giving out a battle cry as he charged into a large Heartless. His shotgun repeatedly barked into his current opponent before it went into wisps of darkness. Another tried to come from behind, but a combined strike between Roxas' Keyblade and Fran's arrows were able to slay it easily.</p>
      <p>Thane advanced farther, firing off his pistol at the Collectors before switching to his assault rifle. He used his biotics to hold some Nobodies in place before firing from his weapon to take them out.</p>
      <p>Shepard rushed forward into cover and fired off her assault rifle. Barely seeing a Collector from the corner of her eye, she swiftly turned and struck it with her weapon. Jane then activated her Omni-blade to drive the hard light construct into the face of a Collector before using her biotics to throw the corpse into another.</p>
      <p>Seeing a grenade rolling near her position, Shepard rolled out of the way just in time for an explosion going off. Looking to the source, she saw Della tossing out more of her signature bombs before firing off her Lunarian pistol to some airborne enemies. Once they were done, she whipped out a grenade launcher, took careful aim and fired off at a congregated number of enemies where a larger explosion took place.</p>
      <p>Roxas could then be seen cleaving through enemies left and right before casting Thundaga to help clear some space. After which, he switched from Oathkeeper to Pirate's Dream and had it shift into its gauntlet form to deliver some powerful strikes onto a Berserker Nobody. Once it was destroyed, he picked up a large crate and threw it at a charging enemy.</p>
      <p>From behind the Keybearer, Balthier pulled out his pistol and switched to some specialized ammunition. Some explosive rounds went off before the sky pirate went into biotic rounds at some nearby enemies. Whipping out his one handed battle axe, he cleaved through them before going into electric rounds to help stun a few others. As those were kept in place, Fran and Drack took them out in their own respective ways.</p>
      <p>The area was clear, or at least assumed for the time being, the team moved onward before noticing their surroundings were starting to darken considerably. Looking above, they saw the source of it all.</p>
      <p>Running onward, the seven squad members reached the end of the area as a massive light shines down from above. It wasn't friendly at all as it was coming from a foe they were facing.</p>
      <p>Shepard quickly radioed in the others to regroup when possible as this new part of their mission will require them all working together. Once done, she and the others beside her charged forward to take out the threat in order to save the residents of this far off world.</p>
      <p>
        <strong>FMW: And there we have it folks. There's your teaser and more to come. So much more.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Things are greatly changing in both the Milky Way and Ōkoku galaxies.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>And would you look at that? Andromeda has a role to play.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>To say that the ME2 roster is gonna be huge is an understatement.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>We've already changed the trajectory of a great many things with all there is in the future and changes will only continue to grow.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Thank you all once again for reading this story, be sure to check out our other works, A Song of Fire, Ice and Hearts, Nobody, Infinite Wars and all and we shall see you next time at the start of Part two.</strong>
      </p>
      <p>
        <strong>Rate Read and Review and as Always Have Nice Day.</strong>
      </p>
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